<p><b>Synopsis:</b><p>The Vegas team has a busy night when the body of a man is found crammed under the steering wheel of a car, a woman's body is discovered in a hotel room and a man ends up dead in his swimming pool. The man by the pool is Carsten Pennington, an art collector who lived with his fiancée, Darcy Farrell, and threw a party the night of his murder. Ray Langston gets some help from Wendy Simms at the scene, who notices Carsten's cat, Gareth, licking pieces of a shattered vase in the studio housing Carsten's art collection. Darcy tells Brass that Carsten fought with a guest at the party before abruptly kicking everyone out. Viewing footage from Carsten's surveillance camera, Langston and Archie zero in on the man Carsten was arguing with and identify him as a Marrakesh casino employee named Jeffrey Luvan. When brought in, Luvan denies that he was purchasing the vase for his boss at the casino--or that he killed Carsten. Wendy brings Langston startling news: the vase was a fake, made in part out of yogurt. They wonder if Luvan might have killed Carsten because he discovered the vase was a fake, and return to the house to look for more evidence. Wendy discovers blood on Darcy's dress and suspicion falls on her, but Darcy refuses to talk. Catherine flags Ray down: she's discovered a person of interest in her case, a producer named Tripp Linson, who is a dead ringer for Carsten. Catherine's case involves the death of Jenny Mackin from Hollywood, CA, who is found dead in her hotel room, two bullets in the ceiling. The only witness is a large tortoise with blood--and a print--on him. The print matches an actor named Mickey Ross, who tells the CSIs Jenny was his wife and the tortoise, Gareth, belonged to them. Jenny left him for Tripp Linson, who also swindled Mickey out of money. When his wife followed Tripp to Las Vegas, the man rejected her. Mickey brought Gareth up to help win his wife back, but after he had sex with her, Jenny shot herself. Catherine is skeptical--no one commits suicide with two shots--until Greg shows her the first bullet caught in the barrel and didn't release until the second one was fired. Mickey's story checks out, but the mystery intensifies when Nick recognizes Tripp as Ryan Morton, a person of interest in his case!<p>The body of a private investigator named Sam Hagen is discovered behind the steering column of a car outside a casino. Dr. Paul Anton, the man who Sam was working for at the time of his death, tells Detective Cavaliere that he hired Sam to find his business associate, Ryan Morton. Anton gives Nick an advertising DVD Morton gave him. Nick and Riley discover a contact lens on the body, and also a bullet hole in the man's hand. Doc Robbins points out that the man died when the bullet ricocheted through his body and hit his spleen. Nick views the DVD and sees Ryan, his dog Gareth beside him, advertising property for the Royal Tahoe Group in Lake Tahoe. The gun that killed Sam is traced back to Anton, who tells Nick that he met Ryan at a tennis club in Tahoe and grew close to the young man, to the point that he felt he was a surrogate son. He gave Ryan his gun as a gift, and invested in property--only to find himself swindled by the young man. Wendy turns up surprising DNA evidence--the DNA on the contact is a familial match for Carsten Pennington. Collectively, the team realizes Carsten, Tripp and Ryan are all the same man. Ryan Morton is the man's real name, and he has a brother named Gareth. Gareth is caught speeding and gets brought in. The CSIs surmise that Gareth was found by Sam Hagen, the PA searching for Ryan. They posit Gareth killed the PI after learning his brother's debts were falling on his shoulders and then came to the party and argued with Ryan and ended up killing him, too. Gareth denies killing Hagen and his brother--he claims he went to see his brother about buying Ryan's half of their family house in Tahoe, but Ryan refused. Gareth claims he left his brother alive. Riley and Nick turn back to the evidence, finding only one contact lens in Gareth's car...as well as clothes from a discount warehouse mixed in with one pair of Burberry underwear. Suspecting something fishy is up, Langston brings in Darcy, Carsten's fiancée, to look at Gareth. He tells her she's going down for the crime unless she tells the truth--and she admits the man in the interrogation room is Carsten/Ryan, not Gareth. After killing the PI sent to find him, Ryan killed Gareth when his brother came to his house and assumed his identity.<p><b>Analysis:</b><p>I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I got a little confused while trying to summarize "Kill Me If You Can." Though the story all holds up, it's a little mind-boggling given the killer has no fewer than <i>four</i> identities throughout the course of the episode. Keeping track of the fact that Ryan was both Tripp and Carsten wasn't too tricky, but when Gareth got thrown into the equation, the waters definitely became muddied. The most perplexing detail? The DNA on the contact belonging to Hagen's killer that was a familial match to the victim, initially thought to be Carsten, but who turned out to be Gareth, meaning that the contact was actually Ryan/Carsten's. Confused yet? Despite all the twists, everything did hold up, and in the end Ryan turned out to be one fascinating killer. "You're just one lie wrapped in another," Brass says in disgust after Ryan's been exposed. "It's the truth," Ryan insists. "Even if it never happened." The exchange is a great--and chilling!--way to end the episode.<p>As Ryan/Carston/Tripp/Gareth, <font color=yellow>Michael Weston</font> turns in a great performance, slipping into each role seamlessly. As Carston, he's the effete, cultured art collector. As Tripp, he's the epitome of the Hollywood player. As Ryan, he's an open-faced, warm salesman. As Gareth, he's a nerdy, nervous guy. Kudos to the make up and wardrobe teams for helping Weston slip into character so effectively. Aside from his bright blue eyes, the different personas don't really resemble each other in the slightest. As Carston, we're drawn to those blue eyes and his angular features, which are lost beneath stubble and a baseball hat in the Tripp persona. Ryan looks like the boy next door, while brother Gareth is unkempt and messy, his eyes hidden behind large glasses. Even more effectively than the killer in season seven's <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season7/living_legend.shtml">"Living Legend"</a>, who disguised himself to take revenge on the men who'd left him for dead decades earlier, Ryan is a true master of disguise.<p><HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"><p>To read the full reviews, please click <A HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/csi/kill_me_if_you_can.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>
Excellent review, as always. This indeed was an episode that worked the mind and made you think. I have often enjoyed the multiple case storylines, such as "4x4", "Toe Tags" (which Allen MacDonald also had a hand in) and even "Viva Las Vegas". This one tried something different from the other multiple case episodes, with the sub-episode names (which was different, but I don't know if I would do it again) and all of the cases linking back to one person. I thought Michael Weston did an amazing job with his character(s), and I thought he was much more creepy than Nathan Haskell back in "19 Down" and "One to Go". His final scene sent shivers down my spine and really made me think "What a f**cking creepo!" Overall, an episode that puzzled the mind. Pretty good episode to a really good season.
