It's been a while, but here it goes:
10x01- Countermeasures
It has been quite some time since I’ve last reviewed an episode but there was something about last night’s show that just compelled me to start up again. For nine years, we’ve seen Horatio time and time again, face death from bombs to various members of street gangs and even faked his own death but last night was a first. For the first time, we got to see Horatio, the human. I can’t remember an episode where I’ve seen such depth from him. Yes, we’ve seen anger, sorrow, and even regret, but we’ve never seen a wounded Horatio, both in body and in spirit. It was refreshing to see that even though he jumped right back in the saddle, we were constantly reminded that he had been shot and that there were consequences to his hasty decision to forego medical treatment. In my opinion, this was Horatio’s finest moment, despite the debilitating bullet wound. There was no posturing, no false (or intended bravado), just Horatio.
I think the most endearing moment was when he got into the Hummer and reached for Marisol’s picture. It was right there that we saw not just how much pain he was in physically, but emotionally as well. Until now, I never really truly believed Horatio and Marisol’s relationship (because they cloaked it so well with Horatio’s traversing through anger, denial and so forth without even bothering to touch grief). Yes, we’ve had our glimpses into Horatio’s bereavement process (Happy Birthday in season nine touched on it) but last night’s episode sealed the deal for me. I think that Horatio still has a journey ahead of him concerning the ability to let go of Marisol and I don’t believe that road is going to be easy to walk down. He’s still got a lot of work to do, not just for the city of Miami, but also for himself. I’ve got to give props to David Caruso; he definitely brought the human element in this episode. It was actually shocking to see Horatio quietly enduring the pain, giving us a direct contrast of his previous hero antics. DC’s performance, to me, was spot on. I hope we can continue to get this stripped down version of Horatio.
Another performance that was just magnetizing was Eva La Rue. Natalia’s evolution has been one of many ups and downs, but I think she really came into her own last night. Again, the depth of emotion from anxiety, to fear of not being able to continue on was greatly portrayed. Her moment with Randy was, simply put, phenomenal. Nat’s no longer the shrinking lily, she commanded that scene with a formidable force. I couldn’t help but smile. I also liked the bond that is brewing between Horatio and Natalia (there’s nothing like a good trauma to really fling two people together). I think when it comes down to it, Nat knows that Horatio’s got her back, and equally, Horatio knows that Nat has his back…which leads me to my one and only gripe about the episode; the lack of team cohesion.
I can understand that Horatio’s got this whole determination shtick, and nothing’s going to stop him from his dogged pursuit of justice, but really…Natalia’s the only one who bothered to show any concern for Horatio’s deteriorating condition? I know, the focus was on the hunt for Toler but seriously, your leader’s running around Miami with a bullet wound and struggling to breathe and you what, over look that? Its television, and I get that, but a shot of realism could’ve come into play here. The last action scene with H taking down Toler was one of disbelief for me as well as the fact that he wasn’t rushed to the hospital right afterwards ( I mean come on, his wound was reopened), but I understand why. They had to have the obligatory dialogue between him and Agent Locklear which was poignantly done to show perhaps a start of some kind of relationship between them. That’s all well and good, but the good Lieutenant was looking like Hell ran him over with an eighteen wheeler. As much as we needed to see that Horatio’s not alright, it was scary that they waited so long to take him back to be seen again.
Overall, I was jazzed about this episode. After the doldrums of summer, I couldn’t wait to see how they would step into the new season. There were some payoffs but there were also some disappointments. All in all, I think this was a solid episode and if they can continue the momentum, this could be the season where they leave all their naysayers in the dust. One can only hope…
! 
