I gotta say she has never been my fav. character of the show, but, IMHO, she was one of the best recurring characters this show has ever had.
Sofia Milos & David Caruso shared some of the best scenes ever in this show and I still think their bonding & their way to work together was just awsome.
I don't think I've ever seen a special bonding like the one they shared in the first 3 years of the show.
Plus I've always thought she was one of those character with the most realistic storylines in this show & Sofia Milos was very good conveying with the feeleing Yelina had.
I still remember "Nothing to loose" when Horatio asked her to make Ray Jr donat his marrow for Madison, you could see how Yelina was scared/angry at the same time. She knew that it would have helped to save one life, but she didn't want to do it since Horatio was asking too much to her.
Not to mentione how she conveyed with Yelina's feeling in "10-7".
Surely what Yelina did was negative for her relationship with H [I don't think there's any way to deny the fact this episode kinda ruined their bonding], but at the same time she had to show her true values...one of these was family and there was no way she could have gone with these values staying with her brother in law.
I still think "10-7" was her last good episode as recurring character, the one I really miss.
As fro s5 her performance in "Rio" was just great and I was glad she came back to Miami so that she's going to have some episodes
.
Though, I don't think this PI suits her that well. I mean it was amazing whenever she had to investigate on a murder with our H, but now things changed and you can see her role changed along with her storylines.
Whenever it's time to help H you can see that old flame which characterises our Yelina, but still it's not too much, they way I loved her.
As for bring her back definetely, I really don't know just for one reason: there are too many characters on this show, no matter how hard TPTB try to improve their writing.
I mean there are lots of CSIs on this show and there's not enough space for lab rats as othe shows like LV or NY have. Plus they have just began eliminating some characters who have been considered useless e.g. Madison, Susy, Taylor [the A/V guy],Duke Duquesne [dead somewhere in Miami, possibely in a bar], Erica Sikes, Jake & Stetler.
I don't want her to vanish, like the others so I really don't think it would be a good idea to have her as a recurring.
If they want her to be present, they'd better put her as regular and not recurring 'cause that position is too risky, for everyone
Think I said it all :lol: