Directed by Duane Clark
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, & Melina Kanakaredes
"Grounds for Deception" is the 24th episode of Season 5 and the 116th overall. It originally aired May 13, 2009.
Stella discovers her mentor, Prof. Papakota (Tony Amendola), may be connected to the Greek antiquities smuggling ring she's been after. Mac orders her to stand down (again) because not only does she have a conflict of interest, another department is handling the case. She angrily turns in her badge and goes to Greece to investigate. The team finds more evidence, which leads Mac to follow her there.
Tropes for the episode:
- All Part of the Show: In the opening, an audience is watching a production of a Greek tragedy in Central Park. During a pivotal scene, the shadows of two people appear behind the curtain at the back. As one stabs the other, the audience is enthralled...until a large pool of blood appears beneath the curtain.
- Broken Pedestal: Professor P has been Stella's mentor and father figure for decades. She is devastated to learn of his involvement with the smuggling ring.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Professor P dies in Stella's arms while his brother and Mac are in a shootout.
- Disobeyed Orders, Not Punished: Stella violates Lab policy by anonymously phoning 911 about a dead body instead of reporting it personally, then defies Mac's direct order to stand down on the Greek antiquities case. Then she turns in her badge so she can follow the trail all the way to Greece. Mac follows her there, helps her instead of chewing her out again and returns her badge without any consequences when they get back to NYC.
- Foster Kid: Stella tells Danny & Flack that the professor had rescued her from foster care. Then she went to live at St. Basil's Orphanage and attended their academy where Papakota was a teacher at the time.
- Framed Clue. A variation. Stella discovers that her mentor is involved in the theft of Greek antiquities. In anger, she goes to her office, yanks down a framed painting he'd given her when she graduated from the police academy, and discovers that it, too, was stolen...from a museum...in Greece. She goes AWOL to return it.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Subverted. While in Greece, the officials there assume Stella and Mac don't speak Greek, so they don't correct them. After they walk away, Stella tells Mac what they said.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Before dying, Papakota admits to Stella that he loved her mother, implying that he is her father.
- MacGyvering: Mac & Stella use water from the local fountain with her platinum earring acting as a catalyst to test trace on a suspect's glove for calcium carbonate.
- Reading Tea Leaves: Stella realizes that the overturned cup in Professor P's apartment means that he was reading someone else's coffee grounds. The fact that he wasn't alone adds to their suspect list. Later she reads grounds for Mac in his office, in spite of him being skeptical.
- Strange Cop in a Strange Land: Stella is in Greece for personal reasons so she's left her gun and badge in NYC. Conversely, the Greek authorities allow Mac to retain his firearm while visiting but add that they *prefer* he not use it.
- Taking the Bullet: Professor P shields Stella while he and his brother are in a shootout with Mac. Both brothers are killed, and Professor P expresses a dying wish to Stella as she cradles him.
- Turn in Your Badge: When Mac tells Stella her actions are "grounds for suspension, or at least a desk assignment," she says she'll make it easier for him and angrily slams her badge on his desk.
- We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future: Double subverted. On discovering a plaster cast of a dagger supposedly buried with Alexander the Great, Mac initially assumes that it must have held a forgery. When carbon dating of a fragment of ivory from the dagger reveals that it's old enough to be the real thing, the trope is played straight and everyone acts as if it must be for real; the possibility that a forger might re-use ivory from some less-valuable or damaged antique from the same period never rates a mention.
