Directed by Oz Scott
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Timothy J Lea & Daniele Nathanson
"A Daze of Wine and Roaches" is the 19th episode of Season 3, and the 66th overall. It originally aired March 21, 2007.
Synopsis:
A woman dies in a guillotine at a French Revolution-themed fund raiser at the UN, but the blade isn't what kills her. Meanwhile, a chef is cork-screwed to death in his restaurant's wine cellar. A bejeweled cockroach is found near the body. Lindsay has returned from Montana. Don's former boss, Stanton Gerrard, has been promoted to Deputy Inspector, making him Chief Sinclair's right hand man and giving him authority over the Crime Lab.Tropes for the episode:
- Animal Wrongs Group: Not a group, but the guy who kills someone for trying to squash a cockroach.
- Creepy Cockroach: The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is worn as a brooch to a restaurant. It can be heard hissing loudly as Lindsay examines it.
- Crocodile Tears: Invoked by a manipulative teenage girl pretending to be upset about the death of one of her tutors. And our heroes find out by running a chemical analysis of the tears.
- Disappointed by the Motive / Disproportionate Retribution / Revenge Before Reason: Danny is stunned: "You killed a guy...over a cockroach?!"
- Expensive Glass of Crap: The restaurant has been substituting cheap wine for the one on the menu that was $650.00 a bottle.
- Fatal Method Acting: In-Universe example. The first victim dies during a reenactment of a famous painting of Marie Antoinette.
- Friend to Bugs: A busboy from a fancy restaurant lets roaches infest his apartment, and tells Danny how special they are and that they'll outlive the human race.
- Jurisdiction Friction: With UN officials who insist that the team hold off on the autopsy. Mac and Sheldon are concerned that any poison in her system will dissipate before they are allowed to proceed, buying the killer time to get away. Gerrard sides with the UN, Mac eventually finds a loophole, which upsets Gerrard.
- Pun-Based Title: For the film Days of Wine and Roses.
- Sommelier Speak: Played a bit for laughs in the second case with comments like "two buck chuck" and "the nose on this is wrong" mixed in with explanations of how the substitution was done. Don also rattles off a list of expensive types of wine, surprising Danny & Lindsay with his knowledge. Danny, on the other hand, says his favorite wine is beer.
- The Sociopath: A cold, manipulative 15 yr old girl goads the people around her into doing things they might not have. This leads to two deaths, but the investigators can't charge her due to *her* actions not being illegal.
