CSI: Miami

I don't watch much television--I haven't had cable in four and a half years, and I really can't say I've missed it. But there are a couple of shows I do watch--Fox's 24, which I can't miss, and--over the last year, at least--I've become a fan of CBS' CSI: Miami. I like David Caruso's portrayal of Horatio Caine, mostly because he's so over-the-top (typical Caruso) and I find it amusing. But I do like the show overall. Last week, there was a review of the show on townhall.com, which I will post in its entirety below--it raises some good reasons to like the show that I hadn't thought about before.

CSI: Miami

Dec. 14, 2005
Review by Rebecca Cusey

Since the day the Big Bad Wolf ate Grandma and stalked poor Red Riding Hood, only to have the woodsman deliver justice at the end of an axe, we’ve grown accustomed to watching the bad guys get what’s coming to them. Current storytelling is no exception. Of the top 20 watched shows between November 21-27, seven were crime dramas. CSI: Miami, the number three-ranked CBS show, occasionally rises above the typical cop show to explore issues of justice and life.

The CSI fleet consists of three shows: flagship CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (set in Las Vegas), CSI: NY and CSI: Miami. They all navigate the same waters. In the first few minutes of every show, a body is discovered. Murder most foul! A squad of highly attractive, tank-top clad CSI, or crime scene investigators, then arrive on the scene to begin an investigation. Through a series of reenactments, chemical tests, witness questionings and autopsy findings, the team gathers forensic evidence that eventually points to the murderer. Science was never so hot.

Shot in beachy corals, sunshine yellows and sea greens, the filming of CSI: Miami appears deceptively attractive at first. There are plenty of glimpses of beauties at the beach and stunning night-clubbers. One would never know from the filming that Miami is a popular retirement community. However, the producers have a habit of shocking viewers with gruesome scenes: up-close shots of dead and decomposed bodies; interior views of blood gushing through inside wounds; bullet’s eye views of shootings; and an occasional maggot infestation. Ice cream, popcorn and other snacks are best left in the kitchen until the show is over.

The positive character of the lead investigator, Horatio Caine (David Caruso), sets the tone for the series. A dogged detective, Caine is also a practicing Catholic. A recent show both opened and closed with him making confession. Almost too noble, he allows his dead brother’s wife to believe that he, Caine, had an illegitimate child rather than tell her that the child is her husband’s. He steps up to provide for, mentor, and protect all his brother’s children. He brings a passion for justice to his work. The writers often have him promise a victim’s survivor that he will personally see to it that the attacker is caught. His search for truth uses science, but he also trusts his gut.

Now compare Caine to Gil Grissom (William Petersen) of CSI, set in Las Vegas. Grissom is played as a consummate scientist, well-versed in many religions and schools of thought, but himself agnostic at best. He believes in science and only science to find truth. In the New York franchise, Gary Sinese plays lead detective Mac Taylor, a 9/11 widower whose central belief is that all things are connected. Caine is the only lead CSI investigator who combines a trust in science with faith in God.

Ideas have consequences—even in TV land—if a show is well-written and produced. The ideas embraced by Caine influence the kind of justice these investigators seek. In one episode, Caine tracks a child molester and murderer. The psychopath jumps over a ledge, and Caine grabs his hand. Dangling there above death, the perp begs Caine to let him go, saying, “You know I’ll only do it again.” The viewer feels conflicted as this is the Really Bad Guy who probably deserves to die. “I wish I could,” says Caine as he pulls him back to safety.

In another episode, an autopsy reveals that a murder victim, a chronic drug abuser and street person, would have died within three months anyway from liver disease. Is this an important murder to investigate? Caine, sliding on his trademark sunglasses, says, “Let’s go out and find who stole the last three months of this man’s life.” The people that created CSI: Miami like to explore the inherent value of human life, even going to the extreme of setting up a story line one would expect to go the other way, then reaffirming the importance of each life.

This value extends to the unborn. CSI: Miami first ran an episode in 2002 entitled “Ashes to Ashes.” A young woman is found murdered. During the autopsy, it’s discovered she’s newly pregnant. In order to find her killer, they remove the unborn child to do a DNA test. Horatio asks Alexx the medical examiner, “Are you ready for this?”

“Fetal tissue recovery is the one thing I'm never ready for,” she answers. They treat the procedure with dignity. Soaring music plays in the background while a clearly moved medical examiner lifts the tiny baby out.

Caine says to her, “Not just skin cells, is it?” After he finds that the killer is the baby’s father, Caine creates a composite picture of the baby and shows it to the father, saying:

"Take a look at that. Do you know who that is? That's your daughter. This is what she would have looked like on her second birthday had you not killed her and her mother. Know this, my friend. Every year on this child's birthday I am going to haunt you. I am going to be all over you till I get what I need to put you in jail. Understand? Do you understand what I'm saying? This is who you killed."

At the end of the show, he leaves the picture at the foot of the Virgin Mary at his church.

CSI: Miami has its share of sexy crimes, bikini clad girls, and plot lines involving the personal lives of the investigators. After the death of another CSI, Delco has a one-night stand of anonymous sex and loses his badge. However, the reaction of his co-workers is shock and dismay, not only that he lost his badge, but that he is taking part in such self-destructive behavior. The end of the episode shows him going to talk to a psychologist. His actions are portrayed as a problem.

We love cop shows because they meet our need to explore the question: “What is justice?” Some are nihilistic, showing the cops no better than the criminals and justice hard to find. Some portray the cops as troubled souls, driven by a sense of justice, but finding comfort only at the bottom of a bottle. Horatio Caine is a refreshing take on the subject. He’s a hero, a just man, a strong man and a man of faith. Science, in his world, serves a higher purpose in enacting justice. CSI: Miami stands alone in a crowd of crime dramas by appealing, at least occasionally, to a higher order of justice.

Rebecca Cusey is an entertainment reviewer for Townhall.com.