This is one of my favorite episodes (of course I have many). I'm surprised this episode "only" has a 7.5 rating. It deserves to be in the 8 range like a lot of classic CSI episodes.
A cop finds Ben Jennings burying a dead body in the middle of nowhere. Ben is arrested and refuses to say anything. Of course Grissom knows the evidence will speak for itself. Grissom, Nick and Sara investigate. A lot of evidence just piles up against Ben and it just gets worse and worse for him. The CSI gang discover flour on the victim. Ben says he delivers pizzas (notice he doesn't actually make them). Ben accidentally makes it slip that there's at least 1 more body he buried. The CSI team find it. One of the best lines of the episode comes when Ben tells Grissom that he's not a bad person after they find the second body. Grissom replies back, "You're not a bad person? Then what are you? Then he walks away.
Throughout this episode a priest is trying to convince Grissom that Ben is a good kid and he didn't do it, even after Grissom breaks out the luminol and dried blood appears on Ben's car seat right before the priest's eyes. The priest must know something that everyone else doesn't. Grissom eventually starts to have a bit of doubt, but Nick and Sara convince him to present the case to the DA.
Grissom realized he made a mistake when he looks up Ben's brother Roger and realizes that he's a hardened criminal. He should have done research on Ben's character (no major crimes committed). Nick realizes that Roger would be looking at his 3rd strike if he was convicted of anything else. Ben refuses to turn on his brother and says nothing. Of course Roger has no problem pointing the finger at Ben when confronted by Grissom and O'Riley. Nick and Sara find evidence against Roger at his rundown trailer. Another top moment of this episode happens when Roger is brought to jail and he gives his younger brother Ben a cold-blooded, evil look while passing by his cell. Ben nods thinking he and his brother are still cool.
The "evidence" against Roger is useless. He dry cleaned his bloody jeans pants, the blood is degraded and Greg can't detect any blood. Also, the gun that Nick found buried in a bin by his trailer has a barrel that has been altered. Roger jammed something down it and the bullet striations are different from the ones in the corpses.
Grissom tries to talk the DA out of pressing charges against Ben, but Roger put the final nail in his brother's coffin by bringing in the tie that HE used to strangle one of the victims to death. Roger told the DA that he hid the tie to protect his brother (which conveniently explains away why Roger's epithelials are on the tie). And of course Ben's epithelials are all over it because in reality Ben took the tie and was going to bury it. Roger committed the murders and asked his younger brother to bury the bodies.
Ben is gonna get convicted and decides to commit suicide in the final scene. The episode ends with Grissom literally having blood on his hands. It's a stunning and heartbreaking end to the episode.
I kinda think Roger was more "lucky" than smart as one of the few bad guys to get away with murder on the show. (He foolishly kept the bloody pants and the gun, but then again wisely altered the barrel so there wouldn't be a bullet match). I highly doubt a guy like Roger will stay out of trouble with the law for long. He probably would go on to get that 3rd strike eventually. Roger did actually confess to that priest that he was the one who actually killed the 2 men when his brother was in prison. So apparently, he does still somewhat have a soul.
Catherine and Warrick got the "secondary" case. If it weren't for Jim Brass, they wouldn't have found the murderer. They were blaming the hotel for the death of a woman (heat stroke) in a spa. The hotel was somewhat negligent for taking too long to check on the woman, but what really did her in was someone intentionally feeding her food that she was allergic to (although they didn't mean to kill her). The woman went into Anaphylactic shock. Two women fighting over a man. What a shame. I actually felt sorry for the killer somewhat, even though it was a STUPID thing to do. She was "only" trying to make her friend sick to miss a date.
A cop finds Ben Jennings burying a dead body in the middle of nowhere. Ben is arrested and refuses to say anything. Of course Grissom knows the evidence will speak for itself. Grissom, Nick and Sara investigate. A lot of evidence just piles up against Ben and it just gets worse and worse for him. The CSI gang discover flour on the victim. Ben says he delivers pizzas (notice he doesn't actually make them). Ben accidentally makes it slip that there's at least 1 more body he buried. The CSI team find it. One of the best lines of the episode comes when Ben tells Grissom that he's not a bad person after they find the second body. Grissom replies back, "You're not a bad person? Then what are you? Then he walks away.
Throughout this episode a priest is trying to convince Grissom that Ben is a good kid and he didn't do it, even after Grissom breaks out the luminol and dried blood appears on Ben's car seat right before the priest's eyes. The priest must know something that everyone else doesn't. Grissom eventually starts to have a bit of doubt, but Nick and Sara convince him to present the case to the DA.
Grissom realized he made a mistake when he looks up Ben's brother Roger and realizes that he's a hardened criminal. He should have done research on Ben's character (no major crimes committed). Nick realizes that Roger would be looking at his 3rd strike if he was convicted of anything else. Ben refuses to turn on his brother and says nothing. Of course Roger has no problem pointing the finger at Ben when confronted by Grissom and O'Riley. Nick and Sara find evidence against Roger at his rundown trailer. Another top moment of this episode happens when Roger is brought to jail and he gives his younger brother Ben a cold-blooded, evil look while passing by his cell. Ben nods thinking he and his brother are still cool.
The "evidence" against Roger is useless. He dry cleaned his bloody jeans pants, the blood is degraded and Greg can't detect any blood. Also, the gun that Nick found buried in a bin by his trailer has a barrel that has been altered. Roger jammed something down it and the bullet striations are different from the ones in the corpses.
Grissom tries to talk the DA out of pressing charges against Ben, but Roger put the final nail in his brother's coffin by bringing in the tie that HE used to strangle one of the victims to death. Roger told the DA that he hid the tie to protect his brother (which conveniently explains away why Roger's epithelials are on the tie). And of course Ben's epithelials are all over it because in reality Ben took the tie and was going to bury it. Roger committed the murders and asked his younger brother to bury the bodies.
Ben is gonna get convicted and decides to commit suicide in the final scene. The episode ends with Grissom literally having blood on his hands. It's a stunning and heartbreaking end to the episode.
I kinda think Roger was more "lucky" than smart as one of the few bad guys to get away with murder on the show. (He foolishly kept the bloody pants and the gun, but then again wisely altered the barrel so there wouldn't be a bullet match). I highly doubt a guy like Roger will stay out of trouble with the law for long. He probably would go on to get that 3rd strike eventually. Roger did actually confess to that priest that he was the one who actually killed the 2 men when his brother was in prison. So apparently, he does still somewhat have a soul.
Catherine and Warrick got the "secondary" case. If it weren't for Jim Brass, they wouldn't have found the murderer. They were blaming the hotel for the death of a woman (heat stroke) in a spa. The hotel was somewhat negligent for taking too long to check on the woman, but what really did her in was someone intentionally feeding her food that she was allergic to (although they didn't mean to kill her). The woman went into Anaphylactic shock. Two women fighting over a man. What a shame. I actually felt sorry for the killer somewhat, even though it was a STUPID thing to do. She was "only" trying to make her friend sick to miss a date.