7.9/10852 votes#1 - Viva Las Vegas
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/2004
A wild night in Las Vegas has the CSIs simultaneously investigating four fatalities. Greg Sanders' first day in the field has him assisting Grissom's investigation of a fatal nightclub shooting. Meanwhile, Catherine probes into the death of a stripper found dead in a hotel room, while Sara and Nick look into the strange case of an "alien" body found near Area 51.
Director: Danny Cannon
Writer: Danny Cannon, Carol Mendelsohn
8.0/10829 votes#2 - Down the Drain
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/2004
Heavy rains in Vegas wash up a body in the storm drains. As the team investigates, they find bones from another murder.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: Naren Shankar
7.7/10822 votes#3 - Harvest
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/2004
A child is abducted. As the Amber Alert goes out, the entire team investigates in a race against time. Lindsay Willows is found hitchiking to the alarm of Catherine.
Director: David Grossman
Writer: Judith McCreary
7.2/10805 votes#4 - Crow's Feet
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/21/2004
A woman is found dead in a hotel suite with symptoms of the ebola virus. Another woman is found dead with similar symptoms. Catherine and Nick investigate. Sara and Greg with help from Grissom try to determine how a the owner of a home was killed. His home was tented for infestation.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: Josh Berman
7.6/10826 votes#5 - Swap Meet
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/2004
Grissom and Sara investigate the murder of a woman after a swap party. The married couples in the neighborhood meet and switch partners. With the help of a crime scene cleaner, Nick and Warrick find there was more to their crime scene than they first thought. Catherine wants a promotion to day shift supervisor.
Director: Danny Cannon
Writer: David Rambo, Carol Mendelsohn, Naren Shankar
8.4/10954 votes#6 - What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/2004
The killer from The Execution of Catherine Willows returns with deadly results. The entire team is engaged in a race against time to stop this sadistic killer from succeeding again. Grissom is additionally distraught by the idea that this killer is smarter than he is.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: Sarah Goldfinger
7.6/10807 votes#7 - Formalities
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/2004
Grissom is called to a murder of a 17-year-old in a casino penthouse. Sophia Curtis (Louise Lombard) joins him in his research, she normally works in the day-shift. The entire team gets involved when its discovered that a kiddnapping took place along with the murder.
Director: Bill Eagles
Writer: Dustin Lee Abraham, Naren Shankar
7.9/10898 votes#8 - Ch-Ch-Changes
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/2004
A woman who was pulled over by police is found murdered two miles up the road from the stop. It's not long before Robbins determines that the woman is, genetically speaking, not a woman.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: Jerry Stahl
7.9/10789 votes#9 - Mea Culpa
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/2004
Grissom is confronted with new evidence while on the stand of a murder trial of a restaurant owner. This development requires the reopening of the case and Eckley initiates an inquiry into Grissom and his team. The results of the inquiry lead to dramatic changes of the CSI team and the series.
Director: David Grossman
Writer: N/A
7.8/10798 votes#10 - No Humans Involved
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/2004
Grissom and his team investigate the starving death of a five year old boy. They discover the boy has siblings who are in danger too. Catherine and her team determine who killed a prisoner in a holding cell brawl.
Director: Rob Bailey
Writer: Judith McCreary
8.2/10877 votes#11 - Who Shot Sherlock?
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 1/6/2005
Greg, for his final proficiency, has to determine how the Sherlock Holmes of a Sherlock Holmes club was killed. Nick and Warrick try to determine how the driver of jeep was killed when the car ran off the road. They have to do this under budget while Catherine is watched by Ecklie.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: David Rambo, Richard Catalani
7.2/10787 votes#12 - Snakes
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/2005
The swing shift has a busy time. Warrick looks into the murder of man by someone who apparently needs a wheelchair. Nick looks into the murder of woman in the subculture of the narcocorrido, songs about drug murders. The night shift is slow and lends help to Catherine's team.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: Dustin Lee Abraham
7.7/10814 votes#13 - Nesting Dolls
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 2/3/2005
Catherine, Warrick and Nick find the body of two women at a construction site buried under tar. The swing shift are brought into the world of foreign "mail-order" brides. Sara and Catherine have a dispute in which Sara gets suspended by Ecklie for acting insubordinately towards Catherine and himself. Sara opens up to Grissom about her childhood past.
