I will be analysing CSI Miami Season 7 Episode 7 'cheating death'. This episode is about the gruesome murder of a male prostitute who drugs married women then robs them. The main character is the criminologist Horatio Caine who is the protagonist. He is very protective of his team who affectionately call him 'H'. The criminologists are very important as they investigate and find the murderers.
At the beginning it's not clear who is behind the murder as the audience are not shown who killed the man. A woman is shown sleeping on the bed and lying next to her is a man handcuffed to the bed post and dead. The director shows a close up of the woman's hand on the bed then when she lifts up her hand there is blood all over it, He also uses several close ups of the body and a medium shot of the man tied up and in a pool of his blood. This creates suspense and enigma in the thriller as this leads the audience into thinking that the woman is the murderer however it leaves questions such as how she was able to lie in the same bed as the man she has killed. Later on the doctor who takes the man's body to the morgue identifies him as Steve Howell.
The editor uses flashbacks to give the audience an idea of the incidents which have already taken place before or after the murder. Later on the audience find out that the woman's name is Christina and that she ordered a 'kinky box' and the handcuffs where from that box. The audience find out that Christina is a prostitute and Steve was just another guy she was going to sleep with for money. However Steve drugged her before she had sex with him so just when she handcuffs him to the bed she passes out and leaves Steve vulnerable. This rules her out as a suspect because she was drugged and couldn’t possibly have killed Steve.The criminologists found some skin underneath Steve’s nails and the DNA showed that they belonged to females. This causes suspense as it leads the audience to question how he managed to get women’s skin underneath his nails. They find Audrey Yates, her DNA matched with the ones under Steve’s nails which connotes to the audience that she may be the killer however she reveals that the only reason her skin was found under Steve’s nails is because he's a tanning butler which would explain why he had many different women's skin ender his nails.
At this point the audience still don't have any idea who the antagonist could be, the criminologists find another suspect Dan becks Christina's husband. Later on they find out the type of knife used to stab Steve it matches with the knife Dan owns. They suspect that he went into the hotel to kill Steve but the editor uses a flashback to tell the audience what really happened, Dan did go to the hotel room with the knife but he didn’t kill Steve. After he saw his wife in the bed he ran off and left the knife near the bed.Enigma is created as they find another suspect Lisa Rradley, she slept with Steve and was also drugged by him when she woke up he had stolen from her. The director uses medium shots and long shots in this scene, when Horatio questioned her she showed him a fake receipt which leads to more questions of whether she is the killer. This also causes suspense and there's action when they catch up with Lisa and find bloodstained clothes in the boot of her car. She's then arrested and the audience see her being handcuffed and sent away.
