CSI- Go to Hell

No one can say that this episode of CSI didn't open without a well packed punch! It's actually a well known fact that the higher the temperature creeps during the summer months, the more the crime rate climbs. People with short tempers, arguments, fights, weapons, foolish decisions, they all rack up when the heat starts to climb. And the rising heat offers the perfect backdrop for an episode of CSI.

With a couple killed, execution style in a cheap motel and a body discovered in body found an alley, the team get to putting the pieces together. We're also introduced to Ronny Lake, a new member of the CSI team who, for this episode, has been paired off with Sarah. Ronny instantly comes across as a chatter box, inquisitive woman who could easily drive the team, or Sarah specifically, to distraction. With a dozen questions over why the ants on the dead body in the alley haven't gone in through the nostrils to eat the brain, and wondering if ants have taste buds, I had to laugh a little. Sorry but the questions reminded me of my children!

The double murder takes a nasty turn as the biological's in the room reveal there's a missing teenager, the daughter of the dead couple, who was raped in the room. Before, after, or perhaps during the death of her parents and one hit in the room leads to a convicted sex offender who now works as a priest. But when the daughter turns up dead in her own bed it takes a turn for the worse.

But when its announced that there are no physical, external signs of sexual trauma confusion sets in. Until a photograph is discovered of the family. Of mom, dad and two daughters. So is the second daughter the one who has been raped? Or was it traditional rape at all? When a second bedroom is discovered in the attic the weird factor grows. The dead child's room was a 'my little pony/princess room', but the attic room is little more than a cell with a bee hive climbing up into the roof.

But where is the missing girl?

Tossing the apartment of the known sex offender turned preacher turns up a stash of tapes from a camcorder hidden in a pull down ironing board. Tapes that reveal something strange. Not the child pornography they expected to see, but an exorcism.

Exorcism's have always been a controversial subject. Many believe in them, while just as many, if not more, see them as pointless, or attempts at showmanship, or a way of trying to heal illnesses that have nothing to do with religion. Some people have died in these attempts to 'cast out' the devil, others have gone on to seek different types of help, and then there are those who have been cured.

Amy, the missing girl, was the subject of an exorcism attempt.

The second death scene, the homeless man in the alley, appears to be nothing more than a death by exposure. Until Sarah takes a better look at the body and discovered handcuff markings on his wrists. With his ID found separated out from the rest of his possessions Sarah sends Ronny off to print the ID. Something that the newcomer is less than happy with. The prints lead back to a Vegas cop. But the COD was heart failure from exposure, so where will that lead? It looks like a simple case of death from heat and exposure, but in this case one that could have been prevented if the cop the homeless man struck had been pulled in. At least then he would have been off the street and in the AC.

When the missing daughter turns up in the stolen/missing car from her dead parents, along with a male companion, the team tries to put the pieces together. Catherine Willows is the one sent to gather the DNA mouth swab and it quickly becomes apparent that she's not entirely focused. Andrew Wolflyn, the man who Amy is found with, faces the police questioning. And Amy shifts from confused to attitude on the flip of a coin. And Amy, who looks like a teenager, announces she's in sixth grade, and is only twelve.

And when the blood covered shirt that they think was worn by the murderer is revealed to be something either a woman, or a child. Amy.

The murderer is Amy. Revenge for her parents stopping her from being involved with an older man. Revenge for her parents setting down the law. Revenge because she wasn't getting her own way. Amy, the victim they were trying to find, to protect and help, is no victim at all - but the murderer.

The priest who tried to exorcise her gets to Amy before the cops do and performs on last ritual to cleanse her soul. Her spirit. By tossing her over the balcony staircase, where she crashes to the concrete floor below. Saving her? In his eyes, yes. In the eyes of the law, now her murderer.

Being a parent is never easy. We look for answers when our children step out of line. Sometimes we make the right choices, other times we don't. Regardless of if the fictitious parents in this story made the right choice or not, the episode did an interesting attempt at pointing out that sometimes we'll simply get it wrong. In this case the results were devastating.

And the relationship between Sarah and Gil - ignored for this episode but for brief conversations between the two of them over a bee colony. That leaves far too many questions unanswered, but that is due to change in next week's episode of CSI or so they promise- and the teaser of Gil asking Sarah if they should get married just made that episode a must see as far as I'm concerned.