Director: Bill Eagles
Writer: Sarah Goldfinger
7.4/10787 votes#14 - Unbearable
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 2/10/2005
Grissom, Sofia, Sara and Greg investigate the disappearance of a woman coming home from a night out with a friend, her abandoned car found on the edge of a highway. Catherine, Warrick and Nick investigate the deaths of a hunter and his prey, a Kodiak bear.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: Josh Berman, Carol Mendelsohn
7.7/10834 votes#15 - King Baby
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 2/17/2005
When a major Las Vegas player is found dead, Ecklie orders both teams to investigate the case. The man who had secrets on everyone in Vegas had a very big one of his own.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: Jerry Stahl
7.4/10779 votes#16 - Big Middle
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 2/24/2005
Catherine, Nick, and Warrick investigate a badly mutilated body in the woods. The cause of death was a shotgun blast. Nearby is a beaver dam made in part with cash. Grissom, Sarah, and Nick try to determine how a man was killed in a hotel room. It leads them to a convention of big women.
Director: Bill Eagles
Writer: N/A
7.9/10829 votes#17 - Compulsion
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 3/10/2005
A serial killer strikes again, and the CSI team tries new technology using evidence from a prior killing. They find a fingerprint belonging to Jesse Acheson, who becomes the prime suspect. A boy confesses to the killing of his brother, but evidence suggests that he may not have committed the crime.
Director: Duane Clark
Writer: Josh Berman, Richard Catalani
8.0/10786 votes#18 - Spark of Life
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 3/31/2005
Grissom, Sara, and Nick investigate a wildfire that killed one man and badly burned a woman. Catherine, Nick, and Warrick get the case of a family of three murdered in their home.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: Allen MacDonald
8.3/10846 votes#19 - 4 x 4
Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 4/14/2005
One night, four cases. Grissom and Brass get a stolen hummer and a taco stand. Warrick gets a dead car show girl. Sara and Greg get a dead bodybuilder. Nick gets a dead boy found on a bench.
Director: Terrence O'Hara
Writer: N/A
7.7/10808 votes#20 - Hollywood Brass
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 4/21/2005
Brass travels to Hollywood, California to try to track down his estranged daughter's friend, meanwhile trying to rekindle some kind of relationship with her.
Director: Bill Eagles
Writer: Carol Mendelsohn, Sarah Goldfinger
7.9/10820 votes#21 - Committed
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 4/28/2005
Grissom and Sara investigate the murder of a mental-hospital patient and quickly narrow down the suspects to a handful of other patients and staff members.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: N/A
7.7/10774 votes#22 - Weeping Willows
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 5/5/2005
A man (Alan Rosenberg) whom Catherine flirted with at a bar reappears in her life as a suspect in a murder investigation.
Director: Kenneth Fink
Writer: Areanne Lloyd
8.1/10809 votes#23 - Iced
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 5/12/2005
Two amorous freshmen are found dead on a sleeping bag in a dorm room, and Sara and Greg run into one dead end after another as they try to determine why the students were killed. Warrick, Nick and Catherine figure out how a man is found dead in the center of a crop circle. Ecklie is called into duty for a man found dead in his car and his body later goes missing.
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Writer: Josh Berman
8.5/103,136 votes#24 - Grave Danger (1)
Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 5/19/2005
The CSI teams come together to save one of their own when they learn one team member has been kidnapped and buried alive, and now they must find him before he suffocates under five feet of dirt.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: N/A
8.5/102,816 votes#25 - Grave Danger (2)
Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 5/19/2005
The CSI teams come together to save one of their own when they learn one team member has been kidnapped and buried alive, and now they must find him before he suffocates under five feet of dirt.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5
Every episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5!
A Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing...
Genres:CrimeDramaMystery
Network:CBS
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"Viva Las Vegas" is the best rated episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" season 5. It scored 7.9/10 based on 852 votes. Directed by Danny Cannon and written by Danny Cannon, Carol Mendelsohn, it aired on 9/23/2004. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Down the Drain".