"Miscarriage Of Justice" Discussion *SPOILERS*

First of all, in response to the criticism of Riley,

I really like the Riley angle. I like how she talked about it without getting overly emotional, acting out-of-character or breaking down in tears. She tries her best to distance and dissociate herself from it, which seemed very believable. Overall, I loved that it was a very realistic angle, particularly in comparison to past CSI-angst angles. Getting blown up, buried alive, attacked by a serial killer, etc. just aren't as common, but losing someone close to suicide is, sadly, quite common, and Riley's reaction seemed very believable. IMO, Lauren Lee Smith did an excellent job of subtly and tastefully conveying her grief.

And I really don't think it's fair to compare her to Sara. I thought part of the problem with Sara was her inability to separate personal feelings from her work. Riley, on the other hand, has clearly worked hard to keep her own biases from endangering her cases. She clearly wanted to tell Humphreys' widow what else had been in the note, but she restrained herself. I would say this really does separate her from Sara. If anything, I think her level of discipline and dedication makes her more like Nick, and how he kept going after the burial and, especially, after Warrick's death. By the end of the episode, she was still able to joke around with the team and not dwell on the tragedy. I definitely have a lot of respect for the character as a result.

Other things:

Not much of a one-liner

Whoever played the Congressman did an excellent job of playing an enigma. At the beginning, I thought he was trying to look sympathetic to avoid a conviction for a crime he committed, but, in the end, you find out that all along he's been covering for his wife. He cheated on her and gave her an STD, thus inadvertently killing the child she'd been desperately waiting for, but, in the end, he was still willing to go to jail for her. That definitely redeemed him, at least in part, in my eyes.

SuperDave's glasses?? ;(

Poor policewoman at the scene of Humphreys' suicide! She seemed rather traumatized.

Cath did a great job. She's definitely proving her critics wrong about the kind of supervisor she'd be. I feel like she's done a great job of keeping her own character (along with her own social skills and politicking abilities) while adapting some of the best parts of Grissom's supervisory style.

Do men actually wear cashmere? As soon as Hodges told Cath that the fibers in the gun was cashmere, I thought they ought to check Humphreys' and the Congressman's wives. I know that none of my guy friends would ever wear cashmere, though it might be more because none of them can afford it.

Interesting transition from Riley/Greg @ car scene to interview w/ wife. I was expecting Riley to say something else, and the wife starts talking about her husband before the screen fades, making me think, at least temporarily, that it's Riley talking about a former husband.

The music toward the beginning of the episode, when Greg, Riley and Nick were processing, really irritated me; very repetitive and especially annoying to play underneath the dialogue.

Ray and Cath get along great. I really liked how LF portrayed Ray's frustration without getting whiny. It was a very fine line between letting his frustration get whiny and childish (especially given the lines) and avoiding grating on the audience's nerves. I'd say he walked that line very well, and managed to convey his frustration perfectly. He did a great job throughout the episode of keeping his calm while still letting the audience see his frustration. You can definitely tell he's different from Grissom.

The image of the chlamydia was gross.

I really like the computer program/tool they used to show the timeslots and alibis

Loved the scene with Greg processing the closet. It's nice to finally see him getting at least a little emotional.

The Congressman's lawyer was a great love-to-hate character. Very clever and conniving, but Ray did a good job holding his ground.

It was kind of weird how they kept panning to the daughter before they said who she was (unless I missed that scene).

It was similarly weird, IMO, how they introduced Tommy the pimp (or whatever more PC term he would fall under). Brass made it clear that LVPD had been looking all over for Tommy, yet we hadn't heard about him before the scene.

That said, the scene with Tommy and Brass was hilarious. Is it just me, or does Tommy totally sound like Matthew McConoughy? He also reminded me of Jack Black. Overall, I loved that character and I hope they make him one of those semi-recurring characters (like Stoner Dude from 'Ending Happy' and 'Disarmed and Dangerous').

Did anyone else notice that the doctor Ray talked to also played a cylon/Doctor on BSG? That made my day. It was especially amusing, since he was a verrryy different doctor on that show, though he was pretty much wearing the same thing. It wasn't even one of the BSG writers who did this episode.

I'm glad Greg got more lines and action. Hodges had no lines. We are seeing a lot more of Henry this year. No Wendy?

Ditto on all scores. I loved the increase in Henry and Greg, and definitely appreciated the reprieve from Hodges for a week. But I still miss Wendy.


