# CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 11

The eleventh season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on CBS on September 23, 2010, and ended May 12, 2011. The season stars Marg Helgenberger and Laurence Fishburne.

## Plot

Langston fights for his life ("Shockwaves") as Catherine meets a man from her past ("Pool Shark"), in the eleventh season of CSI. Willows and her team face both personal and professional demons this season, as they investigate cases including a decapitation ("Blood Moon"), the knife attack of a Vegas icon ("Sqweegel"), a woman with a hoarding condition ("House of Hoarders"), a T-Rex attack ("Cold Blooded"), a human shredding ("Bump & Grind"), a death connected to fracking ("Fracked"), a murder committed by a cat and a parrot ("Wild Life"), a body in a bin ("Man Up"), and the death of an FBI Agent ("418/427"). Meanwhile, Greg tries to romance a burlesque dancer ("A Kiss Before Frying"), Sara comes face-to-face with her mother-in-law ("The Two Mrs. Grissoms"), Ray's wife comes to Vegas ("All That Cremains"), Nick is forced to shoot and kill a suspect ("Targets of Obsession"), Sofia returns to the CSI team ("Father of the Bride"), and Catherine loses control of her team in Los Angeles ("Cello and Goodbye").

## Cast
### Main

* Laurence Fishburne as Raymond Langston, a CSI Level 2
* Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows, a CSI Level 3 Supervisor
* George Eads as Nick Stokes, a CSI Level 3 Assistant Supervisor
* Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle, a CSI Level 3
* Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders, a CSI Level 3
* Robert David Hall as Al Robbins, the Chief Medical Examiner
* Wallace Langham as David Hodges, a Trace Technician
* David Berman as David Phillips, an Assistant Medical Examiner
* Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass, a Homicide Detective Captain

### Recurring

* Jon Wellner as Henry Andrews
* Archie Kao as Archie Johnson
* Katee Sackhoff as Frankie Reed
* Marc Vann as Conrad Ecklie
* Alex Carter as Lou Vartann
* Bill Irwin as Nate Haskell

### Guest stars

* Liz Vassey as Wendy Simms
* William Petersen as Gil Grissom
* Melinda Clarke as Heather Kessler
* Louise Lombard as Sofia Curtis
* Elisabeth Harnois as Morgan Brody
* Method Man as Drops
* Ann-Margret as Margot Wilson
* Dita Von Teese as Ellen Whitebridge
* Justin Bieber as Jason McCann

