CSI: Cyber offers the perfect marriage of geeks and technology. Season two sees Ted Danson join the series, writes Debashine Thangevelo
THE CSI franchise has been a key contributor to the crime drama genre on TV. While CSI, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami enjoyed good runs, CSI: Cyber is now carrying the torch of the brand.
In this world of burgeoning technology, the format was certainly ingenious. It is edgy, fresh and relatable.
The characters in the series were wild- cards, too. When the series started, there was intense curiosity to see if the lead actors – Patricia Arquette (Medium) and James van der Beek (Dawson’s Creek, Don’t Trust that B**** in Apartment 2B) – would achieve similar success as the predecessors of the brand like Gary Sinise (CSI: NY), David Caruso (CSI: Miami), William Peterson and Laurence Fishburne (CSI).
They have brought a compelling new dimension and flavour to the show.
Now that the fourth spin-off series has curried favour with fans, the writers have decided to switch things up in the second season.
And by that, I mean they are injecting some familiar blood into the series in the form of Ted Danson as DB Russell.
Starting over, after the death of Julie Finlay and his current divorce, he brings a certain calm to the frenetic world of the CSI: Cyber team. What’s remarkable is that he is also the new-gadget guy. And, given that he is surrounded by computer geniuses, that’s an interesting old-school-meets-new-school curve ball right there.
On joining the series, Danson says: “James van der Beek is a wonderful actor and Patricia Arquette, she was over here and did an amazing job and picked up an Academy Award since then. And, yeah, it’s a great team of people and they are all kind of excited to be there and happy to come to work.”
He continues: “He’s turning over a new leaf. He’s getting divorced, you know, and that’s huge. He’s left the dead bodies part of his life. His son has moved. Jules died and that was kind of his emotional work-wife. So it feels like he’s taking a deep breath and going: ‘I need to move on. I need to be uplifted in whatever I do’.”
Season two of the series no longer has FBI Assistant Director Simon Sifter (Peter MacNicol). That means the post is up for grabs and Special Agent Avery Ryan (Arquette) is primed to be his successor – although she hasn’t quite made up her mind about the post.
As for his contribution to the geek squad, Danson offers: “DB Russell is a great thinker. He may not be dealing with dead bodies, but he is dealing with computers, which have a brain. Also, we are trying to stay ahead of the bad guys and there are new gizmos coming out every day in the real world. Bluetooth pacifiers, for example, can track the medicines that you give to your children. That information gets sent back to the parents’ phone. So my job is to gather all these new gizmos as they come on the market and test their vulnerabilities to stay ahead of the bad guys.”
Arquette adds: “Often, there’s technology and then there’s also the forensic reality of things that are left at the scene and on the body, so Ted’s coming in with that level of expertise. And this is the way that law enforcement has to work now; multiple disciplines looking at the same crime together with their skill sets. He has this kind of a sage, funny perspective on life. All the characters have their own personalities – he is a little more eccentric – so to see them all working together is nice.”
As for her character’s indecision about heading the Cyber department, she offers: “She loves working with her team and being on the ground and to give that up is weird – even though it would mean a promotion to have this new opportunity. That’s a hard choice for her to make.”
This season has a few interesting cases for the team, like a doll with wi-fi capabilities that threatens the security of families and dating apps that come with serious risks.
CSI: Cyber beautifully marries procedural crime dramas with human storytelling intermingled with everyone’s real-life crutch: technology.
Oh, there is a also an office romance that’s being kept on the down-low… or so they think!
CSI: Cyber 2 airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Wednesdays at 9.30pm.