CSI: Miami – “Time Bomb” – Review

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Last night in Houston, it did something it almost never does during CSI: Miami. It rained. Big time. As such, the weather man cut in a couple of times, including the pre-credit sequence. So when I saw Calleigh, behind the wheel of the MDPD Hummer, following another car, I didn’t know who it was. Turned out to be Eric. It didn’t take long for me to realize that what I was seeing was the extended version from last’s week final, explosive scene. This would be the one where state’s attorney Rebecca Nevins is murdered by an exploding car.

We learn, for instance, how Calleigh was so johnny-on-the-spot last week, mere seconds after the blast. She and Eric had some words. She had words with him, accusing him of lying to her and the rest of the team. He countered, asserting that she didn’t know what she was talking about. But he insisted that he’d tell her everything. She stormed off and he turned to Nevins, waiting by her car. He paused, turned back to Calleigh, and thought about his next move. It saved his life.

The murder in last night’s episode is that of Nevins. Eric confesses to Horatio that he was to meet Nevins there. “I found something, Horatio, something big. It involves the stolen diamonds, the missing heroin worth $500,000, and more.” Eric also mentions he talked with Horatio’s old partner, Sully. Horatio has a chat with Sully at the retired cop’s boat dock. The older man is circumspect but zeroes in when Horatio mentions that he thinks it’s an inside job. With a blank face, Sully accepts Horatio’s suggestion to keep an ear out and let him know if something turns up.

Natalia and Walter collect the evidence while Jesse and Calleigh hunt for the detonator. Eric’s still there, and Natalia. The former mole herself outs Eric to his pals:  yes, he’s been wearing a wire. Walter goes all loud and angry while Calleigh merely gives him a steely-eyed glare. Eric’s going to need more than flowers to fix this situation. However, he gets an immediate pass since he helps Jesse find the serial number to the hydraulic suspension from the car that exploded. Oddly enough, the ’86 Cutlass was involved in a bank robbery a few years back. Even more strange is that it’s supposed to be in the MDPD’s impound lot.

Naturally, Horatio and Eric look into Detective Carmichael’s last case. It involved a lifer named Tino Garvez. The two CSIs interview Garvez on a prisoner bus. The convict cops to drowning Carmichael off Key West. Eric gets testy but Garvez just laughs. “Why you going on about a car when I just told you I eighty-sixed a cop? You guys are getting played.” Horatio takes this information to Rick Stetler, everyone’s favorite Internal Affairs cop. Stetler, as usual, wants to handle all the public dealings. Other than that, he instructs Horatio to pull all files with Carmichael’s name on them.

Walter and Ryan find a curious thing amid the debris of the bomb: sprockets. Not just any sprockets. Special sprockets used in golf carts. They yank in Drew Pollack, one-time bomber who did a ten-year stint for a restaurant bombing. Turns out state’s attorney Nevins was the prosecutor. When Ryan points out the obvious–that the bombing looks like revenge–Pollack lawyers up.

In the most somber scene of the night, Dr. Tom Loman, ME, examines Nevins’s corpse. He finds, intact (!), the GPS chip from the cell phone used to detonate the bomb. Eric does some magic and gets the chip to work. He and Calleigh trace the signal back to–wait for it–Ryan’s place. To be thorough, the entire team combs the place for evidence. Since it’s an internal matter, Stetler’s on site as well. Ryan shows up just in time for Eric to find some incriminating evidence. That’s all Stetler needs. He orders Ryan to be taken away. And, in case you missed it, Ryan’s weapon was not confiscated. Weird breach in protocol there, huh?

Ryan, Stetler, and Horatio chat back at the station. If we’re doing this by the book, Stetler says, then Ryan’s dirty, since his name’s the last in the chain of custody. Ryan’s taken away. Natalia, hating the sight, remembers something she read in a detective journal somewhere. There’s bacteria on our hands that’s 86% unique to each person. Like a living fingerprint. She takes a sample from the remaining diamonds. Now, she has to gather human samples from everyone in the station, starting with Ryan.

Following up on a hunch, Eric examines Pollack the Bomber’s older file. Turns out none other than Sully was the lead detective on the case. Horatio returns to the boat dock. This time, however, he brings uniformed help. Seeing it’s the end, Sully starts blabbing. “I screwed up, Horatio, I screwed up really bad. I dug myself such a hole even you can’t get me out. I didn’t kill Nevins.” He pulls a gun and, expecting the usual suicide route, I was a little shocked to see him actually pulling the trigger to kill Horatio. A uniform shot first. Sully’s down, but alive, having given up nothing.

