I have really become a fan of CSI: Miami. It has become ritual on Tuesday nights after getting home late from work to sit down and watch a marathon of this show. I have read that many don't like David Caruso, but his character is one I'm especially fond of. His loyalty and integrity are impeccable. He has such heart for children, too, something I certainly identify with. His horrible past as the victim of abuse (his mother was killed by his abusive father, as well) enters the conversation as Caruso's Lt. Horatio Caine of the Miami-Dade CSI crime division must console a young boy whose mother was possibly killed by his abusive father (her ex-husband; it is later revealed that she had become part of an "underground battered wives escape" group that helps to relocate victims of abuse and rehabilitate them) with the butt of a gun while she was incapacitated after another car (driven by a closet homosexual after he had strangled a blackmailing man he had just had sex with, not wanting his wife to find out, who used his car) sent her into a concrete post.
The show really takes an approach at providing the cast (detectives who work under Caine's day shift team) with multi-faceted characters dealing with their own personal crises or problems that have a tendency to invade their day-to-day professional lives. Caine gets help from DNA specialist, Natalia Boa Vista (Eva La Rue), who has connections with the underground battered women's group because she herself was the victim of domestic violence (her ex-husband is in prison, she informs Detective Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez)). Because Caine understands abuse, having lived through it himself, he can sympathize with Boa Vista and treads gently regarding her getting him some information on who the female victim's beating husband was. Characters that are under suspicion include her employer (of a high-class jewelry store), the aforementioned closet homosexual who ran her into the post, a parolee who reeks of guilt, and a motorcycle thief with a reputation for snatching purses and items from people when they are at their most vulnerable. A pawn shop might be able to help in gathering evidence (gun and a hocked jewel necklace) that can incriminate the killer. With some CSI cases, more than one crime can occur, with a case seemingly closed within the first fifteen minutes (we are, at first, led to believe, the female motorist was a victim of the head-on collision, but it is determined by coroner, Dr Alexx (Khandi Alexander) only to discover, during "post" (when on Alexx's slab during the complete lab examination), that a whole different crime is revealed several shots to the head reveal that the crash itself didn't cause those skull fractures. When we see a flashback of the female motorist, trapped in her car, and the killer takes advantage of her, using her unloaded gun against the woman who couldn't defend herself, it is really hard to stomach.
Like in a lot of CSI: Miami episodes, Caine shows how superb he is at handling children going through the rigors of losing their loved ones to harsh violence. Here, you can see the show developing a relationship between Eric and Boa Vista as he considers her a possible suspected mole in Caine's department informing details to his superiors. Eric and Boa Vista share an attraction that is palpable particularly in their final scene, as opposed to their early scenes where a bit of animosity/tension shows when she tries to offer help/advice in the murder investigation involving the female motorist. Obviously, the angle of importance in this episode is the futile attempt, sometimes, to escape your past; sometimes, the past catches up with you no matter how far you run (he was in Michigan, having come to Miami to find her). Also, an interesting development that proves that the victim wasn't squeaky clean: she was responsible for swiping a jewel necklace from the store she worked as a clerk. Of course, we get the usual gun expertise from Calleigh (Emily Proctor) as her knowledge helps to determine the cause of the blows the female motorist's head. The final scene with Horatio and the boy now orphaned (seriously, his father is no real father...)is a real emotional wallop. Again, it really establishes just how valuable an actor of Caruso's caliber can add weight to his honorable intentions as a "good man" and ability to speak with a damaged child left without a mother due to unfortunate circumstances.
The show really takes an approach at providing the cast (detectives who work under Caine's day shift team) with multi-faceted characters dealing with their own personal crises or problems that have a tendency to invade their day-to-day professional lives. Caine gets help from DNA specialist, Natalia Boa Vista (Eva La Rue), who has connections with the underground battered women's group because she herself was the victim of domestic violence (her ex-husband is in prison, she informs Detective Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez)). Because Caine understands abuse, having lived through it himself, he can sympathize with Boa Vista and treads gently regarding her getting him some information on who the female victim's beating husband was. Characters that are under suspicion include her employer (of a high-class jewelry store), the aforementioned closet homosexual who ran her into the post, a parolee who reeks of guilt, and a motorcycle thief with a reputation for snatching purses and items from people when they are at their most vulnerable. A pawn shop might be able to help in gathering evidence (gun and a hocked jewel necklace) that can incriminate the killer. With some CSI cases, more than one crime can occur, with a case seemingly closed within the first fifteen minutes (we are, at first, led to believe, the female motorist was a victim of the head-on collision, but it is determined by coroner, Dr Alexx (Khandi Alexander) only to discover, during "post" (when on Alexx's slab during the complete lab examination), that a whole different crime is revealed several shots to the head reveal that the crash itself didn't cause those skull fractures. When we see a flashback of the female motorist, trapped in her car, and the killer takes advantage of her, using her unloaded gun against the woman who couldn't defend herself, it is really hard to stomach.
Like in a lot of CSI: Miami episodes, Caine shows how superb he is at handling children going through the rigors of losing their loved ones to harsh violence. Here, you can see the show developing a relationship between Eric and Boa Vista as he considers her a possible suspected mole in Caine's department informing details to his superiors. Eric and Boa Vista share an attraction that is palpable particularly in their final scene, as opposed to their early scenes where a bit of animosity/tension shows when she tries to offer help/advice in the murder investigation involving the female motorist. Obviously, the angle of importance in this episode is the futile attempt, sometimes, to escape your past; sometimes, the past catches up with you no matter how far you run (he was in Michigan, having come to Miami to find her). Also, an interesting development that proves that the victim wasn't squeaky clean: she was responsible for swiping a jewel necklace from the store she worked as a clerk. Of course, we get the usual gun expertise from Calleigh (Emily Proctor) as her knowledge helps to determine the cause of the blows the female motorist's head. The final scene with Horatio and the boy now orphaned (seriously, his father is no real father...)is a real emotional wallop. Again, it really establishes just how valuable an actor of Caruso's caliber can add weight to his honorable intentions as a "good man" and ability to speak with a damaged child left without a mother due to unfortunate circumstances.