Synopsis: While Stella meets her persistent suitor Drew Bedford for a drink, model Jenna Donovan dies in an oversized martini glass at a martini ad party in front of a Times Square billboard. The CSIs first presume she was killed by tennis balls that pelted the party at high speeds, but it turns out the alcoholic who launched the balls from an athletic research company nearby wasn't responsible for her death; Jenna was in an altercation shortly before she died that could have resulted in the pulmonary edema that killed her. The CSIs discover Jenna's purse was filled with lollipops containing a street drug called Magic and trace a piece of jewelry back to a local shop, where they find some of the lollipops. The proprietor, Pattie Larkin, admits to scuffling with Jenna, trying to get to the drugs, but she claims she left Jenna alive. Flack is ready to put her away for murder--until Sid discovers a chemical burn on Jenna's arm that could have had something to do with her death. It proves to be the key when the CSIs find small but deadly jellyfish in a beach ball Jenna was holding. Stella and Lindsay question Damien Barnes, the party's mastermind, and Lia Ramsey, another model and learn Lia is at fault, but that Damien, rather than Jenna, was her target. He stole her idea for the parties, so she planted the jellyfish in the beach ball he was going to blow up for the party, but a slit in the ball saved him and instead led to Jenna's death when she tossed the ball around. Danny rushes to the hospital in an ambulance alongside Brandi Parsons, who was shot in the head during a robbery in Club Prowl, where she worked as a bartender. He reassures her boyfriend, Paul, while he waits at the hospital, hoping to question Brandi. But all is not as it seems when Brandi's surgeon, Gavin Moore, pulls Mac aside and tells him that his brother, Charles, has been abducted and that the kidnappers are threatening to kill him if Gavin doesn't let Brandi die. When Angell mentions Brandi's mother is dead--something that directly contradicts what Paul told Danny, Danny realizes that Paul lied to him. Surveillance footage reveals Paul outside the club during the robbery, confirming he was in on it. Semen on Brandi's clothes matches semen on the robber's mask, which another victim who didn't survive the robbery ripped off. Brandi was shot because she could identify the robber. Hawkes links a bat bone back to the shop where Paul worked, and the owner gives the CSIs a last name for Paul: Campbell. The CSIs trace Charles Moore's cell phone back to Paul's apartment, where they find evidence of a struggle, but no sign of either Paul, his roommate, or Charles. Danny finds a mailing box with a torn off piece of money on it, and Hawkes goes through the computer cache to get the name of Paul's accomplice: James Petty. Danny isn't able to recover the address on the mailing label at first, but he comes up with the idea to bake it in an incubator oven and comes up with an address. He, Angell and Hawkes rush there and discover Paul and James with Charles and the money. Danny is relieved to tell Mac that Brandi made it through her surgery and is going to live. Analysis: Nothing is what it seems in "Buzzkill," at least not at first glance. The model who appears to have been felled by a tennis ball was actually killed by injuries she received during a fight--no wait, she was really killed by a tiny, fatal jellyfish that wasn't even intended for her. Can we just say poor Jenna Donovan was doomed? I loved Sid's analogy that her body was like his uncle, who told never-ending stories. It's a sad irony that after all that detective work, it turns out that Jenna was never the target to begin with; Lia was after Damien, who stole her idea and turned it into a highly profitable, high profile reality. <HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"> To read the full reviews, please click here.<center></center>
Great review as always, darling. *smooches* And word about AJ--flip-flopping his placement in the press releases, announcing he's a reg and then continuing to label him a 'special guest star' on the show, having him gone in three out of the eight episodes this season--and having his name appear when he was MIA...it's all one big clusterdoodle, man.
Thank you! And yeah, I hoped having A.J. as a regular meant we'd see more Adam--kind of like how Greg is on CSI (minus Adam wanting to go into the field--been there, done that with Sheldon). But aside from "Down the Rabbit Hole," we still haven't seen all that much more of him. I kind of wonder if maybe he was supposed to be in this episode and his scenes were cut for time--the end did feel awfully abrupt, and I do wonder if things were cut out of the ep for time.
Ah, great review! Reading it just reminded me about the bat bone, I seem to have tried to block it from my memory... A bat bone which conveniently can only be found in one place in the whole of New York? And in the other case, a model has a fight, is pelted with tennis balls, stung my a microscopic jellyfish which was in a blow up olive, and electrocuted. Talk about random...and unfortunate (or fortunate in the case of the bat bone). I actually enjoyed this episode despite the overkill. But I think I'm just sometimes yearning for an episode with something a bit simpler. :lol:
Yeah, the bat bone was a bit much. There are very, very few things you can only get in one place in a city as big as NY. :lol:
Not to mention personal collections. I mean, really, who doesn't have a bat skeleton or ten laying around the house?
*SPOILERS* Right on the ball about Drew Bedford there!! I don't think I would have picked up on it by myself.