Suspicion falls on Duty Officer Olansky, the man who worked the evidence lock-up. Horatio and Eric discover that in all the cases where the deceased Detective Carmichael signed out vehicles from the impound lot (which were never returned, by the way), Olansky’s name was the co-signer. That was his job back then as the impound lot officer. Horatio and Eric strong arm Olansky to name his source. In fact, Horatio specifically pointed out that Olansky is protecting “that man.” That proved to be a red herring.

But not as red as the file folder Eric exchanged with Stetler. We first see it in the open. The next time we see it, the folder is inside an evidence bag. Ryan’s seated at a table with Horatio, Eric, and Stetler. In a surprising turn of events, Stetler is the one who has been stealing these cars from the impound lot, blackmailing Olansky along the way. In the usual (and somewhat annoying) habit of bad guys who have been caught, Stetler starts to talk. The way he sees it, he’s stealing from thieves. I’ve given twenty years of my life to this job and for what? Two divorces and ulcers? This place chews you up. Big deal. The diamonds, according to Stetler, was to have been the final act.

So, we have a internal affairs cop who decided to go for some self-financed bonus money. Really? To be honest, Stetler seemed so holier than thou these past seasons that I honestly didn’t see it coming. In fact, it seems a tad out of character. Guess actor David Lee Smith had other things to do. I’ll miss him, as I always enjoyed his spars with Horatio. He had the right amount of smarm and hubris to go up against Horatio’s calm demeanor.

The penultimate episode of season eight loses two long-term characters who dropped in from time to time and Sully, who we’ve seen, off and on, throughout this year. Wonder who we might lose next week. Or next year.

What did you think of last night’s episode?

8 Comments

1. 

   Mayra

   May 18, 2010 at 11:08 am

   I LOVE the end with Calleigh and Eric it was so cute….

   Reply
2. 

   Shelby/shel

   May 18, 2010 at 1:05 pm

   When the promo for this episode showed Ryan in cuffs, I knew that at least he was innocent of wrong doing. These teasers have become a touch predictable in their attempts at tantalizing viewers. I did become suspicious of Stetler when the red folder came into play. While I was very surprised that it was he who turned rotten, there at least was a bit of a background showing that he was not quite the upstanding fellow an internal investigator should be. Remember Yelina’s black eye? Stetler hit a woman and that is when he earned Horatio’s scorn. Still, I expected that one of the lab-rats —- maybe even Valera —- to be the rotten egg. They seem to come and go quite frequently on this show. While overlooking flaws like Ryan’s weapon not being removed, or Sully not getting a shot off at Horatio, I did think this was an exciting episode. No cliff-hangers but there is still next week. Regarding Calleigh and Eric —- YAWN.

   Reply
3. 

   synical

   May 19, 2010 at 9:17 am

   Ryan’s been a “scapegoat” (for lack of a better word) on this show for far too long.

   I’ve been waiting for them to find Stetler dirty for the longest time – he’s got that look about him.

   Reply
4. 

   Lynn Irwin Stewart

   May 19, 2010 at 4:30 pm

   David Lee Smith knocked it out of the ballpark with Stetler’s intense swan song.I always thought CSI:MIAMI could have done so much more with the tension between Stetler and Horatio. I’m disappointed.

   Reply
5. 

   Drew

   May 27, 2010 at 11:06 pm

   Err.. small correction:
   the chip found in the body is from the car’s GPS, not a cell phone.
   they then put that chip into another GPS unit, and reverse the route that had been laid in.

   Reply
6. 

   Drew

   May 27, 2010 at 11:09 pm

   another correction:
   sully WAS trying to commit suicide. he expected the uniforms to fire when he fired his UNLOADED/EMPTY gun at horatio.

   Reply
7. 

   Cait

   December 29, 2010 at 8:07 am

   I remember when the promo showed for this- I was fretting for a week because when the car with Nevins in it exploded- The clothes she was wearing looked a bit like Ryans- our promo didn’t show him in cuffs. But anyway it was a big relief when it turned out to be Nevins ( that sounds so nasty….) But when they accused him of the thefts I KNEW he was innocent. I think nobody believed it was him…

   Reply
8. 

   Jordan

   January 3, 2011 at 12:48 pm

   When the promo for this episode showed Ryan in cuffs, I knew that he was innocent however that didn’t stop me wishing that he could have had a greater role in the episode. Overall i think it was a good episode however they could have done so much more with the tension between Stetler and Horatio or maybe even with ryan. So more or less it was a good episode that could have been so much better!

   Reply