CSI: Miami--'The DeLuca Motel'

Discussion in 'CSI Files News Items' started by CSI Files, Dec 10, 2008.

  1. CSI Files

    CSI Files Captain

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    <p><b>Synopsis:</b><p>The DeLuca Motel is the temporary home of CSI Eric Delko; he carefully checks his car before going in it for change for a soda. When he gets to his room, a bullet slams through the window, grazing Delko's arm as he ducks for cover. Delko escapes with just a scrape, but a young man isn't so lucky: he's found dead in the hotel pool, a blindfold covering his eyes and a single gunshot wound to his chest. While Calleigh and Tripp examine the room their victim came from, Ryan removes the shattered bullet from the wall in Delko's room. He asks Delko about why he's at the motel and Delko deflects, claiming he's having his condo remodeled. A pin with Greek letters for Beta Sigma Mu on the body and fibers caught in the window allow the CSIs to identify the victim as Seth Copeland. They question his frat brother, Neil Scofield, who admits to hazing Seth. After gunshots rang out, Neil fled the room, leaving Seth behind. He didn't report what happened, afraid it would make him look guilty. Calleigh and Delko return to the hotel room and are able to approximate the bullet's trajectory; it leads right to the place where Delko recalls seeing a couple arguing the day before. Horatio and Delko question Molly Reston and her husband Carl, who has priors for assault. Both claim they had just gone in their room when the shots were fired.<p>After a conversation with Ryan about a note he found in Delko's hotel room, Horatio pays a visit to Enrico Moldano, the bartender at the bar referred to on Delko's note. Enrico admits to Horatio that Delko wanted something from Cuba, but he won't tell Horatio what it was. Calleigh and Tripp search the Restons' motel room, suspicious by their lack of luggage. Calleigh notices a vent in the room that's been disturbed and climbs up into it--only to discover the body of a man in the next room over, in a bathtub filled with ice! The very pregnant resident of the room, Linda Bowen, tells the CSIs that her boyfriend Joel dropped dead shortly after telling her he found a way to support them. Afraid of having to live without her boyfriend's disability checks, she concealed the body. Calleigh tells her they'll determine if Joel's death was in fact natural. Ryan tells Delko he discovered the bullet in his motel room wall is a different calibre from the one in Seth; there are two different shooters. Ryan asks Delko if someone is gunning for him, and Delko admits he's not sure and that he's been staying at the motel because he feared he was under surveillance. Realizing Enrico was the only one who knew where he was, he goes to confront the bartender--only to find him dead in the alley behind the bar he worked in. Delko calls for back up, and when Horatio arrives, he pulls Delko off the case, concerned by the violence surrounding the CSI. Delko admits to Horatio that Enrico had gotten a copy of his birth certificate for him from Cuba. Dr. Price notes lipstick trace on the Enrico's lips and wonders if he was killed by a woman. Ryan finds a .38 pistol and matches it to the bullet that killed Seth Copeland. He also finds Carl Reston's prints on it. Horatio and Tripp interrogate the Restons again; they admit to arguing over a missing stash of cash. During the argument, Carl pulled his gun on Molly, and it went off when she pushed it away. Panicked, he ditched the gun; he recalls it fired again when he tossed it into a barrel. Ryan goes back to the hotel and finds a hole in a barrel that backs up his story. He and Natalia also notice three tire treads and surmise they came from an ATV.<p>Calleigh pays Linda Bowen a visit and tells her Joel did indeed die of natural causes. She asks about Joel's windfall, and the young woman claims she didn't know what it was. Calleigh searches the area where Joel collapsed, discovering a bag of cash stashed in the hotel's ice storage unit. While the team works the case, Delko sits down with his mother, Carmen, and asks about his real father, telling her he knows the truth: he was born in Cuba, not America as she claims. He asks about Alexander Sherova, the name on the birth certificate, and she tells him his father was a bad man and urges Delko to let it go. Suspecting the money the Restons had was from illegal activities, Calleigh pressures Molly Reston to give it up, allowing Calleigh to turn around and give it to Linda Bowen, under a Miami statue that allows found money to be claimed by the person who found it if it's not claimed by another owner. The $26,000 will give Linda a fresh start. The grateful woman hugs Calleigh. Natalia and Horatio go over the tire treads and identify the ATV as a Cam Am Spyder. They look at women owners of the vehicle and Horatio recognizes one of them, Kate Hawkes, as a woman he saw with Enrico when he first went to see the man. The CSIs track Kate down and she tells them the attack on Delko was "just a job." Carl Reston's accidental shooting of Seth Copeland at the same time Kate fired at Delko compromised her and forced her to hide--and then take the .38 and use it to shoot Enrico. Kate seems willing to trade Alexander Sherova's location for a deal, but Horatio surmises she doesn't actually know his whereabouts. Horatio approaches Delko to caution him that Sherova isn't going away; that this is just the beginning.<p><b>Analysis:</b><p>"The DeLuca Motel" doesn't feel like a typical episode of <i>CSI: Miami</i>--and that's a good thing. Not that action isn't fun, but it so often overshadows the characters that we don't get the nice through lines that pop up in this episode. Delko's search for the truth about his father, Calleigh's compassion for the struggling young pregnant woman and Ryan's concern for Delko were all far more interesting than any explosion ever will be. Even the opening of the episode was different, at least in the respect that it involved one of the show's main characters. The setting isn't a glamorous Miami party or a trendy club either; it's a run-down motel with some shady clientele. The people are far more real than the trendy hipsters and slick moguls (of legal or illegal enterprises) that we're used to seeing on a weekly basis on the show.<p>The big news here is Delko's parentage, though I'm slightly confused on that front. Calleigh makes a reference to forgetting that Delko was half-Russian in <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/miami/season7/raging_cannibal.shtml">"Raging Cannibal"</a>, so presumably this is something she has known about for a while. Are we supposed to believe, then, that Delko thought his real father was Russian man, but has now learned, in fact, that his real father is a different Russian man from the one he thought? There's no reference here to the man Delko thought was his father before this revelation; perhaps we'll learn more about him in future episodes. It's nice to see Delko with his mother as well; <font color=yellow>Adam Rodriguez</font> and <font color=yellow>Adriana Barraza</font> have a natural warmth together in their scene. The two interact like a loving mother and son, and it's clear that Delko's mother concealed his father's identity from him out of concern for him and his safety rather than from any selfish motives.<p><HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"><p>To read the full reviews, please click <A HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/csi/the_deluca_motel.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>
     
