History CSINY / Tropes0ToL

* LastMomentTogether: The 10th anniversary tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, "[[Recap/CSINYS08E01 Indelible]]," includes a scene of Mac boarding a bus, which triggers a flashback of him watching his wife, Claire, playfully stick her tongue out at him as she rides away on a bus to work on that day. Neither of them could know that she would perish when the towers fell just a short time later.

* CellPhonesAreUseless: While the lab is being stormed in 'Snow Day.' Peyton is outside, knowing Mac is still in the building & tries to reach him, but the service has been tampered with.

** Carmine Giovinazzo's backstory of having to give up an aspiring baseball career was incorporated into the backstory of his character, Danny Messer.

** Mac helping with the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in "Indelible" was based on Gary Sinise's real life help with the project.

** Also, in "Playing with Matches" the QuipToBlack is "Houston, we have a problem." Referencing another movie Gary Sinise was in, ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}''. Although his character in that movie was not the one to say that line.

** In 'Fare Game,' the perp is an aspiring actor, and to catch him off-guard Mac pretends to be trying out for ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''; Creator/GarySinise directed and played George in the 1992 remake.

** "[[Recap/CSINYS03E22 Cold Reveal]]": The team investigates the death of Toby Finch, who was found dead in a church with angel wings strapped to his back after seemingly [[CameFromTheSky falling from the sky]]. Initially, Toby's friend and girlfriend are seen as suspects but further investigation reveals what really happened. Toby, [[AmbitionIsEvil obsessed with becoming internet famous]], drunkenly attempted to catapult himself off a roof, expecting his artificial angel wings to help him soar across the sky like a hang glider. To ensure this, he pre-cut the bungee cords on his safety harness, thinking that the force of the catapult would fully disconnect them. Unfortunately, they held faster than he expected, giving him such severe whiplash that his [[NeckSnap neck snapped in two places]], killing him before he even fell through the window. Mac surmises that the only crime committed was the [[IcarusAllusion victim's misdirected ambition]].

* AbortedArc: Peyton's single episode return in the end of the sixth season was hyped as the beginning of a love triangle. The season would have ended with Mac trying to choose between the feelings he still had for Peyton and the early-stage relationship he was beginning with Aubrey. Who he picked would have been revealed in the beginning of season seven. However, Creator/ClaireForlani got a part on ''{{Series/Camelot}}'' and couldn't return for more episodes, plus Crator/MelinaKanakaredes decided to leave the series, pushing the writers to put aside that plot to focus on the newly-arrived Jo.

* AbortedArc: Peyton's single episode return in the end of the sixth season was hyped as the beginning of a love triangle. The season would have ended with Mac trying to choose between the feelings he still had for Peyton and the early-stage relationship he was beginning with Aubrey. Who he picked would have been revealed in the beginning of season seven. However, Claire Forlani got a part on ''{{Series/Camelot}}'' and couldn't return for more episodes, plus Melina Kanakaredes decided to leave the series, pushing the writers to put aside that plot to focus on the newly-arrived Jo.

** "[[Recap/CSINYS02E15 Fare Game]]": A man kills someone with a prop gun because he doesn't realize blanks can kill at close range.

* AccentRelapse: 'Yahrzeit'- A man pretending to be Jewish is revealed to be a German former Hitler Youth soldier. Even after 64 years of pretending to be a non-practicing Polish Jew, marrying a Jewish woman, and raising an Orthodox Jewish son, he reverts to his German accent when his crime is revealed.

** 'Child's Play': A 10-year old boy is shot because he's in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time;
** 'Fare Game,': A man kills someone with a prop gun because he doesn't realize blanks can kill at close range.
* AccidentalPervert: In 'Right Next Door,' Stella finds a hole in her bedroom wall and mistakenly assumes one of her neighbors is a [[ThePeepingTom peeping Tom.]]