### Changes

Liz Vassey departs the cast in episode two of the season, while Jorja Fox rejoins the regular cast in the season premiere. Laurence Fishburne departs at the season's end. Former cast members William Petersen and Louise Lombard guest star. Elisabeth Harnois makes her series debut.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
| 230 | 1 | "Shockwaves" | Alec Smight | David Weddle & Bradley Thompson | September 23, 2010 (2010-09-23) | 14.69 |
| Ray Langston fights for his life after being stabbed by psychopath Nate Haskell (Bill Irwin), after he helped Ray and the CSIs crack the case of Dr. Jekyll. But while recovering, Ray remotely works from the hospital on his next case: he and the other CSIs try to catch an anti-government bomber who is responsible for a series of explosions at a funeral for the police officer killed by Dr. Jekyll. (Guest starred Justin Bieber as Jason McCann.) |||||||
| 231 | 2 | "Pool Shark" | Michael Nankin | Dustin Lee Abraham | September 30, 2010 (2010-09-30) | 13.41 |
| A woman is attacked by a shark inside the pool at a day club at the Golden Nugget Casino. The Golden Nugget's owner (Elliott Gould) suspected that a rival casino had set up the murder to draw customers to their casino; as he and the late Sam Braun were rivals, he was upset when he found out that Catherine was investigating the case. Later, a scuba diver was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in an aquarium at another casino; Catherine suspected that both cases were related. Also, Wendy resigns from the CSI lab to take a similar position in Portland, Oregon, saving her goodbyes to Hodges for last. (Also starred Method Man as Drops.) |||||||
| 232 | 3 | "Blood Moon" | Brad Tanenbaum | Treena Hancock & Melissa R. Byer | October 7, 2010 (2010-10-07) | 12.50 |
| After the CSIs discovered a member of the Vampire Cult found tied to a fence with multiple stab wounds and his beheaded head on a pike, Ray and Nick plunge into a world of creeds and a legendary rivalry between vampires and werewolves, as they investigate whether or not mythological bigotry was involved. (Guest starred Andy Dick.) |||||||
| 233 | 4 | "Sqweegel" | Jeffrey Hunt | Story by : Anthony E. Zuiker (Television Story); Anthony E. Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski (based on "Dark Origins") Teleplay by : Anthony E. Zuiker & Carol Mendelsohn | October 14, 2010 (2010-10-14) | 14.45 |
| Based on the first Level 26 novel, Dark Origins (co-written by Anthony E. Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski), Sqweegel is the forensic-proof serial killer who kills people who have secrets and tries to get them to confess to something they have done in order to stay alive. One of these victims included socialite Margot Wilton (Ann-Margret), who for many years had hidden her dark secret related to her deceased son. Although the final attack is averted, Sqweegel escapes and the case remains unsolved. (Also guest starred Oscar Goodman as himself, being Margot's lawyer.) |||||||
| 234 | 5 | "House of Hoarders" | Alec Smight | Christopher Barbour | October 21, 2010 (2010-10-21) | 14.96 |
| Nick and Sara investigate a decomposed body in a house of a hoarder. However, they soon discovered that its occupants have hoarded four more dead bodies over the years. |||||||
| 235 | 6 | "Cold Blooded" | Louis Shaw Milito | Tom Mularz | October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28) | 14.27 |
| A body of a college student is found in the desert and appears to have been punctured by dinosaur teeth, which was later discovered to have come from the teeth of the animatronic T-rex in the touring Walking With Dinosaurs live production. Meanwhile, the shooting of a business man leads the CSIs to two teen murders that happened five years ago, and a missing girl with a ransom involved, but no guarantee that she would be found alive. |||||||
| 236 | 7 | "Bump & Grind" | Michael Nankin | Don McGill | November 4, 2010 (2010-11-04) | 13.96 |
| The CSIs try put a body back together, after it is literally shredded in an industrial shredder. As they gather up the "parts", they discovered that the victim dined on his last meal of a unique clam chowder, consisting of clams, carrots, celery and a human ear, with chopped credit cards as garnish. The "garnish" was obtained fraudulently in a name of a Las Vegas businessman, who operates an anti-fraud service. Also, Ray receives a kidney bean and a "thinking of you" letter from Nate Haskell, stirring up hard feelings for Ray after the attack. |||||||
| 237 | 8 | "Fracked" | Martha Coolidge | Bradley Thompson & David Weddle | November 11, 2010 (2010-11-11) | 13.00 |
| A young couple swimming in a local pond noticed an awful stench coming out of the water, just before discovering a dead body float up. He was one of several sources for a newspaper article of fracking and illegal natural gas dumping, found dead during the course of the CSIs' investigation. Another suspect was burned to death after flicking a lit cigarette into a well, not knowing that the water was infused with methane. The murderer is found dead, a victim of a hit and run, and they are unable to find who did it, leaving the case unsolved. One of the witnesses of the crime, a reporter for a local newspaper, was in poor health, and was adamant on publishing her findings, based on what she found. |||||||
| 238 | 9 | "Wild Life" | Charles Haid | Melissa R. Byer & Treena Hancock | November 18, 2010 (2010-11-18) | 14.15 |
| Ray, Catherine, and Nick try to figure out if it was murder or suicide when a man is found dead after falling from an upper floor of the Eclipse hotel; two young women, who were looking for "eligible bachelors", were the witnesses, but also the suspects. Across town, Sara and Greg investigate a case where an elderly woman falls through her table and her husband dead in the shower; the only two witnesses to the crime are an uncooperative cat and a parrot who was unable to talk - or so they believed. |||||||
| 239 | 10 | "418/427" | Frank Waldeck | Michael Frost Beckner | December 9, 2010 (2010-12-09) | 13.17 |
| The wife of an FBI agent is murdered at a local supermarket, and her kids had disappeared. The agent had been chasing a serial pedophile, who is suspected of kidnapping his children. His demand to immediately find the suspect and bring closure to the case clashes with Brass' method of not getting ahead of the evidence. |||||||
| 240 | 11 | "Man Up" | Alec Smight | Michael F.X. Daley | January 6, 2011 (2011-01-06) | 14.22 |
