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One to Go
1togo
Season 9
Number 10
Writer Carol Mendelsohn
Director Naren Shankar
Original Airdate January 15, 2009
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Next Episode: The Grave Shift

One to Go is the tenth episode in Season Nine of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

The CSI team works to close Grissom's last open case, the "Dick & Jane" murders, as Grissom prepares to leave the team for good. Before leaving, Grissom offers Dr. Raymond Langston, who helped the CSI's with the "Dick & Jane" case, a permanent position as part of the CSI team.

Plot[]

Victims: Jeffrey Masters (deceased), Maureen Masters (missing)

On the case: entire team

Picking up where the previous episode left off, Brass and Ecklie fill the Sheriff in on what has happened. Using serial killer Nate Haskell's directions, they've uncovered a skeleton with a broken hyoid bone; the victim is tentatively identified as Joel Steiner, Haskell's first victim. The body found dead three feet away is identified as Jeffrey Masters, who has been dead for no more than 24 hours. His wife Maureen is missing, and efforts to reach her have been unsuccessful. Jeffrey was stabbed ten times postmortem, which lines up with the "Dick & Jane Killer's" signature. Brass estimates that, based on Haskell's (and the copycat's) M.O.'s, the team only has at most 48 hours to find her alive.

Grissom tells Brass that a fresh body found near the site of Haskell's first kill can't be a coincidence. Brass agrees, but says that Haskell has had no communication with anyone outside of the seminar and his call to Dr. Raymond Langston. While Haskell reminisces about his first kill in a replay of the seminar, Maureen Masters wakes up face down on a table in the middle of a room filled with surgical equipment and metal hooks. She panics as she realizes she's zip-tied to the table.

Ecklie informs Grissom that he's been made the new undersheriff. Before Grissom can ask him for a favor regarding Langston, he finds out that Langston is signing in at the front desk. Focusing on the questions regarding Haskell subduing male victims stronger than he was, Langston feels that he laced THC with certain drugs and asks the CSIs to check. Grissom thanks Langston and informs him that he's being hired as a special consultant on the case. He then theorizes that Haskell's accomplice is someone from Langston's class; Langston recalls that past student Dan Forester is the one who came up with the idea about reaching out to Haskell.

Brass questions Dan, who says that he and his classmates sent letters to several prisoners; Haskell was the only one who responded. When he realizes he's a suspect, Dan says that the idea came from multiple students in the class, but he can't remember who those students are. Grissom tells Langston that they don't have time to interview all 50 or so students that were in the class, but they have a better idea—find out who Haskell was making eye contact with during the seminar. The team visits Langston's classroom and plays the video of Haskell speaking to the class, trying to pinpoint if he made eye contact with any of the students during key comments. They zero in on a student named Thomas Donover, who asked Haskell how he controlled his victims.

The police surround his house, only to find Thomas' wife Hailie, who says that Thomas is out camping at Mt. Charleston. The CSIs search the Donover house and Greg finds shoes that match the treads found at the scene of Ian Wallace and Justine Stefani's murders. Thomas is definitely the accomplice. Meanwhile, Thomas approaches Maureen and cuts her zip ties. She unsuccessfully tries to escape and Thomas tells her that the only way she gets out alive is by doing everything he says.

In the layout room, Grissom and Langston look over a map laying out the locations of the original DJK body dumps as well as Thomas'. Grissom sees that the male bodies were all dumped out along highways like they were trash; the roads always led to Lake Mead. Hodges, who has forced himself into the conversation, informs them that moss found on the bottom of Thomas' shoe only grows on the north side of the lake.

Back at the Donover house, Nick searches the attic and finds a recently disturbed box of VHS tapes. He notes to Catherine that the Donovers only have DVDs and no VCR; however, Gerald Tolliver had a VCR at his house, but no tapes. One of the tapes was made at about the same time Joel Steiner and Tiffany Cohen went missing. In the living room, Catherine finds a bottle of sage extract (Salvia Divinorum); Henry confirms that it could've been used to subdue Haskell's male victims, as it's a powerful hallucinogen. At the station, Brass continues to question Hailie Donover. She recognizes Gerald and says that Thomas and Gerald were friends. When pressed further about her husband's whereabouts, she says that "he made me promise not to tell."

