Hmm...just like last season's DVD cover, only H is on the Season 6 DVD cover - I think that just emphasizes how this show has "evolved" from the team dynamic that made it so popular in the first three or four seasons to what it has become now. I wouldn't necessarily call it the "Horatio show" b/c I think other characters, like Calleigh and Eric, have had their share of storylines too. But there's definitely a lack of "team" on this show right now.
I remember watching "Blood Brothers," when Cal, Speed and Eric were in the car waiting for Clavo Cruz to come out - it was neat to have more than two people in a scene, and it happened all the time. Actually, most of the time the whole team interacted w/each other, and there were usually three or more people in some of the scenes in each ep.
Now, everyone is "split up" - a prime example is that scene in "Down to the Wire" where Cal's lab blows up or whatever. Only Eric comes to see her, but if this were season 2, all or most of the team would've been there. Remember in the Season 2 finale, when acid was poured in Eric's lab and the evidence - a tape - was destroyed? Well, guess what. Horatio was in that scene defending Eric to Stetler, and Calleigh was watching from the lab (I think Speed was there too, but I'm not sure.) Anyway, there were other CSIs there too, along w/Cal, which also made a hell of a lot more sense than Eric just sitting there alone w/the messed up lab.
I won't lie - I really don't like the direction the show is going, and I'm not sure the spoilers are that promising for this coming season. If Horatio is "faking" his death, he'd still better be shot for real, b/c making the whole shooting fake would be kind of rediculous - the man was bleeding. (I hate the thought of "fake" blood - it just seems kind of a lame cop-out.) What this incident should do (just like Eric's shooting should have done) is make the whole team closer. I personally think H was really shot, and maybe he will tell Ryan to play it as a murder - but then what was w/the text to Ryan? Oh well - if someone figures this out or hears more definitive spoilers - please share!
Honestly, this season, I hope things change a bit. I'd rather see the team working together, defending and fighting for each other, then watching more "love triangle" stuff or more of Julia
. I'd rather see how all this stuff is affecting the team as a whole - including the loss of Alexx. Calleigh said to Eric in "Down To The Wire" - "we never talk about it", referring to his brain injury, but you know what? The characters don't talk about anything anymore — not Horatio's compulsion to kill or beat up every suspect in Miami; not Ryan's gambling problems; not the affect Cal's kidnapping had on her; not the affect of Nat's ex-husband being murdered.
What happened to moments like in "Dispo Day," where Cal and H came up to Speed and acknowledged his issue? I'm so sad the team as a whole has grown so far apart - the interactions just don't seem genuine anymore.
Let's face it - H is supposed to be the glue that holds the team together, and he's been terribly absent lately - maybe that will come up w/this whole shooting thing. Maybe H will finally come to his senses and realize how removed and distant he's been - and how the team is suffering for it. (I don't think Eric or Calleigh is OK, and H should've really been there for both of them more than he was.)