I'm confused about the ending and the involvement of the Congressman's Aide.

So the Mrs. Griffin killed Amber. What role did Humphreys play? I know he tried to poison Amber and inadvertantly poisoned her daughter too. Did Humphreys clear the scene and hide the gun on the orders of the Congressman? Did the Congress figure out it was his wife (once the gun was missing) and then call Humphreys? Thanks for any help. It could be I'm sleep deprived and missed something.

My understanding was the the Congressman's aide really believed in the Congressman and was willing to give his life to see the Congressman's career prosper. We don't really know what kind of legislator Griffin was, so it's hard to say what exactly it was that made Humphreys think that Griffin's career was more important than Humphreys' own life. Overall, from the interview with Mrs. Humphreys, it sounded like Humphreys really believed in Griffin's work though.

As to your question, I think Humphreys saw the gun (which he lied about under oath, as Greg noted), recognized it as Griffin's and assumed that Griffin was the one who killed Amber. Humphreys was already poisoning Amber, so we know that he wanted her dead anyway. He didn't want Griffin to go down for the crime, thus ending Griffin's career, so he took the fall for it. I don't think there was any indication that Griffin called Humphreys ahead of time to ask him to clean up the scene. Had he done so, he likely would have told Humphreys the whole story (that he knew, based on the missing gun, that his wife had killed Amber), Humphreys wouldn't have helped in any way, since Mrs. Griffin told Brass (or at least I think it was Brass) that Humphreys thought that Mrs. Griffin was a liability and wanted Griffin to divorce her.

Hope that helps. ;)



I'm guessing that someone in her family committed suicide or she attempted it herself.
That would be quite the twist if the latter were true, especially considering her comment about suicide. I am guessing though that it was a sibling (perhaps a twin) or possibly an ex bf or hubby. In her first ep she said "my parents are both shrinks" which suggests that both are still alive.

Personally, I'm thinking she lost a husband or a boyfriend, especially because of some of the comments to the wife, which, IMO, indicated that she understands what the widow is going through, specifically as a widow.

- Did like that everyone was working on this one case and that they changed their theories when the evidence started pointing in a different direction.

I was thinking the same thing! Cath's scene with Ray where she talked about the theories changing totally reminded me of the scene in 'Who Shot Sherlock' where Greg thinks he failed his proficiency because he made the wrong theory, but got all the evidence, and I definitely felt like there was a parallel between Grissom and Cath's supervisory comments about theories changing when the evidence changes.
 
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I'm glad Greg got more lines and action. Hodges had no lines. We are seeing a lot more of Henry this year. No Wendy? Drinks at the end were nice...

Hodges did have lines. Just ont many of them.

I'm confused about the ending and the involvement of the Congressman's Aide.

So the Mrs. Griffin killed Amber. What role did Humphreys play? I know he tried to poison Amber and inadvertantly poisoned her daughter too. Did Humphreys clear the scene and hide the gun on the orders of the Congressman? Did the Congress figure out it was his wife (once the gun was missing) and then call Humphreys? Thanks for any help. It could be I'm sleep deprived and missed something.

My understanding:

Humphreys was attempting to poison Amber (not sure exactly why, though, other than maybe to get her out of the congressman's life, maybe?)

The Congressman stumbles upon Amber's body, calls Humphreys and has him clear the scene. The lawyer's actually right: he did panic and just didn't call 911.

It's not until the cops ask about his gun and he discovers it missing that he realizes his wife probably did it. He probably felt confident enough that his lawyer would get him off (and maybe also guilty enough because of what he did to his wife) to go through the trial.

Dave
 
I loved this episode, IMO it just goes to show that CSI is just as good if not better without Grissom.

I loved how everyone got pretty much equal screen time, and for the most part everyone interacted with just about everyone else.

A look into Riley's character a bit was nice, so it would seem she knew someone who committed suicide.

The case was interesting and had some of the twist and tuns CSI is known for, it kept my attention and it was exciting. Seemed like old school CSI especially with the dinner/bar scene at the end - they are a team and its good to see them act like one. Catherine & Greg summed it up nicely when they said "Teamwork" "Makes the dream work."

excellent episode
 
Sara's comment in Nesting Dolls (which IMO was more severe than what Riley said in tonight's ep) was triggered by the case bringing back bad memories about her parents, so I don't blame her too much for snapping.
What was Sara's comment? I don't remember.

