Directed by Duane Clark
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn & Kim Clements
"Crushed" is the 7th episode of Season 8 and the 169th overall. It originally aired November 11, 2011.
A deck collapses during a high school party and the body of the hostess is found amid the rubble, but that's not what killed her. Meanwhile, a Serial Rapist from a D.C. case Jo had been involved with at the FBI resurfaces in NYC.
Tropes for the episode:
- Alpha Bitch: The hostess. She pretends to take an interest in less popular girls, invites them into her clique, then has her boyfriend seduce and take advantage of them. Afterwards, she rates their "performances" online as a joke.
- Big Sister Instinct: The killer turns out to be the sister of one the girls that the victim and her boyfriend had humiliated with their game.
- Calling Card: A burglar leaves small, typed notes at his scenes. It comes back to bite him when someone is killed at a house he'd robbed and he becomes a murder suspect.
- Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard: Downplayed and played for laughs. Flack and Danny question an on-duty store security guard about a home robbery. The guy takes off running but is so overweight, the two detectives linger to do rock-paper-scissors to see who has to chase him while the other gets to drive the car. When they easily catch up to the now-stopped and wheezing guard and question him, he admits to the theft... and to hiding the loot in his work locker.
- Sequel Episode / Story Arc: The serial rapist arc will cover the next two episodes as well.
