If this episode does anything, it tells us that life sometimes just isn't fair. Murder, accidental or of a passion due to circumstances spiraling out of control, sometimes events transpire and good people suffer the consequences. The brutal murder of a jerk dean of a school (with the woman responsible for its opening the lead suspect) has Catherine and Nick investigating blood which speaks for the victim. Warrick and Grissom investigate the strange death of a young man found naked in the desert, seemingly dead because of fear. Jimsonweed seems to be a reason for what caused his death, and the case leads them to a good friend of the victim's and a despicable dealer, knowledgeable of the law regarding his profession and assured of his not doing time, who works raves on the outskirts of Vegas. Photophobia, auditory hallucination, and fireworks turn up, as does a bite and aluminum, as the investigation concludes. We get a strong indictment of an angered Grissom unleashing a rant against the dealer, later telling his colleagues that three types of criminal bothers him: sexual predators of kids, rapists, and those who sell death to kids. We also see how Grissom deals with the frustrations of his job
rollercoasters. A young Milo Ventimiglia is the friend of the naked victim who turns out to be an unfortunate recipient of a drug considered harmless fun, while character actor Kelly Connell is a funeral director answering to a shocking revelation regarding the "cutthroat funeral business" involving caskets, a dead body that had been embalmed (found in a garbage bin in Vegas!), and a grave dug up to show no signs of a burial. Sara works the embalmed-body-in-a-garbage-bin case, outraged at what she learns once her investigation turns up a horrible truth of what desperate people do to salvage their business. The dean case leaves Catherine and Nick with a bad taste because both realize that his death could have been avoided had he just left alone his employer and a member of her faculty alone
while Nick appears satisfied with the how of the case after it's solved, Catherine encourages him to desire the why behind the murder. This episode is a major bummer.
6 Reviews
Three Interesting Cases
claudio_carvalho14 August 2022
The CSI team has three cases to investigate. Grissom and Catherine need to investigate a dead teenager that was found naked in the desert. Sara is assigned to investigate the body of a woman found in a dumpster. Warrick and Nick are assigned to investigate the murder of the dean of a school. Grissom and Catherine find the murderer the teenager. Sara finds that the dead woman had been buried some days ago and investigates her funeral. Warrick and Nick discover that the murder of the dean was a crime of passion and is not difficult to find the motive and the killers.
"Friends & Lovers" is an episode of "CSI" with three new interesting cases. Sara's discovery is the weaker one, but the other two are great. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Amigos e Amantes" ("Friends and Lovers")
"Friends & Lovers" is an episode of "CSI" with three new interesting cases. Sara's discovery is the weaker one, but the other two are great. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Amigos e Amantes" ("Friends and Lovers")
Friends & Lovers
Metal_Robots4 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Grissom is hit hard by the case he's on in this episode, and it's the first time we really see something get under the normally unflappable CSI's skin. At one point in the episode, Grissom outlines the three things that really get to him: men who beat their wives, sexual abuse of children and drug dealers who prey on kids. This case obviously falls under the last category and it's evident in the usually cool-tempered Grissom's reaction to Ethan, the haughty, arrogant drug dealer who quotes the law to Grissom condescendingly. Ethan actually gets a rise out of Grissom, who vows to get him for murder. That Grissom fails in this is surprising, and Ethan dances in the hallway as he's let go. Jeff Parise injects both glee and arrogance into his performance as Ethan, and the audience is as disappointed as Grissom is when Ethan walks away scot free.
A pre-Gilmore Girls and Heroes Milo Ventimiglia is also memorable as Bobby, who remains an earnest, sad figure throughout the episode. He's genuinely devastated to find out he's lost his best friend, but his devastation is mixed with abject horror once he discovers that he in fact is the one responsible for Eric's death. Rather than denying the evidence or wanting to fight for his freedom, Bobby gives up once he realizes he's responsible, horrified that he's killed his best friend. His reaction makes him an even more sympathetic character.
