Going off to college can mean various things to many people. For some, knowledge gained is priceless beyond measure. For others, meeting new people is the best reward. Most, though, will find out it is a brand new world, with more to experience than the safety of home.
At a college fraternity party, the luau-themed party is wild! As one might expect, there is plenty of way-too-close dancing and copious amounts of alcohol. A couple sneaks upstairs for their own private "party". The woman turns on a light to see a body hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately, this is no prank. Nobody likes having the cops crash their party, but the call is needed this time.
What follows is the most unusual episode of CSI: NY yet. The concept is simple, a serial killer leading detectives on a trail of physical violence and intellectual cunning. It starts with Det. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and Det. Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes) at the crime scene. The body is nothing they haven't seen before, except it generally has the head attached. Det. Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap), Det. Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), and Dr. Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper) soon arrive to help.
Okay, as soon as you see all team members in the same spot, you know other storylines are going to be on hold for a while, at least until the next episode. While most process trace evidence, Det. Don Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Danny talk to partygoers. A couple are useless, being intoxicated and seriously unobservant. One goes so far as to not take Flack seriously, which leads to a sharp confrontation. Danny has better luck talking to Shane Casey (Edward Furlong, The Terminator), someone who appears quite normal at first. No "aha!" moment is gained, but there is evidence to go through.
At the morgue, Dr. Sid Hammerback (Robert Joy) says the head was removed via torch. While the victim was alive, she was 'blotto', aka drunk, stoned, or perhaps both. At any rate, she wouldn't have known what was happening. Lindsay doesn't find any prints in AFIS, a database used by law enforcement. However, traces of coconut hair were found at the scene. Danny remembers one partier wearing a skirt of the material. Stella talks to the young man, who says he and the woman had kinky sex, but he didn't do it.
The missing head, meanwhile, turns up at a local park. Encasing the skull is a bloody T-shirt. When Sid does his tests, he finds GHB in the woman's eyes. However, he also says it can happen naturally. The shirt does provide a clue of sorts. Stella does some research and finds a reference to Greek mythology. This leads Danny to remember Shane Casey had on a T-shirt similar to the skull wrapping. Mac and Danny talk to him, and he tells them his shirt is one of a series, and they all contain hidden meanings in the designs. He says their shirt is not one of them.
If you have read The DaVinci Code, the episode storyline should seem familiar. While this is not the first time a mention has been made of Dan Brown's book, ("Grand Murder at Central Station"), it IS the first time an entire episode has been devoted to a code. Using computer sites was a clever touch. This has also happened before when Stella killed her boyfriend, Frankie ("Run Silent, Run Deep"). The clue on the T-shirt is an entry point, and the pursuer must provide the definition. I'm not sure if edoclaundry.com and kodecon.com are real or not, but I'll leave them for you to play with. By the way, if you type 'call me a patriot' into the former, and 'everything and nothing' into the latter, the clues might open the door a little wider.
Article comments
1 - Jackie
Congratulations, Nancy! I chose this article as an Editor's Pick! Thank you for all your efforts!
2 - NancyGail
thank you Jackie. If I ever needed confirmation I was doing what I am supposed to, you just gave it to me.