A fingerprint from the sage bottle comes back to Garth Harris, a drug dealer. When confronted by the police, he runs. During the pursuit, he's run over by a police car and killed. It's discovered that Garth had shot himself up with THC and opiates less than 24 hours ago. Based on the half-life of heroin, there's no way Garth was lucid when Jeffrey was murdered and Maureen was kidnapped. He's not an accomplice.

One of the VHS tapes Nick recovered from Thomas' attic shows Joel and Tiffany at the concert they disappeared from. Tom and Gerald are also in the video, and they are shown offering Joel a joint likely laced with salvia. The video then cuts to Haskell being spied on while he tortures Tiffany in the same house Tom is currently occupying. Narrowing down the house's location is difficult, as there isn't much to go on in the video besides a window. Langston tells the team that they're wasting their time and that Haskell is the only one who can help them, but Catherine believes Haskell will be having too much fun to help. Grissom, however, notices that there was a moon in the window. Since they know when the video was taken, he believes they can pinpoint where it was taken based on the position of the moon.

Langston pays Haskell a visit in jail, hoping to get the information out of him by showing him stills from the video tape spying on him. He tries to trick Haskell into thinking they already have Tom and Maureen; they just want the location of the bodies of his female victims in the hopes he reveals the location of the house. However, Haskell sees right through his ruse and gives him nothing, gloating that Maureen is already dead and that his disciples are everywhere.

Based on the moon phase, its position, and that fact that it's between two peaks that are about the same height, it's discovered the house is located in Black Mesa. Brass and his team rush there, and Tom is killed by a shot to the head just as he's about to murder Maureen. Brass frees her and the CSI team canvasses the house. Grissom discovers the bodies of Haskell's female victims stashed side-by-side under the floorboards of the house.

With the case closed, Grissom visits Langston at WLVU and suggests he apply for the new vacancy at CSI, to which he answers he'll think about it. Grissom finishes packing up his office, and, despite an impassioned plea to stay from Hodges, exits CSI, catching only Catherine's eye as he walks past the team hard at work. He heads to Costa Rica, where he reunites with Sara as she's photographing some monkeys, kissing her passionately. She looks surprised but elated to see him as they embrace...

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Quotes[]

David Hodges: (Walks in as Grissom is cleaning out his office): Okay. So this is really real. Fine. So, as your friend and colleague I feel that it's my obligation to inform you what a colossal mistake you're making.
Gil Grissom: Hodges...
David Hodges: Guys like us just don't get to hang it up. This job is who we are. We are the thin blue line between order and chaos. You take yourself out of the equation, who knows what's gonna happen. That's the Butterfly Effect. You taught me that. The bad guys will win more if we don't have you. Who is Watson without Sherlock Holmes?
Gil Grissom: Watson was a genius in his own right...It's the right time for me to go.
David Hodges: Okay.

Major Events[]

  • This episode marks William Petersen's final contact appearance as a series regular as Gil Grissom.

Goofs[]

  • When Grissom throws down his backpack, Sara is holding her camera on the carrying strap. But just a second later in the same scene, she has a grip on the camera's lens when they're embracing and kissing.
  • The coordinates on Grissom's GPS device don't point to Costa Rica as displayed, but rather somewhere near Arauca in Colombia, some 1000 miles offset.
  • The tracking shot of the camera on the jungle's trail disturbs the vegetation, causing movement of leaves and small branches.

Trivia[]

  • William Petersen's mid-season departure is only the second in the history of the series. The first was the departure of Jorja Fox one year before.
  • Hodges remarks to Grissom that the two of them working together on a serial killer case feels familiar. He's referring to their work on tracking down The Miniature Killer, who was eventually revealed to be Natalie Davis.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 9
For WarrickThe Happy PlaceArt Imitates LifeLet It BleedLeave Out All The RestSay UncleWoulda, Coulda, ShouldaYoung Man with a Horn19 Down...One to GoThe Grave ShiftDisarmed and DangerousDeep Fried and Minty FreshMiscarriage of JusticeKill Me If You CanTurn, Turn, TurnNo Way OutMascaraThe Descent of ManA Space OddityIf I Had a Hammer...The Gone Dead TrainHog HeavenAll In


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