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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!

Binge this in 18h 27m•Peaking at 8.6/10

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 pieces that solve the mystery.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 1 - Viva Las Vegas
    7.9/10(907 votes)

    #1 - Viva Las Vegas

    S5:E1

    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
    Writers:Carol Mendelsohn, Danny Cannon

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  2. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 2 - Down the Drain
    8.0/10(876 votes)

    #2 - Down the Drain

    S5:E2

    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

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  3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 3 - Harvest
    7.7/10(869 votes)

    #3 - Harvest

    S5:E3

    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

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  4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 4 - Crow's Feet
    7.3/10(850 votes)

    #4 - Crow's Feet

    S5:E4

    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

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  5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 5 - Swap Meet
    7.6/10(876 votes)

    #5 - Swap Meet

    S5:E5

    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
    Writers:David Rambo, Carol Mendelsohn, Naren Shankar

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  6. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 6 - What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?
    8.4/10(1004 votes)

    #6 - What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?

    S5:E6

    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

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  7. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 7 - Formalities
    7.6/10(858 votes)

    #7 - Formalities

    S5:E7

    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
    Writers:Dustin Lee Abraham, Naren Shankar

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  8. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 8 - Ch-Ch-Changes
    7.8/10(958 votes)

    #8 - Ch-Ch-Changes

    S5:E8

    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

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  9. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 9 - Mea Culpa
    7.9/10(842 votes)

    #9 - Mea Culpa

    S5:E9

    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:Unknown

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  10. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 10 - No Humans Involved
    7.8/10(854 votes)

    #10 - No Humans Involved

    S5:E10

    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

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  11. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 11 - Who Shot Sherlock?
    8.2/10(928 votes)

    #11 - Who Shot Sherlock?

    S5:E11

    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
    Writers:David Rambo, Richard Catalani

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  12. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 12 - Snakes
    7.2/10(836 votes)

    #12 - Snakes

    S5:E12

    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

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  13. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 13 - Nesting Dolls
    7.7/10(866 votes)

    #13 - Nesting Dolls

    S5:E13

    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

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  14. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 14 - Unbearable
    7.4/10(838 votes)

    #14 - Unbearable

    S5:E14

    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
    Writers:Josh Berman, Carol Mendelsohn

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  15. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 15 - King Baby
    7.6/10(886 votes)

    #15 - King Baby

    S5:E15

    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

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  16. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 16 - Big Middle
    7.4/10(827 votes)

    #16 - Big Middle

    S5:E16

    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:Unknown

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  17. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 17 - Compulsion
    7.9/10(876 votes)

    #17 - Compulsion

    S5:E17

    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
    Writers:Josh Berman, Richard Catalani

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  18. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 18 - Spark of Life
    8.0/10(832 votes)

    #18 - Spark of Life

    S5:E18

    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

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  19. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 19 - 4 x 4
    8.3/10(901 votes)

    #19 - 4 x 4

    S5:E19

    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:Unknown

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  20. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 20 - Hollywood Brass
    7.7/10(857 votes)

    #20 - Hollywood Brass

    S5:E20

    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
    Writers:Sarah Goldfinger, Carol Mendelsohn

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  21. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 21 - Committed
    7.9/10(876 votes)

    #21 - Committed

    S5:E21

    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:Unknown

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  22. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 22 - Weeping Willows
    7.7/10(827 votes)

    #22 - Weeping Willows

    S5:E22

    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

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  23. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 23 - Iced
    8.1/10(864 votes)

    #23 - Iced

    S5:E23

    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

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  24. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 24 - Grave Danger (1)
    8.5/10(3264 votes)

    #24 - Grave Danger (1)

    S5:E24

    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:Unknown

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  25. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 5 Episode 25 - Grave Danger (2)
    8.6/10(2932 votes)

    #25 - Grave Danger (2)

    S5:E25

    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:Unknown

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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 907 votes. Directed by Danny Cannon and written by Carol Mendelsohn, Danny Cannon, it aired on 9/23/2004. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Down the Drain".