  2. BulletGirl159

    BulletGirl159 Civilian

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    The big news here is Delko's parentage, though I'm slightly confused on that front. Calleigh makes a reference to forgetting that Delko was half-Russian in "Raging Cannibal", so presumably this is something she has known about for a while. Are we supposed to believe, then, that Delko thought his real father was Russian man, but has now learned, in fact, that his real father is a different Russian man from the one he thought? There's no reference here to the man Delko thought was his father before this revelation; perhaps we'll learn more about him in future episodes.

    this ticks me off. if this person were to have ever even WATCHED the first season, she would know he's russian! in episode eight, 'Slaughterhouse', speedle asks eric 'what is 'Delko' short for anyway?' he responds that it is short for 'Delektorsky' and that his dad is russian, his mother cuban. then in episode sixteen, 'Evidence of Things Unseen', he is heard speaking russian to a suspect on two separate occasions, for upwards of ten seconds each. i can only assume it is russian though, because it DEFINATELY was NOT spanish, french, or any other romance language! Eric Delko's father may or may not be who he thinks he is, but his dad is definately who eric was brought up believing who it was. this guy who put a hit out on his life may be his father, but he is not his dad.
     
  3. Top41

    Top41 Administrator Administrator Moderator Premium Member

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    Fair enough; in my defense, it's been a few years since I've seen most of the first season episodes, and it's not something that's referred to overly often.

    And of course Delko's dad is the man who brought him up; I was simply commenting on the fact that the man who raised Delko isn't really referenced here, and that felt a bit off.
     
  4. Faylinn

    Faylinn Adam Fangirl Super Moderator

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    Even fans can't always remember every detail from a show - particularly some six years after the information was revealed. (And of course, some fans start watching a show later, so when the series brings up something from a previous season, they should explain it enough to jog the memories of those who saw it and to inform those who may not have. This is a procedural, so people may not watch it in the same way they'd watch a serial drama.) I remembered that Delko was Russian before Calleigh mentioned it in "Raging Cannibal" because I had a brief crush on Delko and watched season 1 much more recently than it originally aired - and I went through a phase where I was in love with Russia, so it's something I would remember. But I digress.

    Regardless of whether season 1 gave information or not, the reviewer's point stands. Delko knew his father was Russian, but his real father is a different Russian man? Why no mention of the man who raised him in the episode? Is he still in the picture? I do hope we learn more about his father in addition to his biological father - who I am guessing will show up before the season's end.

    I definitely loved the scenes between Ryan and Delko - they're a bit prickly sometimes, but there's obviously a genuine affection and concern there. I don't remember his exact line, but I liked when Ryan basically said Delko's business became his business when they started working together. (That may not be what he actually said, but something to that effect.)

    The storyline with Calleigh and Linda was sweet - and kind of odd. I mean, they didn't give much information on Linda, and not everybody has this option, but if I was pregnant and my baby-daddy died, I'd go home and live with my family. I wouldn't keep his body in the tub at the motel I'm living in. :wtf: It was nice that Calleigh took the effort to help her, though.

    I wonder if Kate Hawkes is related to Sheldon Hawkes on CSI:NY? He could have some Russian in him, and he did mention a lady named Anna and some Russian caviar in season 1 - Significant? I THINK SO! :lol: I kid, I kid. :p
     
  5. church2001

    church2001 Witness

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    I was a little confused Marisol wasn't mentioned (and she was a major character three seasons ago). This suggested to me that she must be the daughter of the man who raised Eric (thus making her his half-sister).

    It was bugging me why Linda seemed so familiar. I discovered on imdb that she appeared on two episodes of CSI back when Liev Shreiber did his guest stint. It seems a lot of the same people like to circulate around the shows.

    By the way I loved the scene with Frank giving Calleigh a boost into the duct. Its not often they emphasize how tall Frank is (or how short Calleigh is).
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2008

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