Directed by Oz Scott
Written by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn & Trey Calloway
"The Ripple Effect" is the 13th episode of Season 8 and the 175th overall. It originally aired February 10, 2012.
A man is found dead from a fall at the bottom of the 89th Street stairs. Another is found in a park, shot to death with a hunting arrow. Violet-flavored gum is the only thing that connects the two cases. Or is it? Mac visits Christine at her restaurant and takes her an unusual gift.
Tropes for the episode:
- Addiction Displacement: Mac reveals to Christine that her brother, Stan, who was his partner back in the day and had been killed in the line of duty pre-series, had been trying to quit smoking at the time and had taken up the habit of chewing on ink pens instead.
- Gross Gum Gag: A chewed piece of purple gum is found stuck to the first victim's clothing. Lindsay determines that it's violet-flavored.Jo: Violet-flavored? Like the flower?Linday: Yep. Makes for a nice bubble bath, but I don't think I'd want to chew it.
- Ill-Timed Sneeze: A hunter is sitting in a tree perfectly aiming at the prize deer he's been after for a while when, out of nowhere, he has what Mac describes as an "ill-fated sneeze." His arrow goes flying astray and pierces the neck of another man who had just been almost choked to death. The shot finishes him off.
- Picture-Perfect Presentation: Orange zip ties are a vital clue in one of the cases. Sheldon shows Mac a picture on his phone that Flack had sent him of a large piece of artwork made from the ties. The camera zooms very close in on the picture, then immediately out again, revealing Flack standing beside the actual sculpture telling Mac all about how one of his subordinates found it.
- Plotline Crossover: One perp steals a bike messenger's bicycle, causing him to have to run from someone else on foot, falling down the 89th Street stairs and breaking his neck. Meanwhile, another man is found dead in Central Park with an arrow stuck in him. The arrow part is an accident from a deer hunter sneezing at just the wrong time, but this man had also been running from someone else who had strangled him enough that his trachea was crushed. He was supposed to have had a bribe delivered by the bike messenger but since the deadline passed, this killer wrongly assumed this victim stole the money. If the bike in the other case hadn't been stolen, both victims would still be alive.
- Terminology Title: Ripple Effect Theory explains a series of consequences resulting from a single action, much like ripples flowing outward when a stone is dropped into a pond.
- Title Drop: Jo, at the conclusion of her wrap-up of the two cases, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what's known as The Ripple Effect."
