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.
- Cockroaches Will Rule the Earth: The killer of the sous chef tells Danny factoids about how roaches are more resilient than humans and thus awesome as part of his Motive Rant.
- 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: Danny is stunned: "You killed a guy...over a cockroach?!"
- Disproportionate Retribution: A man is murdered for the offense of attempting to squash a roach in a restaurant.
- Expensive Glass of Crap: The restaurant has been substituting cheap wine for the one on the menu that is $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.
- Jurisdiction Friction: With UN officials who insist that the team hold off on the young woman's 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.
- Karma Houdini: The Big Bad of the A-plot, a fifteen year old Enfante Terrible, gets away with her disproportionate killing spree because she is not the one who committed the murders. The team can only watch the kid, who they figured out is The Sociopath, walk away free.
- Motive Rant: The killer of the B plot goes on and on about how roaches are superior to humans and will outlive all of us.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: For the film Days of Wine and Roses.
- 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.
- 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.