CSI Files
Captain
<p><b>Synopsis:</b><p>Shannon Higgins, the ME replacing Alexx, shows up at the CSIs latest crime scene to determine the cause of death for a man found dead outside an abandoned building. Moments later, when she notices the man's chest rattle and calls for fire and rescue, shots are fired, killing her instantly. The shooter escapes, so the team turns to the dead body of the man, Manny Ortega, who apparently plunged to his death after crashing through one of the windows of the building. His brother, Juan, comes to claim his belongings and identify his body. Juan tells Delko his brother would disappear for weeks at a time. In the room Ortega fell from, Ryan and Natalia discover blood on a fallen ladder. The blood leads them to Evan Caldwell, an ATF agent who tells Horatio his criminal record is faked so that he can blend in among the thugs he infiltrates. Manny's death was an inconvenience; Evan was trying to get him to reveal who he was trafficking illegal munitions for, but Manny wouldn't crack. Evan claims he left Manny alive--after punching the ladder in anger. Delko gets Higgins' replacement, Thomas Wellner, to show him the trajectory of the bullets took when they hit Manny's body, allowing Delko and Calleigh to discover the shooter was firing from a nearby parking structure. The CSIs discover several unspent rounds and a broken gun grip, leading them to suspect the gun misfired and their shooter might have powder burns on his body.<p>After scouring area hospitals for people suffering recent powder burns, Horatio has Ron Saris brought in. The man has burns on his neck, which he claimed happened at the firing range. Prints on one of the unspent rounds from the parking garage leads the CSIs to Brad Gower, who tells the CSIs he sells ammunition and does spot checks on bullets, meaning his prints are likely on thousands of rounds. He notes that he has an independent defense contract, but agrees to help Horatio trace the shipment the bullet was in. In the lab, Calleigh examines the bullets, noticing the oxidation on them, but when she gets a call from Tripp, one of the bullets rolls off the lab table and falls to the floor, causing it to shoot up to the ceiling and start a fire in the lab. She's dejected at possibly compromising the case into Delko discovers an undamaged round in the wreckage. Calleigh examines the bullet, determining it's almost forty years old, meaning Gower has illegally been selling old ammunition. Realizing Manny must have known, the CSIs go to Gower's office. He confesses that Manny was trying to sell him prototype ammunition, but when he followed Manny, he saw him talking to a fed. Thinking Manny was going betray him, he followed Manny into the building and gave him a choice: get shot or jump. Manny jumped, but when Brad heard the ME call for fire and rescue, he opened fire, determined to finish Manny off. The CSIs arrest Brad and lead him off, but before they can take him in, he's gunned down by a shooter in a car. Tripp discovers only one entrance wound, but multiple exit wounds, which Calleigh recognizes as being the result of a fused alloy round--a deadly form of ammunition.<p>Calleigh confronts Evan: the ATF agent tells her he knew Brad was selling old ammo, but looked the other way because the rounds were going overseas. He tells her Manny was shopping the fused alloy rounds to buyers, and Calleigh demands the list of his potential buyers. Calleigh shows Horatio the list, and one name pops out: Ron Saris. Saris, who gloatingly tells Horatio that he and Julia Winston, the mother of Horatio's son Kyle, just got married, threatens Horatio, causing the CSI to return the gesture. After finishing with Ron, Horatio confronts Julia and tells her Ron is after her money and he suspects he'll hurt Kyle. He persuades Julia to bring Kyle and meet him at an airfield at 5pm. The CSIs discover the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting of Brad, and though its plates have been removed, they are able to get a cell phone number from the car's blue tooth interface. It leads them to Colin Madison, Brad Gower's associate. He tells the CSIs that a man coerced him into doing so, and agrees to take Calleigh to the man, who turns out to be none other than Juan Ortega, Manny's brother. Juan killed Brad in revenge for his brother's death, but more worrying is the rounds of fused alloy he's been selling. He refuses to tell the CSIs how many rounds he's sold, and threatens Horatio if he's arrested. Horatio laughs and has him taken to jail, where Juan makes a call giving Horatio's name and asking to be told when it's done. Horatio waits at the airfield for Julia but she doesn't show. A gunshot rings out and the CSI falls to the ground. At the station, Ryan Wolfe gets a text message reading, "It's done."<p><b>Analysis:</b><p>There's nothing particularly shocking about <i>CSI: Miami</i>'s season finale until the last few minutes of the episode. Like the <i>CSI</i> season ender, <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season8/for_gedda.shtml">"For Gedda"</a>, the episode lulls the audience into a false sense of security with the very familiar. Shady weapons dealers, suspicious government agents, even accidents in the lab--we've seen these things many times before in many different <i>Miami</i> episodes. And yes, both Ron Saris and Juan Ortega are threatening Horatio, but we've seen that happen many times before. People who threaten Horatio usually either end up dead or at the very least jailed. Ron Saris is more than a little creepy, and there was an ominous tone to the episode, but I would have expected Julia to get shot before Horatio.<p>Horatio gets shot just once, in the chest, and I'm willing to bet he's wearing a bulletproof vest. After watching not one but two people get gunned down right before his very eyes, it would be pretty foolish for Horatio to stand in an open airfield without a vest on, especially given that the person he's supposed to meet there is married to the man who threatened his life--and happens to have a supply of those deadly bullets. The expression on Horatio's face reminds me of Speed's in <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/miami/season1/dispo_day.shtml">"Dispo Day"</a>. Speed took a shot to the chest, but he was wearing a vest and therefore simply had the wind knocked out of him. I imagine the same is true of Horatio, but it certainly is stunning to see the show's too-often infallible leading man lying face down on the pavement. There's no blood--another telltale sign that Horatio is likely wearing a vest--but it's a shocking image to end the season on.<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/going_ballistic.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>
