CSI: Miami: Season 2 Part 1 DVD Review:

The Miami-Dade CSI team of Lieutenant Horatio Caine (Caruso), Calleigh Duquesne (Procter), Eric Delko (Rodriguez), Tim “Speed” Speedle (Cochrane) and Chief Medical Examiner Alexx Woods (Alexander) investigate…

Blood Brothers
Miami’s fashion week claims a victim when a young model is killed in a hit and run. The CSIs find unexpected obstacles when they connect the evidence to two South American brothers under the protection of the U.S. State Department.

Dead Zone
When an undersea treasure hunter is found speargunned to the hull of his boat, the CSIs find themselves dropped into the murky depths of modern day piracy.

Hard Time
The team is called to a crime scene – only to find that the “body” is still breathing - and the trail of evidence stops dead on a man already behind bars.

Death Grip
The CSIs must race against the clock - as the disappearance of a teenage girl poses a question that can only be answered by a 12-foot endangered reptile.

The Best Defence
When the heir to a Miami sugar fortune is the lone survivor of a brutal nightclub shooting, the CSIs must cross the lines of class and privilege to solve the crime.

Hurricane Anthony
The CSIs lend a hand in disaster relief as Hurricane Anthony touches down in Miami – leaving three dead bodies in its wake.

Grand Prix
A murder at the Miami Grand Prix has the CSIs racing to solve the crime.

Big Brother
While the CSIs rush to solve the murder of a web-surfing businessman, Horatio comes face to face with a little girl who bears a distinct resemblance to his long dead brother.

Bait
Delko is forced to keep a secret from Horatio when the search for a woman’s killer leads them straight to one of their own.

Extreme
When a beautiful socialite turns up dead, the CSIs uncover a kidnapping game for the idle rich.

Complications
The truth is anything but pretty as the CSIs investigate the apparent suicide of a cosmetic surgeon.

Witness To Murder
While investigating an apparent road rage murder, the CSI team must take their cues from an eyewitness who is developmentally disabled.

Any spin-off series has the unenviable task of following on from an established original show but can CSI: Miami start making its own headway?

The CSI franchise is becoming the biggest in television with the original, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and spin-offs CSI: New York and CSI: Miami all on screen at the same time in the US. While the premise for each shows maybe the same, there are suitable differences in the characters and location to make them distinctly different for fans to enjoy each of them.

CSI: Miami’s main difference to the other three shows is that the crime scene investigators are also working police officers. While the CSIs in Las Vegas are civilian scientists and the ones in New York are a specialist unit that just looks at the evidence, the CSIs in this version are working Miami-Dade officers who investigate there own crimes, arresting there own suspects. This aspect opens up new avenues and plot devices for the brilliant writers to exploit.

The main problem with all of the CSI programmes is that the show tends to concentrate solely on the case at the determent of character development. The second season of CSI: Miami tries to change this however. The second year sees us find out more about the backgrounds and families of two of the main characters, Lieutenant Horatio Caine and Calleigh Duquesne. Here we discover more about repercussions of what Horatio’s brother’s death has had on him and the family he left behind. We also learn more about Calleigh’s Dad and the strained relationship between them both. This adds a little more to the show, taking some of the emphasis off the cases and instilling a more human element to the lead characters.

The first part of the second season is filled with the usual high quality episodes that you have come to expect from the CSI franchise. Each episode has the usual ‘A’ and ‘B’ plotlines with two teams of CSIs working on different cases and this season again sets new standards in intelligent television that really gets you thinking. Highlights include the excellent ‘Hurricane Anthony’ episode that makes this show standout from the other versions, ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Murder Witness’ advance Horatio’s personal story and ‘Grand Prix’ that really pushes the high profile and concept of the show.

CSI: Miami is television of the highest quality. The second season sees the show continue to develop and grow, establishing itself as its own entity and not just a companion to the original show. With riveting cases and some character development, this season of CSI: Miami continues to prove that this franchise is one of the best on television.

Season Star Rating = * * * *

PICTURE AND SOUND

Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack the transfer is very good. The sharpness of the picture conveys the brightness of the Miami setting at the yellow tint shines through. The surround sound is also very good for a TV show, with the vibrant Latin beat of the Florida city coming through loud and clear.

BONUS FEATURES

Disc 1

Audio Commentary by Ann Donahue and Danny Cannon for the episode ‘Blood Brothers’

The executive producer and director of the show come together to take you through how a CSI: Miami shows gets to air. The pair talks about the more technical aspects of the show revealing which shots where photographed in LA and which in Miami. They also discuss the start of the second season and how the show has moved on since its initial run.

Audio Commentary by Elizabeth Devine and Deran Sarafin for the episode ‘Hard Time’

The forensic consultant to CSI: Miami and the director of the episode come together to reveal the science behind this episode. The pair reveals how the actors cope with the technical and scientific language and methods of the show and let you in on secrets as to how CSI gets things very accurate.

Disc 2

The A/V Lab Tour

Forensic consultant Elizabeth Devine takes you on a tour of the audio, video and computer graphic technology that CSIs use to collect and formulate evidence. The techniques covered include video enhancing and reconstruction, photo enhancement, video matching, audio isolation and audio restoration.

Audio Commentary by Ildy Modrovich and Scott Shiffman for the episode ‘Hurricane Anthony’

The writer and producer for this show come together to reveal the secrets behind one of CSI: Miami’s most ambitious episodes. The pair talks about how the Hurricane effects were created and the problems that occurred between when they had to reset after takes. They also reveal the how the plot was fitted around the storm and the repercussions after it.

Disc 3

Audio Commentary by Sunil Nayar and Corey Miller for the episode ‘Complications’

The writers of the episode talk about writing a ‘bottle’ show. They reveal how this is a lab based show with very few locations which is more character and science driven. They also discuss where the idea for the film came from and how they went about setting up the crime.

Audio Commentary by Ildy Modrovich, Michael Ostrowski and Daune Clarke for the episode ‘Witness to Murder’

The writers and director of the show talk about how the show tried to bring in more of Horatio’s back-story into the episode. They also reveal how the show deals with murder and the production design of the episode.

OVERALL

A great TV show gets a good DVD treatment. The commentary tracks are very good and the A/V Lab tour is informative. While this may only be a half season set (still wonder why they do that), there is still enough here to please fans of the show and introduce everyone else to this superb series.



Jamie Kelwick