CSI Miami “Presumed Guilty” Presumably Bad

Two Bad Actors - One Bad Episode

Photo from CBS.com

This episode of CSI Miami (CBS), “Presumed Guilty” tried hard to break out of the corny standard that we’ve seen for quite a while now in this series. It tried – but ultimately it failed, as the story was so clichéd. Also a detractor was the much-hyped appearance of Sean Combs as an attorney, whose acting talents are marginal at best.

The episode begins with the murder trial of Alfonso Reyes (Nicholas Gonzalez) in progress, with CSIs Duquesne (Emily Procter), Boa Vista (Eva La Rue) and Delko (Adam Rodriguez) testifying for the prosecution. Proving that this show is as weak in presenting a believable trial as well as a story, the CSIs’ testimonies are picked apart by the defense attorney, Derek Powell (Sean Combs). Never mind that the prosecution was leading the CSIs in their testimony, because Powell didn’t seem to object to this behavior either. Still, Reyes is convicted. But, the case gets quickly re-opened when ME Price (Megalyn Echikunwoke) opens the body bag for the murder victim and finds it swarming with blowflies. I wonder why she had to open the translucent bag to see those flies, as it was clear in one of the shots that the body was crawling with them. Of course, the flies made a beeline for Horatio Caine (David Caruso), in a precursor that should indicate we are in for a smelly story.

As can be expected, evidence later falls into the CSIs laps, which helps confirm that Reyes was not guilty. Lucky for them that a witness to what may have been the murderer fleeing the original murder scene happens to show up in the hospital with a drug overdose – and then mysteriously disappears again. But her statement helps them to locate the original crime scene, where – lucky for them – they find the same blowflies that had taken up residence in the murder victim’s body. Also lucky for them, they find blood on her car that Calleigh realizes is from a golf glove. But, had they not done such sloppy work earlier in the investigation, they would have examined the victim’s car much sooner and found the blood. Lucky for them that Horatio decided to don his CSI lab coat and pull out an air filter in the car that had some DNA in it that likely belonged to the murderer. And in another case of missed evidence, they also seemed to have missed checking the iron that Reyes recalled that he had used right before the murder, which was in the items confiscated from his locker. Apparently no one noticed the glaring piece of evidence that was on it when they placed the iron into the evidence box. Lucky for them them found it the second time around!

The biggest laugh was when Wolf (Jonathan Togo) – who seems to be sporting the beginnings of a pot belly – catches up with one of the suspects, Kevin Sheridan (Chris Wiehl). After having an over-the-top altercation with him, Wolf manages to snap a picture of the suspects broken taillight that – lucky for them – the possible murder witness now kidnap victim Tammy Witten (Rachel Mier) happened to be looking through right when Wolf took the picture and her eye caught the sunlight and created a flare on the picture. Amazing! Not to be outdone, when Horatio realizes that the mylar sheets that the Sheridan had in his car could be disguising the body as it would prevent the heat from the body from showing up on any heat-sensoring equipment, he immediately gets in a helicopter and tells his CSIs to look for the voids in the heat for the area being searched. Of course, Horatio saves the day and they find the kidnap victim in what seemed like a sewer tunnel, and Horatio gets his much-needed embrace from her. (Hmmm...I wondered how those mylar sheets would have worked to cover up her body heat if she would have moved away from that area, even for a few feet?)

Needless to say, with the shifty eyes of Judge Gregory Thorpe (Jim Pirri),and the fact that he dared not to give Horatio his warrant when Horatio asked for it, that I knew that he was going to be a part of the problem, and that Horatio would come back to get him.

What made this show fail is that it continues to fall back into predictable patterns: the over saturated color camera shots, the stiff acting, the lazy, plodding dialog, and the convenient evidence. Let’s not forget that if they hadn’t done such sloppy forensics work, maybe they wouldn’t have tried the wrong man for murder. This was all made worse by the addition of Sean Combs, who has the acting skill of a block of wood. All of this made “Presumed Guilty” into a presumably bad episode. Lucky you if you missed it.


All Text Content (Recaps, Review, Commentary) © iliketowatchtv.blogspot.com unless otherwise noted


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.