Directed by Rob Bailey
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Zachary Reiter & Norman Siopis
"Admissions" is the 18th episode of Season 4 and the 89th overall. It originally aired April 30, 2008.
A guidance counselor is killed during a senior class dance at a prominent high school. The killing may be linked to the rape of a student. Mac is frustrated because the Mayor wants this case solved immediately, while the press and the public are hounding him for answers in the "Cabbie Killer" murders.
Tropes for the episode:
- Adults Dressed as Children: The murderer turns out to be the younger of a pair of serial rapists who are masquerading as a father/son duo in order to prey on young girls.
- Arc Villain: The Cabbie Killer looms in the background as a threat, with this episode being his second appearance.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Hank Bedford was the one who came up with the entire plan with his ex-cellmate Frank Moore to prey on underage girls while being smart enough to maintain a 3.45 GPA in the city's best prep school while masquerading as a student there. Bedford himself even acknowledges this, musing that he could've potentially gone on to become a "successful lawyer-type" had he put that kind of effort into his studies back when he was actually in high school.
- Loose Floorboard Hiding Spot: When Mac and Lindsay search the guidance counselor's office, they find a loose floorboard in the closet. Mac removes it and discovers a box filled with money and a few laundromat tokens. Curious, Mac and Flack go to the laundromat and discover a heavily taped off machine. They insert the tokens, revealing the door to a hidden gambling den.
- Older Than They Look: Lindsay is aghast that the perp posing as a high-schooler is actually in his early thirties.
- Paranoia Fuel: In universe. By this time, the citizens of NYC are terrified that any taxi driver could be a murderer.
- The Prom Plot: The Victim of the Week is a prep school guidance counselor found murdered while chaperoning the senior prom. The valedictorian gives a speech encouraging her classmates to skip a lot of classes, blow off the calculus final, and forget about their grades; one girl who attends seems to be suffering from depression; and a guy gets caught trying to slip a date-rape drug into another girl's drink. All the attendees' phones are confiscated and Adam uses their pics and Photosynth to create a 3-D model of the gym so the team can figure out who had the means and opportunity to kill the victim.
- Sequel Episode / Story Arc: 2nd episode of 4 in the Cabbie Killer arc.
- Vigilante Execution: Inspector Gerrard, whose daughter is the latest rape victim, bursts into the interrogation room, shoots the perpetrator at point-blank range, then quietly hands his gun over to Mac, who has raced into the room at the sound of the gunshot.