I do think though that Riley has a reason to say people who committ suicide are selfish. After all, when the widow said "you don't understand", Riley's response was "actually, I do" and her facial expression said to me that she was telling the truth about that. And she even added "some people just can't be saved". The tone in her voice said she was speaking from experience. She lowered her voice and her voice was near breaking. That suggests that she's had experience with someone close to her committing suicide.
Hmmm. Yeah, that's a good point. I thought that was just another incident of her being an idiot, but maybe not. I still don't like her though - disliked her from the very beginning.

- TPTB's glaring mistake? They wanted a big name star as the male lead and they made him level 1.
Yeah, I agree with that.

My understanding:

Humphreys was attempting to poison Amber (not sure exactly why, though, other than maybe to get her out of the congressman's life, maybe?)

The Congressman stumbles upon Amber's body, calls Humphreys and has him clear the scene. The lawyer's actually right: he did panic and just didn't call 911.

It's not until the cops ask about his gun and he discovers it missing that he realizes his wife probably did it. He probably felt confident enough that his lawyer would get him off (and maybe also guilty enough because of what he did to his wife) to go through the trial
Thanks!!! :thumbsup: I was confused about that too.
 
WOW, lots of varied and different opinions and theories on this one, I liked it, back to good CSI drama and teamwork at it's best. Everyone one was awesome and did what they had to do, together, the congressman, and his wife and girllfriend and "who did it" made one interested from the beginning to the end. LF is charming and laid back and gentle. He delivers his lines with accurate precision and his timing, excellent. Good choice on him. He's no Grissom, but has his own brand of charmisma. Riley will never be the CSI that Sara was, [my opinion], she's a bit boring,:rolleyes: but had a few stellar moments. Sara always the professional and distanced herself on the cases from her personal life, kept it private and a secret, as Grissom did, and was such a riveting exceptional actress always....Cath was good, and the boys, what to say their great:bolian:Miguel Ferrer as the defense attorney also a good actor, [and boy does he look like his dad Jose Ferrer and his mom was Rosemary Clooney and his cousin George Clooney]. Acting is his forte. The end was sweet with everyone having drinks but I was a bit dismayed as to why after working with 3 CSI's Grissom and Sara [the lovebirds] and Warrick, for 9 years & being gone for such a short time they didn't toast to them, saying something like "I wished they were here to celebrate this victory" they didn't mention them at all. Not that they should overwhelm the ep. but how could they or the writers dismiss them so easily. But the line was great from Cath "Ray got it right" and Ray back "Ray had alot of help":thumbsup: good episode!
 
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:thumbsup:Here is my first impressions... It was good. I love the teamwork because it makes the dream work heh...:D The case was interesting. The episode title says 'Miscarriage of Justice' so i didn't surprise when they found the shooter was the wife who had a miscarriage. The Congressman broke his wife's heart, the wife killed Amber,the Congressman decided the take responsibility but then Humphreys killed himself leaving his wife's heart broken... but at least they found the killer and helped Amber's daughter.

I think i like Riley and want to know her more, also like Lauren L. S.'s unexaggerated acting in this eppy. The episode was a preparation to a Riley story and Greg's reaction shows that he will/may be a part of the story. Nice scene when Nick said to Greg about Riley in Amber's house. It was good to see the boys together btw.

The final scene was so nice. The team,the friendship, everthing is going well. After Sara, Warrick and Griss leaving this is what the team needs i think.
 
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Thanks so much for the clarification of the story:p...I really appreciate it. I'm also glad to be back reading discussion of the episode that are mature and insightful....
 
Thanks so much for the clarification of the story:p...I really appreciate it. I'm also glad to be back reading discussion of the episode that are mature and insightful....


Oh yeah. Me too. I think the balance of screentime has settled a lot of people. I know I'm feeling better about the show now that a lot of storylines have disappeared and the emphasis is on the team.

LF has brought a lot to this show already. I see it even though some people may not because they are so in grief about Grissom leaving.

Humphreys was attempting to poison Amber (not sure exactly why, though, other than maybe to get her out of the congressman's life, maybe?)

See, and I'd love it if someone could clarify me as I's very confused:lol:. Why was Amber poisoned? Unless Humphrey poisoned both of them with only the intention to kill the mom.

