please can someone explain a CSI episode ('Bad to the Bone') to me? (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

I *think* it's the one called 'Bad to the Bone', concerning a psychopath and compulsive hoarder who is (literally) hot to the touch.

I guess you guys got this episode a few weeks ago, but it was broadcast for the first time in the UK this week. Basically, the episode seemed to finish too early. To protect those who haven't seen the episode yet, I'll put my problem in spoilers:

At the end of the episode,the CSI team had found that the psycho's sister had adopted the baby without asking too many questions. Grissom is shown going back to the lab, opening up an evidence bag from the case, and examining a blood-stained white shirt. Then we got the credits. No explanation of why the guy was hot to the touch or died from a heart attack, whether the sister had complicity in the murder of the pregnant woman, nothing. It's as if the final section of the episode was clipped off.

Usually with CSI episodes, there's reasonable closure, but this left a Hell of a lot of loose threads. Was this intentional or am I just being very stupid and it was obvious to everyone else?

 

[Richard Gilmore]

He had the genetic property of being hot naturally. IIRC, the sister didn't have anthing to do with the killing, she just knew he was basically an evil man.

 

[Bob-N]

Ah, I remember this one. It was left fairly opened ended and the guy had an odd condition as Richard mentioned above.

I think Grissom opened up the evidence again because there was evidence that this wasn't his only victim as I recall.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Yeah, the things they found indicated that he had killed other victims, so Grissom was going back to the evidence to select other samples to be sent to trace and DNA. The investigation is on-going.

CSI has left cases open before - at least two serial killers who walk away at the end of an episode (only to reappear in later episodes or seasons) and a doctor who has to be released for lack of evidence. I think maybe this episode was too subtle in doing that, because a number of people on the CSI newsgroup raised the same question when the episode was broadcast in the U.S.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Tony Whalen]

I remember that one. There was some discussion on it as I recall.

Anyway, the shot with Grissom pulling out the shirt at the end? I thought it was showing Grissom pulling out *new* evidence, to indicate that they'd be studying the mounds of junk for ages...in order to see if this guy had MORE victims.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Somehow I found this notion more believeable when it was applied to Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.

Regards,

Joe

 

[andrew markworthy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.


I'm glad I'm not the only one!

It seems I did understand the plot, and it was intentionally open-ended. Ah well. I think given some of the neat twists in other episodes, I expected the high temperature thread to have a pay-off. I also thought they'd at least give a hint about whether the woman got to keep the kid.

However, I did like the literary reference - Grissom quotes Julius Caesar and then it later transpires the baby was delivered by a caesarian ...

Incidentally, I run at a higher temperature than average and tend to hoard things. My wife says she watched the episode with more than usual interest.