‘CSI: Las Vegas’ season 15 finale review: Nick Stokes leaves, Gig Harbor Butcher is back

The highlight of this season of “CSI” has easily been the gig harbor butcher case. Not only have we loved having Mark Paul Gosselaar back on our screens, but he surprised us when he showed us just how terrifying he could be. His “Saved By The Bell” days are long gone – this guy has some serious acting chops! So when we heard that he was going to be back for the season finale we couldn’t have been happier. At the same time this episode is going to bring fans of the show a bit of heartbreak as we will be losing George Eads from the cast (which may not matter too much since the show seems to be on the bubble of maybe not getting renewed.)

Paul is back and he’s gotten Jared’s tattoos put on him (and then of course killed the twins that tattooed him). Not only that but he’s sent a present to Julie and it certainly got her attention… one of his fingers in a jar.

Daniel talks with Julie telling her everything he knows about Paul and who he thinks is his partner. Daniel asks for a 48 hour pass to help catch the person he thinks is Paul’s partner. After a few dead ends they find Collin, Paul’s father, and after checking out Collin’s place, they don’t find Paul, but they find the two women he killed and since they can’t arrest Paul they try to arrest Collin – that is until Paul calls them saying that his father is the wrong man and shoots his father and Daniel.

After ordering Julie to get back home, Russell goes to her hotel room to find Julie gone, a crime scene set up, and Paul waiting for him… or did Russell interrupt Paul before he finished his crime scene? Russell offers to trade Julie’s life for information on his mother but after the rest of the team shows up and shoots him, he refuses to help tell them where she is. After they find a car that was reported stolen, they find Julie unconscious in the trunk of a car.

After the dust settles Julie is in a coma in the hospital and they don’t know if she will ever regain consciousness. Paul on the other hand is still in the hospital and making a quick recovery.

Also it looks like we are going to be losing Nick Stokes after he has a conversation with Russell (who looked a little like a mountain man with that beard), who informs him that a job opportunity in San Diego is coming up for him and it would move him out of the team (and away from “CSI”). He decides to take the job and we lose Nick from the team…. and the show.

We are going to miss having the gig harbor butcher around, he was such a great villain and it’s not often on this show that we have an season long arc involving a killers as big as them. We hope that if “CSI” manages to come back for another season that they follow this up with another great villain like this one. Episode grade: A-

What did you think of tonight’s finale of “CSI”? Share with a comment.

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