Art Imitates Life

CSI EPISODE
Art Imitates Life
Season	9
Number	3
Writer	Evan Dunsky
Director	Keneth Fink
Original Airdate	October 23, 2008

"Art Imitates Life" is the third episode of the ninth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis

The team investigates the murder of a woman found in the park posed to recreate life and a string of murders follows with the same pattern. An artist becomes one of the suspects when they find out he has his models pose as dead bodies for his pictures. Also being two CSIs short Ecklie hires a new CSI Riley Adams and a counselor comes in to help them deal with Warrick's death.

Plot

After a jogger witnesses a homeless man stealing a purse from a woman and a child, he asks another woman for her cell phone, only to discover that she's dead. The CSI team arrive, where they notice that the woman is still standing next to a pole, as if she's still alive. After finding no ID on her, they trace her fingerprints back to Carlotta Perotti. The team is puzzled about how she died. Riley Adams, Warrick Brown's replacement is hired to the team, where they soon hear of another death, a man lying on a bus stop bench, where the signs are similar to that of Perotti, and the fact that he was found only 90 minutes ago, and rigor mortis has already set in, which is unusually quick for a body. Al Robbins soon determines that they both died of cardiac arrest. They later find a dead businessman the next day, meaning the team is now dealing with a serial killer. He is found standing up. Furthermore, they find dead lice on his hair, meaning he was a homeless man. The second victim also turned out to be a homeless person also. Catherine Willows and Riley arrive at Carlotta's apartment, and finds clues to a Jerzy Skaggs, a local artist, who tells them that he remembered her being a model for his work once.

Meanwhile, for coping with the loss of Warrick, Conrad Ecklie hires therapist Patricia Alwick. At first, no one wants to see her. Eventually, David Hodges decides to set up an appointment, where he oversees Greg Sanders already in her office, clearly upset about the loss of Warrick. Gil Grissom reluctantly sees her afterwards, after Hodges points out that he has missed certain protocols when examining evidence. He tells her that his dog, Hank has felt depressed lately, and wonders if the dog can carry their owner's grief over the recent loss, which Alwick says is likely.

Back on the case, a man is birdwatching, where he notices a dead couple with the same signs as the previous three victims. The MEs later find out the culprit to the cardiac arrest; carbom monoxide poisoning. which explains the dead lice on the homeless man's scalp. Riley later finds a website about a blog, where she sees several different comments. One of them shows a series of sketches, which look very familiar to the dead bodies, and then realises that there is still one sketch left, a young boy on a bicycle. After finding a connection between the killer, and Skaggs. Jim Brass questions him, where he says that he was once approached by one of his sub-contracters, Arthur Blisterman. However, finding him proves to be difficult, since he is nowhere to be seen. Worse, they soon find that a young boy is missing.

In order to find Blisterman, they have the owner of the blog site to contact the killer, and the longer the owner talks, the more likely the LVPD will track the IP address of the replier. They trace the address to a library, where Detective Vartann and his team apprehend Blisterman. Grissom questions him, where he seems happy to tell them where the boy is, but wants to make sure that his art gets appreciated, since for years, he was turned down by several artists, before revealing that if the boy is found, his art would be incomplete. Fortunately, they are able to find a warehouse where they believe the boy is in. They find him restrained on a bicycle, slowly being poisoned by exhaust fumes. They take him out, where Riley is able to revive him.

Cast

Main Cast

• William Petersen as Gil Grissom
• Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows
• George Eads as Nick Stokes
• Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders
• Robert David Hall as Dr. Al Robbins
• Wallace Langham as David Hodges
• Lauren Lee Smith as Riley Adams
• Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass

Guest Cast

• David Berman as David Phillips
• Alex Carter as Det. Vartann
• Marc Vann as Conrad Ecklie
• Sheeri Rappaport as Mandy Webster
• Jon Wellner as Henry Andrews
• Alex Kingston as Patricia Alwick
• Jeffrey Tambor as Jerzy Skaggs
• Davis Wyn as Harley Soon
• Ritchie Coster as Arthur Blisterman
• Gabriel Casseus as Det. Gabriel Williams
• Geneva Somers as Carlotta Perotti
• Will McCormack as Langston Weller
• Carsun Hall as Boy
• Nina Millin as Street Person #1
• Jordan Tartakow as Street Person #2
• Gregg Binkley as Street Person #3
• Alexandra Barreto as Distraught Woman
• Joe Ochman as Bird Watcher
• Googy Gress as Cabbie
• Clara York as Stroller Lady
• K.C. Ramsey as Jogger

Quotes

Phillips: Callout was a 4-19, where's the body?

Grissom: (pointing at the dead woman) Ask her.

Phillips: (walks to the woman) Excuse me ma'am. Ma'am? (realises she is the body) Hey!

Notes

• This marks the first appearance of Riley Adams.

See Also

• List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes
• CSI:Crime Scene Investigation Season 9
• Category:Images from Art Imitates Life