| A prostitute is found dead at the same site where a staged photo of the same dead person was taken and posted on a website days earlier, as part of an unusual "bucket list" for a trio of college alumni. Also, Hodges suspects that his Triumph motorcycle that he recently bought was built with spare parts at a junkyard - one of them from a bizarre deadly crash involving a motorcyclist and two buses. (Guest starred Carrot Top.) |||||||
| 241 | 12 | "A Kiss Before Frying" | Brad Tanenbaum | Evan Dunsky | January 20, 2011 (2011-01-20) | 14.34 |
| While the team searches for a killer who is killing his victims with an electric chair, Greg falls for a classic film noir "femme fatale" who may be connected not only to this case, but one from the 1940s involving a mob hit orchestrated by Bugsy Siegel. (Guest starred Dita Von Teese.) |||||||
| 242 | 13 | "The Two Mrs. Grissoms" | Steven Felder | Story by : Christopher Barbour Teleplay by : Treena Hancock & Melissa R. Byer | February 3, 2011 (2011-02-03) | 13.98 |
| A night full of celebration ends with a bang when the director of a scholarship foundation for the deaf is killed by a deadly car bomb, prompting Sara to interrogate the students and faculty of the college where her mother-in-law works. Her mother-in-law, by the way, has a grudge against Sara, due to not being with Grissom (William Peterson, in a cameo), while on an expedition in Peru. (Also guest starred Marlee Matlin.) |||||||
| 243 | 14 | "All That Cremains" | Jeffrey Hunt | Dustin Lee Abraham | February 10, 2011 (2011-02-10) | 12.64 |
| When a couple of elderly ladies discovered a dismembered body amongst the donations at a thrift shop, the CSIs investigate the gruesome murder of a high-powered, widowed lawyer. Meanwhile, Ray faces that it is time to move on from his old life when his ex-wife (Tracee Ellis Ross) comes to Vegas. |||||||
| 244 | 15 | "Targets of Obsession" | Alec Smight | David Weddle & Bradley Thompson | February 17, 2011 (2011-02-17) | 13.29 |
| While Langston testifies against Nate Haskell (Irwin), Nick is warned that he is in danger, after discovering that his front gate was rigged with an anti-personnel mine, but the caller cannot tell him who or why without putting himself in even more danger. Catherine, Vartann and Nick would later get trapped in a rigged warehouse, with only 15 minutes to defuse the bomb amidst a series of triggers, without the assistance of the bomb squad or other officers. Realizing it was set by Jason McCann (Justin Bieber), they set up a road block for his escaping vehicle. In the stand-off that ensues, McCann is killed. Meanwhile, following his verdict, Haskell escapes from the holding cell with the help of his female "fan club". (Also guest starred Robert Pine as Haskell's psychiatrist.) |||||||
| 245 | 16 | "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead" | Paul McCrane | Tom Mularz | February 24, 2011 (2011-02-24) | 12.41 |
| As Ray and Brass are still scratching their heads on how Nate Haskell managed to escape police custody following his trial, a "corpse" that Phillips was prepping for an autopsy wakes up and walks out of the morgue. The CSIs suspect that his "death" was a result of drugs he was administered as part of a psychoactive drug study. The CSIs find two other people who must get help before it's too late. {Guest starred Howard Hesseman.) |||||||
| 246 | 17 | "The List" | Louis Shaw Milito | Richard Catalani | March 10, 2011 (2011-03-10) | 13.39 |
| Following a prison riot, the team investigates the murder of a cop, Vance, who was incarcerated for murdering his wife, but believed he was framed. During a cell search, Nick also uncovered a notebook that included a list of names that Vance felt was at fault - including Brass. |||||||
| 247 | 18 | "Hitting for the Cycle" | Alec Smight | Daniel Steck & Richard Catalani | March 31, 2011 (2011-03-31) | 12.76 |
| For the CSIs, "the cycle" consists of a homicide, a suicide, an accidental death, and a death by natural causes in a single shift. When the first three happen, the CSIs compete to complete the cycle by finding a death by natural causes - even if the cause looks obvious on the outside, forensics would say otherwise. Cases included a gamer who died while playing an online game, and a man found dead in his pool following a burglary. They must also deal with a new employee from Los Angeles, who makes a habit out of cracking wise with his sarcastic tone, to the irritation of his co-workers. |||||||
| 248 | 19 | "Unleashed" | Brad Tanenbaum | Ed Whitmore & Anthony E. Zuiker | April 7, 2011 (2011-04-07) | 13.06 |
| Ray and Sara visit Grissom's friend, "Lady Heather", to solve a strange case involving a woman who is mauled to death in the backcountry by a mountain lion; she was actually behaving like a cat herself. Meanwhile, Nick and Robbins deliver a baby through an emergency Caesarean section, after its 17-year-old mother died after hanging herself; Nick and Brass investigate after determining that she died as a victim of severe cyberbullying. Later, Lady Heather gave a word of advice to Ray about Nate Haskell, suggesting that being a "good doctor" won't lead to his capture. |||||||
| 249 | 20 | "Father of the Bride" | Frank Waldeck | Evan Dunsky | April 28, 2011 (2011-04-28) | 10.84 |
| As the notorious Nate Haskell (Irwin) sends a threatening video to the father of one of his brides threatening to kill her, the CSI team must catch him. Sofia Curtis returns to help out, as she is now the Deputy Chief. |||||||
| 250 | 21 | "Cello and Goodbye" | Alec Smight | Christopher Barbour & Don McGill | May 5, 2011 (2011-05-05) | 10.67 |
| In Los Angeles, Ray's ex-wife (Ross) is kidnapped and Haskell (Irwin) leaves a message written in blood drawing the CSI team to Los Angeles. While the LAPD (where Conrad Ecklie's daughter, Morgan Brody, works in its SID division) was less than happy that another jurisdiction was interfering in their case, Nick found himself arrested while pursuing not only Haskell, but also Ray, who's gone rogue while on the hunt for Haskell. |||||||
| 251 | 22 | "In a Dark, Dark House" | Jeffrey Hunt | Tom Mularz | May 12, 2011 (2011-05-12) | 11.77 |
| Ray has tracked Haskell (Irwin) back to his childhood house in Nevada. Desperate to save his ex-wife (Ross) before it is too late, Ray prepares to settle his score with the notorious "Dick & Jane Killer" once-and-for-all, leading to Haskell's violent death. Brass and the CSIs would not only determine if Ray's killing of Haskell was "self defense or murder", but also uncover more on the creation of Haskell's psychotic persona. |||||||

