Directed by Scot Lautanen
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Erica Shelton & Eli Talbert
"Blood, Sweat and Tears" is the fourteenth episode of Season 1. It originally aired February 9, 2005.
Synopsis:
A small wooden box containing the body of a nearly nude young man washes up on the beach. This case leads the team to the circus. Meanwhile, Danny and Flack find the body of a young woman in the garbage chute of an apartment building.Tropes for the episode:
- Body in a Breadbox: The box the young man is found in is a perfect 2-foot cube.
- Break Up Demand: The fathers of the young couple in the first case can't stand each other and forbid their children to continue dating, but they sneak around to see each other anyway.
- Circus Episode: Acts from the circus involved in the first case are shown and discussed, including clowns, elephants, and trapeze aerialists.
- Contortionist: The teenage boy is a fourth-generation circus performer. He is shown passing his entire body through an un-strung tennis racket during his act, and later folding himself into the 2-foot wooden cube. His body is found after rigor mortis has set in, and it takes Sheldon and Mac working together to un-contort him so he can be autopsied.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: The young couple portray the eponymous characters in the circus' theme of "Romeo and Juliet." They become enamored with the story and each other as a result. The girl's father looks down on the boy's family as peasants and forbids her to see him, destroying her dreams of running away with the young man.
- Feuding Families: The teenagers are from rival circus families; the boy is a fourth-generation contortionist carrying on his family's tradition, while the girl's father had joined because he thought he'd make a good strongman. Thus, the boy's father resents the other man's popularity. Meanwhile the girl's father accuses the young man of "attacking" his daughter when he see the two simply sharing a kiss.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: While digging up the crate by hand, Mac & Stella discuss the winner of a hot-dog eating contest, which has absolutely nothing to do with the entire series much less the case at hand.
- Suicide, Not Murder: At first it is believed that the young man was forced into the box and thrown into the ocean, but it is later learned that he folded himself into it and got his girlfriend to set the box adrift.
- Suicide Pact: Two teenagers make a suicide pact. One of them goes thru with it; the other has second thoughts at the last minute and backs out.
- Shout-Out: The theme of the traveling circus is Romeo and Juliet. Lines from the play are quoted by the Ringmaster, a trapeze artist and Mac.
