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Sunday 14 October 2012

CSI:Miami 10.13 "Terminal Velocity" Review

Two men jump from a plane skydiving and one of the men's parachute strings begin to burn, as he falls to his death.  He lands on a road and Ryan (Jonathan Togo) and Horatio (David Caruso) arrive at the scene.  Ryan states all his bones have been broken.  A witness remarks there was another man who drifted off in another direction.

Ryan and Walter (Omar Miller) process the scene and a funny smell is given off by the DB.  Acid is burning the DB's back and Walter tells Ryan to use ammonia to neutralize it.  Also Ryan finds an altimeter on his DB stating the wrong altitude, reading much higher than the DB, Kevin Ramsey (Ron Melendez) actually was.  The acid was used to cause damage at a reduced rate and to delay the onset of decay until he was actually wearing the parachute.

Horatio and Tripp (Rex Linn) find the other man hanging in a tree and don't help him down.  He was trying to save Kevin but couldn't get to him in time.  Horatio leaves him up there as he's a suspect.  Charming, really is there no end to his audacity.  He should have sued Miami Dade, especially considering he didn't turn out to be the killer.  He tells them they pack their own parachutes and have a locker at the airfield.  The pilot at the airport Arnie (David Warshofsky) says he set the wrong altitude as he was trying to save money on fuel.  Also mentioning Kevin's car had been damaged by someone.

Walter and Delko (Adam Rodriguez) find the car and notice the smell of bleach, which was poured into the oil so the engine would overheat.  They can't help admiring the Ferrari.  Walter finds a print which Natalia (Eva La Rue) matches to a Cameron (Beau Cybulski). He found out Kevin was his father, a sperm donor on the clinic's website.  He went to see him but Kevin wanted nothing to do with him.  They also find some mucus on Kevin's shirt.  The DNA matches another man, his half brother.

Ryan and Natalia check out the clinic's website registry and find he had 103 children, receiving $200 for each donation he made.  Natalia says there's a moral question involved in that he shouldn't have been allowed to have so many children and then not bother seeing them.  Ryan comments on hating his nose if he donated, he'd be worried about them having his nose and she replies his nose is cute.  The website leads to Scott (Grant Gustin) he hacked into the computer and told everyone Kevin was his father.  Kevin refused to speak to him either and so he posted his name there.

Scott is brought in with his mother, Jill (Elisabeth Rohm) and the DNA matches Scott but he was at a teacher parent conference with his mother.  She tells Natalia she was a single mother and had her child by a surrogate.  She is shocked at learning one of her babies was taken.  The surrogate, Amy (Romy Rosemont) is contacted and they find Trent (Grant Gustin) in the back.  Trent is brought in and wants to use the bathroom, whilst there he meets Scott and says he killed Kevin.  Ryan listens in and tells him nothing said in a police station is privileged, not even in the toilet, this is always mentioned in everything.  They've done this before in Miami.

When questioning him Natalia notices he has jaundiced eyes when he asks for water and he has liver disease.  He's suffering from Wilson's Disease and needs a liver transplant.  He saw Kevin and asked him for part of his liver but he refused him that too.  So he confesses to killing him though he is innocent as he'll get free medical care in prison.  Since this disease was hereditary and passed on from Kevin, they conclude there must be other children out there who'd want to kill him and have the same disease.

Walter and Delko go to the clinic but find someone destroyed all of Kevin's sperm.  However Walter finds a substance on the equipment.  When analyzed it's revealed to be Invisi-skin, which is used by mechanics and thus leads them back to the pilot Arnie.  His daughter died from Wilson's Disease but he didn't kill Kevin.  He'd like to congratulate whoever did.  He is arrested for attempted murder as he wanted to ensure he wouldn't have enough time to open his parachute, thus the wrong altimeter reading but he made the jump before the agreed limit.

Ryan meets with Kevin's wife (Meredith (Jacqueline McKenzie)who is surprised at Kevin having so many children.   She tells Ryan she'd like to meet them.  She was older and didn't want children.  Calleigh (Emily Procter) who did nothing this episode but make a phonecall locating Cameron and now she burns her arm with acid in the lab.  Oh how careless for a CSI.  Well she had to do something since they were struggling for answers.  Delko neutralizes the effect with ammonia and this leaves an orange mark on her skin.  Thus anyone who had contact with the acid would also have such trace.

A girl shows up who was also Kevin's daughter and had called him but his wife answered the phone.  She just talked about her husband and Natalia recalls Ryan said his wife wanted to meet the children but didn't know about them.  She's called in under the rouse of collecting his DB and whist signing the form, Natalia shines the ALS on her hands, revealing the orange marks.  She was a chemistry teacher and found he had fathered all those children and yet he didn't want any of his own with her.  He had a vasectomy after they were married and so it was too late for her to have children.  She married a younger man so he could keep up with his children, but he was only into skydiving.

In a twist at the end Natalia arranged for Scott and Trent to be transported in the same van, telling them they haven't got another one, hoping to be able to help Trent out with Scott acting as his donor. Or even his mother may have been able to help. Tripp comments on the abundance of vans.

Ryan asking Walter when they will go skydiving together was another fun moment between these too and Walter doesn't want to after seeing the end result.  Funny Ryan should ask him this after having brain matter in his hands.  Also Walter was willing to go up in the sky in the space shuttle episode from season 8.15 Miami, We Have a Problem and defy gravity, but it's a no no to skydiving, having to leave the aircraft itself.  Then Natalia telling Ryan Kevin should bear some responsibility to his children but he says he doesn't have any such responsibility,  Natalia laughing he's got the attitude of a "single dude."

Also Horatio 'lurks' in the background again when coming to see Arnie and returns the photo of his daughter to him.  Suppose it was good to see he hasn't lost all his humanity/morality as far as children are concerned.  Though it's not the same with suspects.

This episode had shades of CSI episodes, firstly with the Invisi-skin which was mentioned in the quadruplets ep of season 12.19 Split Decisions when Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) went to the garage to find they use it there.  Coincidentally that episode featured multiple children too who were also the children of one donor in particular the DB doctor had 'fathered' them with his own sperm.

CSI has also featured death by skydiving too 9.19 The Descent of Man which had a skydiver's parachute malfunctioning.

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