Episode 8x22 - "Mommie Dearest" - **CONTAINS SPOILERS**

After what we DIDN'T see in last night's episode, I'm less and less convinced that we'll see Horatio experience this horrible, earth-shattering betrayal that they are trying so hard to sell.

Last night was supposed to contain a "gut-wrenching" performance by Caruso/Horatio ... nothing like that appeared. I have a strong feeling that the "gut-wrenching" performance was a connection to the abuse that the children were suffering and Horatio identifing with Cody's guilt and self-hatred for killing a parent.

NO ONE on the team would be able to empathize or sympathize with the plight of these children more than Horatio. He has been there totally. We have been led to believe that Horatio suffered horrible physical and psychological abuse from his father as a child and eventually killed him trying to protect his mother. He can identify with with both Andrea and Cody.

I kept waiting for Horatio to step up when Cody and Andrea were telling their story and found it very strange that he didn't considering we've recently seen Horatio re-connecting with victims in a big way. This was his story and what a missed opportunity!

Natalia did an excellent job of empathizing with both children, but not allowing herself to make it about her. Both she and Horatio could have made this "their" story, but they remained focused, kept the children the priority and didn't allow their "history" to overwhelm them.

And did these child actors shine or what! :thumbsup: Maybe the purpose was to keep the focus on them where it should have been! And boy were they more than capable of taking it and running with it. Outstanding performances by both.

As someone who as been there, and a whole lot more, they totally and completely brought me in to their tragedy and brought back a whole lot of really bad memories. But that's okay. What we are today is the result of our past and the past should never be forgotten. I wanted to do what Cody did so many times. I understood completely! There had to be millions in the audience who connected to this story and this tragic family.

Another thing left out. We saw promo pictures that indicated a rather confrontational scene between E/C ... nothing. But Calleigh appears out of no where when the bomb goes off! With Calleigh being present at the bomb site, that scene appears to have been important to the context of the show. It leaves the viewer wondering where the heck she came from and what the heck she's doing there!

IMO, they are trying to hard to make us think the "betrayer" is Calleigh with all the dark looks and appearing out of no where. Not much respect for our intelligence.

I'm sorry, but how dumb is Delko to be working on highly confidential material in a home he apparently shares with one of the individuals he is investigating. Not very smart.

I was cheering for Walter when he let Delko have it. How do you trust someone once you've discovered they have betrayed your trust. It was a small issue. His landlord was raising his rent. But it was WHO Delko gave that information to and how she tried to use it that came back on Delko! Small confidences matter.

It was nice to see a little of everyone and the story was really very good. Really good to see Rick!

I am seriously beginning to think they just aren't capable of delivering on all the hype for the last couple of episodes though. If how they edited "Mommie Deadest" is any indication, just very sloppy, contrived and very little attention to the context of the story,

 

I think maybe O'Brien got ahead of himself when talking about David's "gut-wrenching" performance -- I''m thinking he might have been referring to 'Time Bomb' but slipped out 'Mommie Dearest' accidentally. It wouldn't be the first time, this happened in another interview when he made a few mistakes about the Jesse situation & Natalia/Walter being onto him.

Onto the episode -- I quite liked it. A little slow in the beginning though.

I loved Andrea & Cody, & my heart broke a little when H & Natalia discovered Brandon's murder. I hate to see childrens' deaths.
All the same, the actors playing Andrea & Cody were superb -- good job to both of them!

Absolutely adored Natalia in this one. 'Honey' slipped off her tongue so naturally...I really want to see more to this side of her. Loved seeing her so hands-on in the case as well -- always good to see her side by side with Horatio.

Case B -- the little investigation: Sorta fell a bit flat here. I was anxious to find out more about Walter & come to find out his big whoppin' secret is that his landlord raised his rent. Lame.
Then to top it off, his reason for having a 24 thousand dollar deposit in his account is because he was paid back a loan from a friend......who in the hell can afford to loan a friend that much money :wtf:
I felt that part was a tad too sloppy & didn't really add up -- he complains that his rent is higher, yet he has means to loan out a buttload of money. Guess I'll just have to chalk that one off. *shrug*

Delynn, I'm beginning to agree with your above post -- I was so wishing for something extra exciting & something of a shock ... I'm not so sure we'll get that now.

As for the promo pics, those were for 'Time Bomb' & it appears that it's after the explosion, as the car is burning in the background in one of them, so I don't think that was necessarily left out - I think that will come first thing next episode when Delko wants to know how/why Calleigh was there.


Aside from a few minor negatives, this was a good episode.
Not enough Horatio, nor Frank though -- it's getting graded a C.

