CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV Series) Unfriendly Skies (2000) User Reviews

You can guess the ending of story but the whole deduction is impressive!

[gwunlou · 9/10 · 7 January 2019]

Given that all people on the flight are lying, you can imagine that the story is just like Murder on the Orient Express -- everyone on the first class is responsible for the tragedy. Though scriptwriters try to add some transitions, to indicate the death of victim is due to his own disease, but apparently it would not be -- this is CSI! And just like Agatha's story, no one is blame in the end. But for Murder on the Orient Express, it is because Detective Poirot thinks the victim deserves the dead so no one is charged. Here the mayor candidate (dislike) makes the decision just for his convenience. (actually I found a interesting point that this TV series is trying his effort to denigrate the incapability of government and FBI hhhhh

Then it gives the greatest moment for Grissom among all episodes in Season 1: while everyone is sharing his opinion on whether he should take the victim's life in order to protect other people on the flight, Grissom suggested that we should jump out of discussing whether the victim deserves death, but thinking about how other people could do better. If any of them takes care of this victim, you would understand why he acts so abnormally like a psycho.



I've finished watching the first season and this is one of the only episodes that simply talks about one case. So I would say this is a must-watch episode for you!

Unfriendly Skies

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 6 August 2015]

In this episode of CSI: Las Vegas, you could call this "Murder on the Orient Express-Las Vegas Air" with an asshole found dead in first class, at first thought to be a seizure victim. Ten passengers know what happened, yet no one is talking. Heel impressions found on the victim, patterns of blood, and various bruises (and defensive wounds) could tell the forensic criminalists what might have happened to him. James Avery (of Fresh Prince of Bel Air) is a blind passenger who might be able to tell Grissom and Warrick through the sounds he heard what occurred during a scuffle. Why the guy was behaving this way (swelling of the brain) indicates that he wasn't as much a psycho as his mania was caused by a condition out of his control. A CSI recreation of the events, by looking at the collection of the physical evidence and trying to tie in the accounts of those in attendance in first class, could provide the answer. Very intriguing conclusion asks "what would you do if someone was trying to open the airplane exit latch to get out?" Sometimes even the very best criminalists, who pretty much figured out the case, are handed a raw deal due to a small time window (12 hours) and an unwillingness by those in superior positions above them to allow them to fully establish the crime scene that would have implicated five people of murder. Good ending conversation among CSI crew talks about what would have been done had they themselves been on the plane, with Grissom having them consider the victim (had just one passenger considered if he was well instead of just assuming he was a jerk causing trouble could a death have been prevented?) perspective. Again, any wonder why this show has such legs can only go back to the superb first season with episodes like this to understand why.

Murder on the CSI Express

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 27 December 2020]

Interesting episode where a violent passenger dies on a plane at 30,000 feet. The entire first class passenger list is interviewed. Almost everyone is involved in some way, but how much is open to question. The episode gets down to what people should do when threatened. By the way, I don't agree with Grissom. That guy was acting beyond any sort of restraint. These were average people who were scared to death. Gil thinks someone should have checked him out. But anyone who talked with him was threatened. It was sad he died but he did nearly kill everyone.

What would you do?

[Son_of_Mansfield · 26 April 2006]

One of the best episodes from the first season of CSI, this one concerns a man who is killed on a plane. Grissom and his team put the clues together while fighting the clock. The man suffered from a medical condition that made him exhibit odd behavior and when he panicked, trying to open the plane's door, several passengers beat him to death. But since the evidence points to them all and their first act, pulling the man from the door, possibly saved lives, the politically minded sheriff cuts them loose. This is, quite simply, riveting. It has a great story full of issues and some classic CSI scenes. All the team members gather together to talk about what they would do, Brass and the CSIs act out the events, and Grissom finds out that Sarah has a mile high wild side. My only problem with this episode is that there wasn't one of those classic CSI moments at the end where a member of the team lays down the law to the culprits.

9 out of 10.

"Grissom: If one person had just stopped and looked at him, tried to figure out what was wrong, he might still be alive."

