One of most irritating thing about TV cops is the writers' need to make them constantly appear humane, mostly through being overly attentive to females, both criminal and innocents.
Horatio Caine is among the worst (with CSI New York's Mac Taylor a close second, though neither holds a candle to Walker, Texas Ranger).
"Manhunt" shows the worst decision making of Caine thus far and the citizens of Miami pay for it dearly.
Five hardcore criminals escape from a maximum security penitentiary. One of them is Memmo Fierro (Robert LaSardo), the man who murdered Marisol Delko.
In short order, he robs and murders a wealthy boat owner, guns down emergency room nurses, blows a child case worker's brains out, wounds a foster mother and then gets away clean.
Meanwhile, Ivonne Hernandez, Memmo's former lover and mother of his daughter, Elsa, lies through her teeth time and again, only telling the truth after a bunch of innocent people are killed.
Eventually, Horatio and Eric Delko corner Memmo but, inexplicably, let him get away with a hostage (guess what happens to the hostage?) The writers have piled on the schmaltz in attempting to somehow paint Memmo Fierro as having noble ambitions with his killings. See, he is trying to rescue his daughter, Elsa, from a broken foster care system that let her fall through the cracks.
The nurses Memmo guns down in the ER just happen to be the same ones who turned away his daughter when she came in with second-degree burns from a household accident. Memmo found them out from Ivonne, but his lover failed to mention that the ER was very busy that night and Elsa could not be seen right away. Though the nurses (Vera Miao, Juliet Sorci) were a bit rude, they did suggest a different clinic that could help faster than Miami General.
The case worker is the same one who place Elsa in the home where she was burned. Ivonne told Memmo about him, too and he had his brains blown out.
We find out William McGuire, the head of the private foster care firm, is selling Elsa to a rich family. Yet, this fact is only revealed in the last five minutes and actually weakens the already thin plot.
Anyway, Ivonne gets to reunite with Elsa and things seem to go happily ever after. Yeah, Ivonne lies and people who might have been warned aren't so they die. Yet, she gets to reunite with her daughter.
Also, the boat owner's death is never explained. He is just a random victim, so how can Memmo justify that? Finally, Horatio suffers his greatest inexplicable action. Among all the dicey things he's done, letting Memmo go is the diciest.
Yes, McGuire was selling Elsa. But, does that justify letting a cold-blooded murderer take the man hostage since we all know what's going to happen? Delko has a shot, yet H stops him. When Memmo forces McGuire into a stolen cab, he lingers outside with his gun away from McGuire's head. Still, H doesn't shoot him. Memmo gets into the cab and gets away clean.
Later, Frank and the Miami Dade police find the cab, with McGuire dead inside. As Ivonne reunites with Elsa, we see a montage of the cab, McGuire's corpse and Memmo walking away into a crowd.
Really? Memmo gunned down Marisol in H's arms. He murdered a boat owner. He killed two nurses and wounded a cop in the ER. He murdered a child care caseworker, wounded a foster mother and Horatio lets him go? That means every death at Memmo's hands from now on will be blood on Horatio's hands, especially since we known Fierro returns next season to seize control of Mala Noche and wreak havoc on Miami.
Overall, there is very little CSI work, save for identifying that Ivonne broke into her daughter's bedroom, leaving behind two scraps of paper from a wire hanger cover.
The CSI's mostly running around failing to save anyone. They get lied to by Ivonne repeatedly and yet she comes out smelling like a rose. Memmo is turned from cold-blooded killer to sympathetic anti-hero and allowed to escape.
Not one of CSI: Miami's finest moments or episodes.
6 out of 10 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
