CSI: Miami Recap - "L.A."

Synopsis:Horatio and Delko must travel to Los Angeles when a secret from Jesse's past may allow a killer to go free.

Guest Stars: Michael Madsen, Malcolm McDowell, William Forsythe, Paul Blackthorne, and Sheri Moon Zombie.

Guest Director: Rob Zombie

There are SPOILERS in this recap.

Sometimes the wildest parties don't always end up with morning full of smiles or hangovers. A masquerade party ends with one girl dead and another totally covered in blood at the house of a man named Tony Enright that Horatio says he knows what he did in L.A. Enright insists that he has done nothing wrong as proven by his acquittal and that his porn movies are a legitimate business. But to Horatio, it's a wrap.

The team quickly realizes that this murder is something very strange when a listening device (bug) is found in the same room as where the murder took place. Jesse ends up in the middle of it all because of the past he has with Enright and the surviving girl Anna. Jesse still thinks Enright killed his wife and got away with it, but Enright insists that Jesse framed him for it.

As the case goes on, it is revealed that the murdered girl was not drugged before being stabbed in the neck with a fountain pen which could contain fingerprints from anyone including a former football star named Coop Daly (Madsen). Now though the focus is put on the bug and Calleigh soon traces the listening device to Jesse's trunk and learns he planted it in Enright's house a little over a week ago to get something dirty on him. Little did he realize exactly what he'd catch. The evidence on the bug is inadmissible in court though because Jesse is seen as a dirty cop due to what happened in L.A. That's when Horatio and Delko high-tail it out to Los Angeles to clear Jesse's name.

Upon arriving in L.A., Horatio and Delko are greeted by Captain Chris Sutter (Forsythe) to discuss Jesse's case and try to clear things up. Everything seems in line from the past case to convict Enright, but a mishap on Jesse's part when collecting evidence set him free. It all boils down to a missing cufflink and finding it is the key to this whole case. It soon leads Horatio and Delko to Enright's attorney Darren Vogel (McDowell).

Back home in Miami, Anna the survivor tries to remember all she can about the night her friend died but it's not coming back to her. Calleigh is still trying to pin the murder on Coop Daly whose fingerprint was on the pen even though he said he was just signing autographs. That alibi goes out the window though when it's proven that Daly practiced safe sex. Enright may finally be sent to jail due to drugging the girls and "giving" them to Daly which led to Leslie's death, but he feels Jesse beind involved will get him off the hook again.

Some photos taken by a freelance photographer named Olivia Burch (Moon Zombie) back in L.A. turn out to be the missing evidence in Jesse's case as Capt. Sutter is eventually found to be the one that removed the cufflink from the crime scene. Sutter gives an apology and explains all that went down essentially clearing Jesse's name and sending Enright to jail.

Overall this wasn't a bad episode, but I kind of expected more from Rob Zombie's direction. Being a huge fan of his music and his films; I'm rather surprised that there wasn't more in way of horror and the like. His signature is all over though as he cast a number of regulars from his movies here with Forsythe, McDowell, and even his wife Sherri. They fit in pretty well too and made for some great moments that virtually saved this episode.

There was a lot going on, but then again there wasn't. "L.A." is an episode that focused on clearing Jesse's name once and for all more then anything else and it did that without a doubt. The problem comes in because the case at hand was rather dull and boring while it should have been more exciting with Zombie behind the camera and Horatio going out of his element across the country.

Maybe it's just me and perhaps I'm veing overly judgmental considering what I was hoping for from Zombie, but even as an episode directed by anyone else...this one still would have been a tad blah. Oh well, hopefully things will pick up next week.

Palm Tree Rating: Thumbs in the middle

Follow me on Twitter: @CapnDanny or join my group on Facebook.