CSI: Miami – “Point of Impact” – Review

Serendipity is that strange thing where two seemingly unrelated things actually share something in common. The timing and subject matter of last night’s CSI: Miami episode was, for me, like deja vu. You see, on Sunday, I happened to catch Masterpiece: Contemporary on PBS. The episode in question was “Collision,” the latest program by Anthony Horowitz, creator of the excellent Foyle’s War. “Collision” dealt with a traffic pile-up and the secrets of those drivers and passengers involved in the accident. The writing was tight and compelling, and I’m looking forward to the conclusion next week.

Hate to say it, but the only thing I was looking forward to last night was the end of CSI: Miami’s eighth episode of the season, “Point of Impact.” After last week’s cool but ultimately disappointing CSI Trilogy, everyone knew going in that it was going to be back to normal for the police in Miami. I think the creative team could have come up with a stronger episode to lure in casual viewers who may not watch CSI: Miami on a regular basis but who, last week, tuned in for the big crossover event.

We did have something special last night. Pau Gasol, of the Los Angeles Lakers, played Victor. After the collision during the opening moments, Victor ran up to a burning SUV. The driver, a woman, is dead. A young man who turned out to be her son was slumped in the back seat. Victor dragged out the lad and called 911. Good man. Well, he was a good man until CSI Walter figured out that the driver of the second vehicle in the accident (a Bentley) was a large–or tall–man. Victor’s good deed earned him a trip downtown where he gave a truly unique story: “I was driving this Bentley because it belongs to my sister’s ex-boyfriend, and I was just returning it even though it was reported stolen last night.” Jesse, thankfully, didn’t buy that explanation…until Victor’s sister confirmed it.

Cool. Now Victor’s absolved of any culpability for the accident. He can go now. Uh-oh. He just died in holding. Dr. Tom Loman, ME, gave us a nice demonstration of what happened to Victor’s brain with a nice assist from some Jell-o. Needless to say, Victor’s sister decided to get all in Jesse’s face. His usual response:  sit down.

Calleigh, meanwhile, has to tell the grieving husband and father that his wife was intoxicated. Mr. Ballard doesn’t take it well. And it’s here that our hero Horatio Caine makes an appearance in his own show, somewhere around the ten-minute mark of the hour. Listen, I’m okay with bringing in new folks to replace old ones or to inject new blood into stale relationships, but you have to let your lead be the lead. We watch CSI: Miami for David Caruso, right? He’s the primary reason for me, anyway. It was Horatio who pointed Calleigh in the direction of finding the deceased mother’s eyeball which popped out during the accident. She found the missing eye and, after a cringe-inducing scene complete with needle and eyeball, proved the mom wasn’t drunk. She was just having an affair.

The remainder of the episode centered on one question:  who was driving the SUV? The mother, Karen, is dead. The son, Greg, insisted his mom was driving. Besides, he had his license suspended two weeks before the accident. The daughter, Lily, is unconscious in the hospital. Besides, assured Mr. Ballard, she is only fourteen, and my wife surely would not let Lily drive the car. That explanation only held water until Lily regained consciousness and confessed that she was, in fact, the driver. She was doing okay until a gator (!) crossed the road. She swerved to avoid it and, according to her, the car felt heavy. Horatio and Ryan looked in the car and found evidence that one of the hoses was cut. Sabotage?

No, just a cheap way to throw suspicion back on the husband. Mr. Ballard didn’t take his wife’s call because he was watching a football game. While the day of the week isn’t specified, the CSI programs do a great job of having their respective crimes occur on the air date. Thus, it was a Monday morning. Only game I know that’s on that early is the one you had to Tivo from the day before. Didn’t buy that one.

As Calleigh, Ryan, and Jesse set up shop and some ultra hot lights to pour over the SUV, they smell a peculiar, sweet odor:  marijuana. Odd, there seemed to be a bag stuffed amid all the pipes and hoses under the hood. Hey! Didn’t the son, Greg, get popped for possession? Yup. The under-the-hood method was his way of getting the weed home so he could take it to his high school football game (the one his dad was watching?) and score some popcorn money. As he tried to secure the paper sack, he pulled out his knife (the one he carried at school?) and inadvertently cut the hose. As he’s carted away, booked for possession with intent to sell as well as vehicular manslaughter, he asked Horatio to let his sister know it wasn’t her fault. Horatio said he would in that earnest way he always does.

Except it rang false here. Maybe it was the dinner I had last night or that the episode of Castle was more entertaining, but last night’s CSI: Miami episode was basically filler. Natalia was MIA, and Tripp had only a line or two. Omar Miller’s Walter was the star of the show, for it was his forensics knowledge that guided the team at crucial points in the investigation. Ryan even commented on it, a bit contemptuously, at one point. Point taken, however. Walter’s profile continues to rise every week. Calleigh’s best moment was a rare sign of mirth as she gave Walter the heebie jeebies when she brandished the missing eye at him. Dr. Tom, the ME, continues to carve out his particular nitch–the earnest know-it-all who constantly has to prove his worth to the team. Jesse didn’t do much tonight, either. He tried to assuage the grieving sister of Victor about how much a hero her brother was for saving Greg from the SUV. Just didn’t work.

So, did I just miss the point of a great episode or did the CSI: Miami team mail this one in? If I truly missed something, please let me know. The promos for next week look quite promising: Jesse’s past from LA might be catching up with him. Here’s hoping it’ll be a better episode than last night.

About Scott Parker

Scott D. Parker is a technical writer living in Houston, Texas. He writes about pulp fiction, crime fiction, music, and other things at his crime fiction blog. He writes about science fiction & fantasy at SF Safari and he has a weekly column at Do Some Damage. He has published a story at Beat to a Pulp and has written the historical mystery Treason at Hanford: a Harry Truman Mystery. A native Texan, one of his professional goals as a writer is to help put Houston on the crime fiction map.