** "The Fall": The investigators look into the death of Melvin Heckman, a FatBastard movie producer, who was apparently pushed from his apartment's balcony. After the investigation goes through a series of people [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole who all had an axe to grind with him for ruining their lives]], the team finally discovers that Heckman had been on the balcony eating chocolates and [[AccidentNotMurder simply lost his balance]], falling to his death.
** "Cold Reveal": The team investigates the death of Toby Finch, who was found dead in a church with angel wings strapped to his back after seemingly [[CameFromTheSky falling from the sky]]. Initially, Toby's friend and girlfriend are seen as suspects but further investigation reveals what really happened. Toby, [[AmbitionIsEvil obsessed with becoming internet famous]], drunkenly attempted to catapult himself off a roof, expecting his artificial angel wings to help him soar across the sky like a hang glider. To ensure this, he pre-cut the bungee cords on his safety harness, thinking that the force of the catapult would fully disconnect them. Unfortunately, they held faster than he expected, giving him such severe whiplash that his [[NeckSnap neck snapped in two places]], killing him before he even fell through the window. Mac surmises that the only crime committed was the [[IcarusAllusion victim's misdirected ambition]].
* AccidentNotMurder: In 'The Fall,' after spending the whole episode researching the dozens of people who would have wanted to kill [[AssholeVictim a truly big asshole of a studio executive]], the investigators figure out that his death (from a fall off his balcony) was not a murder, but an accident that happened when he was eating from a stash of chocolates that was hidden there ([[FatBastard his wife had forced him on a diet]]) and lost his footing.

* AccidentalMurder: 'Child's Play' and 'Fare Game,' to name a couple. In the former, a boy is shot because he's in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time; in the latter, a man doesn't realize blanks can kill at close range.

* ATeamMontage: Fittingly, the first 22 minutes of "[[Recap/CSINYS09E04 Unspoken]]'" contain no spoken dialogue. Shorter versions in all the other episodes as the team members process evidence.

* AbandonedHospital: 'Where There's Smoke...": Leonard Brooks takes one of his victims to the now-abandoned hospital where his mother, who worked in the burn unit, used to take him with her when she couldn't find a sitter.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The team trek thru a very large sewer hunting their suspect's living quarters in 'Manhattanhenge.'
* AbuseMistake: The motivation of the would-be killer in "Unspoken." His boss had accused him of being inappropriate with children.

** Adam's father. Full revelation doesn't come until season 9's 'The Real [=McCoy=], but as early as season 3's 'Some Buried Bones,' he describes him as "a bully."
** Shows up with the VictimOfTheWeek a time or two. One example is the step-father in 'Sweet 16.' Mac, having just met his own step-son, doesn't take kindly to the man's attitude or conduct.

* FifteenPuzzle: A large scale floor version is one of the booby traps in 'Death House.' It is already solved when the team arrives, but still helps them figure out what's going on.

** In 'All in the Family,' Flack tries to find Danny, who didn't show up to work. He resorts to calling dispatch to trace Danny's cell phone and gives them the number 212-555-0121.
** In 'Blacklist,' a tech-savvy perp hacks into the lab's system and orders a surveillance camera to be installed in their hallway. Mac uses it to his advantage by holding up a hand-written sign that says, "Call Me, 555-0131" to get the man to call his office land line.
* ATeamMontage: Fittingly, the first 22 minutes of 'Unspoken' contains no spoken dialogue. Shorter versions in all the other episodes as the team members process evidence.

* BellyDancer: The birthday party in "Sweet 16" has a Middle Eastern theme, complete with belly dancers. One of the girl's friends shows up dressed as one as well, complete with coins dangling from a gold chain belt.

** Also with ''Series/ColdCase''. Stella's foster sister killed someone in PA, and due to their BloodBrothers thing, the necklace she still had with some of Stella's blood causes one of the Cold Case guys to come investigate it in NY. Ends up with LetOffByTheDetective, when Stella finds that her friend had killed a man who had molested her as a child.

* HeroicVow:
-->'''Mac:''' There are three things that I'll protect at any cost: the honor of this country, the safety of this city, and the integrity of this lab.