Directed by Alex Zakrzewski
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, & Pam Veasey
"Greater Good" is the 23rd episode of Season 5 and the 115th overall. It originally aired May 6, 2009.
Lindsay's water breaks at work and a flustered Adam is the only one available to rush her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Mac suspects that a man just released from jail was actually innocent.
Tropes for the episode:
- The Bet: There's an office pool on how long Lindsay will be in labor.
- Busman's Holiday: It's Mac's day off, but he reinvestigates a case that's bothering him anyway.
- The Diaper Change: Joked about when Mac is asked to be Lucy's godfather.Flack: Godfather, you know that's code for "diaper changer."
- Even Evil Has Standards: A hitman turns himself in and rats out the person who hired him when that person changes targets from a man to a woman, saying that he's convinced she'll "get the job done" with or without him.
- False Confession: Turns out Mac is right; the man had confessed to something his daughter had done.
- Screaming Birth: Classic example with Lindsay screaming and red-faced. Flack, while on the phone with Danny, even asks if that's her he hears in the background.
- Selective Slaughter: The hit man tells the detectives he refuses to kill women and children.
- Taking the Heat: Out of fear that his daughter's career and life would be ruined, the parolee had claimed to be driving instead of her when she accidentally struck and killed a teenage girl on a bicycle. The daughter had just finished med school and had had a few drinks to celebrate. He was afraid all her work would've been in vain and expected to be let off easy since it was an accident. Unfortunately, he'd been texting at the moment of impact and his phone was found in the floorboard of the car. The judge had given him a longer sentence to make an example of him.
