CSI: Miami--'Bang, Bang, Your Debt'

Synopsis:

A romantic hook up in an SUV on the beach turns fatal for Dade University college students Jessica Taylor and Brandon Fox when their car catches on fire. Brandon barely escapes with his life, but Jessica isn't so lucky. Delko finds accelerant on the ground, and when it proves to be brake fluid, he prints the car's converter and finds a match to one Andrew Hillman, Jessica's boyfriend. Andrew remains cool under pressure, not flinching when Horatio suggests he cut the brakes on Brandon's car after learning Brandon and Jessica were spending a lot of time together. When Alexx discovers that Jessica died from carbon monoxide poisoning, Delko returns to the beach and is shocked to see CSI Tim Speedle, who was killed in a shootout in a jewelry store several years earlier. Speed helps Delko find a key piece of evidence: a burnt piece of tubing.

Calleigh and Jake Berkeley examine Jessica's apartment. Jake discovers used condoms, and the pair finds threatening messages on Jessica's answering machine from a credit card company called Liberty Coast. Keith Reynolds, the manager at Liberty Coast, refuses to give up the name of the person in charge of handling Jessica's account, but prints on the tubing lead the CSIs to the man anyway: Gary Hardwick. Gary denies killing Jessica, insisting that murdering a client would be bad for business since it would mean she would no longer be able to make payments. Brandon Fox wakes up, and is saddened to discover Jessica is dead. As they get into the Hummer to leave the hospital, Calleigh is surprised to discover one of Speedle's credit cards in the vehicle, but Eric refuses to discuss it with her. After learning the DNA in the condom belongs to Keith Reynolds, Calleigh and Delko hurry to Dade University to track down Keith, who is on campus trying to sign students up for Liberty Coast credit cards, but soon after they arrive, shots are fired--and Keith is gunned down.

Delko again sees Speed at the crime scene, this time leading him to a leaf with a bullet hole through it, making Delko think the shooter may have been hiding out in the bushes. Natalia finds sweat on the leaf and is able to match it to Gary's DNA, but Gary insists that he was just at the school to convince Keith to stop sleeping with the students in exchange for promising to alleviate their debt. When Dan Cooper shows Calleigh that Brandon was also in debt to the company, Horatio confronts him about it, and the boy admits he and Jessica were attempting to commit suicide together, seeing no other way to escape their massive debts. Calleigh and Delko retrace the bullet's path and figure out its trajectory was affected by the wind. When they find the boat the shooter was on, they discover traces of iodine antiseptic, leading them once again back to Brandon. The desperate college student admits he went gunning for Keith because Keith promised Jessica he'd alleviate her debt if she slept with him, and then went back on his promise.

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I actually thought this was the best episode of Miami in a very, very long time... probably since about midway through season 4 at the very least (I thought last season was awful). If the show is seeing a return of a more hands on Horatio, things will be looking up for sure.

I think the show really went downward after Speed died, and for some reason that brough Horatio out of the lab and into dark hallways in dark suits. If the writers / producers can find a way to get this show back to the pace and quality of season 3 I will be a very happy viewer

 

It was good to see Speedle again, but the whole Cooper trying to be him was very creepy.

I know Delko is a smart man so why did he need a ghost leading him to the evidence?

Calleigh suprised me this ep. She took on the role of the one in charge, she yelled at Delko and she let Cooper have it. You go Calleigh!!

 

Hey Top41 and everyone else

I know I commented on this on the "Bang Bang, Your Debt" thread, but I did want to comment on the episode review.

Top - I really like your reviews, they're very thorough and help us fanfic writers create "fill-in-the-blank" stories a lot easier than rewatching the ep over and over LOL. You've got some good insights - I, too, thought this was the best ep. of the season, and the best ep. I've seen in a long time, and it wasn't b/c of the crime.

I actually found the case confusing, and the second murder somewhat unbelievable. (I was in the hospital recently, and you don't just walk out - people notice, even if the nurses are swamped, believe me. I wish I could've just put my clothes on and walked outta there! Instead, I was stuck watching "Cyberlebrity" while my roommate had on some really obnoxious talkshow on. But I digress...)

Anyway, I have noticed the tendency to ship E/C in the episode commentaries, so I thought it would be appropriate to bring a shipper comment up at this point, which I hope you'll take into consideration, Top.

I keep reading about everyone whining about Jake and how he's messing up the E/C ship, etc. But let me ask you something - when was the last time Horatio and Calleigh had any interaction whatsoever? While Ryan and Calleigh have had a few nice conversations since he was fired, and Eric and Cal have almost exclusively worked crime scenes together, Horatio and Calleigh have not had a scene together in 13 episodes, and I'm being generous. In "Man Down", their "scene" consisted of a nine-word, five-second exchange. So, if you don't count "Man Down," that's 20 episodes without one scene between H and Cal - not even a phone conversation.

