Synopsis  

Las Vegas Police discover a disembodied head in a truck driven by two scantily clad girls after a high-speed chase, and a seemingly related decapitated corpse turns up in the desert. But Grissom and Catehrine are puzzled when the head doesn’t match the body – a body that may not even be human. Warrick tries to help a young inmate who witnessed the murder of a gang member.

Review  

Sara gets all pumped up when she and Nick get the case of a body found 40 miles outside of town, but when they get to the corpse she’s a little nauseated by it: a skinned, headless body, missing its hands and feet. Sara aids Nick now and again on the case (including searching the suspect’s car which is actually Catherine’s case), but mainly goes off on her own when it’s discovered that the skinned corpse is actually a gorilla.

When she starts getting emotional watching videos on the computer, Grissom tells her that it isn’t a case since the body isn’t human – something which Sara argues against, and Grissom agrees with her. Sara questions Dr. Miller about the mutilation and skinning of the gorilla’s body. Whomever killed the gorilla will never be found, but Sara plays her own part in laying the case to rest by burying the gorilla’s ashes in a small ceremony out in the desert.

Notes  

• Sara definitely gets emotional – and possibly a little too involved – when a case deals with the death and mutilation of an animal.
• Sara’s evaluation: ‘Overall Performance: outstanding’ and ‘Ability to Prioritize: improvement needed.’

Quotes  

Grissom: Sara, go with Nick.
Sara: Yes! Road trip! I’m going to go change my boots!

Grissom: I hate to be the one to state the obvious, but, uh … this isn’t a human being we’re dealing with – it’s an animal.
Sara: And …
Grissom: And every time a dog gets run over you can’t go to the vet to examine it.
Sara: I can’t believe you. You, with your pet tarantula, your maggot farms, that komodo dragon on back order… you should be more sympathetic to the senseless murder of an innocent gorilla.
Grissom: (amused) You’re right. I apologize. I was just checking to see where your head was at. For now, you’re working alone. Catherine needed Nick.
Sara: Bummer.

Dr. Miller It’s sad. Genetically, we’re 92.7% identical with gorillas.
Sara: It’s hard to tell where the human ends and the animal begins.
Dr. Miller Well said.