These days the Las Vegas Crime lab is headed up by Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome) and in her, they find a kindred spirit, so they team up to try to prove that the integrity of the lab is intact. “Who David is, is important to Sara, not as much to Gil,” Newsome tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “But it is very important to figure it out. Sara said in episode two that nobody is going to figure it out the way they are going to figure it out. Nobody is going to follow the evidence. Nobody has the expertise to follow the evidence like those three: Gil, Sara and Max do. So, that’s why Max wants the case to stay in Las Vegas.” For Sara, it is also an emotional journey. She is the one person who believes Hodges other than his wife. But for Gil, while the evidence is pretty damning, he is willing to let the science speak for itself—if they can find some evidence that Hodges is being framed. Although they have been told to cease and desist from any involvement in the case, on tonight’s episode, Gil and Sara come up with a plan to circumvent that, and Maxine signs off on it. “Maxine is a bit of a rule-breaker,” Newsome shares. “But she’s the only one who gets to do that! Other people can’t break the rules. It’s like, ‘Don’t you know the rules?’ But she is willing to bend the rules in order to make sure that the lab is protected. So, she’s a closet rule breaker.” On tonight’s episode, the charges against David Hodges heat up as Internal Affairs joins the hunt to prove his guilt, but Maxine is like a mama lion protecting her cubs, i.e. the integrity of her lab, so she continues to give Gil and Sara space to continue their investigation. “When you’re a boss and something goes bad that you have no control over, that so desperately affects what you’re in charge of, it cuts very close,” Newsome says. “It’s not about protecting David; it’s about protecting her lab. That is her life’s work. That is Sara and Grissom’s life work.” Following is more of our conversation with Newsome on tonight’s case of the week, who in her family is the real CSI fan, and her thoughts on a second season.
The weekly case tonight is one that involves gaming and some supercomputer tricks. How fun is it when you’re exposed to something you’ve never seen before?
It is so much fun. Our technical advisor is the real Mike Griffin, his name is Daniel Holstein, he is amazing. He says that a lot of the stuff that we have in our lab as we walk around is stuff that they would die for. It is exciting. It is amazing that people can solve crimes. In last week’s episode, they took a burnt Polaroid and found out what the picture that was taken was. That’s real. That’s not Hollywood. That’s real.
What Daniel Holstein is saying is that this lab is special because of the help they got from Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) and her fellow casino owners, but real-life labs don’t have all these bells and whistles.
Absolutely, not. Also, what he says is that real-life labs are working five cases, six cases at one time. That is a lot. Sonja Flemming/CBS
Were you a fan of the original series?
I have to say, I was living under a rock at that time. I didn’t watch it. I just didn’t get to it. My sister was a huge fan of it, and when I told her I got the job, she was more interested in whether Gil and Sara were coming back more than this new job I got.
What advice did Billy and Jorja give you that they gleaned from the first time around to help you with this reboot?
I remember one time Billy and I were doing this scene together where we were talking about the politics [of the Hodges case], and he invited me to sit down next to him and perform some science. During that scene, he was like, “Don’t do it like that. Do it this way. We don’t do it that way.” That was fun. And Jorja, I love doing the science. It is very easy for me. She saw me talking and doing the science at the same time. It was just cutting off the swabs and putting in the solutions, and it is just very hypnotic to me. It is very easy to do that stuff and act at the same time. At the top of the scene, Jorja was like, “You may not want to do that.” I was, “I think I got it.” So, at the end of the scene, she was like, “I still can’t do that.”
Were you a science geek in high school?
Absolutely not. It’s just that my brain is wired to understand concepts. The process of science to me is how you break down something to turn it into something else. It just makes sense to my brain, so it is easy for me to perform science and also act a scene.
That’s interesting because you would think someone who’s an actor would have the creative gene, not the concept gene.
For me, it’s like choreography. Having grown up doing musical theater, it’s like very factual choreography.
What about Maxine is like you?
We have a very similar energetic pattern. One of my last roles was on Barry and she was very analytical. She was edgier than Maxine. Maxine is a warm, goodhearted, don’t mess with her [woman]. We have that a lot. I am a little more sensitive than Maxine. Maxine and I are both fun, easygoing people. Also, Maxine and I are also good at having difficult conversations.
Season 1 was picked up for 10, but are we thinking it’s going to get picked up for season 2?
People who get paid a heck of a lot more than I do get to make those decisions. I look forward to hearing the word yes. CSI: Vegas airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Next, CSI Is Coming Back! Here’s What We Know About CSI: Vegas, Including the First Trailer
