jonathan togo

(S05E08) After last week's episode, I read a decent chunk of comments about how viewers weren't too excited about Boa Vista and all the screen time she's been getting as the newest member of the team. As one commenter put it, "It seems the producers are trying to get us to like the Boa Vista character by making her the center of Season 5."

Well, I don't think most people realized it (unless they read it somewhere beforehand as I did), but this episode was based partly on a true story. Eva LaRue, who plays Natalia, went through a similar ordeal in real life with her sister Nikka. So I think in this case we can cut Boa Vista some slack.

(S05E07) This show is so bad and that's why I love it. It's a full hour of garbage every week and I can't help but watch it. I love that about CSI: Miami.

So imagine my surprise after this episode. It was actually so bad, that it was, well... bad. First episode all season that I didn't like and I've got a whole laundry list of reasons that began with the very first scene. Underground car racing? Really? Haven't we had enough of this Fast and the Furious junk? Sure the first film wasn't that bad, although I liked it better the first time I saw it when it was called Point Break. Second one wasn't necessary, then they went to Tokyo, and now it's invading my beloved CSI: Miami. Damn you Vin Diesel.

(S05E06) Has CSI: Miami ever had a Halloween themed episode before? I don't think they have. Good for us because they saved all the cheesy stuff for this one. What a great episode. Sort of creepy, completely laughable and it was chock full of hilarious lines. Take that picture to the right? Anyone else remember what Horatio mumbled as he was casually strolling away from the exploding car? "Burn baby, burn." Stuff like that? Another reason to love this show.

(S05E05) This was an interesting episode. It wasn't great... just interesting. The use of eminent domain as the focus for the primary case was an odd choice I thought. Not because it isn't a big issue in Florida. It is. I just thought the way they adapted it to this particular episode was a little self-serving and far-fetched. I mean, the city of Miami snatching up a whole neighborhood near the water to make strip-malls or whatever? Of course, it was all the result of dirty politics. All good reasons for Horatio to cock his head and say something brilliant.

(S05E04) People love to badmouth this show! "It's cheesy!" "It's so campy!" "A corpse could act better than David Caruso!" All of that may be true, but if people are badmouthing CSI: Miami, that means something else too. We're all watching it! That's got to count for something. Well I still think it's good, and despite the slow start to this episode, I think it turned into one of the best Miami eps yet.

(S05E03) 100 episodes... quite the milestone for any show. And how does CSI: Miami celebrate? By having Omar Gooding guest star. If that doesn't say milestone, I don't know what does.

(S05E02) One of the things I always found interesting about CSI: Miami was that out of the three shows in the franchise, Miami is the only one that really played up the specialties of it's cast. You know what I'm talking about. Delko is an expert recovery diver, Calleigh has expertise in firearms and ballistics, and Speedle (great character) had a skill too but I forget what. Not sure what Wolfe does but I think Boa Vista is good with DNA or something like that.

Anyway, my whole point here is that the show is unique because it does that. It's like some sort of super team and it looks like we're finally going to get some backstory this season on where everyone honed their skills. First up? Calleigh.

(S05E01) I love this show and I'm thoroughly excited that it's back. I still think it's the best in the CSI franchise and after last year's cliffhanger, this is the one premiere that I've honestly been looking forward to. We pick up right where we left off, with Horatio and Delko in pursuit of Antonio Riaz, the drug kingpin responsible for the death of Horatio's wife (and Delko's sister) Marisol. Riaz has fled the country thanks to the deal he cut with the Feds. Next stop? Brazil.

(S04E25) Well this was easily the best of the three CSI season finales this year. It answered all the lingering questions (mainly, the mole) and it was coupled with one pretty intense case (finding the jerk who ordered the hit on Marisol). On top of that, it had so many twists and turns that I'll be impressed with myself if I remember them all as I write this up.