Grissom is similarly saddened by the outcome of the case. When Bobby's lawyer tells him she plans to argue diminished capacity, he tells her frankly and honestly, "I hope you win." Much as Grissom believes in following the evidence, even he can't fail to be moved by the fact that Bobby not only had no intention of hurting his friend, but that he didn't even remember doing it in the first place. The real bad guy, Ethan, walks free and there's nothing Grissom can do about it. To get away, he heads to the strip to ride a gigantic rollercoaster. In a truly impressive sequence, the camera follows Grissom's face as his car climbs to the top and shoots down and around. The tightly-controlled Grissom doesn't let out a single scream or even a stray emotion as he zips along.
Catherine continues to stand in stark opposition to Grissom, though she would probably be interested to see his reaction to Bobby's plight. Catherine tells Nick when he quotes one of Grissom's quips to her that "Grissom isn't right about everything." This is another novel approach from CSI (and one its first spin-off, CSI: Miami doesn't follow): the hero isn't always perfect or right. Grissom is human just like the rest of the team, and while his methods as a scientist are inventive and effective, life isn't so cut and dry that science--or Grissom--can have the answer to every problem, especially when it comes to human emotion. Even Grissom, who would approaches each case as clinically and scientifically he can, has things that get under his skin, like the aforementioned list. Grissom might strive for a dispassionate examination of the evidence, but that doesn't mean he's without feeling by any means.
Catherine, because she's so driven by emotion, clearly doesn't always see that. Here, she and Nick rather easily solve the puzzle, but for Catherine motive is a big missing piece. She's suspicious of Kate's story from the get-go, and the blood splatter on the wall and on Woods' shirt points to Julia's involvement. But for Catherine, the case isn't closed until she knows why the two women killed Woods. The conflict between what the evidence says and basic human nature is a frequent theme early in the show's run; the CSIs aren't cops and their job is to deal with the evidence, not wrangle a confession out of a suspect or uncover the motive, but basic human nature means they'd naturally be curious about what causes one human being to take the life of another. Catherine typifies this curiosity, but as this episode proves, even Grissom isn't always capable of remaining detached and emotionally objective.
David Phillips makes his first appearance in this episode, awkwardly flirting with Sara by telling her he likes her "gusto." Sara, being as sharp as she is, immediately picks up on the fact that he's flirting with her, and gives David some very frank advice for improving his game. There's a bit of irony in Sara telling him to be more aggressive knowing that down the line Sara will be the one who pursues Grissom, but the quip is amusing. Even Grissom gets a little love at the rave when a drunken girl comes up to him and tells him "I love you!" His response that she's a complete stranger to him is pure Grissom and easily draws a laugh from the audience.
A pre-Gilmore Girls and Heroes Milo Ventimiglia is also memorable as Bobby, who remains an earnest, sad figure throughout the episode. He's genuinely devastated to find out he's lost his best friend, but his devastation is mixed with abject horror once he discovers that he in fact is the one responsible for Eric's death. Rather than denying the evidence or wanting to fight for his freedom, Bobby gives up once he realizes he's responsible, horrified that he's killed his best friend. His reaction makes him an even more sympathetic character.
Grissom is similarly saddened by the outcome of the case. When Bobby's lawyer tells him she plans to argue diminished capacity, he tells her frankly and honestly, "I hope you win." Much as Grissom believes in following the evidence, even he can't fail to be moved by the fact that Bobby not only had no intention of hurting his friend, but that he didn't even remember doing it in the first place. The real bad guy, Ethan, walks free and there's nothing Grissom can do about it. To get away, he heads to the strip to ride a gigantic rollercoaster. In a truly impressive sequence, the camera follows Grissom's face as his car climbs to the top and shoots down and around. The tightly-controlled Grissom doesn't let out a single scream or even a stray emotion as he zips along.