I felt very bad for the daughter as her mom had been lying to her, but I can understand why mom did what she did. When you're a single parent you'll do anything to keep food on the table and a roof over your head for your kids. I'm not saying I agree with mom for what she did, but obviously she wanted her daughter to have everything and sadly stripping brought in the big bucks more so than a retail or an office job would.

I'm with Catherine, I would have killed the husband-althugh probably not, I'd hire a nasty lawyer and take him for everything he's got and ruin his reputation in the process.;)

I like how Langston was very compassionate towards the daughter, he saved her life.

Poor policewoman at the scene of Humphreys' suicide! She seemed rather traumatized.

Could someone confirm something for me, Humphrey didn't die because the cop shot him (suicide by cops is common for)? He did die by his own hands?
 
Could someone confirm something for me, Humphrey didn't die because the cop shot him (suicide by cops is common for)? He did die by his own hands?

Yeah he did. To my understanding the female cop told Catherine that she didn't fire a shot when she spotted the gun in Humphrey's hand. Only told him to freeze and drop the weapon.
 
Great cast list. You have Miguel Ferrrer who was on the show Crossing Jordan, Kathleen York, who was seen in Desperate Housewives and had her song "In the Deep" featured during CSI: NY, David Starzyk was last seen in last week's episode of Desperate Housewives and was in past episodes of CSI: Miami and CSI: NY and of course a script from Jacqueline Hoyt. It's sure to be a great episode.

Either you are too young or I'm too old :lol: I remember Miguel Ferrer from Twin Peaks, he was hilarious and unforgetable. Also, I really like Melinda McGraw and it was good to see her again. I saw that twist coming because apart from Ferrer, she's the other one that has had a recurring character in a hit show, so she obviously wasn't in the episode just to play the grieving wife ;)

But yeah, I agree that the title provided the best clue to know who was the real killer, I forgot about that until I read it here.
 
I'm with Catherine, I would have killed the husband-althugh probably not, I'd hire a nasty lawyer and take him for everything he's got and ruin his reputation in the process.;)

Yeah well, that would probably be worse for him and be the most gratifying because you'd get to see him suffer longer. :lol: So yeah, take him for every penny would be the best option. :lol: She could even sue for alienation of affection. :lol:


the title provided the best clue to know who was the real killer

Doh! I didn't even get that till you said that. :lol: Those creative writers! :lol:
 
Doh! I didn't even get that till you said that. :lol: Those creative writers! :lol:
I knew right away when I saw the title that it would feature someting in the SL about it, but I didn't make the connection that it was about who the killer was. I do love how they play with those titles though! Suckers is my favorite ep and the title is soooo appropriate for both the A and B SL's in that ep!!! :lol:

ETA: Another thing I noticed is you can usually tell if the ep is going to be any good or not just by reading the title. IMO, some of the stupidest eps had stupid titles to match... Chick Chop Flick Shop, Leapin' Lizards, A La Cart, Fur and Loathing, Poppin' Tags, Rashomama, all the miniature killer eps, etc. One that surprised me was Fannysmackin' - I thought for sure it would be stupid, but it's one of my favorite eps.
 
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I actually really liked A La Cart (dumb title though) and Rashomama (the title means something, but not sure what lol - I really loved Greg's b/w scene it was so silly and quirky, we need a break from all the seriousness every once in a while and I loved Nick's reaction to what the vandals did to his truck lol). Don't remember Chick Chop Flick Shop (that title sounds like a bad horror movie title though lol). Liked Leapin Lizards some, but mostly just because of Greg's scene with Ally Sheedy. :lol: Fur and Loathing was just too weird although I love Cath's line about hairy chests and Greg's line "that's what you get for eating..." :lol: But, the case itself was weird. Don't remember a whole lot about Poppin' Tags except for it had Drops in it. :lol:
 
Don't remember Chick Chop Flick Shop (that title sounds like a bad horror movie title though lol).
I think that's on Spike tonight at 8 if you're interested. ;) And I think it is about a horror movie actually - I think some "actress" is killed or something. I put actress in quotes because it doesn't take much talent to run around screaming and that's all most of those slasher flicks are. :lol:

Liked Leapin Lizards some, but mostly just because of Greg's scene with Ally Sheedy. :lol:
She was in that ep?! :wtf: Didn't she play the miniature killer? Or am I thinking of a different actress? :confused:

Rashomama (the title means something, but not sure what lol
I think it's a play on words for a Jewish holiday.
 
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