It's been at least a few weeks since last week's episode ended. Marisol has been buried and Horatio, with the help of Delko, continues to search for Antonio Riaz. They finally get a break when about half a dozen Mala Noche gang members are found brutally shot. Unfortunately, Riaz wasn't one of them. While investigating the scene, Jessop triggered a grenade wired inside of a barbeque grill. The blast launched him nearly to the other side of the swimming pool. Alexx pronounced him minutes later. I'm really not sure what the point of killing Jessop was, other than shock value. Well... I was shocked.

(S04E24) What a great way to tie this whole season together. With only one episode left, the Male Noche gang from way back in the season premiere has returned and they want Horatio dead. Recall that H shut down a lot of the gang's Miami operations so it makes sense that they'd be holding a grudge.

Last week's cliffhanger didn't really lead to anything. The only purpose it served was to let us know that someone wanted to hit H. But no one was shot at his wedding (to Marisol) and I'm guessing this episode takes place about a week later. The Noches are finally on trial (that took a while...) but the courtroom proceedings don't go very smoothly. While on the stand, one of the Noche leaders grabs a gun from the prosecutor (it was evidence), tosses it to his buddy in the crowd, who then locks in a magazine and starts firing. Two of the Noche leaders got away, but only later do we find out why.

(S04E23) I can't say that I was a big fan of this episode. It had one hell of a cliffhanger ending, but it came out of nowhere! Which I suppose is why they call it a cliffhanger, but still... it made no sense to me.

Horatio and Marisol moved pretty fast on the wedding plans. It only took them a couple of days to get something set up with a Justice of the Peace. I didn't get why no one from the lab was going though. Delko was initially against it and Calleigh and Wolfe only picthed in on a bottle of champagne. Natalia and Alexx didn't go either. I can understand why they wanted to have a small ceremony, but it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of co-workers present? Whatever. On to the cases.

(S04E22) Did anyone else find it incredibly funny that almost every commercial break during this episode had a preview for that new movie Poseidon? We kept going from Horatio and his team having a grand ol' time investigating murders on a cruise ship to another ship sinking and burning while Richard Dreyfuss ran around screaming like a girl. I laughed every time.

Of course, it didn't help that I found the episode itself a tad funny. It was a bit of a cheesy installment. Don't get me wrong though. I love the idea of an evil cruise ship captain who strangles people with the neck strap from a pair of binoculars.

(S04E21) Five episodes to go until the season finale and it's all coming together. Storylines are starting to show some answers and the tension that's existed between Delko and Wolfe all season is reaching it's boiling point.

The opening for the episode was a little cheesy. They ripped it right from that film Cellular. Some kidnapped woman gets a hold of a phone and dials a random number when she meant to call her husband. Fortunately, the person who did get the call happened to be standing about 30 feet from Horatio. That was convenient.

(S04E20) This was an interesting episode. Odd though because it was a continuation of this episode from way back in January. Remember Leo and Sienna, our Bonnie and Clyde wannabes? They were caught on that drawbridge and threw all that money around? They went to jail but only now was their story addressed. If I understood it right though, it's only been three days since Leo and Sienna were caught and there's been five episodes since they were introduced. I don't know why, but I found that weird. I guess I just thought more time would have elapsed.

Anyway, they've been released and have already been connected to two dead drug smugglers. Turns out the dead guys had some money that matched the bills Leo and Sienna were found with. Money, of course, means Calleigh's former flame Peter Elliot is around. He's an expert in tracking laundered money. And being a jerk.

I wish I could have been at the writer's meeting where the story arc for this episode got pitched, because the more I thought about it, this is the only way that it could have gone (make sure you read it fast and act very excited):

"Okay, so this guy has sex with a hotel valet. Then the guy kills the valet but a woman driving by sees this happen. So the guy drives after her and runs her off the road. Crash, bang. Then the guy dumps the valet's body in the woman's trunk and he drives off. But the woman isn't dead. She wakes up only to find her ex-husband has stumbled upon the crash. He gets angry and beats her to death with the butt-end of a handgun. Everyone got that?"

To which I'm sure there was one collective, "Can you repeat that?" Now, mind you, I'm not talking down about this episode because I thought it was very good. I certainly didn't peg that guy in the SUV as the dead woman's ex. Of course, since the crimes were so good, not much was advanced in the ongoing plot department.