CSI: Cyber

Developed by Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn, and Ann Donahue, CSI: Cyber is a captivating police procedural television series from CBS. Premiered in 2015 and airing the final episode in 2016, the show focused on the rapidly evolving field of cyber forensics. The two-season drama is the second direct spin-off of the highly successful and long-running series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the fourth series in the CSI franchise.

The series plunges deep into the heart of the metaphorical crime scene where the invisible, the digital and the seemingly intangible merge with the material world. Instead of focusing on the physical evidence of murder, robbery, or assault, like its predecessors, CSI: Cyber pivots into the realm of black-hat hacking, virtual theft, internet-related homicides and crimes with an advanced technological angle.

Patricia Arquette leads the series as Cyber Psychologist Special Agent Avery Ryan. Driven by her own traumatic past where she was victimized by a severe cyber crime, she heads the Cyber Crime Division at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the show, it is revealed that Avery's practice in New York was hacked, and one of her patients was subsequently murdered. This incident impels her to dedicate her life to finding and prosecuting the cyber criminals who hide in the recesses of the dark web.

Avery's team at the FBI is composed of a diverse set of characters, each equipped with specific tech or field expertise. James Van Der Beek plays Elijah Mundo, an expert in battlefield forensics and a self-declared action junkie. Daniel Krumitz, played by Charley Koontz, is an introverted tech genius with an unrivaled ability to crack any code. Rounding out the team is Brody Nelson, played by Shad Moss, a former black-hat hacker who was arrested by Ryan and subsequently recruited onto her team.

The team operates under the shadow of Simon Sifter, an Assistant Director for the FBI, portrayed by Peter MacNicol. Sifter is a career FBI insider brought in to keep Ryan and her team in check, balancing bureaucratic responsibilities and unfettered sleuthing.

Each episode showcases a new case for the team, tackling a variety of digital crimes, from cyber bullying and infringement of privacy to high-stake financial crimes and online murder. The show expertly pushes the boundaries of traditional investigative series and reflects the modern evolution of crimes in the digital age, introducing viewers to a new age of law enforcement.

CSI: Cyber successfully blends the classic elements of the CSI franchise – a suspenseful plotline, strong characters and the scientific method – into the modern world of cybercrime. Just as its predecessors did with forensic science, CSI: Cyber brings the mysterious and technical field of cyber forensics to life for its audience.

The show, despite its relatively short run, manages to occlude the high-tech jargon and cuts through to make the average viewer appreciate the scale, severity and impact of the issue at hand. While the stars of the show use state-of-the-art machinery and techniques, the narrative always brings the story back to a deeply human element, showing that amid the computer codes and malware, there are personal lives, personal histories, and genuine emotions at stake.

While still maintaining the pulse-raising appeal of a crime thriller, CSI: Cyber uniquely pushes its audience to look at the digital world in a new way, and perhaps, provoke a thought that in the midst of our rapidly evolving digital age, technology could become not just the tool, but also the scene of a crime.

Never before had the CSI franchise been so relevant and timely as with CSI: Cyber, revealing a kind of crime that could happen to anyone living in the twenty-first century. In this unique take on the traditional crime drama, CBS created a thrilling yet cautionary look at the potential dangers of the hyperconnected world we live in today.