Nick Stokes

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation character
George Eads as Nick Stokes
Nick Stokes
City	Las Vegas, Nevada
Job	CSI
Rank	CSI Level 3
Position	Nightshift CSI
Seasons	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Portrayed by	George Eads
First appearance	The Pilot

Nicholas "Nick" Stokes is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by George Eads. Nick has appeared in every episode except for "Blood Lust" from season three, "Jackpot" and "Butterflied" from season four, "Committed" from season five, and "Spellbound" from season six.

George Eads is one of only three actors to have been part of the main cast for every episode of the show. The others are Marg Helgenberger and Paul Guilfoyle.

Background

Nicholas "Nick" Stokes was born in Dallas, Texas to Judge Bill Stokes and Lawyer Jillian Stokes. Nick is the youngest of seven siblings, and throughout his childhood he stood out through athletic and academic potential.

Nick attended Texas A&M University, where he pledged at a fraternity, as revealed in the Season 1 episode Pledging Mr. Johnson. After leaving college, he joined the police department and took a job with the Dallas crime lab in Texas, where he specialised in hair and fiber analysis.

Due to his parents' academia, Nick felt that he could never live up to their potential, so he decided to leave Texas and headed for Las Vegas, Nevada. In Vegas, Nick found that he could be his own man and in 1997, joined the successful CSI team under the leadership of Gil Grissom.

Nick, overall, is shown as having had a happy childhood and as being close to his parents. In the season five finale "Grave Danger", it is revealed that his father's nickname for him is "Pancho", and he in turn calls his father "Cisco" (a reference to the central characters in The Cisco Kid). In that episode, his boss, Gil Grissom, later uses the "Pancho" nickname to calm Nick down while they are trying to rescue him from a coffin that has been rigged with explosives. Nick's father is also shown to be a judge, as referred to by Grissom in the same episode. Nick's mother is a lawyer, and Nick is the youngest of seven children^{[citation needed]}. He has at least one brother, as mentioned in the Season 3 episode Revenge Is Best Served Cold.

In the 2009 episode "Bloodsport", Nick tells Langston, "I'm from Austin. I grew up playing football."

Professional life

In the 2001 episode Overload, Nick confides in Catherine Willows that he was molested at age nine by a last-minute replacement female babysitter. Although it is never again directly addressed in the show, the manifestation of the trauma can be seen whenever the character has trouble investigating crimes against children, especially during the episode "Gum Drops". He has a natural empathy with the people affected by the crimes he investigates, unlike most of his colleagues who prefer to keep an emotional distance.

Nick is shown to be quite fluent in Spanish. Hence he frequently deals with cases involving Hispanics and the Latino community.

Despite being one of the more well-adjusted members of Grissom's team, the character has personally been the victim of a number of crimes during the course of the series: having had his car (and all the evidence inside it) stolen ("Rashomama"); having been kidnapped and buried alive, then subsequently eaten alive by fire ants ("Grave Danger"); held at gunpoint more than once ("Who Are You?"); stalked by Nigel Crane ("Stalker"); and thrown out of a second-story window ("Stalker"). He was also accused of killing a prostitute, Kristy Hopkins before learning that he was framed by Jack Willman, the pimp who truly killed the prostitute ("Boom"). In the Season 5 finale "Grave Danger", he was kidnapped and buried underground in a glass coffin rigged with explosives. He became a victim of a car bomb during a police funeral in the Season 11 opener after just recovering from a gunshot wound. In "Targets of Obession" Nick becomes the personal target of teenage bomber Jason McCann and is forced to shoot him in self-defense.

During the sixth season of CSI, Nick grew an ill-advised moustache, but soon got rid of it.

A sort of running gag throughout the series seems to indicate that whenever Nick gets with a woman, misfortune befalls someone else. In "Boom", he sleeps with a prostitute named Kristi Hopkins, and she is murdered some time later. In "Built to Kill, Part 1", Nick and co-worker Catherine Willows go to a club together. Shortly after Nick hooks up with a woman at the club, Catherine is drugged and abducted. In "For Gedda", during breakfast with the team at a diner, Nick eyes a pretty waitress and stays behind to get her number while Warrick Brown leaves. Shortly after, Warrick is murdered. It is often mentioned that Nick is something of a ladies' man. However, the only onscreen romance over the course of the series was the brief affair with Kristi.