An early gem

[ttapola · 10/10 · 4 November 2009]

Ah, I can for once write a spoiler-free review since another user has provided us with a spoilerific review! Only nine episodes in and CSI delivers big time with this thought-provoking episode. Unlike run-of-the-mill episodes with Grissom's legendary bad jokes before the opening credits, this one makes us - or at least I *hope* most who will see this will - think about the thought experiment presented to us by Grissom. His dialog paints a deeply discomforting picture of the Human Condition and *suggests* that we think: can we *become* better humans? (This is not a spoiler since I am neither revealing his actual words nor their context.) Only time will tell.

You can't get much deeper into the philosophy of the Human Condition in the Real World. A full 10/10 if there ever was one.

Death in the Flight

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 23 August 2022]

The CSI team is summoned to investigate the death of the first-class passenger Tony Candlewell in twelve hours because of a jurisdiction problem. Candlewell has contradictory evidences of aggression and defense, and the first class passengers are secluded in the airport and interviewed. But Catherine and Brass note that they are hiding information. Meanwhile, in the autopsy, the coroner learns that Candlewell had undiagnosed encephalitis, the reason of his berserk behavior. When they find shoe prints on the back of his jacket, the passengers Lou Everitt, Max Valdez, and Dr. Kiera Behrle .are considered prime suspects. The team interviews the blind Mr. Cash that was near the incident and using dummies later, they represent the statements and come to a conclusion of the case.

"Unfriendly Skies" is another great episode of ""CSI" that forces the viewer to think about the situation of the first class passenger in a commercial flight. Human nature explains their behavior that, in my opinion, was correct for the situation, despite Grissom's opinion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Complô no Ar" ("Plot in the Air")

Pretty good until the ending

[xbatgirl-30029 · 7/10 · 8 June 2022]

I enjoyed about 95% of this early show. There's still a little something missing as it's an early episode and the cast and writers are just starting to get into the groove, but it's still fun to watch the original gang. Then Grissom's moralizing at the end really bugged me. Not so much that he was empathizing with the victim, but that they writers so obviously did not consult with an actual doctor. As a former ER nurse, I've seen many, many patients acting altered and agitated, even violent like the victim, for various reasons. Stopping to just ask the patient what was wrong would not have calmed him down, like Grissom implies. He was not in control of his actions. Asking if he has a headache, would not magically snap him out of it like your average person who's panicking or raging. It's like telling a person who is having a stroke to just calm down and get over it. He needed to be restrained for everyone's safety including his own.

Sure the mob could have focused on tying him to his seat instead of beating the crap out of him. I wish Grissom's speech maybe went in that direction. To me, it says the writers were working from a lot of theory, and no real facts.

However, a real, experienced ER doctor, would have noticed symptoms early on and have real world experience with controlling the situation, unlike the doctor on the show. It's what they deal with every day. The writers should have known that and included it in the plot. But then this is why I can't watch any medical show because they are so ridiculously inaccurate. I'm not the average viewer. I probably would have let the doctor's actions slide and chalk this episode up as a solidly, mid-range episode. But the speech at the end just was bugging me and that made me start picking the show apart. I know the writers meant well, but their inexperience was really obvious.

Additionally, I think the better choice would have been to make the doctor character any other profession but a doctor. It seemed the only reason that was done was so she would know CPR. But if she has just said "I was once a lifeguard, so I tried CPR", it would fix that entire plot hole. A doctor who so flagrantly didn't notice or help a sick person would be at risk for a lawsuit.

In the end, the mistaken choice by the writers to end with the moral quandary about killing the victim to save the plane vs having empathy, torpedoes some of the impact they desired. The more accurate and realistic question instead should have been "do you try to restrain him or just kill him?" But adding that to the mix makes the passengers much more obviously guilty.

Overrated moralising rubbish

[megalomaniacs4u · 1/10 · 20 February 2013]

So we have a murder on the orient express rip off.

Our victim who happened to be a dead man walking from his medical condition, goes off on one in mid air and as a result ends up dead.

Who killed him, well as my first sentence suggests everyone as it was a classic case of self-defence a rogue passenger trying to force his way into the cockpit & trying open the door mid-flight. What would you do? Well the ineffably moralising idiot Grissom wants you to think of the poor passenger & totally forgets that the passenger even if restrained legally or even if his condition was recognised by the Doctor among the "suspects" and treated would have been dead or near death by the time the flight landed. Either way a resounding "Not Guilty" & no case to answer.