As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Horatio Caine spends most of his screen-time trying to pull these off. Most would dispute that he succeeds all that often, though one time he does: "All In": Cornered by four gangsters with automatic weapons in Brazil, Horatio, who speaks fluent Spanish, responds "Como?" to their Portuguese threats. In the instant their leader turns to share a taunt about the stupid gringo, Horatio has already shot three of them dead, then proceeds to cut a trail of death and destruction clean back to Florida.
- In that same episode
, the guy who took Calleigh hostage takes her to the illegal poker game he's planning on robbing. He shouts at the players to hand over the money, only the camera pans around to show Delko, Wolfe and Tripp... who draw their own guns. The guy threatens to shoot Calleigh, but a *Click* Hello from Horatio ends the standoff. For extra hilarity, a look at the poker table suggests that the three really were playing poker before the guy showed up.- Both scenes make excellent use of a Westerns-inspired slow-paced music track mixing harmonica, piano, drums, and electric guitar to emphasize how nonchalant the main characters are; this is simplicity itself for them, and their opponents never had a chance.
- Calleigh used her forensics knowledge to lead the others there too.
- He did manage one in another episode: after his wife's ambulance is ambushed by gunmen, he kills two. A third is lying on the ground wounded, and is warned not to try reaching for his fallen gun. When he does, Caine pops him in the head while walking past and not even bothering to look at him as he does.
- Then there's the time Surprisingly Realistic Outcome occurs: in "Guerrillas in the Mist," the bad guy has a weapon that's a Metal Storm with the Serial Numbers Filed Off. In The Teaser, it vaporizes three men. Horatio tracks the baddies down at the airport and comes riding in in his Hummer, which the bad guy destroys. Caine gets out of the burning car and takes aim at just outside of point-blank range. A staredown ensues.Bad Guy: You're on the losing side of this one, Lieutenant. I could fire a thousand rounds before you get a shot o—
Caine: (shoots him, shoots his accomplices; walks over to the Big Bad's body and removes his glasses) Apparently, it only takes the one. - There is also the episode "Gone Baby Gone" Where Horatio's Friend to All Children thing comes into play when he and his team save a young 10 month old from being kidnapped and kill the kidnapper.
- In that same episode
- In the episode "On The Hook," a corrupt parole officer is just about to rape one of his clients in his trailer, but then Horatio comes in and rips him off of her before pointing his gun at the guy. The guy mockingly asks Horatio if he's going to kill him. Horatio replies, saying that while it's tempting, he'd rather give the guy a taste of what the rest of his life would be like, and promptly throws the parole officer out of the window.
- Season 5, "Curse Of The Coffin." In the side case, Horatio finds a bomb planted in a "bait car" (designed to collar carjackers) as part of a revenge scheme to kill the officers who arrested the criminal's cousin. Its only got four minutes left on the timer. There's not enough time to disarm it, so what does Horatio do? He gets in the car and drives it as fast and far as he can to get it away from civilians. It explodes on time, and just when it looks like no one survives, we see Horatio, walking calmly away as the car burns violently behind him.Horatio: Burn, baby, burn.
- In the season 10 opener, Horatio (while dealing with a shot to the stomach), manages to stop an escaping criminal by means of an elbow to the face.
- In the season 9 finale, Horatio has an opportunity to take revenge on the guy who shot his late wife, Marisol. He looks like he's going to send the guy to his maker, then manages to calm himself down enough to turn the guy over to the proper authorities.
- In the season 1 finale, Horatio and Calleigh each get one. There's been a jail break, and two of the escaped cons have vendettas against the team (Hank Kerner is after Calleigh because she could put him in the electric chair with her testimony, and Stewart Otis is a child molester/killer who wants to hurt Horatio). The moments are as follows:
- Calleigh refuses to sit out of the investigation, and instead catches Kerner at an ammunition store, managing to sneak up on him and disarm him. After he drops his gun, she presses hers into his temple and snarls "How does it feel?" Quite the badass moment for such a normally sunny and cheerful character!
- As for Horatio, first he rescues Otis' initial target (she had been buried alive but he got her out just in time), and then he manages to find Otis at the aquarium, where he was going after his second target. There's an excellent shot of Otis watching a shark with a dreamy-eyed expression...and then he turns to see Horatio glaring at him in a way that would make a Great White envious. After a brief chase, Horatio manages to catch Otis, who falls over the edge during the scuffle. Horatio pulls the guy to safety, even after Otis slashes his hand twice. As Otis is being arrested, he tells Horatio that he'll get out again, because it's his nature. Horatio replies "And I'll be waiting, because that's my nature."
- In Season 3's Crime Wave, a Tsunami hits Miami while Horatio and Delko are dealing with a planned heist. They are able to save the hostages and lock themselves into a vault to protect themselves from the dangerous waves. The awesome part? Horatio was able to outrun the wave right when the Tsunami was within a good few inches while carrying an injured woman.