## U.S. Nielsen Ratings

| Ep. # | Episode title | Air date | Rating | Share | 18–49 | Viewers |
| 1 | Shockwaves (Part 3) | September 23, 2010 | 9.0 | 14 | 3.4/9 | 14.69 million |
| 2 | Pool Shark | September 30, 2010 | 8.3 | 13 | 3.1/8 | 13.41 million |
| 3 | Blood Moon | October 7, 2010 | 7.8 | 12 | 2.7/7 | 12.50 million |
| 4 | Sqweegel | October 14, 2010 | 8.9 | 14 | 3.1/8 | 14.45 million |
| 5 | House of Hoarders | October 21, 2010 | 9.0 | 14 | 3.4/9 | 14.96 million |
| 6 | Cold Blooded | October 28, 2010 | 8.5 | 14 | 3.3/9 | 14.27 million |
| 7 | Bump & Grind | November 4, 2010 | 8.6 | 14 | 3.3/9 | 13.96 million |
| 8 | Fracked | November 11, 2010 | 8.1 | 13 | 2.8/8 | 12.99 million |
| 9 | Wild Life | November 18, 2010 | 8.5 | 14 | 3.1/8 | 14.15 million |
| 10 | 418/427 | December 9, 2010 | 7.9 | 13 | 3.0/8 | 13.17 million |
| 11 | Man Up | January 6, 2011 | 8.6 | 14 | 3.3/9 | 14.22 million |
| 12 | A Kiss Before Frying | January 20, 2011 | 8.5 | 13 | 3.1/8 | 14.34 million |
| 13 | The Two Mrs. Grissoms | February 3, 2011 | 8.4 | 13 | 3.0/8 | 13.98 million |
| 14 | All That Cremains | February 10, 2011 | 7.8 | 12 | 2.8/7 | 12.64 million |
| 15 | Targets of Obsession | February 17, 2011 | 8.1 | 13 | 2.9/8 | 13.29 million |
| 16 | Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead | February 24, 2011 | 7.6 | 12 | 2.7/7 | 12.41 million |
| 17 | The List | March 10, 2011 | 8.4 | 14 | 3.0/9 | 13.39 million |
| 18 | Hitting for the Cycle | March 31, 2011 | 7.9 | 12 | 2.9/8 | 12.76 million |
| 19 | Unleashed | April 7, 2011 | 8.2 | 13 | 2.9/8 | 13.06 million |
| 20 | Father of the Bride (Part 1) | April 28, 2011 | 6.8 | 10 | 2.4/6 | 10.84 million |
| 21 | Cello and Goodbye (Part 2) | May 5, 2011 | 6.7 | 11 | 2.3/6 | 10.67 million |
| 22 | In a Dark, Dark House (Part 3) | May 12, 2011 | 7.2 | 11 | 2.6/7 | 11.77 million |