CSI: Miami is the first spin-off series of the popular television series CSI Crime Scene Investigation. The series takes another approach to fighting crime on television by looking at the evidence instead of the suspects or victims. Through the eyes of several forensic scientists, crime scene investigators solve crimes purely based upon evidence, by considering fingerprints, hair & fibers, DNA, ballistics, bloodstain pattern analysis, crime scene reconstruction, criminal profiling, toxicology, etc. While this approach to detective based entertainment isn't entirely new, the manner in which the approach is conducted is new, as television has never seen modern forensic science laid out in so much detail. I reviewed CSI: Miami - The Complete First Season and found it lacking. The problems came from the way the series developed its main characters and the writing tended to feel sloppy. The second season improves upon both of those areas, providing better focus on its characters and some better written stories.

While not entirely balanced, this series develops the personalities of the entire cast and not just the main character Horatio Caine (David Caruso, NYPD Blue). However, like the first season, there is still a lot of focus on Caine. The second season continues to portray his character in an extremely noble way. Caine takes a very personal approach to crime fighting. In each episode, he connects on a personal level with the case or its victims. This overly good guy approach sometimes can get annoying, but at the same time it's his raw emotion that makes him an attractive character. This season also gives each of the other characters a chance to develop, which didn't really occur in the first season. They each run into various personal trials that help unveil their personalities. Of course, it follows Caine's theme, as they all overly noble and dedicated good guys, who also seem to connect on a personal level with the case and its victims.

In the beginning of the season, Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) is involved in a taboo-in-the-workplace-relationship with one of the case detectives. However, it comes to a halt in "The Best Defense" when she is forced to put work ahead of the relationship and she realizes that the detective appears more interested in closing cases than solving them. Next, Eric Delektorsky (Adam Rodriguez) gets a chance to glow like a knight in shining armor. In "Extreme" he gets in trouble for interfering with an ongoing investigation and the question becomes why he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eric had been helping a victim over the years and he openly states that he just wants to save as many people as he can. In "Complications", Chief Medical Examiner Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander) faces problems in her own ranks. Another medical examination botched the results of an autopsy, because they did not spend enough time with it. This puts Alexx in a situation where she's forced to turn a wrong into a right, because she's a dedicated ME. However, not all are willing to admit they are good guys. In "Wannabe", Tim Speedle (Rory Cochrane) states that it's just a job and nothing more. However, later in that episode he really connects with an individual connected with a crime and we learn that despite what Speedle says, he's just like the rest of the cast. He really cares a lot about his job and doing the right thing. Overall, the characters are placed into situations which help unveil their characters and the second season did much better with it than the first season. However, despite the increased focus on the entire cast, they could just as easily be replaced and the series would feel much the same. Excluding Caine of course, he's this show's bread and butter.

The writing in this season was much better than the first season. The stories are easier to follow and most are pretty exciting. Throughout the entire season, there is a story arc about Caine. It is about Caine overcoming the death of his brother, a detective whose death was under suspicious circumstances. Also Caine reveals some truths about his brother that puts him in very a poor light. It's a truth that Caine suspected, but did not want to accept. The story also intertwines with one of the detectives, who happened to be his brother's ex-wife and a woman that Caine feels very strongly for. However, that's about it for stories that arc through the season.

As for the individual episodes, there are some interesting stories to tell. However, after a while they feel slightly repetitive. Each episode portrays the victims and the suspects in a misleading way. Generally, the guilty party is the person you least expect to it to be. While not always the case, it seems to happen quite a lot. On the plus side, it makes the stories much less transparent. Also, there are some episodes where the CSI team solves two crimes concurrently in an episode. In the first season I felt that this hindered it, because of all the content it was difficult to follow at times. However, the second season doesn't have this feeling, as each crime is outlined well.

