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Losing Face
Losing Face
Season 1
Number 2
Writer Steven Maeda,
Gwendolyn Parker
Director Joe Chappelle
Original Airdate September 30, 2002
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Losing Face is the second episode in Season One of CSI: Miami.

Synopsis[]

A necklace bomb explodes, killing a man and a good friend of Horatio's. With his friend gone, Horatio works double the strength into this case, which worries Megan, who lost her husband in the line of duty. With two more bombs, they are put to the test to find out who is doing it and who are the targets. With evidence in hand, they search a Colombian port and discover things about the workers, that they think will help the case. But, after they find that out, the CSI team discovers the bomber is after the bomb squad.

Plot[]

Horatio is crushed when his former mentor, Al Humphries, is killed while trying to disarm a necklace bomb placed around the neck of Colombian importer Aurelio Moreno. Determined to track down the bomber, Horatio has his team scour Moreno’s house, looking for the remains of the bomb. Calleigh finds a mesh material she identifies as French lace, indicating the bomber gained access to the house through an unlocked window. After they fail to find the trigger among the remains in the house, Megan Donner thinks to check the boots of the firemen who responded to the call, and Horatio finds a photo cell stuck in the treads of one of the men’s boots. After discovering the paper used by the bomber for the ransom note was imported from Colombia by none other than the victim, Delko speaks with US Customs officer Charlie Berenger, who shows Delko Moreno’s wares as well as a picture of Moreno’s wife from Bogotá—who is clearly not the same woman living with Moreno. Realizing Moreno had two wives, the CSIs question his American wife, Julisa, and his Colombian wife, Lauriana, and swab both of their hands. When Lauriana’s hands pop positive for TATP, which was used in the bomb, Horatio thinks she’s the culprit, but Megan is certain the two women don’t know about each other, and notes that TATP is common ingredient in hair dye and nail polish.

Megan is proved right when a call comes in that the bomber has struck again: a businesswoman named Mara Bergos was attacked in her kitchen. Horatio joins the bomb squad and guides his former colleague, Kat, through disarming the bomb only to find it’s a fake, filled with sand and nothing more. Outside the house, Horatio spots a boy on a bike with a package, both given to him by a strange man. Using a robot called ANDROS, the bomb squad targets the detonator and disarms the bomb, but the location clues Horatio in that the actual target was the bomb squad. Megan recovers a hair from the bomber from the boy, finding it’s from a toupee. Calleigh connects the French lace from the window to the hair, noting that French lace is used in toupees. That, along with the counterfeit parts used to make the bomb and the insecticide found on it, leads Horatio to US Customs, specifically Charlie Berenger, who handled the imports of both Aurelio Moreno and Mara Bergos. Horatio confronts Charlie in the warehouse where he works and finds the customs officer wearing a necklace bomb. Bitter about being rejected from the bomb squad by Al Humphries, Charlie decided to get revenge on the squad. Horatio tricks Berenger into letting him disarm the bomb, and Charlie is arrested. At Al’s funeral, Horatio thanks Megan for her help.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Conor O'Farrell as Charlie Berenger
  • Magaly Caicedo as Moira Burgess
  • Mercedes Colón as Katrina Cabrera, Bomb Tech
  • Jessica Ferrarone as Julisa Moreno
  • Joe Renteria as Aurelio Moreno
  • Candy Brown Houston as Felicia Humphreys
  • Lou Beatty Jr. as Al Humphreys
  • Liz Alvarado as Lauriana Moreno
  • Seth Adkins as Conner
  • Alex Paez as Detective Martin Puig
  • Tony Noakes as Police Commander
  • Bill Jacobson as Bill, Bomb Tech

Trivia[]

  • The episode's opening crime strongly evokes the murder of Elvia Cortes, a Columbian national who suffered a similar fate to a necklace bomb with a ransom demand attached. The bomb technician assigned to get her out safely was also killed in the blast.

See Also[]

CSI:Miami Season 1
Golden ParachuteLosing FaceWet Foot/Dry FootJust One KissAshes to AshesBrokenBreathlessSlaughterhouseKill ZoneA Horrible MindCamp FearEntrance WoundBunkForced EntryDead Woman WalkingEvidence of Things UnseenSimple ManDispo DayDouble CapGrave Young MenSpring BreakTinder BoxFreaks and TweaksBody Count
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