Nick has shown to be an emotional person through the series: He cried when being held at gunpoint in "Who Are You?", broke down and was on the verge of committing suicide when buried alive in a glass coffin in "Grave Danger", and broke down once again in "Turn, Turn, Turn" when discussing the death of the victim with Raymond Langston, and how he should have seen the danger signs over the year he had known her, and done something to prevent it. In "Meat Jekyll", Nick was shot by Charlie DiMasa ("Dr. Jekyll"), sent to the hospital, has made a recovery as seen in the Season 11 opener, which Nick is seen almost dying (again) because of a bomb at the funeral for an officer gunned down the same night as Nick, which was partly his fault. Throughout the episode "Shock Waves" he is seen struggling with the pain of his gunshot and he suffers a mental breakdown when the suspect pulls a gun, which causes Nick to fire his gun so many times he had to reload, but the suspect is already dead, and Catherine is the only one to stop him. He was barred by the officer's family from attending his burial, which was then turned into an explosive crime scene, causing the CSIs to look for the killer. Nick has been struggling emotionally as Catherine attempts to comfort him with how she handled losing Warrick and by suggesting that he sees a therapist and gives him the card of a therapist that works for LVPD and at the end of the episode he is seen calling the therapist after a long look at the infamous fetal pig.

In the episode "Unleashed" Nick helps deliver a baby after the mother has committed suicide. While questioning the father, Nick shows brief glimpses of anger. After learning she was cyberbullied into suicide, he finds them and has them arrested. He comments that the 11 million people who watched the video shouldn't have, leading to her death.

Relationship with colleagues

Nick is shown to be affable and gets along well with his colleagues, even the occasionally annoying Hodges. Prior to Warrick's death, the duo were good friends and Nick even sets up a college fund for Warrick's young son. In the episode "Appendicitement", he colludes with Greg and Hodges in "kidnapping" and taking Henry out for a birthday treat. He is defensive of his colleagues, as shown in "Fannysmackin'" where he takes his anger out at a bystander upon seeing Greg beaten up. He shares a good-natured relationship with former supervisor Gil Grissom, almost that of father and son, or mentor and apprentice. When new CSI Ray Langston takes his first case, Nick acted as his right-hand man, giving him tips and helping with investigations. He is occasionally seen being mildly flirtatious with Catherine Willows, his good friend and co-worker who becomes something of an "older sister" figure to him.

In "The Grave Shift", after Catherine turned down the offer to move into Grissom's now-vacant office, she offered it to Nick, who accepted, after some thought. He in turn decided to share the office space with Greg Sanders and Riley Adams, who are shown unpacking alongside him. Additionally, Grissom's infamous fetal pig in a jar has been placed in there as well, by Hodges. During the tenth season premiere, Nick is promoted to Assistant Supervisor on the Grave Yard shift after Sara advises Catherine that she needs a number two. Nick is also seen dealing with tarantulas, and is shown taking Grissom's old tarantula under his care.

Nick's promotion, however, gets compromised after the CSIs tried to apprehend the escapee and dangerous Nate Haskell in Los Angeles in Cello And Goodbye. Nick and Ray Langston are both apprehended by LAPD for going beyond their jurisdiction when Nick used his gun to apprehend Haskell and eventually, when Ray is accused of killing Haskell and his partner Tina, who are responsible for the attacks on his ex-wife Gloria and her new husband, on which Gloria survived the attack. ^[1] On the season 12 premiere, Nick returns from a work-related trip to find that he has lost his office to new CSI supervisor DB Russell (played by newcomer Ted Danson). Nick is still angered that Internal Affairs had removed Ray (who is said to be back in Baltimore, Maryland with Gloria) from being a CSI. Throughout, Nick's work ethics are questioned by the new supervisor and his suggesting to a cop to go easy on a suspect has cause Catherine to loudly vent about her demotion and about the CSIs going rogue in Los Angeles. Their heated conversation was interrupted by DB's text for them to go to breakfast on him. ^[2]

References

1. ^ http://www.tv.com/shows/csi-crime-scene-investigation/cello-and-goodbye-2-1379517/
2. ^ http://www.tv.com/shows/csi-crime-scene-investigation/73-seconds-1393259/

• Nick Stokes Biography