CSI: Miami--'You May Now Kill The Bride'

See Also: 'You May Now Kill the Bride' Episode Guide

Synopsis:

Susan Alston is about to marry baseball star Greg Tanner in an outdoor wedding on a beautiful Miami day when a gunshot rings out, instantly killing Susan. Tanner's bodyguard, Duane Cross, rushes him away in a Rolls Royce. While the CSIs process the scene looking for the shell casing, Tripp chases down Duane, who hits the detective with the front of his car. Tanner tells Horatio that he blames himself for Susan's death--he believes an obsessed fan killed her, thinking Tanner was breaking up "the team"--his baseball partnership with fellow bad boy Russell Brooks. Calleigh finds evidence that Duane's gun has been fired, but she can't tell how recently. Alexx discovers that Susan had glitter paint under her fingernails, leading Delko and Calleigh to check out the strip club where Tanner had his bachelor party. Lexa Knowles directs them to the stripper who danced for them, Kelly Chapman, who tells Delko that she didn't fight with the bride-to-be--she danced for her. Calleigh finds a bullet in the wall and learns that Duane fired a shot when he found the strippers chasing after hundred dollar bills the baseball players were throwing towards them.

When Alexx discovers the bullet that killed Susan ricocheted and fragmented, the CSIs realize Susan wasn't the intended target. Calleigh and Delko return to the scene and find the remains of the bullet wrapped around a diamond from the veil. Calleigh determines the diamond is a fake, but the veil's designer insists the veil was real and uses a GPS tracker installed in the veil to trace it, leading Horatio and Tripp to sports agent Alan Farris, who has the real veil in his trunk. He claims he held the veil hostage to get money Greg Tanner owed him, but Tanner had a fake veil made instead of paying him. Farris denies any involvement in Susan's death, but the CSIs bring him in. Lexa Knowles calls Delko back to the strip club, imploring him to help her catch a patron who used a fake credit card and skipped out on a twenty thousand dollar bill. Delko runs the print the club took and finds it's a match to Russell Brooks, who has quite a lengthy rap sheet. Delko confronts the arrogant baseball player, arresting him for credit card fraud and telling him he's going to pay Lexa back. In the lab, Tripp finds Calleigh running a test for GSR. Both are surprised when she discovers it on his pant leg. Tripp recalls Duane's car hitting him in the leg earlier that day, and a closer examination of the car reveals a gun mount on the carriage. The killer was able to fire the weapon remotely.

Duane denies any knowledge of the gun mount under his car, and the mystery deepens when Calleigh and Delko use a laser to determine the killer's real target and discover it was in fact Kelly Chapman, the stripper from the bachelor party. Calleigh questions Kelly, who is shocked to learn she was the intended victim. She reveals the reason why: she has photos of Greg Tanner in women's underwear. Calleigh confronts Greg, and shows him how the gun mount can reverse dial the cell phone that triggered it. With Tanner in front of her and Russell, Duane and Farris just outside, Calleigh dials. Russell's phone is the one that rings: after Kelly threatened Greg with exposing the photos, Tanner asked Russell to take care of her. He did--with disastrous results.

Analysis:

Miami returns from the hiatus with a bang--but did we really expect it to return any other way? It's vintage Miami to have a baseball bad boy using a high tech device to get rid of a troublesome stripper. Not since the IAB guy in CSI: NY's "The Dove Commission" used a high tech mini-helicopter armed with a gun to try to take out the woman who betrayed him has a murder so personal been so sophisticated. Miami wouldn't be Miami if it wasn't a little over-the-top, but it's without a doubt a welcome return.

I have only two real quibbles with the episode, and the first was likely unavoidable due to the set up of the episode. But really, who invites the stripper from his bachelor party to his wedding? Especially a stripper who knows all of his dirty secrets, and is threatening to share them. If Greg had actually been the killer, it would have made at least a little sense (even if it probably would have never flown with the bride)--one could presume he lured her there to kill her. But since Greg wasn't the killer, how did Kelly score an invite? If she came as Russell's date--a move one would think Greg wouldn't take kindly to--it would have helped to have that mentioned. Kelly's presence at the wedding might have been necessary, but it required some explanation.

Though also necessary to advance the plot, Lexa Knowles' awkward attempt at seducing Delko into helping her was more uncomfortable to watch than it was sexy, perhaps in part because Brook Kerr, who did a stint on Passions is more of a girl-next-door type than a seedy seductress. Delko doesn't go for her lap dance, but he does agree to help her. Delko's always been something of a sucker for a damsel-in-distress; last season he rushed to a woman's aid only to be sucked into a con and sued by the very woman he tried to help. He might have learned his lesson from that if he hadn't been shot and lost his memory of the incident.

The sparks are still flying between Delko and Calleigh and the scene where they are trying to discover the shooter's target crackles with sexual tension. When Calleigh tries on the bride's veil, Delko can't take his eyes off her. Calleigh is bashful about trying on the veil but doesn't seem to have a problem with Delko's unabashed staring. Not that the sexual tension isn't fun, but isn't it time for these two to get a room? Delko, who back in season three was texting random women and meeting them for anonymous sex, now isn't even interested in a stripper throwing herself at him. I think it's fair to say he's fairly smitten with Calleigh. And what about Calleigh? I think it's time for her to decide whether she wants Jake--who hasn't shown up in a while--or Delko.

The case also throws in a nice moment for Horatio where he's able to somewhat connect with another person--something that used to happen more often with him but these days is pretty rare. When the grief-stricken Greg Tanner asks Horatio if he knows what it's like to watch someone you love die right in front of you, Horatio answers in the affirmative. It's a a rare reference to Marisol Delko, who died with Horatio by her bedside in season four's "Rampage", just hours after they wed. It's a nice bit of continuity, and also a moment that humanizes Horatio. He's grown more remote as a character over the last few seasons, so any chance for him to connect emotionally with someone is welcome.

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