21st Sep2016

‘CSI: Cyber – The Complete Season One’ Review

by Paul Metcalf

Stars: Patricia Arquette, James Van Der Beek, Shad Moss, Charley Koontz, Hayley Kiyoko | Created by Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony E. Zuiker

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When a new CSI show is premiered it has a hard task to live up to the shows that have run before them. This was one problem with CSI: Cyber.

We last saw Avery Ryan (Patricia Arquette) in CSI: Las Vegas when she appeared as the “Cyber” expert, helping on a case. Now in her own environment she has her own team of hackers, as well as former marine Elijah Mundo (James Van Der Beek) fighting against the rising world of cyber-crime. Using Patricia Arquette as the lead character was a good move, and the character of Avery Ryan is interesting. Her history of being a psychologist who had her records hacked leading to her patients becoming vulnerable to this attacker makes for a deep and interesting character. Especially in the hands of Arquette who handles it with ease.

Van Der Beek’s character is also an interesting one for the CSI world, but he fits into the “brawn” for Avery’s brains. Arquette’s character, along with her hacking team do all the “cyber” work while? Elijah Mundo takes to the streets to do the shooting and capturing of the bad guys, outside of the world of the Internet.

The group of hackers, Brody Nelson (Shad Moss), Daniel Krumitz (Charley Koontz), and Raven Ramirez (Hayley Kiyoko) are like the lab workers in the more normal CSI shows. With such a small team though it isn’t hard to get to know them, and they all have interesting back stories. For me I’d say that Hayley Kiyoko is the more standout character in this little group, even if her story does feel a little on the weak side. Her character’s charisma and more advanced skills make her the more badass of the group.

Where the first season of CSI: Cyber struggled slightly for me is that as a developer I understand the buzz words they tend to use. Cyber has to use a dumbed down version of technical terms that can easily confuse. While it does work well to a point, but in a tech savvy world many could question just what the characters are babbling about. For the most part though this doesn’t get in the way of the enjoyment of the show.

What CSI: Cyber – The Complete Season One does well is set up a show that had likeable characters that were interesting enough to grip CSI fans. It is a shame that we now know the show didn’t last as long as it should have, and became a victim of the cutthroat nature of American television.

The first season is actually a surprise – building strong long-term stories that were creating arcs that could continue into future seasons. If you want to relive the first season, or catch up on a show you may have missed out on when it was on TV, CSI: Cyber is well worth your time.

CSI: Cyber – The Complete Season 01 is out on DVD in the UK now.

Review originally posted on PissedOffGeek
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