Nick Stokes
Template:CSI character Nicholas "Nick" Stokes is a fictional character on the drama series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He is portrayed by actor George Eads.
Background
The character spent his first three years out of college in the Dallas police force, then transferred to the Dallas crime lab, spending one year as CSI level 1 before transferring to the Las Vegas crime lab. He specializes in hair and fiber analysis.
Biography
In the 2001 episode "Overload", Nick confides in Catherine Willows that he was molested at age nine by a last-minute replacement 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".
Nick is shown as having been a member of a fraternity when he was in college (presumably Texas A&M University, as mentioned by his friend Eric in "Boom"); moreover, the character is presented as being familiar with fraternity hazing, as he tells a fraternity member in the fourth episode, "Pledging Mr. Johnson".
Nick, overall, is shown as having had a happy childhood (aside from the molestation) 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 "Poncho", 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 "Poncho" 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. He has at least one brother, as mentioned in the Season 3 Episode Revenge Is Best Served Cold.
The character, Nick, has a natural empathy with the people affected by the crimes he investigates. Other members of the team believe that it is better to maintain an emotional distance, and this difference in outlook is a source of much comment and occasionally raised voices. Other than that, Nick is usually shown to be affable and to get along with his co-workers. He considers co-worker Warrick Brown a very good friend. He also often jokes and laughs with Greg Sanders even when the CSI was still working as a lab technician. He flirts with and teases Sara Sidle which highlights their relaxed friendship.
In the Season 5 finale "Grave Danger", Nick was nearly killed when he was incapacitated using ether, put inside an acrylic glass coffin and buried underground while an installed web camera provided visuals of his plight to his coworkers who were initially helpless to save him. It turned out he was the target of an attack on the CSI team by a man whose daughter was implicated in a murder case. During the ordeal it is worth noting that Nick attempted suicide using a gun provided by his kidnapper, but unknown to him, it was empty (the gun had only one bullet, and Nick used it to destroy a camera). The deathtrap also went beyond what even the kidnapper had planned, when fire ants entered Nick's coffin through a crack in the acrylic glass and attacked him. Although Nick was in horrific agony in this ordeal, the ants gave Gil Grissom (who is an insect expert) a vital clue that allowed the team to determine his location. The box was also rigged with semtex explosive. Thus informed, Nick's coworkers rushed to his rescue and managed to save him from death.
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 ("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").
During the sixth season of CSI, Nick grew an ill-advised moustache, but soon got rid of it.