Ending Happy

Infobox Television episode | Title = Ending Happy
Series=


Caption = Sanders preparing to take DNA samples from the prostitutes
Season = 7
Episode = 21
Guests= Peter Stormare
Airdate = April 26, 2007
Writer = Evan Dunsky
Director = Kenneth Fink
Prev = Lab Rats
Next = Leapin' Lizards

Ending Happy is the twenty-first episode of the of the television series "".

Plot

The CSIs are called to a crime scene at a brothel in Bryant County where Lorenzo "Happy" Morales, a boxer, is found dead in a swimming pool. He has two puncture wounds in his neck and a contusion on his head, and a broken chair lies by the pool. Grissom mentions that he saw Lorenzo fight Leroy Steele once, a reference to the Season 3 episode Fight Night.

Brass questions Binky and Doris, the married couple who owns the brothel, and learns that Binky took Happy under his wing after Happy fell on hard times. They tell Brass that "everybody loved Happy". Brass interviews the prostitutes, and all initially claim to have had no problems with Happy. However, when he warns them against lying during a homicide investigation, they all air numerous complaints against Happy. They also mention that Doris and Happy were having an affair.

Grissom notices that the rooms at the brothel are wired for video and sound.

In the preliminary autopsy, Doc Robbins notes that Happy's genitals are distended. Catherine and Warrick notice that linear markings on the head contusion are letters: IN CH.

Nick searches the brothel and finds a crowbar with the words "MADE IN CHINA" engraved in it. The crowbar belongs to Dreama Little (Ashley Johnson), a prostitute. Brass questions her, and she says that Happy regularly abused her, showing Brass the bruises he gave her. Happy came in that night and tried to force himself on her, so she hit him on the head with the crowbar. Brass tells her that even though Happy walked out of the room, this action caused bleeding in the brain that led to his death, and she is distraught when she realizes that she killed him. However, Doc Robbins calls Brass to tell him that the blow to the head was not the cause of death.

Doc Robbins notes that Happy's neck wound transects the trachea and that it occurred before the blow to the head.

Nick and Sara are approached by a man who shows them a photo in his trailer that has been shot by an arrow. Sara notes the direction from which the arrow was shot, and Nick searches the nearby area. He finds another arrow stuck in the ground behind a shed and realizes that the shooter stood there to shoot the arrow.

The fingerprints on the arrow belong to Connor Foster, the brothel's bartender, and he is questioned. He admits to hating Happy and shooting him with an arrow in an attempt to defend the girls in the brothel. However, when Happy did not die, Connor ran away. Brass tells him that the assault led to Happy's death, and Connor is distraught when he realizes that he killed him. However, Doc Robbins calls Brass to tell him that the wound to the neck was not the cause of death.

Doc Robbins notes that Happy was suffering from anaphylactic shock and the arrow gave him a tracheotomy. The anaphylaxis was brought on by shellfish, but no shellfish was found in his system.

Greg finds a syringe in the evidence collected from the brothel. Hodges finds shrimp tails; the lipstick on the shrimp matches a shade worn by Doris, and the fingerprints on it are Binky's. They realize that Binky fed Doris the shrimp. Doc Robbins discovers that the point of origin for the anaphylaxis was the urethra.

When Brass and Grissom tell Binky and Doris this, Doris becomes distraught and Binky whisks her away to a room. Doris confronts Binky about setting her up by feeding her shrimp when he knew that she would have oral sex with Happy. Grissom and Brass listen in, and Brass arrests them. However, Doc Robbins tells them that the anaphylaxis was not the cause of death.

Doc Robbins discovers a bite on Happy's leg, and finds snake venom in the wound. The cross section of the wound shows that the wound is not an actual snake bite, but two needle punctures. The needle Greg found earlier belongs to Dreama, and Brass questions her. She confesses to masterminding a scheme to kill Happy by poisoning him. Connor, hearing that Dreama confessed to everything, says that Dreama thought it up, but he injected Happy with the venom and disposed of the body.

The CSIs deduce the timeline of the crime. First, Happy was injected with the snake venom and was carried outside. When he awoke, Doris found him and performed oral sex, inducing anaphylaxis. Happy's throat swelled, and he headed to his trailer to find epinephrine, and was shot by Connor's arrow (which by sheer coincidence had the effect of a trachectomy). After injecting the epinephrine, the anaphylaxis subsided and Happy returned to Dreama's room, where she hit him with the crowbar. He finally went to the pool to smoke a cigarette, the chair broke, and he fell into the pool. With the open throat, he drowned. Nick notes that a good defense attorney for any of the suspects will say that "the lawn chair did it".

Doc Robbins fills out Happy's autopsy report and lists official cause of death as "unknown/cardiac arrest" caused by falling off a chair. However, he also lists all the other contributing factors, sighing in disbelief as he does so.

Trivia

*When Brass questions prostitute Dreama Little, he asks her if that is her real name. She replies by singing the song "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt & Milton Adolphus.
*Bryant County is a fictional county (likely a stand-in for Nye County, the only nearby county that has legalized prostitution).

Awards

Robert David Hall submitted this episode for consideration in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" on his behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards. cite web|title = 2007 Emmys CONFIRMED Episode Submissions|url = http://goldderbyforums.latimes.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1106078764/m/53610293|publisher = The Envelope Forum, Los Angeles Times|accessdate = 2007-06-18]

References

See also

*

External links

*imdb title|id=0991645|title=Ending Happy
*Tv.com episode|id=990727|title=Ending Happy
*csiguide episode|id=337|title=Ending Happy
* [http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season7/happy_ending.shtml "Ending Happy"] at CSI Files