CSI: Vegas Blew Up Josh Folsom’s Life—And That’s What Makes Him Great

The CSI: Vegas Season 3 premiere may have proved that Josh Folsom isn’t a killer, but it didn’t actually solve any of his problems. Folsom is standing at the end of a road covered in the wreckage of his life—and ironically, that’s what makes him the CBS show’s most interesting character. By doing pretty much everything that they shouldn’t do in a crime drama, Matt Lauria and Jason Tracey have taken an already intriguing protagonist and made him into a must-watch hero.

Procedurals have a bad habit of following formulas; even shows that claim to be character-driven end up wandering down the same roads. CSI: Vegas started out reliant on its legacy heroes, but by the end of its first season, had established a new team at the Las Vegas Crime Lab that was worth following. Folsom, in particular, stood out because of the actor in that role. Matt Lauria does very well playing wide-eyed idealism (see: Friday Night Lights, the incredibly underrated The Chicago Code, his guest spot on the original CSI), but he’s also been able to sink his teeth into more gritty characters (as he did in Kingdom). His ability to navigate both tones gave Folsom a sort of duality. He was a genuinely good guy, but he genuinely had a lot to figure out. And not in the usual TV crime drama trope way; Tracey was willing to allow him to fail, to be wrong, to screw things up.

The first two CSI: Vegas seasons thus created a huge learning curve for Folsom—one that avoided the cliches and pitfalls of the genre. He didn’t have any special talent that made him an expert CSI; his greatness came from experience and toughness. He had a dysfunctional family life, but that never defined him. His romantic subplot didn’t get into the way of the actual stories being told. In fact, his most interesting dynamic was the one between Folsom and his boss Maxine Roby (played by NCIS and Chicago Med alum Paula Newsome). Not only was Max a mentor figure to Folsom, but she learned from him, too. Audiences watched him grow into a leader, both in terms of his role within the Crime Lab and because Folsom was such a constantly moving character that he helped propel CSI: Vegas forward, too. He was the engine of the whole series.

And then at the end of Season 2, Jason Tracey had the guts to derail everything.

The CSI: Vegas Season 2 finale “Dying Words” brought back Folsom’s mother Jeanette—only to kill her off. And while this wasn’t even the first time a main character had lost a loved one in this particular franchise, Tracey wrote a script that was less about the crime and more about the psychological and emotional limits it pushed Folsom toward. It was both surprising and heartbreaking when the season ended with the body of his mother’s killer being found in a strip club dumpster, and Folsom being arrested for the crime. But what was fascinating about that choice was that Folsom’s guilt or innocence almost felt like a secondary question. Yes, audiences cared about him and wanted him to be okay—yet because of what had been done over those two seasons, Tracey had built up enough currency that it was more intriguing to ask what this arc was going to do to the character. It was already clear that this wasn’t going to be the typical false jeopardy in which the hero gets exonerated in the next episode.

Most of a year later, CSI: Vegas Season 3 picked up almost where it left off with “The Reaper,” and it did not disappoint. While Josh Folsom was indeed proven innocent at the end, he and those around him went through a lot of hardship to get there, to the point where the resolution to the crime was likewise an afterthought. Folsom’s tragedy has left him with plenty of pieces to pick up, and if CSI: Vegas‘ writing keeps going the way it is, Season 3 will give him more than enough time to try and put them back together.

That’s because Folsom didn’t just lose his mother. He lost the closest thing he has to a sibling when Trey Cahill (Chicago Fire alum Daniel di Tomasso) was arrested for the crimes he committed while trying to get revenge on Raphael Tarquenio, the kingpin behind the drug enterprise that Jeanette was caught up in. And he lost his surrogate family in Max, who arrived just as Folsom was being released from jail only to tell him how she thought she knew him until he went completely off-book (and off the rails). One of the most devastatingly painful scenes was when Folsom learned that jail staff had lost the photo he had of Jeanette—and then immediately faced a disappointed Max. In just minutes, Folsom was left without both of his mothers.

They’ll likely repair their relationship in future CSI: Vegas episodes, but it won’t come easily; it will have to be earned. And that’s not the only damage that Folsom has to deal with.

Folsom’s relationship with Detective Serena Chavez was understandably tense in “The Reaper,” as Serena didn’t understand why Folsom wouldn’t defend himself with his entire future on the line. While she still loves him, that tension isn’t going to just disappear, especially when Season 2 episodes “Burned” and “Boned” established that Serena has her own difficulties in getting close to people. And as Max rightfully pointed out to Folsom at the jail, his professional prospects are going to suffer. Even though he was exonerated, being charged with first-degree murder is a huge black mark for anyone working in law enforcement. At one point, Folsom was up for the shift supervisor promotion that went to Allie Rajan; now, he’s going to have a hard time rebuilding his reputation, because anyone who wants to attack his credibility can simply bring this controversy up.

That has all kinds of knock-on effects that CSI: Vegas can play with. With his personal life in disarray—whether it’s his relationship with Serena becoming strained again or just the emotional recovery from losing Jeanette and Trey—Folsom may look to get his control back by closing cases. But if he runs into walls at the Crime Lab, what does he have left? Will he become frustrated seeing his best friend Allie succeeding as a supervisor, while he’s suddenly stuck trying to even get people to trust him again? He doesn’t have a clear ally at the moment, nor does he have any immediate goal that he can latch onto. All he can try to do is survive, and Folsom is going to have to do that by himself.

Yet that presents an opportunity for him to work on himself. Lauria has proven to be fantastic in bringing Folsom’s inner life and his psychology out without having to say it or wait for a dramatic scene to show it. He and Tracey can continue to break the mold by letting Folsom move on from his tragic past and wrestle down some of those inner demons. Procedural audiences have seen more than enough characters who are brilliant at their jobs but have dysfunctional personal lives. Josh Folsom has always been more than that. His complications have never defined him, and the story of him fighting back against Tarquenio by not only bringing the other man to justice but coming out stronger as a person is a compelling narrative. Folsom has more ways to win than putting the bad guy behind bars; he can also prove that he’s the better man. The kind of man Jeanette would be proud of. The kind of man that he can be proud of.

Sending Josh Folsom’s character to new depth also allows him to reach new heights. The story arc played out across “Dying Words” and “The Reaper” isn’t just drama for drama’s sake; it’s something that can be formative for Folsom. And as he continues to evolve—the one thing he’s always done, the thing that sets him apart from the rest of the crowd—he’ll provide more for CSI: Vegas to build off of, too. Folsom’s unintended journey of self-discovery has been the best part of the CBS revival. While he’s at his lowest point now, he’s definitely not going to stay there. It’s completely fine that the show tore down Folsom—because it sets him up for one hell of a comeback.

CSI: Vegas airs Sundays at 10:00 p.m. on CBS.