Synopsis:
The body of a woman is found dumped on the street, her body covered in electrical burns. Though Delko notices no signs of a struggle, Dr. Price points out that there's no sign of a struggle or that she was restrained. Dr. Price determines the woman died of heart failure caused by electrical shock, noting that the victim's pupils were fully dilated at the time of her death. Horatio gets an ID on the victim: Kathy Meyers. At the station, he runs into Reggie Mastow, a homicide detective stuck on desk duty after being too aggressive in an investigation. Reggie has checked out Tim Erickson, Kathy's boyfriend, and informs Horatio that Tim has a record. Horatio and Ryan question Tim, who reported Kathy missing the night before; he tells the CSIs he was going to propose to her. Natalia finds no evidence of GHB or chloroform in Kathy's system, but does discover that Kathy had eyedrops in her eyes, which caused her pupils to dilate and effectively blinded her. Natalia finds a connection to an old case through the dilated pupils: Allison Nouvell, who was murdered a year ago. The lead suspect was an ophthalmologist named Max Paulson. The CSIs question him, but he denies killing either woman. Tripp notices he's sporting a black eye, and he tells the CSIs it's courtesy of Reggie Mastow. Horatio speaks with Reggie and learns the case he was fixated on was Allison's; he's convinced Paulson is guilty and paid him a visit to "put him on notice." To Reggie's dismay, Horatio asks for his badge and his gun, telling Reggie to let him handle the case--and promising to personally reinstate him once the case is solved.
The CSIs find a victim who escaped the clutches of the killer: Jessica Davis. Her fiancé Dennis Chilton tells Horatio that Jessica has breast cancer that's metastasized. Jessica tells Horatio that she was attacked but released after she refused to plead for her life. She's upset that the police dismissed her after she reported the attack, and Horatio promises this time will be different. Not long after he leaves, Horatio gets a call from Jessica that there's a man outside her house. He rushes to the house and finds Reggie outside in his car. Reggie tries to tell Horatio that Jessica isn't safe, but the CSI tells him if he finds him near Jessica again, he'll have his badge. Delko takes infrared pictures of Kathy's body and discovers deep tissue bruising on her neck, indicating she was being held in a blood choke, indicating their killer might have professional training. Delko suspects Reggie, but Calleigh defends him--though an encounter in an elevator with Reggie in which he tries to intimidate her into giving him details on the case leaves her doubting his innocence. Natalia notices Allison had her eyebrows threaded, which leads the CSIs to her car, parked outside a salon. At the scene, Natalia finds industrial grease. Horatio is soon called away: another body has been discovered.
Rachel Calvado has similar pupil dilation and obvious bruising around her neck, indicating the killer might be escalating. A hair found on her body is a match to Max Paulson, but Paulson has an alibi--he was at a movie theater at the time of the murder, and an usher recalls seeing him there. Calleigh wonders if Max is being set up, and sure enough when the CSIs reexamine the scene, they discover a clasp for an ankle holster. It proves a match to Reggie's holster. Horatio and Tripp find Reggie at his house, where the detective tells them that he was afraid Paulson was going to get away with two murders, so he picked out a girl with a long record and killed her in an attempt to frame Paulson. Horatio and Tripp are left with the sad duty of arresting a fellow officer. Certain Reggie didn't kill Allison or Kathy, or attack Jessica, they go back to the evidence and find two prints overlapping on a button Jessica's sweater from the day she was attacked. The technology exists to separate them, and they find a match: to Jessica's fiancé, Dennis Chilton--who she didn't even know at the time of her attack. They arrest Chilton and learn he fell in love with Jessica when he abducted her and she refused to plead for her life. He went out of his way to meet her and romance her, thinking he could give up killing. But when Jessica was diagnosed with breast cancer, he once again felt a loss of control, and murdered Kathy Meyers. Horatio tells Reggie of Paulson's innocence, and the former cop expresses regret--and later hangs himself in prison, believing he needs to pay for becoming what he despised the most.
Analysis:
"Power Trip" opens with a glimpse into the daily lives of the CSIs, a gateway into what proves to be a more personal episode overall for the Miami team. We see Calleigh going for a a jog, the fierce determination we see from her character in her job flashing across her face as she runs. Sexy Delko is emerging from the shower, beads of water trickling off him. One thing the CSI shows do well is sexualizing their male leads over the female ones; though Calleigh, Catherine on CSI and Stella over on CSI: NY wear form-fitting outfits, it's Delko, CSI: NY's Danny and occasionally CSI's Nick who show skin to titillate viewers. It's always refreshing to see men as opposed to women being played up as sex symbols. Female viewers love their eye candy as much as male ones, something those making the CSI shows wisely seem to realize.
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