CSI: Vegas is finally welcoming back the star it should’ve had all along. Catherine Willows will be a main character in CSI: Vegas Season 2, according to Deadline, which confirmed Marg Helgenberger has a one-year contract for the CBS series. That fixes a major problem, because Catherine should have been involved in the revival from the start.
The first season of CSI: Vegas chose to focus on Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, with William Petersen and Jorja Fox reprising their roles as Gil and Sara returned to help David Hodges (Wallace Langham) prove his innocence and restore the reputation of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. It was incredibly odd that Catherine wasn’t included, since when the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ended in 2015, Catherine was the Crime Lab’s director. Instead, all she got was a name-check.
It’s not clear why Catherine wasn’t included in the first season; it’s possible Marg Helgenberger wasn’t available. It’s also possible that CBS opted to use the popularity of Grissom and Sara’s relationship to help launch the new show; lots of fans wanted them in the revival, just like NCIS fans want Michael Weatherly to come back. But even so, Grissom’s friendship with Catherine was also a big part of the old series — and her role in charge of the lab, plus the fact her daughter Lindsey was also a CSI, should’ve made her absolutely necessary. Instead, her absence was as glaring as Hetty’s on NCIS: Los Angeles.
Having her leave the lab to run one of her father’s casinos and shipping Lindsey off to Ireland undercut what could’ve been a great character arc for Catherine. She was likely a fantastic lab director and it would’ve been wonderful to see her working alongside her daughter, creating her own family legacy similar to the one her dad left her. CSI: Vegas can’t retcon that mistake, but it’s the perfect vehicle to advance Catherine’s future. Season 2 can’t do a “dig into the Crime Lab’s past” storyline because it just happened in Season 1 — and the original CSI already spent so much time on figures from Catherine’s history. She needs to move forward, which is exactly what the show has to do.
Plus, it’ll be interesting to see Catherine opposite Maxine Roby, presumably the woman who replaced her. What kind of history do they have? It could be amicable or not, but it’s more than Grissom and Sara had with the CSI: Vegas team. They were legends to the new characters, whereas Catherine may have actually worked with some of them. She fits into the new world that the series is trying to build better than her former colleagues.
Most importantly, as disappointing as it is to not see Grissom and Sara in Season 2, their story’s played out. They accomplished what they came back to do and they’ve always been off on the next adventure. It wouldn’t make sense for either character to stick around, which may be why Petersen also signed a one-year contract and Fox opted not to return. Catherine was born in Vegas and has more connection to the city, its inner workings and its interesting citizens than any other legacy character. She allows the writers to bring in more of Vegas, either through her personal connections or just general experience.
The trick will be giving Catherine Willows a story that does her justice. Catherine was already pulled back to the lab in “Immortality,” so it’s not enough to just have her come back a second time; there has to be a strong motivation for her to make that move again. The writers and fans also know up front that Helgenberger will only be around for one season — since she’s still a series regular on All Rise, it’d be harder for her to do more than one — so there must be a clear plot that gets the most out of her character and gives her a better ending than just shipping her off for yet another job change. If anyone can make a huge impact on CSI: Vegas while also fitting perfectly into the revival, it’s Catherine, which is why utilizing her is the most sensible — and overdue — choice the show has made.
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