CSI: Miami - Season 6, Part 2 (DVD)

For the last couple of seasons, CSI: Miami has been in danger of falling off a cliff. It’s got progressively more convoluted, moving away from the forensic investigation of murders in Florida and more toward being about a succession of people trying to destroy the team and Horatio Caine (Caruso) running around facing off against various enemies and settling vendettas (and becoming less morally scrupulous as he does so).

Seasons 4 was almost ridiculous on that score, completely losing sight of what made the series entertaining in the first place. Season 5 improved somewhat and while the first part of Season 6 again skirted with outright silliness, things are back on track with Season 6, Part 2.

Admittedly there are moments when things descend into ‘The Horatio Caine’ show, where it seems to be more about David Caruso’s ego than making an entertaining episode, but there’s a better balance between him and the other characters, as well plenty of interesting cases that don’t rely on some ridiculous feud between Caine and an incredibly bad, moustache twirling villain. Even one of the main Horatio plotlines of the season, involving him discovering he has a son, works very well (at least until the stepdad starts fiddling with that moustache).

While not up to the standard of the first few seasons, it’s a pretty good selection of episodes, with the team investigating everything from somebody found scalped near a Native American casino to a movie star getting killed in a rehab centre, leading up to one of the team getting fired towards the end of the season. However one thing to note is that as this is the US 2006-2007 season, it was forshortened by the writer’s strike. Although all the CSI series survived much better than most shows, Season 6 only extended to 21 episodes rather than 24, and in this box set there are only 10 episodes. Thankfully, despite the RRP being the same as longer box sets, the actual price you’ll have to pay at the time of release is actually cheaper than most CSI box sets.

There are also some decent extras. While there’s only one, relatively dull, audio commentary, the featurettes aren’t bad, with ‘Playing Dead’ looking at the people who have to be dead bodies on the show and the surprising difficulties involved in that, a retrospective look at the season in the aptly titled ‘Analyzing Season’ 6, and best of all, ‘The Real Women Of MPDP’, which takes a short look at the real policewomen of Miami Dade country, showing that what they have to deal with in real life isn’t quite as glamorous as it is in the show.

Overall Verdict: While the show remains too much about Horatio Caine, Season 6, Part 2 moves back to a better balance between him, his team and the cases they have to investigate.

Special Features:
‘Playing Dead’ Featurette
‘Analyzing Season 6’ Featurette
‘The Real Women Of MDPD’ Featurette
Audio Commentary On Episode ‘Raising Caine’ With Elizabeth Berkley

Reviewer: Tim Isaac