Great review. This one was totally confusing! And I thought I understood it, but then when I was trying to map out what happened, I realized that I was confused - and then confused myself even more. :lol: It's the same thing that happened to me when I watched this movie "On the Other Hand, Death" not too long ago - trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together was more than my brain could handle. This episode was more confusing than that movie, though. I think I finally get what happened when and to whom, but it was hard to follow when I watched it. Like you said, when it came down to Ryan and Gareth is where I got tripped up. Everybody did a great job, regs and guest stars alike. I liked seeing Wendy work with Langston in the field - her enthusiasm was a nice addition to the episode. I do wonder, though - why did the guy name his pets after his brother?
Good question. Was it meant to be an insult or a form of flattery? Usually people name their pets after people as a form of flattery, hence my rabbit named Nicky and my daughter's cat Troy from High School Musical. But given the strange relationship between the brothers, I have to wonder?:lol:
OH, I'm a minority of one. I detested this episode. It was boring, confusing and totally dull. The cat, dog and tortoise were the most interesting aspects of the whole miserable hour. Why was a CSI 1 AND a lab tech on a murder case? Instead of letting Fishburne move into the team slowly and steadily, he is being forced down our throats and I expect to see him up for sainthood by the end of March Sweeps. There are other actors on this series. Actors who have been there from episode 1 and are more than competent to hold our attention. I would really like to see more of them and less of these high-priced 'names' that seem to make TPTB turn into quivering, slathering puddles of goo.
After watching Season 9 episodes 11-15, I have decided to bid “Adios” as a diehard fan of CSI . Since Petersen’s exit, CSI hands really degraded, it seems to be moving in the direction of CSI Miami. Sometime ago, David Rambo had said that the new CSI without Petersen is going to be more exciting and Langston character will be dynamic, So it was a publicity stunt to promote Fishburne’s character. I like Fishburne in Matrix and Akila the Bee. But his role as Langston is pathetic. The first 3 episodes was a stereotype. He was walking around dragging his kit, lunch and drinks. And the constant silly smile on his face puts me off. Within just 4 weeks, he became an expert overnight. His goody good character trying to help everyone, reminds me of Miami’s goodwill ambassador Horatio. There was no proficiency test or evaluation. He works solo most of the time and even testified in court on his 4th week as a CSI!! I feel so sorry for Nick. He has been a CSI 3 for 8 ½ years, solved hundreds of cases. And now he is playing second fiddle to Langston. Even Greg Sanders role has been cut down so much. When Petersen was around, I love scenes between Grissom and Dr. Robbins, Greg and Hodges. Scenes between Langston and Catherine, Dr, Robbins and Hodges are so boring now. And to ass insult to injury episode 5, Wendy the Lab Technician is at a Crime Scene collecting Evidence and giving her “expert” opinion. I remember in Season 2, “Chase the Bus” Greg was at the accident scene to help. Grissom did not allow him to collect evidence since he was not a CSI. I remember that the lad technician in CSI Miami because a CSI overnight. A self-declared entomologist a few weeks later – giving her expert opinion on flies. Catherine on the other hand since becoming Supervisor has been strutting around with her chest held high with an act of demure. I read somewhere that her teenage daughter will help solve a crime – This will definitely be the stupidest episode. I won’t be surprised if Catherine’s mother becomes a consultant for CSI. 5 minutes of watching episode 13, it was obvious to me that the manager slipped and fell and hit his head on the ground. So sadly, Nick nor Catherine or Greg could figure it out. For the past 5 episodes all the CSIs were constantly praising Langston’s ability to solve the case – as if trying to convince the viewers. Sadly, David Philip is now playing the Lab Clown! Episode 15 looks like a “Salad” A little taken from previous episodes and tossed together! The format was like Season 4 x 4, subtitling taken from Season 7 Toe Tags and Season 6 Pirates of the Third Reich – a man killing his brother and taking his identity. By the way the story telling was so messy, that my friends could not follow the story line!