CSI:Miami 10.2 "Stiff" Review

Ryan (Jonathan Togo) is already at a call out and is waiting for Natalia (Eva La Rue) to arrive.  A male DB has been found in his cabana.  Ryan notices the panama hat floating in the air and tries to take a photo of it.  Unfortunately when he shows it to Natalia all you can see is Ryan's reflection and she says as much.  Derek (Brandon Beemer) suffered multiple head trauma from a mysterious object and this murder weapon isn't found.  Natalia looks at the cheques and finds they were all from women and he used them to pay his hotel bill.  Turns out Derek was a gigolo: so how many of those could they squeeze into a Miami episode.  He's been seeing many women but the hotel owner, Hector Romero (Jordi Molla) claims he didn't know what he did and was only interested in getting his money but claims he isn't a pimp.  Knew his daughter, Luisa (Martha Higareda) had something to do with this as she lurked in the background.  Well come on, it's obvious considering he had many women, he had to have at least someone he had deeper feelings for; or claimed to.

Natalia's Hummer acts up and she can't get the alarm/siren to stop.  A man offers to fix it for her, Joe (Eric Winter) then asks her out to dinner and she gives him her card.  He's not put off by what she does.  Natalia accepts without knowing anything about him and only last episode she was complaining about the near misses she's had over the year. You see, she goes for his looks.  Which is exactly what this episode is about.  Women getting their fulfillment from handsome men.

The last woman to see Derek was Gretchen Cambridge (Julia Campbell) and she wants this kept from her husband, Steven (Brian McNamara).  He was in Idaho on business, but you can bet he already knew about her and was around too.  That's apparent too in many other episodes.  She also claimed her husband was away on business.  She was seeing Derek cos he made her feel good and even said she was too old for him but still went ahead.  Tripp (Rex Linn) doesn't want to keep it to himself but Natalia says they were here for a donation.  "We'll collect later."  Which they did, collect the suspect that is.

Delko (Adam Rodriguez) teases Ryan about the hat and Ryan comments he'll never live it down.  At the lab, Walter's (Omar Miller) already heard about the hat but after a bit of ribbing, he says there's a logical explanation for it.  He finds it floats in the glass tank when propane is introduced and Ryan recalls the the propane valve for the fireplace.  He calls Delko but his phone is miles away from him and on vibration too.  Aren't you supposed to keep your phone with you at all times, especially when at a CS.  He then calls Horatio (David Caruso) who rushes to warn them.  Delko notices something's wrong and as he tries to warn Calleigh (Emily Procter) there's an explosion.  Cue Calleigh leap backwards with hair flying everywhere.  There goes their evidence she says.

Later they attempt to salvage what they can and she finds a scorched piece of paper and the valve is also recovered.  By law the propane must have an additive to it so it can be smelt but Hector didn't do this since it was too costly so he will be charged with negligent homicide.  Analysis of the paper leads to an Emma Davis (Samantha Whittaker) and it was her parking pass for the high school she works at.  She was with Derek as it was her first time and she heard him arguing with another man when she left.  He was angry with Derek stealing her from him.  The other man being Joe.

ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) finds the injury to Derek's head didn't kill him but he was left open to the effects of the propane which entered his lungs and caused him to suffocate.  Well either way you can say he still wouldn't have survived.

A chase ensues with Natalia in hot (ha) pursuit of Joe, who is another gigolo working from the hotel too.  Notice Natalia remove her flat heeled shoes when she gives chase but at the CS she was wearing heels.  Tripp knocks him down with the car.  Joe didn't kill Derek and white trace is found on him which Walter thinks it dandruff.  How's that for an image killer, ha.  This turns out to be plastic flakes found in snowglobes and Calleigh finds there were traces of water and glycerin which is what makes the flakes float.

The women also used to give them gifts as Joe tells them and Natalia and Walter trawl through the massive amounts of receipts from Derek's clients.  One receipt is from a shop in Paris where the snowglobe was purchased by Gretchen.

A search of her house leads to Delko finding traces of a sticky substance on the garage floor and also a hammer which was used to smash the globe.  Then disposed of in the garbage, what he couldn't find anywhere else to throw it.  She confesses to killing Derek as she knows it was really Steven.  He saw the two of them together when he got back early and he confronted Derek and wanted him to leave her alone.  He refused, Steven then saw the snowglobe and got angry, repeatedly hitting him over the head with it.  He thought she had bought the globe for him.  Steven still loves her.  Isn't it always the way in these shows, what they couldn't talk about their feelings, so why were they still together?

A piece of leather is found in the valve, which belongs to a shoe and Luisa is suspected.  Her shoes haven't got any leather missing, but Horatio notices the frostbite on her toes from where she kicked the valve.  Didn't know you could just kick it in like that and only suffer frostbite!  Luisa was seeing Derek and fell for him but he refused to give up his work.
Ryan watches the hat float again and this time Walter has it suspended on string.  Love the continuation of their funny antics from season 8.

Everyone's 'nicking' the ol' text on screen these days from Sherlock and here there's text floating around when Walter and Natalia go through the records, to show you what they're looking at.
Ryan: "what are you, 8 years old?"
Walter: "7."
CSI:Miami likes its sexy teaser episodes, for example see season 1's Breathless where the DB was a male stripper, though usually it's the women who are portrayed as such.

As for the title to this episode, double entendre there, me thinks for all ye with one track minds, ah!!