Happenstance (16 Nov. 2006)

CSI investigates the deaths of estranged identical twins: one from a gunshot wound, and one from an apparent suicide. The two deaths do not appear to be related, but are they?

Director:

Jean de Segonzac

Writers:

Anthony E. Zuiker (creator), Sarah Goldfinger

Stars:

William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
William Petersen	...	Gil Grissom
Marg Helgenberger	...	Catherine Willows
Gary Dourdan	...	Warrick Brown
George Eads	...	Nick Stokes
Jorja Fox	...	Sara Sidle
Eric Szmanda	...	Greg Sanders
Robert David Hall	...	Dr. Al Robbins
Louise Lombard	...	Sofia Curtis
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Captain Jim Brass
Wallace Langham	...	David Hodges
Liz Vassey	...	Wendy Simms
Joanna Going	...	Amanda Sinclair / Jill Case
Valerie Mahaffey	...	Dora Pomerantz
Frank Grillo	...	Gary Sinclair
Harry Van Gorkum	...	Jake Lenoir

Storyline

The CSI team investigates the death of identical twins at opposite ends of town within just a few hours of each other. Willows believes the cases have to be related but Grissom isn't so sure. Amanda Sinclair was a happily married mother who was simply dropping off her dry cleaning when she was shot in the parking lot. Jill Case was the editor in chief of a major Las Vegas daily newspaper and she is found hanging in her apartment, an apparent suicide. As the investigators look into the case, they learn that the two women were both adopted and didn't know of each other's existence. When the autopsy reveals that Jill Case was strangled and the hanging staged, it becomes apparent that the two cases cannot be coincidence.

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Plot Keywords:

twins | suicide | coincidence

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Alliance Atlantis Productions, CBS Paramount Network Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

As Nick is leaning against the fence at the Pomerantz ranch with Dora Pomerantz approaching him and Sofia Curtis with her horse, the butt of Nick's pistol is clearly missing the ammo clip. There's little reason to be carrying an unloaded weapon in the field while conducting official business.

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Connections

References The Transformers (1984)

User Reviews

Going, Going, Gone!

You have to give this program "A" for originality. It's amazing how many strange cases they come up with to make an episode. In this one, we have identical twins - who never met - getting killed within two hours of each other one night.

One of them is an apparent suicide but even a dimwit like me could figure out that wasn't really the case. Sure enough, late in the show we find out someone murdered her. The question is: did the same guy kill both women?

Don't try to guess who the killer is, because this is one of those shows in which the murderer (s) aren't seen until the final minutes. It's sort of unfair for the viewers, but what are ya gonna do? At least the show was interesting and had some little subplot-like stories such as doctoring newspaper photos.

Playing the twins, which had very little dialog and had supernatural connections through habits, was Joanna Going. Boy, there was a name I was familiar with as she had a role of Wyatt Earp's girlfriend-turned-wife in one of my favorite western movies of all time, Kevin Costner's "Wyatt Earp" (1994). Going is now 45 years old and still looks very beautiful.