CSI: Miami: Season Three - Part 2 (www.the-usher.com)

The Miami-Dade CSI team of Lieutenant Horatio Caine (Caruso), Calleigh Duquesne (Procter), Eric Delko (Rodriguez), Ryan Wolfe (Togo) and Chief Medical Examiner Alexx Woods (Alexander) investigate…

Cop Killer
During a routine traffic stop, a police officer is murdered and now Horatio and the team must track down the killer. The only witness to the murder is a civilian who was doing a ride-along with the officer, but who is now missing. Roadside evidence leads the CSIs to Missy Marshall, a teenage girl who was with the killer at the time of the murder.

One Night Stand
The CSIs uncover a complex counterfeiting operation after a bellboy is found murdered at one of Miami's hottest hotels. The luggage that the deceased bellboy had been loading, as well as a heist of a special paper that money is printed on, leads the CSIs to uncover a complex counterfeiting operation. It's cruise season in Miami, which means that the population of Miami swells, giving the team even more suspects to the murder. Identity When the CSIs find a woman swallowed whole and killed by a gigantic snake, they uncover a covert drug smuggling operation. Evidence leads Horatio and the team to a drug smuggling operation where large snakes are suspected of being used to bring illegal drugs into the country to avoid detection by customs.

Nothing To Lose
Evidence leads the CSIs to believe that someone started a massive fire in the Everglades in order to cover up a murder. Local prisoners are brought in as free manpower to help fight the wild fire in the Everglades. However, when a serial killer escapes the scene, Horatio must track him down before he strikes again.

Money Plane
Someone uses a laser light to blind a pilot and bring down a jet, which carries $1.2 billion in checks to be delivered to banks on the eastern seaboard. The crime scene evidence reveals a victim, a young fundraising socialite, who was inside the plane but killed prior to the crash. Now, although the team has little to work with since the victim's wealthy family is opposing an autopsy, Horatio must follow the money trail.

Game Over
An extreme skateboarder and videogame tester is found dead on a half-pipe platform used to program extreme skateboarding video games. The CSIs discover that he was wearing reflective sensors when he was killed, so the motion-capture device used to produce these videogames recorded the murder as it happened, but not the murderer. Now the team delves into the highly competitive world of videogame programmers and testers to find the killer.

Sex & Taxes
An IRS agent is killed while trying to repossess a delinquent taxpayer's yacht. Soon after, the CSIs discover a second IRS agent shot to death. Now, just when everyone has a reason to detest the IRS, Horatio must find who is behind what could possibly be a series of murders right before tax day.

Killer Date
Horatio's life is changed forever when he learns important information about his deceased brother. Horatio must now figure out what to do with this information about his brother, Raymond, and whether or not to tell Yelina. Meanwhile, the team investigates when a woman is murdered at a crowded bar after she's approached by a female employee of a service that helps men pick-up women.

Recoil
After a bitter custody battle, shots are fired outside the courthouse. Bullets fly and the target is the little girl's mother. Horatio goes after the father, who he suspects may not be the girl's biological father after all. However, when the mother's shady past is uncovered, the team finds that she has a lot of enemies who would like to take a shot at her.

Vengeance
When a former high school football star is murdered at a reunion, the CSIs must find the killer. The victim was the big man on campus in high school and there are a lot of guests at the reunion with reasons to resent him all these years. Now, the team must investigate everyone, from the head cheerleader to the school misfit, to see who held a decade-old grudge big enough to kill.

Whacked
An axe murderer on death row is given a stay of execution just moments before it was to take place, on the grounds that there may have been tainted DNA analysis used at his trial. Now, without using any DNA evidence, the team must race against time and reexamine all of the physical evidence in the case, just as they get a call on a new double murder that looks suspiciously like the case they're working on.

10-7
While investigating the murder of man hired to make dirty bombs that terrorists intend to set off in Miami, Horatio finds the bloody fingerprint of his brother, Raymond, who he believed to be dead. However, when Raymond's son is kidnapped, he emerges from deep undercover and the estranged brothers must work together to save the boy.

The third season of CSI: Miami concludes and the good news is that the show just keeps getting better and better.

The standard of all the CSI shows has raised the bar for television crime dramas. The attention to detail combined with inventive but realistic plots for each episode made the show a hit all over the world. It is that all three CSI shows treat the viewer with a high level of intelligence that has made each of them so successful however, as TV watchers calmer for mental stimulation. With many TV executives thinking that all we want is reality shows, CSI and others proves that there is still a place for quality drama that involves actors and not members of the public.

The first spin off series of the CSI franchise continues to push the action quota to make it slightly different from the two set in Las Vegas and New York. Horatio Caine and his team are not just scientists like in Las Vegas, but they are fully trained police officers that make the arrests as well as investigate them. This puts the team in more danger than some of their other counterparts giving the writers the chance to add more action into each episode.

With Rory Cochran leaving the show at the beginning of the season, new character Ryan Wolf is introduced into the CSI family. Actor Jonathan Togo settles into the show with ease over the third season and quickly becomes involved in some of the season's best episodes. His acceptance into the team does go as smoothly as Mr. Wolf may have hoped, especially when it comes to getting into conflict with Eric Delco, who sees him as the rookie out to make too much of a good impression. This conflict works well and adds some more depth and development to both of the characters, something that all the CSI shows need.

The final part of the second season has some great example as to why the CSI shows are so successful. 'Nothing to lose' is an exceptional episode that increases the tension and action to a new level, as Horatio and the team track an escaped felon. 'Game Over' sees an appearance by skateboard legend Tony Hawk. There are also major developments for Horatio over the season, as he finally discovers the extent of his brother Raymond's death and the repercussions for him and family he left behind.

'CSI: Miami' is quality television. With the introduction of more character development, the show is becoming more involving for the viewer as we get to know more about life outside of the lab. With the action quota also revved up, this season of the first spin off show sees the show grow into something even better.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 16x9 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the series looks great.

BONUS FEATURES

CSI: Miami Locations: Coast to Coast (11.12 mins)
Series creator and producer Ann Donahue, producer Elizabeth Devine, location manager Brian O'Neil, special effects supervisors Larry Detwiler and Geoff Leavitt reveal how 90% of the show is shot in Los Angeles and how visual effects transform it into the tropical Florida city.

Medical Examiner School (13.47 mins)
Technical advisor John Haynes talks about the crime scene process, autopsy, gun shot wounds, blunt force trauma, toxicology, stabbings, asphyxiation and the other processes that the medical examiner has to do for CSI.

CSI: Miami delivering the goods (13.01 mins)
Series creator and producer Ann Donahue, producer Elizabeth Devine and stars David Caruso, Emily Procter, Khandi Alexander, Jonathan Togo, Sofia Milos and Adam Rodriguez talk about creating the third season for CSI: Miami. The cast and crew talk about the impact of Rory Cochrane leaving the show, introducing Ryan Wolf and upping the action in the series.

Audio Commentary for 'Whacked' with Ann Donahue
The co-creator, writer and producer of the show talks about bringing the axe murder story to the small screen. She reveals how much work actually goes into producing a show, the script, shooting, special effects, editing and music.

OVERALL

The second part of the third season of CSI: Miami has some good DVD bonus features. While it would have been nice to have some more commentaries, there is still enough for fans to enjoy here. Fans should be pleased but they will still be frustrated at why Momentum continue to split the season into two.

DVD

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