Catherine continues to stand in stark opposition to Grissom, though she would probably be interested to see his reaction to Bobby's plight. Catherine tells Nick when he quotes one of Grissom's quips to her that "Grissom isn't right about everything." This is another novel approach from CSI (and one its first spin-off, CSI: Miami doesn't follow): the hero isn't always perfect or right. Grissom is human just like the rest of the team, and while his methods as a scientist are inventive and effective, life isn't so cut and dry that science--or Grissom--can have the answer to every problem, especially when it comes to human emotion. Even Grissom, who would approaches each case as clinically and scientifically he can, has things that get under his skin, like the aforementioned list. Grissom might strive for a dispassionate examination of the evidence, but that doesn't mean he's without feeling by any means.
Catherine, because she's so driven by emotion, clearly doesn't always see that. Here, she and Nick rather easily solve the puzzle, but for Catherine motive is a big missing piece. She's suspicious of Kate's story from the get-go, and the blood splatter on the wall and on Woods' shirt points to Julia's involvement. But for Catherine, the case isn't closed until she knows why the two women killed Woods. The conflict between what the evidence says and basic human nature is a frequent theme early in the show's run; the CSIs aren't cops and their job is to deal with the evidence, not wrangle a confession out of a suspect or uncover the motive, but basic human nature means they'd naturally be curious about what causes one human being to take the life of another. Catherine typifies this curiosity, but as this episode proves, even Grissom isn't always capable of remaining detached and emotionally objective.
David Phillips makes his first appearance in this episode, awkwardly flirting with Sara by telling her he likes her "gusto." Sara, being as sharp as she is, immediately picks up on the fact that he's flirting with her, and gives David some very frank advice for improving his game. There's a bit of irony in Sara telling him to be more aggressive knowing that down the line Sara will be the one who pursues Grissom, but the quip is amusing. Even Grissom gets a little love at the rave when a drunken girl comes up to him and tells him "I love you!" His response that she's a complete stranger to him is pure Grissom and easily draws a laugh from the audience.
acting job
spotlight_starr4 March 2006
oh my goodness...the plot of this particular episode was so sad, but very intriguing and amazing, but that's not what I want to comment about. The acting job by Milo and Billy Petterson was more than amazing. I have never seen Grissom's character so passionate before. He was more stressed than ever, then so angry and very aggressive. Billy did an excellent job portraying these emotions, especially because they are not emotions normally seen in the stolid Grissom. Milo was so believable and brought me and my friend right into the story line. As they conclusion to the investigation came near and we understood what was happening, we were so upset and screaming, "NO, NO" at the TV. Milo made a character that everybody will root for in this show. He got me more in this one hour than he EVER did on Gilmore Girls.
Props to Billy Patterson and Milo V. for a absolutely breathtaking and superb acting job!
Props to Billy Patterson and Milo V. for a absolutely breathtaking and superb acting job!
That Lowly Jimson Weed
Hitchcoc26 December 2020
Excellent episode involving a couple of really unique cases. The first is a young guy who is found naked and dead on the desert after a party. He is a mess, and there is little obvious about his death. The second involves a couple women who were present when one of them killed the dean of the school they worked at. The cool thing has to do with the relationship between the young victim and his friend. It shows that Grissom isn't ice cold in every circumstance. The women have kind of Children's Hour thing going and again one can have some sympathy for them. Well acted.
*Friends and lovers episode*
ranjitbhandal881 February 2006
This episode is one of the best CSI episodes that i have watched (and i have watched loads). I cried when the CSI team solved the mystery of who killed the boy in the desert. It was so unexpected, and it has a brilliant twist to it. Iv recorded it so i can watch it over again, but for those of u who haven't, i don't think that it will on TV any time soon cos a new series has just started. My advice is to buy the DVD box set for that particular season, cos its well worth it, you wont be disappointed. This is one of the episodes where Grissom gets emotionally involved, cos he doesn't want to arrest the person, but he knows that he has to cos its his job, Awwwwww I'm gonna set myself off again =( (totally worth watching peeps)
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