Now I don't begrudge anyone they're right to ship - more power to CarWash and hiphuggers. But isn't it odd that the two main leads of this show - Horatio and Calleigh - have not said more than nine words to each other in 20 episodes? It's really a blow not only to DuCaine fans, but to a lot of people who just liked the playful banter between the two characters.

The reason I bring this up is b/c the interplay between Speed and Eric reminded me of what I've been missing. Cal and H used to have the same thing - she kept H light, that's for sure. Now he's all brooding and monotone. Watch those first three seasons - listen the commentary on "After the Fall". You don't have to ship H/C to be mad that they haven't worked a case together since "Dark Room" in Season 5.

I've heard all the arguments about scheduling conflicts, but 13 episodes is rediculous. If you look at the first four episodes of Season 5, every main character (meaning in the credits) has interacted with every other main character - with the exception of Horatio and Calleigh. Is anyone ever going to acknowledge this?

I think if you're gonna mention ships in your review, this is well worth a mention, too. And this isn't exclusively a ship thing - it could be like Eric and Speedle - they just work well together.

Any possibility that we could follow up with this?

 

Okay, I don't usually follow Miami, but when I heard Speed was going to be back, I decided to check in.
Question. 3 years after Speedle's death and he still has a locker? And wouldn't credit cards have been automatically closed by his executor after his death?

nother question, if Delko is having hallucinations, how can he still be working a case? (Defence attourney "so you're sure you didn't just hallucinate the test results implicating my client?")

 

Hey Top41,

Thanks for the in-depth reply - you're the first one (aside from DuCaine fans) to acknowledge the lack of interaction between H & Cal. I really loved this episode w/Speed, and saw some of the "old H" shining through at the graveyard, and in the locker room, too. I just can't believe how distant H has gotten from the team - he didn't even check up on Eric and Cal after the shoot-out. Weird.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks and reply to your post:

I totally understand that you have to comment on the E/C thing - I guess I'm just a little bitter about the lack of scenes for H/C, and the fact that everyone's been ignoring it. Thanks for keepin' an eye out for this now, and I hope they have a scene in the next episode so I can stop bitching about this (pardon my language).

If this does continue, I hope you can find a way to point it out. Keep up the good work, and here's to hoping that last night's episode will spur TPTB to get H back to his old self and the team back to being a team.

 

What's especially jarring is the fact that Gil and Catherine, Mac and Stella all interact a lot on their repsective shows. We see how they support one another which is one reason I watch every week. Why can't we see more of this on Miami because it makes Horatio awfully alone.

By the way I'm surprised the review didn't mention the theme connecting all the plots in the episode. Namely Ryan mentions living off his credit cards, the main case was about credit cards, and then there was Dan's use of Speedle's credit card (weird no one thought to deactivate it three years after his death).

 

See, I think Eric is Horatio's Stella, not Calleigh. Yes, she's the woman, but she doesn't have that close friendship/relationship with Horatio. They never really have. He's always treated her like a subordinate or a surrogate kid. He seems to treat Eric more as an equal. Every time he needs someone, he calls Eric. He did leave Calleigh in charge last season, but took Eric to Brazil with him. He's more open to Eric, both professionally and personally. The franchise does need to be more feminist, but I wouldn't look to Miami to fix that problem.

As for the lack of H/C scenes, well, there's some pretty strong rumors going around about that and though nothing's been confirmed it IS pretty damn sketchy. And it's a well known fact that Caruso's pretty tough to get along with and pretty arrogant to boot, so. I wouldn't count on Calleigh becoming his Stella. He would never share the spotlight.

 

Actually I think Eric has become closer to Horatio over the course of the last two seasons. And I think that was largely due to Marisol. From the way season 1 began it looked like Megan Donner was going to handle the Catherine/Stella role but with Kim Delaney's departure (thank God!) Calleigh fell into that role (which she did play in the pilot). But you're right in that Eric has become the friend H confides in and it puts a nice spin on the CSI format.

 

Great job Top! You alwyas manage to make me smile when I see you've reviewed. I sometimes look forward to your post more than the episode.

I was actually dreading this epi. I was thinking, God, Miami has finally lost it and are using ghosts to fight crime. What next? Liver eating mutants? This isn't the X-Files!

But, not wanting to judge a book, I tuned in and was pleasantly supprised. They didn't over play Speeds' return at all and the times he was on screen were tastfully done.

As for the characters reactions to Speeds' memory being brought back and to Coopers complete lack of common sense, I though the writers did an excellent job. Though I did feel it was a litle out of character for Coop. But overall a great job.

Bravo Miami.

And to Top, of course.

Jodie
xx