He mentioned her in season 1 (Kill Zone?) and he also mentioned in Slaughterhouse he has 3 sisters.
The creation of Marisol doesn't bother me, what bothers me is the unrealistic aspects of this storyline: a) how come Eric's parents aren't taking care of her in any way? b) why is she so fucking healthy looking and, c) Marisol is just the writers' 289,586 excuse to make Horatio all angsty and martyr-like. Cause we don't get enough of that on regular episodes. She's not a character, she's an object, a plot device to make Horatio even more miserable. Culturally, the character is totally unrealistic. Medically? Unbelievably unrealistic. And from a female standpoint? Totally unrealistic as well. The character has no depth; she doesn't even have a personality. She doesn't seem to care about her brother, who has gone broke because he has to pay her rent and buy her expensive clothes that she refuses to stop wearing. She doesn't even seem to care about her own health, because she's constantly parading around in low cut shirts, exposing her cleavage, and she's having sex with a man she just met. Marisol is a Barbie, plain and simple.
Season 4 has been a complete disaster. The characters aren't even likeable anymore. I honestly don't find myself compelled to root for any of them. They've turned Horatio into such a freaking victim it's just unbelievable and unbearable. I cannot, and refuse to, fathom that one person could have gone through so many freaking traumas in his lifetime. I also can't understand why the writers are doing this. Do they think that the only reason why we would like a character is if we feel sorry for him? I'm sorry, but this is something 14 year old fanfic writers do. I expect much better from grown, professional writers.
Calleigh has become a robot. Even when she smiles, she looks like she's had 15 Botox injections, because there is no mirth in her eyes, and her face muscles barely stretch. Right now, the differences between Marisol and Calleigh aren't many. They're both devoid of personality, emotion, and depth. I can't even recognize this character anymore. They've totally pushed her to the background and ignored her, to the point where you watch the show and you go, "looks like Calleigh, same hair, but nope, that can't be her, can it?" She's not Southern anymore, she's lost everything that made her Southern, including the accent. All Calleigh does these days is hang around, look all porcelain-like, and give Ryan advice, even though most of the time she's annoyed by him.
Ryan's storyline has gotten old REALLY fast. He's an asshole, he screws up, he makes that pitiful face, we're supposed to forgive him. That's Ryan's formula. This has been going on in almost every episode. The episode starts, Ryan makes an asshole out of himself, then he goes on and screws up, then he comes back and asks to be forgiven, and we have to forgive him. Either that or he gets himself into trouble, and Horatio has to rescue him, and we have to feel sorry for him. Again: fanfic device. At least last season he had something going for himself, this season he's become like the other characters - totally superficial.
Eric - screws up, then screws up again, then we find out he didn't actually screw up in the sense that he screwed up, he just screwed up, so let's forget about that... until he screws up again, but this time he'll screw up for totally just reasons, really! While he screws up, we find out he really respects women, and he's got his priorities straight... until he runs into an army of ex-girlfriends, all claiming he never called them, while at the same time he's telling the woman he's sleeping with, but has no feelings for, that he's gonna be there for her if it turns out he got her pregnant. So we like him, because he's a good man who does good things, except when he's a whore, or when he screws up for screwed up reasons, unless those screwed up reasons turn out to be morally right.
(I have to say, though, that right now, I think Eric is the one character with the most depth. There's something kinda twisted about a guy who spends his time off taking care of his dying sister, but then goes on to sleep with 9,000 strangers. It kinda makes you wonder what's going on in his head, and that's good writing, when the viewer spends a lot of time trying to figure a character out. I can't really say that about the other Miami characters. Horatio had this going for him in the beginning, until about season 2, when they decided he needs to be the most tortured soul that was ever tortured and totally ruined him. I think Eric is the most human of the bunch.)
I'll give the writers props for keeping Alexx in character. She's just as incompetent today as she was during season 1.
Miami might be the only show on television that loves making its characters look bad. They had an entire episode devoted to pointing out Calleigh, Ryan, and Eric's stupidity. What purpose does this serve, except telling the audience what they already know: that the writing on this show is terrible? What kind of writer likes to make its characters look bad? This is lost on me. I really don't get it. If anything, they should make the criminals look bad, not the cops.
I think at this point, I'm really hoping they DON'T put Rex Linn in the main credits, because being in the main credits means they'll totally butcher your character beyond recognition. Then, of course, this is also true for non-regular characters, seeing as Valera now might be the mole, for reasons no one can understand except it's a good sweeps stunt. Then there's Natalia Boa Vista, who's just as useless and insipid as those elevator buttons Horatio never needs to push on. This is totally like Miami: to bring a character everybody hates into the show to make the show even more unbearable. It's like their main goal is to annoy us.
The episodes have blended together so much I can't even tell the difference between them. Every single episode is the same: someone dies, Horatio stands there, says something incredibly stupid, cut to the first scene, Ryan and Calleigh work the case, Horatio does nothing, Eric becomes exposition boy, they catch the guy, who always has a stupid motive and/or killed the person by accident, end of episode. I'm so sick of this. Ann Donahue prides herself on being so creative, but honestly? She's everything but. All the plots on this show are super predictable. The episodes are boring. Don't the writers get bored of writing the same thing in every fucking episode? Don't they get bored with the tiresome Ryan/Calleigh dynamic? Because hell, I'm not a good writer by all means, but I know as a writer you crave variety and creativity. This show? The concept is totally alien.
If it's going to continue like this, I'd rather they axe it. Either that or turn it into a sitcom, because as it stands right now CSI: Miami might be the funniest show on TV.