The second season opens with "Blood Brothers". The episode is pretty typical at first, but it has a twist. Some bad guys killed a girl in public and it's pretty evident whodunit. It turns out they have diplomatic immunity and because that, Caine can't touch them. The story gets interesting as he and his team tries to get around the red tape. "Death Grip" is another episode that has an interesting twist. The story is about an underage all-star tennis player who is kidnapped by her twenty-three year old instructor. The story gets interesting because there are several twists surround her and her parents. The episode "Hurricane Anthony" gives a crazy environment for the CSI team to work in. After a major catastrophe (the hurricane), the CSI team uncover a couple of murders to deal with. "Stalkerazzi" was also another good episode. It's about a paparazzo who gets murdered after taking some comprising pictures of a big name action star. What made this story interesting are the big twists and turns it takes while the CSI team unravels the bad guys. The second season also includes the pilot episode for the second spin-off series CSI: New York, "MIA/NYC - NonStop". It's a pretty entertaining series that briefly introduces the case of the New York based series. Overall, the stories in this season were much stronger than the first season.

CSI: Miami is far from my favorite television series, which was mainly because the content of the first season was not extremely gripping. However, I felt that the second season was a big improvement over the first season. In general, the focus on its main set of characters was developed better and the writing had much more entertaining stories that were easy to follow. In addition, this season also has a bigger emphasis on special effects, which is discussed in the featurette "CSI: Miami - Visually Effective". Overall, this was a pretty good season. However, it's major drawback (and at the same time, strength) is the format that each episode takes. In each episode, there is either one big case that the entire CSI team works on or there are two smaller cases they divide their manpower on. Sometimes they are closely related and connected, and sometimes they are not. In the beginning, the CSI team follows the evidence down the wrong path, placing the wrong person under suspicion or leaving them in a dead end. In the end, they find some unique piece of evidence that ties the perpetrator to the crime. From a positive aspect, this gives the series an unpredictable edge, as the crimes are never transparent. However, at the same time the unpredictable edge becomes a pattern and it isn't always shocking when everything about a case is finally revealed. But despite the shortcomings of CSI: Miami season two, it's still pretty entertaining.

Episode Guide
1. Blood Brothers
2. Dead Zone
3. Hard Time
4. Death Grip
5. The Best Defense
6. Hurricane Anthony
7. Grand Prix
8. Big Brother
9. Bait
10. Extreme
11. Complications
12. Witness To Murder
13. Blood Moon
14. Slow Burn
15. Stalkerazzi
16. Invasion
17. Money for Nothing
18. Wannabe
19. Deadline
20. The Oath
21. Not Landing
22. Rap Sheet
23. MIA/NYC – NonStop
24. Innocent

The DVD

Video:
Like the first season, the second season of CSI: Miami is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio widescreen color. The picture quality is very stunning, looking very crisp and clear and detail looking very rich and vibrant. Computer graphics (CG) are used quite a lot (evermore so than the first season) for special effects and they appear very well within the context of the show, making each episode appear more elegant and attractive.

Audio:
The audio in this DVD release is given in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound and Spanish Dolby Digital Surround sound. The quality of the sound in this release is very good, with audio sounding both flat and full when needed. During spoken dialogue, the audio feels fairly flat, which is expected, but special effects and music come off very full. There are no subtitles presented with this DVD release, but it is closed-captioned enabled.

Extras:
The special features included with this season release are audio commentaries and featurettes. The commentaries spread across the six episode discs, totaling in at seven. They are for "Blood Brothers", "Hard Time", "Hurricane Anthony", "Complications", "Witness to Murder", "Wannabe", and "MIA/NYC - Non-Stop". The featurettes are found on the seventh disc. The first is "CSI: Miami – Visually Effective (17:10)", which is fairly interesting. The special effects crew discusses some of the challenges they had with this new season, because they wanted it to be special effects intensive. For "The Trace Lab Tour (3:08)", technical director John Haynes gives a brief tour of the trace lab, showing various equipment used to deal with trace evidence. Then in "The A/V Lab Tour (11:21)", forensic consultant Elizabeth Devine discusses some of the various aspects of the audio/video related evidence of the season. Finally, "CSI: Miami - Recalling Season Two (13:05)" is with cast and crew. They discuss some of the changes made from season one and season two. Mostly they acknowledge that the first season was slightly disorganized, as no one really knew their place. It's mildly intriguing, best for the fans.

Final Thoughts:
In comparison to the content of the first season, the second season offers more entertaining stories and compelling characters. While CSI: Miami is still not my favorite series, I did enjoy watching the second season on an episode-by-episode basis. The content is good enough that it's very fun to sit through an episode or two. However, it's not so gripping and entertaining to leave you demanding more. Still, there is some good replay value and this season release is recommended.