Phoenix

For starters, Congrats to the Cast and Crew of CSI: Miami!! 150 episodes is nothing to scoff at.  What a feat it is that they've accomplished! 

Onto the episode itself. The quality of television on Monday night was strong. The elements that sometimes make Miami chuckle-able (not quite laughable in my book) seemed to be missing: Over-dramatic acting, over-the-top filtering of the images to enhance the colors, cheesy one-liners, sex, sex, and more sex, (they handled the 'affair' with tact, I thought), and the ace: an implausibly perfect Horatio. 

Kudos to Teri Polo for giving a great performance as the distraught mother. Perhaps the best guest-performance in the past several years. The scene in which her daughter is kidnapped was heart-wrenching, as it should have been. 

A few glimmers of hope for the future...In the interview during the 150th episode celebration, Eva La Rue mentioned that the producers, writers, etc were trying to get back to what made Miami so successful in the beginning. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. However, when I saw the SOJ's around H's neck and noticed the absence of a one-liner, I started to wonder if that's what she meant. Are the cast/crew trying to get back to S1-3 Miami a bit more? 

Season 7 has been (so far) a pleasant surprise. The episodes have been rewarding and quite respectable. Superior to the improved season 6 and FAR superior to the mediocre Season 5. Here's hoping the trend continues. From what's been leaked about the upcoming episodes, this season looks as though it's only going to continue being strong. 

Is it possible for Miami to become the proverbial Phoenix and rise from the ashes of a mid-series slump as a fresher and better show?  

(Now I just have to sit back and wait for Vixen's response: "As long as David Caruso is there, the show will NEVER be fresh or good."  Then she'll continue on about how he's old, ugly, losing his hair, a screw-up, a jerk, a diva, etc, etc, etc.)