 

The problem I had with this episode (and certain others like it) is that I could care less who did it because the victim is a piece of garbage. I think what made me think this way is because I have a very low tolerance for child abusers

I actually was more interested in the B story with Delko investigating his team.

There were good performances from everyone involved in this episode.

I'm not a Rick Stetler expert but was it out of character for him to act like a glory hound? Previous episodes just seemed to portray him as a hard@$$ and someone who is waiting for Horatio to slip up.

Rating 3/5

 

I totally agree. I thought that bit was out of character as well -- he never struck me as the type who only cared about having his face in the cameras.

I forgot to mention earlier that I really liked Frank when he told Ryan he was hoping they wouldn't find anything at Logan's house -- it's not often we see Frank tolerate any kind of murder, it was nice to see this one hit him a little harder. It's too bad they couldn't have taken a split-second to have him mention his own children, it would've been very fitting.

 

My bad! Thanks for correcting me about which episode the photos come from, MJ.

I hope they check on Rebecca before they get into their conversation. The story context and editing hasn't been the most consistent.

 

I am very well aware that the characters are not in any way real. The people who work on the production from the producers, writers, lighting and sound people and the actors, themselves are. The fans are real people.

Sorry you don't like my stating my opinion.

Now let's get back to talking about last night's episode.

 

Far be in for me to add more gasoline on an already raging inferno, but I feel compelled to say my piece. I actually have more to say but for the sake of returning to discussing this eppie (which I will after this) I will edit my comments down to this:

This is a free country and everyone here is entitled to their opinion, and just two people or factions disagree doesn't one person or faction is automatically right and the other automatically wrong and certainly give no one, no matter their position, the right to bash someone else and use names that could be deemed offensive, words I have read here and other places. My philosophy in posting here is I may not agree with your opinion, I will try and be respectful and will defend with all my might your right to say it and admittedly, I expect the same. I am smart enough to know it will not always happen.

Nuff said.

Now on to the episode:

Randow Thoughts:

I felt so bad for the children, especially for Cody who felt his only option was the kill his Mom to stop the abuse. I came to really dislike not only the Mom but the Dad as well. I completely sympathized with both Frank's and Ryan's comments concerning this case.

The two actors portraying the children did a fantastic job of acting. Kudos!!

Horatio is at his best dealing with children and Natalia is starting to mirror him as well.

Ryan, as he has lately, looked hot and the fear I had of him being written "un-Ryan-like" were unfounded. He did sound intelligent and worked hard with the others to solve the case.

I have to give the writers credit for their attempts in evening out everyone's screentime and having everyone working with everyone else. This shows me that even, with Adam returning full time next year, that with this format, no one needs to be released.

Does anyone besides me not trust Sully? I hope Eric doesn't either.

I had a feeling the explosion would add this episode. I am interested to see the order of how things fall next week.

I thought I had more to say but I guess not.

All in all not bad.

 

Great episode, and BTW, this is my favorite 'WHO' song, I think the Miami cast is sensational:bolian: I knew it wasn't the girl and was confused between the dad and the boyfriend but didn't think it was the son. WOW:wtf: what a mean spirited woman. Great show and riveting from the beginning till the end~

 

Hmm I quite enjoyed this episode! I actually did not feel sorry for the victim at all. I just can't STAND child abuse. Or any abuse for that matter! So I'm always depressed when they make episodes like this! Unfortunately, I've gotten so used to these shows that I could guess who the murderer was in under 10 minutes. :alienblush: Sorta ruins the show, but you know I like the forensics and "police-ness" of the show. So I don't mind being able to pinpoint the murderer really early on.

Story B was interesting, and I feel there will be more tensions between Delko and the rest of his colleagues. I did wonder why he was doing his work at home where one of the people he's investigating also lives. I guess he didn't expect her to pop in, but I dunno. I still think he should've worked somewhere else. I'm now excited to see how this plays out!

Spoiler: 8x23

RYANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. What more can I say? That promo made me quite nervous! Oh I just can't bear to see them take away poor Ryan. But I'm interested to see what the writers have in store for us! hopefully they won't leave poor Ryan in the slammer too long. I also hope the team stands behind him! (I'm sure they will, but you never know )

Anyways, bottom line, I quite enjoyed this episode and am excited for the rest of the season!

 

It was good to see all my favorite OTHER characters--Sully, Rick, Dave Benton, Rebecca Nevins. Yes, those child actors did a FANTASTIC job, and what a lot of twists and turns! I can't help but think they brought Sully in to just keep us guessing, though. The list of possible suspects was pretty predictable, but all the variables weren't. Who knew they had a younger brother? Credit where credit is due.

