Villainess Review: Kim Barnett (CSI: NY)

The CSI: NY episode, "Flash Pop," centered on the sudden murder of Jessica Drake, who worked at the NY crime lab, and what made it interesting was the fact that Jessica's murder copied the decades old murder of a woman named Lana Gregory. Jessica's inner circle included two of her fellow employees at the lab: Kim Barnett and Harlan Porter, with Jessica having dated the latter of the two.

Harlan became the main suspect, with the main reason being his fascination with the Lana Gregory case; even calling Jessica "Lana" due to their resemblance. An imprint from his fraternity ring was on Jessica's body, and when asked about it, Harlan stated that while they were hanging out at a bar, he spotted Jessica and Kim dancing on a table and pulled the former down, while denying killing Jessica. As for Kim, she informed Jo Danville that she didn't tell anyone that the three of them were out together because she didn't want to get Harlan in trouble.

Harlan was eliminated as a suspect due to traces of insect DNA being at the scene, and out of the three lab techs who were part of a project that involved insects, all of them were women. So there was a villainess among them, but who was it? High heel prints at the scene revealed that this woman was doing a dry run, and that plus the type of lipstick drawn on Jessica ended up leading back to Kim, who was interrogated by Jo and Mac Taylor. Jealousy was uncovered as a motive, though Kim denied being envious of Jessica and Harlan's relationship. Mac agreed with Kim, as her jealousy was professional.

As it turned out, Kim had ambitions of becoming a grade-two lab tech, but only two positions were available. After seeing Jessica join the crew, Kim saw her friend as a threat to her goals, and decided to kill her. She learned about the Lana Gregory case from her grandmother, but in a sudden change of heart, Kim actually decided not to go through with her scheme. But on the night they were at the bar, Kim accidentally bumped into a waitress and caused her tray of champagne glasses to fall and break, and once she picked up a shard, she decided to resurrect her villainous plan. Kim later lured Jessica to the brownstone, commenting on her resemblance to Lana before stabbing her friend to death with the shard, and afterwards, she took out the original weapon used in Lana's murder and signed Harlan's name in an attempt to frame him. Kim boldly confessed and revealed her jealousy of Jessica, while accusing everyone of falling for her charms and boasting that killing Jessica was easy, resulting in her arrest.

"Flash Pop was the 14th episode of CSI: NY's eighth season, and featured Spencer Grammer as sociopathic villainess Kim Barnett. I've seen various episodes of all four CSI series, and I've noticed that NY seems to have some of the most insane villainesses. Kim Barnett is definitely no exception. She was an immensely cold-blooded sociopath; ruthlessly killing one friend because (in her mind) she was a threat to her goals, and then trying to frame another friend for her evil crime. Grammer played Kim's masking of her sinister persona very well, but her reveal saw Grammer's amazing portrayal of Kim's deranged and malevolent demeanor; it was chillingly well acted.

If the name Grammer is familiar, it should be. Spencer's father is Kelsey Grammer, immensely known as Frasier Crane, but well known to us Simpsons fans as Sideshow Bob. Her half-sister is Greer Grammer, who appeared in the Lifetime film, Deadly Sorority, and was recently in Netflix's film, Deadly Illusions. Regarding Spencer, she has also appeared on the original CSI as well as Grey's Anatomy, and played the ill-fated Beth Miller during the first season of Tell Me a Story.

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Click here for Kim Barnett's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!