Directed by Marshall Adams
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, Wendy Battles & Noah Nelson
"Prey" is the 20th episode of Season 5 and the 112th overall. It originally aired April 8, 2009.
A voice coach is shot to death. A lot of evidence is found, but it all turns out to be misleading.
Tropes for the episode:
- Adopt the Dog: Mac is the most vocal about pursuing Dana, since no matter the circumstance, she still committed premeditated murder. However, when he goes to get her, he lets her finish her singing gig and is subtle about arresting her, and doesn't stop Sheldon when he gives her a way to avoid getting jailed for her actions.
- Asshole Victim: The victim turns out to have been stalking his killer, and had done the same to someone else earlier. Afterwards, no one shows sympathy to him. Even before it's revealed that he was a stalker, he's described as moody and self-centered by someone else who knew him, and that person outright says that no one liked him.
- Broken Bird: Dana Melton's voice on her statement's recording, her voice is shaky and she's clearly desperate for the police to help her. We never see how she is before she takes Marshall's life, but she seems at peace when she's singing...only for Mac to come and arrest her. Her face says it all on how hopeless she clearly feels and quietly pleads for him to let her go.
- Corpse Temperature Tampering: The killer uses dry ice to make it look like her victim had died earlier than he had, buying her time to formulate an alibi and leave town.
- The Dog Bites Back: Marshall Baxter is murdered by his most recent stalking victim who decided to kill him to finally reclaim her life.
- Driven to Suicide: Baxter's earlier victim commits suicide, even after he'd stopped stalking her, from the sheer effect of all the trauma that Baxter had put her through.
- Flashback: During Stella's recount to her colleagues of the cases she referred to during her college lecture, scenes from three previous episodes are shown. One is of the discovery of how Pauline Rayburn's body was mummified in a building that was being demolished during "Not What It Looks Like." Others are of the hotel concierge from "Open and Shut" who fell to her death onto a sharp piece of artwork in the lobby.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Stella is discussing her lecture and we're shown flashes to it, you can clearly see Dana standing in front of all the other students taking notes on everything Stella was saying.
- Irony: Dana Melton left absolutely no evidence tying her to the murder of Marshall Baxter. It was the team's discovery that he was stalking her that led them to her in the first place.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Baxter pretty much got away with derailing and ruining the lives of innocent women, driving one of them to suicide. His current victim makes things right by killing him.
- Killing in Self-Defense: By proxy. The victim committed by definition a first-degree premeditated homicide, but he was her stalker, and his postcards to her show him escalating to violence. She got to him before he could reach that point.
- "Not Illegal" Justification: Discussed. Hawkes laments the fact that a stalker's escalating activity, which resulted in one of his victims killing him, had not been considered illegal because "there's nothing wrong with taking pictures and making phone calls."
- Orgy of Evidence: The abundance of clues is left behind in a deliberate attempt to throw the investigators off the trail. The perp had audited a college course on forensics where Stella, as a guest lecturer, had used in-universe examples from several of the team's previous cases.
- Parking Payback: Bruises on the body a match theater director's knuckles. The man becomes an early suspect because he beat the victim to a pulp over continually parking in his space (labeled with his name) and laughing about it.
- Police Are Useless: Realistically downplayed, but still there with Boston PD. The police do in fact arrest and charge Marshall Baxter for his stalking behavior, but because his activities are not violent in nature, the punishments on him are light. As a result, his first victim's brother sues the police, and Dana Melton decides to go beyond the police and kill him before he could escalate to violence.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Dana Melton's murder of Marshall Baxter is very much understandable. He had been stalking her for a long time, and she tried everything legal to get rid of him. She changed her name, moved to New York City, didn't use anything like credit cards that could be traced to her, and he still found her. And once he started showing escalation to violence, she got to him first.
- These Gloves Are Made for Killin': Melton attends a forensic lecture taught by Det. Bonasera in order to learn how to throw suspicion off of herself. Later, she wears gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints while manipulating the room's temperature and tampering with evidence.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Upon her arrest Sheldon gives Dana an out, saying that (due to their lack of incriminating evidence) unless she confesses, she'll likely not be convicted.
- To Be Lawful or Good: The team struggles with this a bit, though it's not prominent. The situation with Dana Melton being Marshall Baxter's stalking victim causes a little divide over the morality of pursuing her as his killer. They ultimately choose "Good" over "Law" as Mac doesn't object when Sheldon as much as tells Dana not to confess.
- Sheldon is firmly on "Good", believing the law has fully failed Dana Melton. Several of the other team members are with him, but not as vocal about it.
- Stella and Mac subtly lean towards "Lawful". Stella is aghast that someone used her lecture to learn how to get away with murder, and Mac still correctly points out that she could have gone to the police again like she did in Boston.
- Villains Want Mercy: Dana's quiet about it, but she still begs for Mac to let her go, insofar that she can be called a villain.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Dana Melton tried so hard to get her life back after Marshall Baxter effectively robbed it from her by stalking her, doing everything she could. It took killing to finally get her life back, and despite all her precautions, she still finds herself arrested for something that no one considers wrong.
