A quadruple homicide shatters the serenity of a quiet suburban neighborhood and Grissom's team sets out to discover the motive behind the bizarre murders. Original air date, November 17, 2000.
Tropes:
- Animal Motif: "The Buffalo." A traumatized Brenda tells Grissom "the buffalo" went to her room and nothing else. Grissom goes through the family's effects and finds an amulet on a chain which belonged to Mr. Collins. He cleans the blood off of it and discovers a buffalo.
- Asshole Victim: The father. Since he molested both his daughters when they were little girls, no one feels sorry for him.
- Brain Bleach: Definitely a few people's reaction to this episode. Anyone who has seen it knows why, anyone who hasn't should consider themselves lucky.
- Mama Bear: The reason why Tina worries about her little sister so much. Also what motivates her to murder her parents and siblings: to protect Brenda.
- Mind Screw: The Reveal. Mr. Collins sexually abused his daughter Tina, which causes her to give birth at thirteen to Brenda. Mr. Collins is both father and grandfather to Brenda; Tina is both Brenda's mother and sister. The incest is bad enough - what screws the mind further is that Mr. Collins no longer had any interest in abusing Tina and was now going after Brenda sexually.
- Parental Incest: The plot twist is that the late father Mr. Collins had sexually abused Tina and has begun sexually abusing Brenda, too.
- Parental Neglect: The reveal shows that neither Tina's mother nor brothers would stop Brenda's and Tina's father from sexually abusing Brenda.
- Pædo Hunt: Tina and her boyfriend murder her father for molesting her and Brenda.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: The plot twist reveals that due to Parental Incest, Brenda is Tina's daughter/half-sister. And Tina is Brenda's mother, not just her big sister.
- Teen Pregnancy: After being sexually abused by her father as a child, Tina gives birth to a child at 13 — a daughter who just happens to also be her little sister Brenda.
- Trauma Button: "The Buffalo" for Brenda and Tina, who shows signs of emotional shock and trauma. However, she breaks out of her catatonic state when she hears the word "buffalo," becoming hysterical and freaking out.
- Villainous Incest: The Collins family patriarch sexually abuses his young daughter Tina. Then he moves on to sexually abuse his daughter/granddaughter Brenda.
- Wham Line: Tina to the CSI: "Because they should've protected me! My father..."
- Wham Shot:
- The blood drops at the scene of the crime from the killer's knife. The drops actually indicate that the father was leaving Brenda’s room and that he was killed first. The killer then went to the mother’s room, dropping blood on the floor from the knife.
- The CSI team take X-Ray photographs and discover that someone has recently sexually abused the little girl Brenda.
