CSI: Miami – “Hostile Takeover” Review

With Eric Delko on forced leave (stemming from his new girlfriend, Calleigh, actually shooting him while he was in the process of committing a felony; relationships on cop shows are so complicated), enter Jesse Cardoza, former detective in Miami. If you remember last week’s premiere and its cool flashback origin story, Jesse’s last case for MDPD was the same case that launched Horatio’s crime lab as a viable unit. In the twelve years since, Jesse’s been a cop in LA. Today, he returns to Miami…and promptly gets himself taken hostage with four other people. The gunman holes them up in the bulletproof gun room and makes one request:  I want to speak with Horatio Caine. Cue Theme Song (actually pretty cool as the drums fade slowly in while the camera pans to scared faces until Daltry’s scream).

The gunman, Ted by his own admission, has a few rules. He insists on waiting for only one ring before the cops in the outer office pick up the line. Another he states more manfully; “I see a cop, I kill a cop.” Thus, Horatio gets bulldog Rick Stetler to back off his S.W.A.T. team. Wolfe and Trip search the van that Ted drove. It’s clean except for some blueprints to the lab (what, you get that from the public library?) and some little blue pills. No, not those kinds of pills. Anti-depressants. Wonderful. Ted’s off his meds.

Back at Hostage Central, Ted is getting jumpy. Yelling ensues and the inevitable happens–he shoots a receptionist. This is undoubtedly a dire situation, and the best medicine is some topless action by Jesse as he rips off his shirt to staunch the flow of blood out of her stomach. Eye candy! True, the lady’s bleeding out, going into shock, but check out the pecs on Eddie Cibrian. I knew him from another Florida show (the not-really-bad “Invasion”). He’s been working out. After hearing the gunshots, Horatio dons a vest, goes in, and removes the wounded woman. For folks who think David Caruso doesn’t have the moxie to be tough, there was a reminder tonight. When Ted tried to offer terms to Horatio, the lieutenant flatly stated “This is not a negotiation.” Ted shut up. Horatio got the woman.

Ted, whose real name is Matthew Sloan, engineers an escape that Heath Ledger’s Joker would be envious of–he dresses up Jesse as the shooter and sends him out with the two remaining hostages. Just like in “The Dark Knight,” police snipers are ready to take the shot, they have the shot, do they have clearance to take the shot. Horatio remains calm and figures it out, natch. It’s a trick! So, then, how did Sloan escape from the police station…with a bunch of S.W.A.T. guys flanking every angle. Seriously. How did he? I’m still not sure. Maybe those blueprints showed the super secret exit.

At this stage, the show reverts back to a basic CSI episode. The team, with Jesse “starting early,” processes the evidence and follows the clues. Interestingly, Sloan basically leads the team to places where evidence exists that should grant him the “justice” he craves. Halfway through the show, I couldn’t stop thinking that he was part of Batman’s rogue’s gallery, the Riddler or something, one of those baddies who likes to make the cops run through hoops. Have to admit, if he was that smart, he certainly could have engineered a legal way to get Horatio to help him out. Just throwing that out.

The biggest single character trait I appreciate about Horatio Caine is his compassion and empathy. Sloan calls Horatio out on that. You see, Sloan is a man who lost his life savings when a business venture went south (his partner used counterfeit money so he wasn’t out anything), lost his wife (who married another man), lost visitation rights to his son after knocking out the front door of his ex’s new house (allegedly), and was accused of beating his son. At the end of his rope, he pulls his hostage stunt. The thing is, he gets justice. The problem is he now has to pay for what he did. He mans up and turns himself in. Horatio repays the favor by bringing Sloan’s son with him. Like seeing your dad in handcuffs is a good thing? No matter, it’s Horatio’s compassion that wins the day and warms the heart. I don’t care what else other people say about Caruso’s portrayal, he makes Caine compassionate, and you can see it on his face and in his body language.

The episode ends with the team having drinks at the same bar we saw in last week’s flashback. Ironic timing since we rarely see the Miami team together after hours. (Come to think of it, the only time I remember the Vegas team doing that was scant minutes before Warrick got shot.) Horatio welcomes back CSI Cardoza, who has to buy the drinks. Jesse asks Horatio what he’s having. Club soda. In a split second, it’s as if a heretofore unknown character trait of Horatio has been revealed:  he’s a recovering alcoholic. But–no.  According to Caine, “Someone has to drive.”

So, what did y’all think? Did you like Jesse’s introduction? Did you like it when he called Calleigh on her obvious prejudice against Sloan? Will Jesse bring conflict into the crime lab or will he just be one of the team? And, despite the nice emotional closure, did anyone else have an issue with Sloan’s miraculous escape from the lab?