The Sixth Season

CSI: Miami is a spin-off series from CSI Crime Scene Investigation. The "CSI" franchise approaches the procedural crime drama by looking at the evidence instead of the suspects or victims. Forensic scientists (cops armed with science knowhow and sometimes badges and guns), also known as crime scene investigators (CSIs), solve crimes based on fingerprints, hair & fibers, DNA, ballistics, bloodstain pattern analysis, crime scene reconstruction, criminal profiling, toxicology, pathology, and so on. While this approach to detective based entertainment is not new, the manner that "CSI" takes is special -- television has never seen modern forensic science laid out in so much detail. For more details about the series, please refer to DVD Talk's reviews of season one, season two , season three, season four, and season five.

Of all the shows in the "CSI" franchise, CSI: Miami is my favorite. There is a distinct reason. While the first season did not grow on me as much as I would have liked, I have only gotten more into the show as it has progressed. "Miami" continues to have a racy appeal by looking at the sexy underbelly of the Miami-Dade community with characters that are noble yet dark as their strengths and flaws clash with the work. There have been a number of great background stories surrounding the leads. I mention this point because it is the main attraction to season six. The leading character Horatio Caine has an awesome development, which draws upon past seasons and setups for an intense season seven. In addition, there are several other solid storylines with the rest of the cast. What it boils down to is that CSI: Miami's sixth season is pretty kickass.

Season six begins with "Dangerous Son", which lays the foundation for the intense season story arc. Horatio and team investigate murder of a probation officer. The case leads to a young boy named Kyle Harmon (Evan Ellingson). Horatio learns Kyle's mother is Julia (Elizabeth Berkeley), who is someone from his undercover days. As it turns out, Kyle is very connected to Horatio -- his son -- and connected to the deceased probation officer. As the season continues, Horatio's involvement with Kyle increases. Horatio goes out of his way to protect the boy after he goes to prison for his involvement with the probation officer. Julia also makes an appearance with new villain Ron Saris (Kim Coates), which shakes things up... especially when people start dying. What makes this storyline so intense is how well it develops throughout the season. It repeatedly comes up and introduces new background (and mystery) to Horatio.

In addition to the main season story arc, there are a number of other solid developments and episodes. For character development, Ryan starts the season no longer with MDPD after the events of season five. Until his reinstatement, he works a number of jobs that includes being an expert witness for the defense -- opposite Horatio's team. Natalia faces difficulty qualifying to carry a firearm and also relies on her former FBI contacts on a couple cases. Delko continues to recover from his shooting incident, which causes his credibility as a CSI to falter on a case. Calleigh's relationship with Jake is scrutinized by IAB. Alexx's belief in the job comes into question when a case hits too close to home. Overall, it is a pretty busy season for everyone.

As for the episodes, there are a number of solid storylines. One of the better ones is the intense two-part episode "Ambush" and "All In". Lab tech Dan Cooper is fired after Calleigh and Delko catch him committing credit card fraud. Dan takes it personal and goes out of his way to hurt Calleigh. He creates a website that details how CSIs work and focuses on Calleigh. He even puts her phone number on the internet, which proves deadly when two criminals call her to a fake crime scene.

Other great episodes include "Stand Your Ground", Calleigh is involved in an off-duty shooting and IAB questions her judgment after her blood alcohol level is tested, "Miami Confidential", an intense episode where Natalia's former association to the FBI is vital, "To Kill A Pedator", the team investigates vigilante killings of pedophiles, "Down To The Wire", a private investigator ruins the team's credibility, and "Going Ballistic", an intense season finale that ends with a bang. Overall, the season has a lot of great episodes -- a few are so-so, like "You May Now Kill The Bride", which is a little too unrealistic.

Overall, season six is intense, entertaining, and gripping. However, while I have praised it highly, I admit there are negatives, but at the same time they are what make CSI: Miami special. The acting performances can be a little over-the-top. For instance, Horatio Caine pretty much does the same thing over and over again. He gives his one liners, looks increasingly stern, and tells the bad guys he is going to arrest or kill them. In addition to the characters, the storylines can be little hard to swallow. There are a few cases where the murder execution is so complex that it seems ridiculous that the killer would not think of trivial things, like not using their cell phone in the crime. Despite the flaws, I really enjoyed this season's direction.

