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« CSI: Miami
April 16, 2007: They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab
When Law & Order does ripped-from-the-headlines, it is so stunningly similar to real events that the disclaimers at the beginning and end seem superfluous. When CSI: Miami does the same, they take three weeks worth of Us Weekly, stick it in a blender, and see which elements survive. It makes me recall the Paris-Nicole rip-off from last year, where one of the girls ended up electrocuted in the tub by her assistant.
What did we have this week? The actor from a podunk town made into a sex symbol (I’m going to pick Ashton Kutcher on this one), the starlet who goes into rehab though she’s not actually addicted to anything (Lohan with a twist), and um, Britney Spears (renamed “Elvina”). But you know what? It kind of worked for me.
As always, for those of you who fell asleep before the end, it was the first person interviewed, Eddie Cabbott, who killed Brody Lasseter. Why would Eddie kill his best friend from Podunk, PA? Turns out that Brody had just confessed that he had killed Eddie’s older sister in a car accident. Eddie was, understandably, upset about this, so he pushed Brody to the floor, which resulted in a hematoma. Thinking Brody was dead, he staged a suicide using Jolene’s dental-floss rope, which obviously killed Brody.
It is my humble opinion that CSI: Miami thrives when it takes on tabloid culture, because it’s so over-the-top that it just fits the sensibilities of gossip really well. For instance, in the same hour we saw Brody possibly being gay, Holly pretending to get herself arrested for the publicity, and yes, a crazy-ass celebrity shaving her head. Based on what’s happened over the last couple of months, this seems like the CSI:M scenario most likely to actually happen in real life. Is there something totally wrong about that? Probably. But it’s a nice change from scalpings and courtrooms blowing up.
Things we found out about our characters this episode: Delko can be just as creepy as Horatio, and Calleigh is a closet gossip-freak. The Delko thing isn’t exactly surprising, but Calleigh’s guilty pleasure (or should I say "addiction," heh heh) certainly was. She struck me as so no-nonsense about everything that I guess I imagined her curling up in bed with U.S. News and World Report, not Star. But it adds a new dimension to her character, and ya’ll know how big I am on that. Here’s to continuing character development!
I’ll see you all next week. Try to stay out of rehab until then.
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Apr 16, 2007 11:43 PM
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I think it was one of those quick unplanned episodes with a not too original plot. The writers looked for a plotline and had to decide either between Brittney and Anna Nicole. Since ANS has already been done by another network they went for Brittney. I remember the network seeing for a bald Brittney type http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index....9c-8300612557ed only two weeks ago.
I wonder how comfortable this episode was for some actors . I believe CSi Miami has/had its fair share of addicts on the show: Delaney and Caruso - both fighting (or being on the rebound) from alcoholism.
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Apr 17, 2007 6:53 AM
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I liked the little subplot with Eric talking Jolene into giving real life another try. It was sweet, not creepy.
You're right about the "based on reality elements thrown in a blender" thing, and I agree that it works on all of the CSI shows. It's also true that Law & Order sticks closer to its "ripped from the headlines" plots than CSI does, though L&O usually throws in twists on the top (or at the end) that make the show plot more than a simple rehash. Both examples are better than the shows that simply ripoff a tabloid story without adding any creative elements besides the show's characters.
I didn't find it terribly believable that Calleigh would be a gossip addict--she's simply too down-to-Earth and no-nonsense to bother with that crap. Calleigh doesn't really fit with this show at all. CSI:Miami is so cheesy and over-the-top, while Calleigh is subtle, reserved, cool, and understated. It's like she was kidnapped from another show and the other show can't afford the ransom.
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Apr 17, 2007 7:45 AM
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I thought I was watching Sunday's Without a Trace again. Both shows began exactly the same way, with the stunt man, exploding cars etc.
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Apr 17, 2007 9:00 AM
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First off: CHEAPEST. ENDING. EVER. With all the build-up for the Britney-esque actress they were looking for, this was tacked on and completely irrelevant. Unless she shows up again (which I doubt), this was a publicity stunt, and a bad one at that.
Second: Leah, you must have slept through the beginning, because the stunt man was the first person they interviewed, not the best friend/assistant. Sorry to burst your theory.
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Apr 17, 2007 9:05 AM
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Ah, Howstone, sorry, I meant the first person they talked to, not necessarily the first person they hauled in for questioning. I thought they ran into Eddie on the scene before interviewing the stunt driver, kind of like last week when they ran into the room-service guy in the hallway, but I could be wrong.
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Apr 17, 2007 9:10 AM
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Sorry, Howstone is right. The stunt man was the first person CSI spoke to at the crime scene. They spoke to the assistant after he tried to stop them from taking the body.
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Apr 17, 2007 10:42 AM
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I think you're right, Leah, I think he WAS the first person they talked to at the scene, before they delved into the "who did this" actions & interviewed the stunt man.
I enjoyed this ep, as I usually do the show, but I didn't think it was as exciting as most of its shows are. In fact I rather liked the slower change of pace, and I thought using a celeb rehab place was a great touch, though the Brittany Speers lookalike at the end needn't have occured.
Was nice to see Delco human and helping someone out, and Caleigh? I was surprised by her having Star magazine, but then maybe it was just to show us there's more to these people than meets the eye. Don't mind that at all.
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Apr 17, 2007 10:44 AM
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If anyone has it recorded look again. It was the stunt man who was talked to at the crime scene before the assistant/best friend, before anyone, in the next scene right after they discovered the body in the trunk. At the crime scene he was explaining that he locked up the car the night before. When he was hauled in for questioning he then admitted he was out with the actor the night before, then fell asleep in the car etc.
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Apr 17, 2007 10:59 AM
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Alright, not a big deal. Chalk it up to my mistake 
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Apr 17, 2007 11:01 AM
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and mine, because I didn't tape it and so I couldn't replay it. Shows how easy it is to make that kind of a mistake. Nice catch!
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Apr 17, 2007 2:10 PM
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This week's episode was a little lighter than usual, but it was all right. I'm not sure I like Delko taking a page out of Horatio's book and acting all condescending to a damsel in distress, though.
As for Calleigh, her tabloid "addiction" was brought up a few seasons ago - back when she smiled and flirted a heck of a lot more. It came up a couple of times when famous actors were involved in cases.
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Apr 17, 2007 6:21 PM
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So how long does it take to make a 15' rope of dental floss? And how many little packages would it take? And how would that be kept secret at a rehab facility? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Apr 18, 2007 10:19 AM
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I agree with wendue. I thought the girl who made the rope was only there for two months. No way she could have made that rope. Not even working on it 24 hours a day. We are not CSI but we ain't dumb .
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Apr 18, 2007 1:45 PM
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I just pulled my package of dental floss out of my purse. It has 27.4 yds in it. If my math is correct, that is around 82 feet. Depending on how many strands were in her rope, she would need that many packages of floss to make a rope. I use to work with macrame, and I could braid about a foot in an hour (without adding beads). So if the rope was 15 ft. and she knew how to braid, she could propably do it in 15 hrs. My big problem with floss is that it stretches. I do not know if braiding it together would change the dynamic so that would hold a body..
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Apr 18, 2007 4:47 PM
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