Directed by Christine Moore
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn & Bill Haynes
"Playing with Matches" is the 14th episode of Season 4 and the 85th overall. It originally aired February 6, 2008.
The badly burned body of a man who appears to have recently been in outer space crashes into a fire truck on its way to another scene. A woman drowns in a brand new high-tech public restroom. The DNA of an inmate claiming his innocence is found under her fingernails.
Tropes for the episode:
- Actor Allusion: Gary Sinise's portrayal of astronaut Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13 is nodded to in the opening when Mac quotes a line from the film.
- Camping a Crapper: The second victim is deliberately trapped in the public toilet.
- The Can Kicked Him: The high-tech toilet is rigged to fill with water; the trapped woman drowns trying to escape.
- Man on Fire: A flashback while Kendall, Danny and Lindsay are trying to determine what happened to the burned man shows him catching on fire.
- Opening the Flood Gates: When the toilet door finally opens, the trapped water gushes out, knocking down a woman needing to use it and a passerby.
- Potty Emergency: The second victim is discovered when another woman in desperate need of the facility gets the toilet's door to open.
- Shout-Out: To Apollo 13. Mac's Quip to Black is "Houston, we have a problem."
