Tuesday, May 6, 2008

CSI Miami : Alexx Bids A Saccharine Goodbye

CBS


Last night’s episode of CSI Miami, “Rock and a Hard Place,” is where Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander) bids goodbye to her job as medical examiner for the Miami Dade Police Department. After watching her use poor judgment in this episode, the only surprise is that Horatio (David Caruso) didn’t fire her beforehand.

The story begins with what looks like a jet skiing accident, and turns out to be murder. A piece of unusually colored flagstone is found at the murder site and it is believed it was thrown off the bridge at the victim. While doing further work on the crime scene, Ryan (Jonathan Togo) finds a pill on the top of the bridge and picks it up. The shot of the pill is laughable, as the proportions are way off. What looked like a small pill on the bridge now looks like a tablet the size of a hockey puck between Ryan’s thumb and fingers.

Alexx of course is doing the autopsy on the body, but takes a break and checks out what Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez) is working on. She recognizes the flagstone and the writing on the back, which has her daughter Jamie’s name scribbled on it. She knows that flagstone came from her property, but tells NO ONE. In my opinion, this was a mistake that should have triggered her termination when it was discovered. But of course this is CSI Miami so nothing goes as it would in reality. Alexx tries to contact her husband to find out if he knows anything. Her son visits her at the lab, and she asks him if he knows anything but he avoids implicating himself. Still Alexx knows this is stone from her property and tells no one – even after her son informs her that Horatio was at her home. This should have been her first clue to come forward, but no, she still goes on her merry way.

Soon afterwards, her son is calling her to come to a warehouse and that he needs her help, and she drops everything and goes there. She finds him standing over one of the original suspects, Trey Holt (Toby Hemingway), with a bloody knife in his hand. Of course, she must call for an ambulance, and does so, hanging up before she even gives them a location or address. I guess the Miami Dade EMS people are mind readers, too. She tells her son to wait in the car, and he flees instead.

Alexx asks Eric to withhold checking out fingerprints but says it’s OK to check the blood for DNA. Eric cuts her some slack and says he’ll hold on the prints. He should have told her that she needed to clue in Horatio to the problem. Still, she does not.

To make a long story short, the murder was orchestrated by Agent Brad Sylvestri (Jack McGee) and under the searing scrutiny of Horatio Caine, he folds like it’s laundry day.

Boring.

Alexx of course decides that she’s spent too much time with dead bodies and resigns, wanting to focus on her family. Then, creepily, she begins an autopsy, saying that “you are my last one,” as the camera lingers on her over the top handling of the body, that hinted at sensuality. Ick.

As if to torture the viewers, we get what seems like an eternity of sappy, seemingly wordless goodbyes with her colleagues. I was so glad when it was over.

What I found amusing about this episode is again it seems like someone in the wardrobe department decided this would be their “green” episode. There were many people wearing something that included green: Frank’s tie, Mary the jet-skier’s suit, Ryan’s tie and shirt, Valera’s blouse, Callie, Trey’s shirt, and Alexx’s son Brian’s shirt. Either the wardrobe people are very simple minded and can only think of one color at a time, or they get batches of clothes on clearance and they decide to use it all at once. It seems lazy to me.

What I really didn’t like about the episode was the complete lack of drama. It would have been much better if Alexx was fired for not revealing her connection to the case, or impeding an investigation, etc. Instead, Horatio lets it all slide. The show missed an opportunity for a serious, maybe credible exit for a character, and instead we get something that is so watered down that it’s almost and insult to Khandi Alexander. I was on the fence about her leaving, now I am hoping that maybe they will bring someone in that will give the writers a chance for a new direction. Seeing what past history with CSI Miami has been, and the lack of credible scenarios in this show, I won’t be holding my breath.



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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Annoying and boring. They seem to run out of ideas. How huge are the chances that if you throw a rock from a bridge that you actually might hit and kill a target that moves at high speed? PLEASE.
Alexx' kids must live in a time wrap. The last time we saw them they were around sic. Now they are teenagers.