I have to agree with you, MaddyAnn. Julia just seems to be unnecessary now. Horatio seems to have custody of Kyle and Kyle seems to be okay with it. Well, wouldn't you be if your dad just set you up in your own place and handed you a job that didn't include asking if you want fries with that?
I still don't get the timeline unless we're crossing over into soap opera territory and changing Kyle's age from 17 to over 18 and ignoring the time he spent in prison not earning his GED, unless it comes out later that he spent his time earning his GED. That, I can buy. Lots of inmates do it as well as learn law while incarcerated. I can see Oscar influencing Kyle to learn before he was murdered. Oscar wasn't really a bad guy, just a guy that made a lot of wrong decisions and couldn't get out of the cycle until Horatio offered him a helping hand. Too bad big old Oscar had to pay the ultimate price for being a good guy in the wrong circumstance. I really liked him.