Episode 10x08 - Dead Ringer - ***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

I agree that there really isn't a place for Natalia to tell Samantha to quit. Was there an episode that I may have missed that promoted Nat or somehow made her the Lab Queen above everyone?? She's no Mac Taylor. And, at first I wasn't really warming up to Walter until he convinced Sam to stay, pulling her aside like that. Hehe. I'm starting to enjoy watching Walter more.

As for Sam, I thought that it was that Sam from Sunblock until I heard "new girl". It's nice that Walter admits that people do make mistakes. But, I'm about done with the misses and errors among the CSIs that makes them go rogue or judgemental at times until they realized that they had missed something in the end. Examples like Alex believing that a guy poisoned his girlfriend in Bad Seed, Tom and Calleigh believing that a dead mother was drinking in Point Of Impact, and I think it was Ryan who said something to Eric about the guy injured during the tornado in Blown Away. Funny the lengths that Eric goes to just by anything his CSI buddies would tell him. He came back after Jesse's death with this?? And now Natalia missing out something that Sam found. Odd for someone with the ability to find sweat on a leaf in Bang, Bang Your Debt.

As much as I would like to see character development rather than misses or the job's demands that makes them go loony-bin loco, I expect better and more respectable writing as well as consistency that the CSIs are actually professional and not all promptly rogue until they realize their own mistakes or misses in the end. Somewhat making Horatio write "unsolved" on the box. It makes the characters look more incompetent as the writing continues to be purposely shitty from time to time. If it wasn't for rogueness, incompetency, misses, and all around vigilance, and more scientific processing, cases would've been solved better and the killers would've been found.

I'm loving Ryan's scream about staining his shoes. And Calleigh stopping the guy = cool. And I also enjoy Ryan's and Walter's funny exchanges. Their friendship has got to be one of the greatest CSI-based friendships ever! This episode gets a C-.
 
I can't help thinking of Calleigh's gentle reprimand when Ryan over-saturated the jacket with Luminol. Much gentler kinder response than Natalia's yelling, and actually much more effective. The person is feeling bad enough without adding humiliation.

BTW, Eva's latest tweets indicate that the Sam/Nat rivalry and tensions will continue for a couple of episodes. That will be fun!
 
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CSI_Natalia said:
Meh - I'm tired of the episodes lacking a flow. Yeah, we've seen this guy before, but this episode could've been viewed any point in this season. -- Natalia was out of character, unless she's 'touchy' because of all she went through, but because of the lack of character development with this show, that explanation either doesn't make sense, or needs to be played out more.

The show is becoming boring to me. - Pretty predictable. Not enough story and story arcs. -
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Generally I liked the episode. It's frustrating that they KNOW who the killer is - but can't nail him! :scream:

I also thought Natalia was a little out of character with the yelling. Natalia is much too compassionate, and has been on the receiving end way too many times of that kind of treatment, for that type of outburst to fit her. Not sure what that little display was designed to prove.

Why, out of the clear blue sky, take a character who has an awesome relationship with everyone and force animosity? It doesn't make sense at all.

If this little scene was used to indicate that Natalia is having problems dealing with her recent traumas, I'd like it to be a little clearer. They need to be careful here. I'm not sure the show can stand another character being destroyed.

I was impressed that when Sam found the DNA on the shirt, Natalia accepted Sam's going further and finding what Natalia didn't ... and then Natalia invited her along and they worked together trying to identify who the sample belonged to. Now THAT is my Natalia! ;)
 
Theresa said:
BTW, Eva's latest tweets indicate that the Sam/Nat rivalry and tensions will continue for a couple of episodes. That will be fun!
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Well, that seals it then. I've had some suspicions about this Samantha person, especially after this episode. She conveniently destroys evidence that could have led to Esteban's arrest, yet she also conveniently discovers evidence that leads to another suspect? Seems too fishy for me. And we all know that the Miami writers are not well known for being subtle LOL. She came in around the same time O'Shay returned and around the same time this whole Navarro business started. Seems to be way too convenient timing to me. I dunno, it's like O'Shay anticipated that Walter may not help him the way he wanted him to, so he gets this girl from the other shift to switch to the shift Horatio's on. That way if Walter lets him down, he'll have a backup. And the fact that there might be more tension with Sam and Nat considering how they seemed to patch thing up in the end of this episode says to me that something about Samantha is not on the up and up. And no, her "pretending" to quit doesn't mean she's on the up and up. She knows that Walter thinks of her as a friend, so she probably knew he'd talk her out of quitting. If she's been in that line of work for long enough then she knows better than to make that kind of mistake. I don't know, it just seems to me that the sabotage of the evidence was not an accident.

As for Natalia's ranting at Samantha, most of it was deserved IMHO. I do think she deserved to be gotten on to. However, I do feel that the whole "do yourself and all of us a favor and just quit" was a bit over the top, writing wise.

And all the spoilers refer to Samantha as a lab tech, but Walter called her a CSI in this episode. So, which is it? Is she a lab tech or a CSI? And if she's a CSI, why isn't she in the field instead of always in the lab?
 
GregNickRyanFan said:
Theresa said:
BTW, Eva's latest tweets indicate that the Sam/Nat rivalry and tensions will continue for a couple of episodes. That will be fun!
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Well, that seals it then. I've had some suspicions about this Samantha person, especially after this episode. She conveniently destroys evidence that could have led to Esteban's arrest, yet she also conveniently discovers evidence that leads to another suspect? Seems too fishy for me. And we all know that the Miami writers are not well known for being subtle LOL. She came in around the same time O'Shay returned and around the same time this whole Navarro business started. Seems to be way too convenient timing to me. I dunno, it's like O'Shay anticipated that Walter may not help him the way he wanted him to, so he gets this girl from the other shift to switch to the shift Horatio's on. That way if Walter lets him down, he'll have a backup. And the fact that there might be more tension with Sam and Nat considering how they seemed to patch thing up in the end of this episode says to me that something about Samantha is not on the up and up. And no, her "pretending" to quit doesn't mean she's on the up and up. She knows that Walter thinks of her as a friend, so she probably knew he'd talk her out of quitting. If she's been in that line of work for long enough then she knows better than to make that kind of mistake. I don't know, it just seems to me that the sabotage of the evidence was not an accident.




As for Natalia's ranting at Samantha, most of it was deserved IMHO. I do think she deserved to be gotten on to. However, I do feel that the whole "do yourself and all of us a favor and just quit" was a bit over the top,
writing wise.



And all the spoilers refer to Samantha as a lab tech, but Walter called her a CSI in this episode. So, which is it? Is she a lab tech or a CSI? And if she's a CSI, why isn't she in the field instead of always in the lab?
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Wow I never thought of that! Good point and it's very observant too. Makes me wonder how it will all play out.


Agree totally on the ranting. I know Natalia would handle things more diplomatically and professionally IMHO. However, could Natalia be on to her and not say anything yet?



Would calling her a CSI have been a mistake on the writer's part? I mean I know the writers are not the best lately but just wondering.
 
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I don't know, it seems the writers are having the characters take turns yelling at / getting on to people LOL.

And I don't think Natalia is on to Samantha (if Samantha is in fact a plant by O'Shay and/or the Navarros). I think this whole case is just more frustrating than other cases because they can't seem to get one piece of evidence that seals this killer's fate. It's a CSI's worst nightmare when a suspect is *this* good at covering his tracks. That would frustrate the daylights out of me and I'd probably act a bit out of character and snap at people due to it as well.
 
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I never thought of that! She seems like she could have been persuaded to cooperate with O'Shay more easily than Walter - he's got "H Team Loyalty" now :)

Even though she was a bit rough with her, I don't blame Natalia for getting as angry as she did. The whole team has been working hard to catch this guy, and that may have been a major break in the case.
 
GregNickRyanFan said:
Theresa said:
BTW, Eva's latest tweets indicate that the Sam/Nat rivalry and tensions will continue for a couple of episodes. That will be fun!
Click to expand...

Well, that seals it then. I've had some suspicions about this Samantha person, especially after this episode. She conveniently destroys evidence that could have led to Esteban's arrest, yet she also conveniently discovers evidence that leads to another suspect? Seems too fishy for me. And we all know that the Miami writers are not well known for being subtle LOL. She came in around the same time O'Shay returned and around the same time this whole Navarro business started. Seems to be way too convenient timing to me. I dunno, it's like O'Shay anticipated that Walter may not help him the way he wanted him to, so he gets this girl from the other shift to switch to the shift Horatio's on. That way if Walter lets him down, he'll have a backup. And the fact that there might be more tension with Sam and Nat considering how they seemed to patch thing up in the end of this episode says to me that something about Samantha is not on the up and up. And no, her "pretending" to quit doesn't mean she's on the up and up. She knows that Walter thinks of her as a friend, so she probably knew he'd talk her out of quitting. If she's been in that line of work for long enough then she knows better than to make that kind of mistake. I don't know, it just seems to me that the sabotage of the evidence was not an accident.
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If you are right it will be the greatest twist for all 10 season. But I personally think it`s too sophisticated for our "not subtle" writers:(
 
It's been a busy week!!

I wasn't sure I was going to like this eppie, but I was pleasantly surprised. It held my interest from the beginning to the end.

Random Thoughts:

Estaban Navarro is still one sick puppy. I would have gladly paid Horatio or Eric 5 bucks to stick a sock in Navarro's when he started that manic laugh of his.

Navarro Jr. better watch himself though. Horatio is like a bulldog and he is out to get him (oh, and he will too)

Someone suggested that Estaban's father could be involved somehow (especially when Jr. was being trailed). Great, father and son psycho serial killer team.

O'Shay is a slimeball and he showed his true colors by sneaking around for the Navarros.

Lots and lots of quality Ryan. I am so glad they ditched the doofy Ryan from last year. Good to see him with Calleigh (that 's been awhile)

Ryan:"Do you ever clean up? Look at my shoes!!":lol:

Ryan:"Dude it smells like something died"
Walter:"Maybe it's your shoes":lol:

Too funny!!!

It took me by surprise when Natalia screamed at Sam. I agree with Delynn; it seems so out of character. It was a bit insensitive of her to tell her to quit. How many mistakes has she made over the years (remembering Ryan yelling at her when Nat messed up)? Glad to see Sam redeemed herself (although, GNRF it would it be interesting if she was working for O'Shay), although I would rather see Travers.

Hope they don't string this out too long.

Kept me at the edge of my seat.
 
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