Directed by Stephen De Paul
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, & Andrew Lipsitz
"Necrophilia Americana" is the 17th episode of Season 2, and the 40th overall. It originally aired March 22, 2006.
Synopsis:
A murdered woman is found in a museum exhibit, being eaten by bugs. A little boy who refuses to speak is the only witness to the crime. Meanwhile, an urban golfer is found dead at a construction site.Tropes for the episode:
- Bland-Name Product: Danny finds a can of "Handi-Foam" insulation at one of the scenes. It turns out to be the murder weapon.
- Call-Back: To the ending of "Fare Game," two episodes earlier. Both Mac and Danny tell Lindsay not to eat the bugs collected as evidence. She is not amused.
- Facial Composite Failure: Mac pairs the boy with a sketch artist who comes up with a drawing of a character from the child's comic book due to the trauma of witnessing a murder causing him to confuse fantasy with reality.
- Greens Precede Sweets: The little boy keeps pointing to candy in the Lab's vending machine, but Mac tells him he has to eat "some real stuff" first.
- Super Identikit: Subverted. Mac asks the boy to sit down with a sketch artist. He ends up perfectly describing a character from one of his comic books. His traumatic experience caused him to confuse the events in the comic with reality.
- Terminology Title: Scientific term for flesh eating beetles.
- Title Drop: By Mac, who uses the term while explaining that the beetles devouring the victim came from another exhibit in the museum.
