CSI: Miami – “In the Wind” – Review

In just about every opening of your standard CSI: Miami episode, we viewers get to see the crime. By the end of your regular episode, the murderer is taken away in handcuffs. Last night’s episode, “In the Wind,” starts in a different place: Death Row. The crime is fifteen years in the past. The convicted murderer, James Bradstone, played by Anthony Michael Hall, sits and waits for a call from the governor. His last meal is picked over. The guards and DA Talbot approach. At the last moment, Talbot gets the call–the governor has issued a stay of twenty-four hours. The reason: a TV news interview with the primary witness, an elderly woman named Russo. It seems that what she testified as being true isn’t. The DA shows the video to Horatio and Eric. Horatio, in as laconic a tone as he’s ever used, basically laid out the problem to the DA who may or may not have coerced the witness: “We got twenty-four hours to clear him [Bradstone]. Way to go.”

What came just before this scene, however, was quite interesting. In a rare step into current world events, we see Horatio watching the news from Afghanistan. Jesse is at the lab, pouring (obsessing?) over the lady he’s been accused of stalking; you know, the one who’s now with the man who killed Jesse’s wife. And Calleigh. Whew! Calleigh’s at her home, presumably, wearing a man’s shirt. She climbs into bed and masculine hands caress her body. I must say that for all the sex that’s paraded around Miami, our fearless law enforcement officers rarely get to partake. It was great to see one of our own have a bit of passion, but it wasn’t at all a surprise when the camera let us know that Eric was the guy with her. Ironically, both their cellphones interrupted the tender moment.

With Eric now part of the DA’s office, he’s right there with his old team in sifting through the evidence, looking for anything that can clear Bradstone. The inmate has loudly proclaimed his innocence since the beginning. Jesse, on the other hand, is convinced the guy did it, something with which Eric disagrees. In a potential harbinger of things to come now that “Ugly Betty” (actor Alex Rodriguez’s new job) got the ax, paving the way for Eric’s full-fledged return, tensions build throughout the episode.

Now, I’m usually one to overlook plots holes if they all point to a grander story. Couldn’t overlook some of the WTF moments tonight. Bradstone gets to tell Horatio his side of the story: he, a doctor, worked late, came home, slept on the couch so as not to wake the wife, heard the screaming, discovered family (wife and daughter) murdered and son, Todd, barely hanging on to life. One of Bradstone’s side jobs was selling prescription drugs to friends, one of whom turns out to be Krycek from The X-Files. Actually, it’s Nicholas Lea, sporting a goatee, and playing a guy named Newhouse. His story is that, yeah, he got the drugs from Bradstone, but that’s all. Meanwhile, Eric does a little computer examination of the original police statement and discovers tampering. Initially, the officer taking the statement wrote the word “kitchen” as the location where the witness saw the killing. DA Talbot at the time, realizing he can’t build a case that way, coerced the witness and the young officer to change her statement. That officer was none other than Jesse himself. Yikes. Eric’s not cool with that at all.

That’s where Horatio returns and pulls a Yoda. He reminds the group that there is another witness, Todd, who, as a seven-year-old boy survived the attack fifteen years ago. The young man still stands by his story of the evening: “I heard a train” (problem: no tracks nearby), I saw a man on top of my mother, hurting her (problem: didn’t get a good look at the perp). He’s surprised Horatio’s listening to him. Guess he doesn’t know Horatio like we do. With a new outlook, the team, led by Natalia, examine the evidence (i.e., the nightgown) worn by Bradstone’s wife the night of her murder. This was my first “Come on!” moment of the night. Natalia states that since the evidence was in refrigerated storage (really?), the evidence is still intact. Since there was not any high-tech CSI technology back in 1995, there was no way for them to find the tiny speck of semen Natalia discovers. Now, I know the writers make a point of sticking as close to real science as possible. It just seemed out there. But not as bad as the next whopper.

The semen sample belonged to Newhouse. Now, his story is this: me and Bradstone’s wife were having a fling. I was there but I didn’t see anything. Calleigh believes him. Right. Back to the crime scene for more examination. The best part about this set piece was Natalia showing Ryan and Walter her hearing aid. Way to go, writers, for continuing her saga. Boo hiss on what came next. Remember the murder occurred fifteen years ago. Todd, the son, lives at the house now. The window that was broken back then is still not repaired! WTF? I mean, come on! Are you serious? This is a whopper of a plot hole. Nonetheless, Walter and his magic blood-revealing spray bottle indicates the murderer stood over the dying woman’s body. Confronted with this new evidence, Newhouse issues Story #3: We loved each other, Bradstone came home early, Newhouse booked it out the window but forgot his wallet, he went back in, saw the wife dying on the floor, grabbed his wallet, and left.

Horatio thinks he’s got his man and sends Eric and Jesse back to see the old lady. She flatly denies Newhouse is the culprit. I know what I saw, she says…and gets killed by a hit and run. Here’s where CSI: Miami again veered off the usual trajectory. By the Law of CSI, all suspects are shown early on, and the evidence will invariably point to the least likely suspect. This time, the driver was a “Who?” character. Sure, he ended up having ties to Bradstone himself, but the typical episode usually dishes things in a more orderly fashion. Bradstone, for his part, is relishing Horatio’s team in their effort to get to the truth. He thinks he’s about to walk. Horatio counters with a simple phrase: “James, I’m not finished yet.”

Horatio, Jesse, Eric, and Calleigh put their heads together and figure out that Hurricane Erin was bearing down on Miami the night of the murder. That would account for Todd’s testimony that he heard a train. It also led to a simple test and discovery: on the night in question, old lady Russo really did see the murder happen because the winds would have moved the bamboo shoots out of the way, giving her a clear visual of the Bradstone bedroom. She was telling the truth. And Bradstone made the dead man’s walk.

The episode closes on some nice personal moments. Calleigh and Eric, all smiles and grins (even from me), talk about the next step. With his hugely infectious grin on his face, Eric asks a simple question: “Your place or mine.” Horatio tells Todd that he can rally just like my son (Kyle) did. And, as the episode closes, we realize why Horatio was paying attention to the news: Kyle is now in the Army and stationed in Afghanistan. I’ll admit that I saw it coming a mile away but it still made for some great, intimate moments as Horatio and Kyle have a short video con call. The young man has matured and talks about making a difference, just like his dad. I certainly hope that isn’t a way to write off Kyle (because I’d like to see a more mature Kyle return to Miami), but I can also see how news of Kyle’s death might put Horatio into a downward spiral sometime in May, in time for sweeps and a cliffhanger ending (leaving the badge at the station and walking off into the Miami sunset, out to find his son’s killer).

What did you think of last night’s episode? Did you like the personal moments as much as I did? How about the big whoppers of plot holes? And are you looking forward to CSI in Space next week?