Back in 2005 I was starting to think that the show was getting stale, a lot of the same old stuff and it started to feel like the show had become content with its success and wasn't interested in reinventing itself. Of course reinventing a crime scene investigation show is not an easy thing to do, which is why most dramatic series like this turn to soapy relationship drama, but outside of the rather well hidden relationship between Sara and Grissom this show sticks to the forensics, which is worthy of applause in its own right.
With season seven you still get the day-to-day drama of solving crimes, which also includes a man of multiple faces played by The Who's Roger Daultry and an opening episode featuring Cirque du Soleil, but the best part of this season is a little someone you will soon come to know as The Miniature Killer. "C.S.I." has had a couple of serial killers in its past, but nothing like this, The Miniature Murder is a season long story arc that even continues into the final cliffhanger leading into season eight. Not only is it fun to watch the tracking of this killer, it is well constructed and the killer itself is interesting. This isn't a one note killer, it is rightly confusing for the C.S.I. team, which really made it work well.
As far as this DVD set is concerned you get all 24 season seven episodes, equipped with audio commentaries on seven of those episodes. Disc seven holds the rest of the special features including a look at the Daultry and Cirque episodes I referenced above and another on the miniature killer and the way the team used the killer's signature miniature recreation of the crime scene to tell the story.
The most impressive part of the features was really what was said, more than what I saw, and that was on the "Evolution of C.S.I." feature in which show exec producer Naren Shankar is commenting on the show and its stories. The best line is when he says, "We are a show about forensic mysteries, not a soap opera," hopefully fans of the show find that comment as refreshing as I did. Of course there is the Grissom and Sara relationship, and I think they did a good job of keeping it in the background, but they do talk about it as well, referencing fan mail that hates the idea saying right now it seems to be about a 60-40 result on whether it is good for the show or not.
The final features include a look at the directing of the show and just as the three other "C.S.I." DVD releases this fall there is a tour of the actual Las Vegas Crime Lab.
I really do think this may be the best season of "C.S.I." I have ever seen. While there were some hiccups and I wasn't particularly impressed with Liev Schreiber’s guest starring story arc, the serial killer made this season for me as I love to see the team struggle to solve something rather than always wrapping one or two murders up in 45 minutes.