CSI: Vegas’s Matt Lauria on Josh’s Latest Arc and Changing Relationships with Max & Allie

Josh Folsom has sworn he‘s tried to change where he came from by helping others and solving crimes. Yet when he suspected Kahn Schefter murdered his mother, he snapped.

Many of us can relate to that as you’d want to harm someone who killed your parents, but would you do it, especially if you were law enforcement?

Josh’s arc has been tricky. Some people relate to it, while others hate it. Luckily, it ended tonight when the undersheriff and the review board decided his fate.

TV Fanatic chatted with Matt Lauria about his thoughts on Josh’s latest arc, how relationships with Max and Allie would change, and when Josh would return to the field.

Check out the interview below:

So, what are your thoughts on Josh’s latest character arc? While he grew up defending his family and believing in an eye for an eye, I thought he was past that.

Great question. When under pressure, we resort to what is most familiar, whether everyday habits or internal processes. Josh is under a significant amount of pressure, stress, and grief. There’s this overwhelming grief and guilt that is telling him that his mother is dead because of him.

So, a small part of Josh believed he deserved to be in jail. He feared that he was like the folks he was raised by and grew up around, whom he tried his entire life to be dissimilar to. There’s this reckoning in the arena of family and blood and loyalty. That’s all thrown in the blender, and becomes messy.

It does indeed. And, uh, it has to be very complicated since he’s a CSI working to get justice but wanting to exact justice himself because it’s his mother.

At this point, these types of tests question whether Josh is willing or ready to throw it all away. That’s why, in all those scenes, I’m not answering questions. He’s still processing what he experienced and finding himself face-to-face with the man who murdered his mother.

He overwhelmed Jeannette and overpowered her when she was a helpless victim, and that’s heavy on his mind.

The question arises if he’s internalizing this conundrum of if he’s as bad as he’s tried not to be. He’s suspected he might be fractured. His lifelong ambition is to prove to himself that he’s not the thing he’s always feared.

Then there’s this ongoing dilemma of what that thing is. Should he give up and throw it all away? I also think that there’s a level of internal mental and psychological confusion and, at a moment of extreme stress. All this has happened in a short amount of time. So, he’s still trying to snap out of it.

What do you think the fan reaction has been so far? Do you think the fans enjoy this in-depth look into Josh’s psyche as he hits rock bottom and root for him to rejoin the team?

I have no idea. I suspect there might be some who are rooting for Josh and some who are not. It depends since we see things through our filters from our life experiences.

I would never be able to imagine what people are thinking. You just put it so beautifully with what you said about his psyche and hitting rock bottom. It’s been one thing after another.

Josh kept getting smashed, from getting passed over for the promotion to finding out that his mother is back on drugs, finding out that she’s running drugs and tangled up with some bad dudes, to finding out that Trey lied to him about an overdose that happened in his house.

He kept getting drawn back into the old life. Then, Serena started getting illogical about her expectations about the relationship and what happened there. Then, his mom died, so it’s like Josh just getting punched down lower and lower. If it’s not rock bottom, it’s pretty close.

Yes. So why do you think Max changed sides and ultimately fought for Josh’s job? How will this alter their relationship and his place on the team?

I think that Max did it because she loves Josh. On the one hand, she knows what a great asset he is to the team. But I think, more than that, she knows deep inside what a good person he is. Max and Josh share an extraordinary bond.

It is part mentor-mentee and part family relationship, sort of an older, more experienced, and wiser family member. There’s nobody in this world whom Josh probably respects more than Max. They share a special bond that supersedes a working relationship.

There are extra layers of trust, personal intimacy about their families and what’s happening with them, and much care. The worst of it all is that he’s betrayed that trust.

She not only questions Josh’s judgment to do the right thing and be a standup guy but also probably questions whether or not she can trust him again. The damage he’s done to the relationship cannot be overstated.

That is fair. Do you think the two of you will have to watch yourselves around the new undersheriff?

Absolutely. He’s so great, isn’t he? That actor is phenomenal.

Oh, I love Reggie Lee.

Reggie’s incredible. He’s an outstanding actor. Yeah, we better watch ourselves. With folks like Nora Cross and undersheriff, we’re in trouble. No, we’re not in trouble.

But poor Max. Poor Max knows about all these types of things. She knows about the processes that have to convolve with the Undersheriff and Internal Affairs and all that stuff. She has to she has to maintain a calm demeanor and constitution. It’s not an easy job.

What is in the cards for you and Allie? She seemed to be the only one that showed the most overt support. But she could be your boss when you return to work.

That’s very interesting. Allie is the person Josh probably values the most in this world. This situation has cast some shadows on his hopes of anything happening with her because Josh is worried that Allie will see what he’s always tried to hide from her.

Here’s the big issue. Josh didn’t kill him, but he could have, like, he was going to. He had murderous intentions, and I mean, that’s it. How is he any better than any of these guys, right? I think Josh is hard on himself, holds himself to an insanely high standard, and has fallen gravely short of that.

His greatest disappointment of all of that is that Allie might see that he potentially could be a murderer. He didn’t, but he could have if Trey hadn’t stopped him. So, that question haunts him of what he would have done. Josh is returning to work, and our relationship is already under pressure.

That was a great question about Allie’s work. We will see that unfold as we get deeper into the season.

There’s nothing that Josh wants more than Allie, but he also equally wants Allie’s happiness and Ali’s being able to fully be all she is and achieve all that she is worthy of and capable of. So that’s a direct conflict.

So, how soon will we see Josh back in the field?

You’ll see him return in Episode 4 because Josh gets put on probation in CSI: Vegas Episode 3. Max busts him down to level one, so he’s back on it. But Josh isn’t heading anything up by himself and is under close supervision.

We’ll happily see you back in the field with the rest of the team.

I’ve been looking forward to that.

I bet you have. I bet it’s been very different filming scenes away from almost everybody else.

Yeah, I barely saw Marg Helgenberger or Lex Medlin. I’ve worked most frequently with Mandeep Dhillon, who plays Allie. In the first half of the season, we barely saw each other.

Thank you for chatting with us again, Matt.

CSI: Vegas airs on CBS on Sundays at 10/9c and streams on Paramount Plus the following day.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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