In the end, CSI: Miami's sixth season is great step forward. It has a number of solid character developments and an intense season story arc that setups an incredible season finale cliffhanger. Fans of the series will not want to miss out on a single minute and newcomers should definitely give the series a watch (starting at season one). Regardless, season six will not fail to impress, entertain, and keep you hooked wanting to know what happens next.

Episode Guide

1. Dangerous Son: When probation officer Andrew Bennett is gunned down in his home, the suspect gets away on a boat docked nearby. The CSIs eventually find the abandoned boat, and the registration leads them to The Mist Cafe, where two of Bennett's parolees work.
2. Cyber-lebrity: When Luke Selyan, boyfriend to famous swimmer Candace Walker, is killed at her swim meet by an arrow shot through his chest, Horatio and his team are plunged into the world of cyber-stalkers and fans who will do anything to get close to Candace.
3. Inside Out: When a bus transporting high-profile criminal Julio Rentoria and his two accomplices is involved in an accident, the inmates escape. Among the escapees is Kyle Harmon, Horatio's son. Kyle turns himself in to Horatio, who oversees his safe return to prison.
4. Bang, Bang, Your Debt: Horatio and his team investigate the death of college student Jessica Taylor, whose burnt body is found in an SUV, her friend Brandon Fox's unconscious body nearby. Jessica's autopsy reveals that she was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, not by the fire.
5. Deep Freeze: When retired pro football player Doug McClain is found stabbed to death at his home, Alexx is unable to take the body back for an autopsy because McClain wished to be frozen at a cryonic lab. Alexx has no other choice but to follow the body to the cryonic lab and perform a virtual autopsy.
6. Sunblock: The CSIs have a serial killer on their hands when a drug dealer lounging at a hotel cabana is killed during an eclipse and the ligature marks around his throat resemble that of a recent murder victim in the area.
7. Chain Reaction: After model Alisha Reilly is fatally electrocuted while walking along a water-filled runway at a fashion show, Horatio learns that she was married to Joe LeBrock, the prisoner who recently threatened Horatio's son, Kyle.
8. Permanent Vacation: When 18-year-old Brian Partney is murdered in a hotel elevator while on vacation with his parents, Horatio suspects Brian was randomly killed as a gang initiation, because a black bandana was left at the crime scene.
9. Stand Your Ground: While off duty, Calleigh is forced to act quickly when someone in a Dodge Magnum points a gun at her and then backs up and accelerates full force at her. She shoots and kills the driver, which sends the car crashing into a sporting goods store, killing an innocent woman shopping inside.
10. CSI: My Nanny: When Vanessa Waters, the nanny to the Lambert family, is stabbed to death with a ceramic knife during a party at the Lambert residence, Horatio and his team investigate the world of really good-looking nannies and the unofficial services they provide to very wealthy families.
11. Guerillas in the Mist: Horatio and his team arrive at the scene to find the bloody, sprawled-out remains of three gun smugglers who have just been annihilated by what looks like a rare and illegal electric gun known as "the vaporizer," which can fire over 100,000 rounds per minute. Horatio must not only find the killer, he must also track down this weapon before it is sold to the wrong people.
12. Miami Confidential: The team investigates the charred remains of Rachel Hemming in her condo, which was being used as a meth lab. The circuit breakers were duct taped, which prevented them from shutting off when the power overloaded, causing an explosion. Her autopsy reveals that there was some type of melted metal device on her flesh, which turns out to be a communications wire.
13. Raising Caine: While investigating the murder of Bill Winston, a billionaire philanthropist, Horatio discovers that Bill was recently married to Julia Winston, Kyle's mother.
14. You May Now Kill the Bride: When bride, Susan Alston, is shot and killed during her wedding to famous baseball player, Greg Tanner, everyone from the bodyguard to the groom's stripper sitting in the front row is a suspect. DNA under the victims fingernails lead them to the gentleman's club where the wedding party went to the night before.
15. Ambush (1): When the body of Kathleen Newberry (the woman who was to testify against Kyle in 'Raising Caine' but mysteriously didn't show up) is found dead in her car at the bottom of the everglades, the evidence takes Horatio back to Kyle's mom, Julia Winston.
16. All In (2): After seeing her exploited on the website "Solve a crime with Calleigh" (ep 615) two young guys abduct her and force her to use her CSI expertise to cover up a murder they just committed after a poker game gone wrong.
17. To Kill A Predator: When Sean Radley is deliberately killed in a hit and run the team tracks down the murder weapon to being a rental car that was rented to his wife, Deborah Radley. She recently filed for divorce after she discovered that her husband was cheating on her with women he met online by the name of Tiffany.
18. Tunnel Vision: When the team investigates a death at the bottom of a sink hole they discover that a tunnel was built leading them to a bank vault that was recently robbed of its safety deposit boxes. Our victim, Lori Stoltz, happened to be an employee of the bank was shot and killed prior to the sink hole caving in.
19. Rock and a Hard Place: When a jet skier, Jim Farber, is killed by a falling piece of slate that was thrown off the bridge, Horatio discovers this was no accident. Jim Farber a convicted drug dealer was recently released from prison and his nearby hotel room yields evidence of the lady, Mary Landis, who was jet skiing with him but claimed not to know him.
20. Down to the Wire: A SWAT teams answers an anonymous distress call at a house where it's believed that Michael Maddox is attacking his wife, Lucy, and their kids. Michael is killed by SWAT after he comes at them with a knife. They discover that Michael hired a high end PI, Kurt Rossi, to spy on his wife whom he thought was having an affair.
21. Going Ballistic: While investigating the death of Manny Ortega, who fell to his death from a five story building, the medical examiner notices that our victim gasped for air.

