Chronicling the work of the Miami-Dade crime investigators, CSI: Miami is set against the sun, fun and tropics of the Florida tourist haven. Leading the team is Horatio Caine, an ex-bomb squad detective who is no stranger to confrontations with criminals and the underworld...

Season 5 - Part 1 of CSI: Miami includes the first 12 episodes of Season 5, spread over three discs. This season opens with an episode that neatly ties up all of the loose ends that were left hanging at the end of the last box set (Season 4 - Part 2) so that Caine can pretend he never had a wife and go back to delivering his cheesy one-liners or trying to look cool... and believe me, there are some cringe worthy scenes in this box set. My favourite is in the episode Curse of the Coffin. Here Caine bravely (or stupidly, depending on your perspective) gets into a car that is set to explode. He drives away to the beach, stops the car, removes his shades, walks very slowly away from the car, stops, puts his shades back on and... boom! the car explodes. Or how about the many annoying lab montages? Or the obvious time filling numerous shots of the entire team walking on the beach in Death Pool 100?

And, once again, almost every episode sees Caine arrive at the crime scene and just before the opening credits start he puts his shades on and utters a line so annoying it's all I can do to stop myself hurling the remote control at his smug face. Now, having seen David Caruso as himself on the extras he seems like a really friendly guy. It's not his fault the script calls for him to be a total git. Anyway, now I've got that off my chest, this collection is pretty enjoyable and fans of the show will find much to enjoy here.

Highlights in this collection include:

Rio: Horatio and Delko travel to Rio de Janeiro to hunt down the man who killed Marisol Cain, Horatio’s new bride and Delko’s sister. While there, Caine learns that both his brother Ray and Ray’s son, Ray Jr are involved in an international drug ring operating out of the city’s dangerous favellas. This episode, as I previously mentioned, helps to neatly clear up all the loose ends left unresolved at the end of Season Four. However, I really couldn't understand the scenes with Sofia Milos (who played Detective Yelina Salas in the early years of the show). There's a corny slow motion shot as they meet, and then, without saying: "Hello" or anything, Caine starts talking business. It felt like a moment was lost. And don't even get me started on Caine tracking down his brother after finding a blade of grass on his boots... Otherwise, this is a pretty enjoyable opening to the series.

Curse of the Coffin: Stolen gold bars, a bomb-rigged police bait car, and a bloody female victim surrounded by scary Santeria voodoo icons keep the CSI team spooked as they attempt to find a golf club-wielding murderer. This is arguably the best episode in this collection. The writers, and actors, have great fun with the mystic mumbo jumbo angle. And Delko and Wolfe get more and more worried that one of the CSI team might die because of the curse.

Darkroom: The CSI team’s pursuit of a serial killer intensifies after a picture of Boa Vista’s missing sister is found amongst the illusive perp’s black & white photo gallery. While this is an enjoyable episode - surely having Boa Vista involved represents a conflict of interest.

Backstabbers: The CSI team pursues Al-Qadr terrorists and Los Craneos gang-bangers after a defence attorney and a young grocer are murdered. This is a great episode with only one major slip up - oddly enough down to Caine, the man who is never wrong. Calleigh tells Wolfe that she does want the very young daughter of the dead grocer going to court, because she doesn't want to tip off the gang - who might then try and kill her - that there were any witnesses. So, what does Caine do while interrogating a suspect? He tells the man that he has made a little girl an orphan.

Internal Affairs: Horatio and his team are once again investigated when both Natalia Boa Vista and Maxine Valera are arrested for the murder of Boa Vista’s ex-husband, who is Valera’s current beau. This is an interesting episode that starts with Boa Vista's arrest, and then flashes back several hours to explain why she's been arrested. There's plenty of possible murders within the CSI team who had motive for killing Boa Vista's ex. It was interesting that after no one questioned Boa Vista's involvement in Darkroom, that conflict of interest is brought up in this episode - ensuring that Delko can't work on the evidence.

Extras include audio commentary on four episodes; Rio Grand: CSI: Miami Goes to Rio (8 min, 41 sec behind the scenes on the Rio episode. It was interesting to learn that originally Caine was going to have a gun in this episode, but that getting a weapon into Rio - even a fake - isn't easy, and the production didn't have time to complete all the necessary procedures); If Looks Could Kill (13 min, 36 sec examination of the makeup and model effects in the series).

While this is a great box set, the price is a little high for half a season. Personally, I'd wait until Momemtum do another round of buy one get one free promotions. But, price complaints aside, this is still a great package packed with hours of entertainment.

7

Amber Leigh