Sorry, I completely forgot about this! Nice to see it being bumped up though.
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Season 7, Episode 10: “Loco Motives”
Written by: Evan Dunsky
Original Airdate: December 7, 2006
CSI Files Synopsis:
"A case involving a man killed at a poultry manufacturing plant leads the CSI team closer to discovering the identity of the serial killer who leaves miniature replicas of his crime scenes. When the CSIs process clues at the poultry manufacturing plant, the evidence leads them to the home of a man who collects miniature trains and other miniature paraphernalia. Grissom and his team rush to link him to the other miniature killings, but a twist in the case could prevent them from gathering enough evidence to catch the killer."
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Yep, I’ve fast-forwarded through episodes in Season 5 and 6, but I’ve mainly chosen this episode because it’s the most recent one I’ve watched other than “Seeing Red” from this season. :lol:
Anyway, the obvious thing about this episode is that it’s slap-bang in the middle of the miniature killer arc, an arc which has received mixed reception from the fan community it seems. I actually rather enjoyed the arc and its development right up to the conclusion in “Living Doll” which ended up being a bit of a slap in the face, leaving us with more questions than answers, but that’s for another episode discussion.
This one is easily my favourite MK episode, and that’s mainly for the amusing B-case attached on to it, it was exactly what was needed to liven up the darker tones which Season 7 delved into. Catherine giggling at Max in the cement and later whilst standing outside the interrogation room in my opinion made the situation even funnier, and it’s nice to see the CSIs, how should I put it, having fun (?) at the crime scenes. The black humour in this episode was particularly great in this one I thought, probably because it didn’t seem as forced as some other episodes. I loved the almost slapstick approach when they showed the flashbacks of Max killing his wife and neighbour!
Brass was comedy gold in this episode in particular, from not being able to get Max’s name, to the interrogations throughout the story. I also noticed he seemed to be juggling both cases throughout the episode; I believe this was the time where the show must have forgotten about their detectives or something.
The MK case was a little so-so and brought down the episode a little, although it was nice to see little bits of humour added in occasionally such as the chicken factory video. (I don’t know why I find it so funny but it makes me snigger every time.) As for the ending, I’m in two minds about it. On the one hand, I feel if they had ended the MK storyline with Ernie Dell shooting himself it would have been a bit of an anti-climax. On the other hand, it actually became an anti-climax in my opinion anyway. :lol:
Favourite moment of the episode?
Max: I'm the guy who buys his daughter a puppy for her eighth birthday. And the next day, he backs out on the driveway and...
Brass: No... No ... Don't tell me you ran over the puppy.
Max: No, I ran over my daughter. :guffaw:
I don’t know what makes me laugh more, the line itself or Catherine’s reaction to it!
All in all, I definitely rank this episode highly, mainly due to the hilarious B-case but also I felt it was well-rounded for a Season 7 episode, showing everybody equally and providing decent cases. Could have done with a bit more forensics/science but in my opinion I think the humour more than made up for it.
My rating for “Loco Motives”: 8.7/10 (very good)
So, discussion time.