The DVD

Video:
The video in this release is given in an enhanced anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains to be sharp and clear. However, there are some occasional moments when the picture suffers compression artifacts. This is a rare occurrence, but it does happen.

Audio:
The audio in this release is given in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. There is also a dubbed Spanish 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound track. Overall, the sound quality is very good, providing an audible and clean audio track. The 5.1 track sounds great, with the majority of activity in the forward channels. Music and sound effects sound very rich and vibrant.

Extras:

• Audio Commentaries: are included for episodes "Permanent Vacation" with Eagle Egilsson, Barry O'Brien, and Krystal Houghton, and "Raising Caine" with Elizabeth Berkley and Rex Linn.
• Four-Sight: Direction CSI: Miami (16:44): is a featurette with Don Tardino, Will Alovis, Barry O'Brien, Sunil Nayar, Claudia Yarmy, Rex Linn, Jonathan Togo, Adam Rodriguez, and Emily Proctor talking about directors Sam Hill, Matt Earl Beesley, Eagle Egilsson, and Gina Lamar. The directors also provide interviews.
• Playing Dead (6:08): is a featurette about the special effects make-up involving the dead. Department Head Make-Up Cheri Montesanto joins Don Tardino, Sunil Nayar, Khandi Alexander, and Barry O'Brien. They talk about the make-up process and walkthrough it.
• The Real Women of The MDPD (16:25): opens with Emily Proctor providing an introduction about the importance and difficulty of real-life women in the MDPD. It continues with interviews about the experiences and job duties including Underwater Recovery Unit, Marine Patrol Unit, K-9 Unit, Survival Techniques, Uniform Patrol, Building Searches, and more.
• Analyzing Season 6 (13:18): is a retrospective featurette with David Caruso, Sunil Nayar, Barry O'Brien, Emily Proctor, Evan Ellingson, Rex Linn, Adam Rodriguez, Eva La Rue, Jonathan Togo,

Final Thoughts:
CSI: Miami is a popular crime procedural drama that focuses on evidence instead of suspects and victims. Season six is a very intense season with a number of great character developments and a gripping season story arc. While I think highly of the series overall, I was very impressed with how the season progressed. Fans will definitely want to see what is in store for Horatio and team. It comes highly recommended.