Same here. Nice as it was to see his hotness for the customary one scene, that dialogue between him and Delko made absolutely no sense at all. Rick Stetler had a rivalry going with Horatio, but he always did what was in the best interest of the department, so when he started rattling about how he looked good on cameras (which he does :drool, I thought "What the heck's he talking about? Was that some kind of fill time?" Totally OOC for Rick. But then again I was warned about this particular writer.

E/C was kept in check with one problem, and I have to put my legal hat on now.

Exactly my point, Star Gazer. Somebody somewhere needs to speak up about the fact that they're romantically involved. Every time he puts his hands on a piece of evidence, Eric compromises the case because of this, but then again I don't think these writers care anymore. If Rebecca Nevins has any knowledge about their relationship and she cares about her career, she would either yank him off the case or face professional misconduct charges from the state bar. But as we know, that's now a moot issue.

That explosion was hokier than a $3 bill. There should have been absolutely nothing left of that car. I'm a little curious where Calleigh came from (unless it was an editing error) and what she had stuck to her right hand in the very last scene. And boy, she sure seemed more worried about Eric than the fact that someone just got blown up. As a police officer she should have been securing that scene and calling for backup; instead she's crying and running into his arms with an unsecured scene behind her. Way to go, writers!

 

I agree that the explosion (at least the split second of it that we saw last night) didn't look remotely real. And that shot where the blast threw Nevins' body was so obviously CGI'd that it looked a bit like an amateur job. :shifty:

From what I can tell from that last scene and the "Time Bomb" previews/spoilers, next week's episode will probably begin with a flashback to what happened before the car bomb detonated. IMO, the likely explanation for Calleigh being on the scene is that she's probably tailed Eric to his meeting with Nevins. Calleigh then confronts him about her suspicions re his undercover investigation of the lab. Once they've finished their discussion, Calleigh heads back to her car, and Eric goes onto meet with Nevins. That's when the explosion happens. (Of course, this is just my best guess at what might happen).

I don't think that it's a writing mistake to have Calleigh running to check on Eric right after the explosion. IMO, it's human nature. If one's husband/boyfriend/significant other (or your kids or anyone you really loved or cared about) almost got blown to bits by a bomb, I think your first instinct would be to make sure that they're OK before securing the general scene. (Also, I imagine that the heat and shrapnel would make it too dangerous for Calleigh to run towards the explosion itself to check for victims, at least right away). And I wouldn't expect this reaction just because it's E/C. My expectation would be the same if it were Horatio, Ryan, Natalia, or any other member of the CSI team in Eric's position. I, for one, would find it incredibly cold if Calleigh just ignored Eric lying on the ground and secured the scene first. But that's just me ... I cannot profess to have a shred of bomb-squad experience.:guffaw:

That said, I think it's worth a mention that that final moment between Eric and Calleigh was in slow-motion, so it seemed much longer than it'll probably turn out to be in reality. I'm pretty sure when we see the moment itself next week in the context of the entire scene, it'll be a drop in the bucket. Calleigh will probably check on Eric for a few seconds, and once she's assured that he's OK, police procedure will be followed.

As for the rest of the episode, I found it to be a very good one, although, obviously, it was very sad. Any type of child abuse just tugs at my heartstrings. Those poor kids were traumatized twice over: First by their monster of a mother, and then by her murder. This was the type of case where there definitely were no "winners," even though the CSI team did manage to discover who the killer was.

Naturally, I loved the brief glimpse we got into E/C-domesticity:adore:, not to mention seeing the always yummy Eric in that "wife-beater" shirt.:drool: I also liked the intrigue and buildup re the diamond theft investigation. It left me looking forward to seeing how everything plays out next week. It's been a while since there's been a multi-episode story arc on CSIM that has held my interest like this.:thumbsup:

 

I agree with the poster that said that the last episodes have been really good compared to earlier episodes.In fact it seems as if the writers are listening to us.The screentime seems more equal,E/C is more subtle and they have limited Jesse screentime.I normally don't expect an episode of Miami to be so deep as this so I was surprised with this one.Like so many others said,it was hard to blame the kids when they were victims as well.So kudos to the writers:thumbsup:

I usually do not care either way about Natalia but her scenes moved me on monday episode.She can relate very well to the victims and is great with kids.

What I don't like is Eric investigating the lab.It seems like a betrayal (no matter how thorn he is)so I hope the writers have a good explantion for this!!!

 

"Mommie Deadest" didn't score as a fave, but it did manage most of the components necessary for an absorbing hour. Beyond plot A, which was a good one, all other scenes were dropped like so many bread crumbs, for us to follow to the finale.
What is so difficult for writers to incorporate these individual teaser spots into plausible dialogue? They drop in Stetler here, Sully there, Rebecca, of course, Calleigh in the closing scene.
I'm weary of scripts by committee. It seems they've lost the ability to write a script without serious input from 'the group'.