Synopsis  

A shooter in a Las Vegas casino manages to evade the lockdown and cameras, after killing a man on the casino floor. Once he escapes into the stairwell, the CSIs are forced to do a room to room search. Going by the name X-Man, the man killed Mr. Kiel, who had brought his son to see Kanye. During the search, they find a woman who had a one night stand with him.

The finally find a man who matches the killer named Jordan, hiding in the closet of a room he rented with a friend. He adamantly claims he’s not the killer. The video time stamps of the night prove that Jordan was in two places at once: having a drink with the one-night-stand, and going out with his friend to a baseball game.

Jordan Brentson’s DNA matches, but his fingerprints do not. He has no twin, and after following the video trail, they find Xavier Marks, a doppelgänger to Jordan. The only thing the two men have in common is they both won free trips to Las Vegas, with mild criminal records. Even their birthdays and places are different.

When the lab performs antibody profiling, to determine which ’twin’ pulled the trigger, they find the DNA matches both men, but the antibodies match neither. There’s a third man! The most likely solution is the triplets were from the same zygote, frozen in vitro, fertilized, and implanted in different mothers. Jordan’s mother had used Dr. Keil’s services to have one son, and she had asked for the other embryos to be destroyed. They were not.

Brass thinks the mother, Mrs. Brentson, orchestrated the murder as payback for Kiel not destroying the embryos. Kevin Chance, the third brother, also won a free trip to Vegas, but died of an overdose before he could be arrested. Kevin left a suicide video, claiming he killed Kiel as payback for playing god and creating him. The only problem is the evidence implies Kevin was murdered by his brothers. All three of his brothers. Oh yes, there’s a fourth brother.

Weirder still, the brothers all won their trips from Dr. Kiel. He’d been keeping tabs on the triplets. Sara talks to Kiel’s son, who says his father met with two of the brothers. While she’s out with Avery, they determine who the fourth brother is. Avery is the fourth brother, and arranged for his father’s murder and brother’s faux suicide.

Avery didn’t kill his father over money, but because he found the truth about his birth. While he managed to create a perfect crime, the evidence only damns him and the deceased Kevin. His other brothers will get off Scott free.

Review  

Sara and Brass talk to the dead man’s son, Avery, with Sara promising to come check on him later. She comes back later to explain that Avery will have to go live with family in Wisconson. When he reacts badly, Sara takes him out for ice cream, clearly sympathizing.

Notes  

• Sara sympathizes with Avery when he seems fearful of going into foster care.
• Instead of allowing herself to be played, like she was with Hannah, Sara is able to keep perspective.

Quotes  

Sara: Are you into twins?
Marks Isn’t everybody?

Sara: It must be hard, wanting a child so much. The struggle to conceive. And then a miracle occurs.

Gallery  

Images ©CBS (2012) - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from the episode 'Split Decisions'.