Plot

Dr. Langston kills Nate Haskell, but was it murder or self-defense. Meanwhile, a closer look at the crime scene reveals details about Haskell's twisted past and his descent into a serial killer.

Farmer Arvin Thorpe is found murdered at home by Nate, who is identified as his biological son Warren, and fell to his death after a struggle with Langston, who thus liberated his ex Gloria. Nick, Greg and Sara unearth evidence that Nate turned sadist while Arvid abused him and his mother, who is among a series of clandestine graves on the farm, and where he stole the Haskel identity. Sheriff Conrad Ecklie stalls I.A. detective Schultz while Brass sees to the disappearing of crucial evidence against Langston.—KGF Vissers

When Haskell shots his father, Langston jumps at him and subdues the serial-killer. Langston puts flexible cuffs on him, but when he taunts Langston asking him why Gloria is still alive, he cuts his hand cuffs. Jim Brass comes to Thorpe house with two police officers and finds Haskell dead and a broken banister. Now the CSI team has to investigate the crime scene to understand what has happened and whether Langston killed Haskell in self-defense.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"CSI" - "In a Dark, Dark House" - May 12, 2011

We pick up where we left off with Haskell (guest star Bill Irwin) holding a gun on Ray (Laurence Fishburne) and Gloria (guest star Tracee Ellis Ross).

Ray calls him Warner and asks who Nate Haskell was. Haskell freaks, Ray disarms him and starts to beat his face and stops. Nate asks him what's the matter, they're just getting started. Ray says they're done and he flips and cuffs him. He goes to Gloria to reassure her. Haskell asks Ray to ask Gloria what he did to her. She moans. Ray pulls out a switchblade and slices off Haskell's plastic cuffs.

We jump forward in time to Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) finding Haskell's dead body with cuff marks. He recuffs him with metal cuffs even though he's dead. He finds Ray with Gloria, they share a stare.

More patrol cars arrive on the scene.

Ray tries to talk to Gloria, saying it's over and he's not going to leave her and everything's going to be fine. Brass tells Ray not to say anything to anybody. They gingerly step over Haskell's body. Ray and Gloria get in a squad car. Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Sara (Jorja Fox) arrive as they drive off.

Sara, Brass, and Greg look at Haskell's body. Brass calls it a classic case of self-defense and they need to gave Ray all the help they can since internal affairs will be all over it.

At the hospital Ray is assuring Gloria she's going to be fine as they go into the ER. Catherine and Nick meet him at the hospital. They say they have to process his and Gloria's clothes. As Nick (George Eads) photographs Ray's hands and takes evidence he tells Ray he saved Gloria's life and that's all matters. He asks what the white powder on his hands is. Ray doesn't know.

Ecklie (Marc Vann) chats with the IA guy, Det. Schulz. Ecklie thinks it will be straightforward, Schulz isn't so sure. Ecklie brushes him off.

Sara and Greg process the crime scene. They determine Haskell was thrown through the bannister with great force.

Haskell's dad was also beaten before he was shot and stabbed.

Sara follows the blood trail into the room where Gloria was held and likely tortured, judging by the devices over the bed.

Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) processes Gloria including a rape kit. Gloria was indeed raped, brutally. As well as stabbed. She also has the white powder on her hands. Catherine tries to give her a pep talk, saying she survived and Haskell is dead. Gloria is near catatonic.

Greg and Sara find the gun that likely shot dad and Tina Vincent in L.A. They pull off the wallpaper in the room, realizing it covers lots of old blood on what was probably Haskell's childhood home. Nate Haskell might have died in the house, says Sara, but a serial killer was born there.

Nick joins in the investigation at the scene. He and Sara realize Haskell's dad was in on it when he was a kid, at least covering it up, if not participating in it. Each room is a horror scene of leftover blood. They wonder if there might be more bodies, in the floors, walls, basement, and yard.

The doctor is talking to Ray when Gloria's mother (guest star L. Scott Caldwell) shows up and freaks out and demands that Ray be thrown out since he's the one responsible for bringing this monster into Gloria's life. She says she's taking her daughter back to Baltimore, against the doctor's advice.

Greg and Sara try to differentiate all the blood spatter in the house: Haskell, Gloria, Ray, and Haskell's dad Thorpe. It's almost all Haskell's blood.They determine Ray beat Haskell pretty well on his back. Sara thinks Ray probably had control and Ray threw him through the bannister. Greg tries to defend him. Sara reminds him they're looking for the truth.

Nick, assisted by Henry (Jon Wellner) and Hodges (Wallace Langham), had only found pet skeletons when Becklie shows up. And then they find a human body. Ecklie, who had been a C.S.I and still has his kit in his vehicle, offers to lend a hand.

Schulz visits CSI HQ. Catherine says he'll get their report when they have it. She says he's getting ahead of the evidence.

Catherine meets with Robbins (Rober David Hall) with the bodies in the autopsy room. She asks if there's something on Haskell's body that will vindicate Ray from cold-blooded murder. He tries to make a case for all injuries being from the fight. He notes the cuff marks not consistent with Brass's metal cuffs. He somewhat angrily says he told Schulz what he's telling her, none of the other injuries will change his cause of death.

Ray arrives and asks to look at Gloria's sexual assault kit. She tells him not to. He says he needs to. It, obviously, upsets him. (For what it's worth he doesn't have a mark on his face, which he lays down to cry.)

The body in the yard is an adult female, dead at least a decade. There's another, an adult male. A traveling salesman. The salesman's name? Douglas Nathan Haskell. They extrapolate these killings were Haskell (and maybe his dad) crafting his future style.

Ray, Nick, and Robbins look over the bodies. The female body was his mother, who was killed by the father they figure since "Nate" was only 8. We flash back to "Nate's" first kill.

Catherine asks Sara about what happened between Ray and Haskell. Sara tells the truth that Ray should've reasonably been able to restrain him. Catherine shows Sara the cuff marks. Sara says they didn't find cuffs. Sara says Langston could've cut the cuffs off before he threw him.

Catherine visits Gloria and her mother Mrs. Parks. She says she just wanted to check on her. Mrs. Parks says she wants to ask her questions and relive her nightmares and Gloria isn't talking and to leave her alone. She tells Catherine that Ray and Gloria were divorced because he wouldn't have a baby with Gloria because he was afraid to pass on something bad inside him. She says she was always afraid of Ray and wonders if Catherine isn't afraid of him too? Catherine asks Gloria if she's okay. Gloria says she's tired. Catherine leaves.

Sara goes into the locker room and grabs Ray's kit to see if all three of his department issue flex-cuffs are in it. Greg sees this and wonders what she'd do if it was him. She said she'd look and it's their job to shine a light and once she knows what she's dealing with, she'll deal with it. All three sets of Ray's cuffs are there. Greg is happy.

Catherine brings Brass the report for internal affairs. She mentions the disparity about the flex-cuffs and mentions that Brass was the first responder. Brass knowingly notes that all three pairs of flex-cuffs were in Ray's kit right? Right. He says he takes care of his team. She hands the report over to Schulz saying that the evidence suggests Ray was acting in self-defense.

Ray lurks at the hospital and then talks to Mrs. Parks. She tells him not to go in and that she's taking Gloria back to Baltimore. He says he understand and feels responsible and wants to find a way to atone for it. She says she knows they never liked each other but apologizes for blaming and judging him earlier. She says that's for Gloria so he'll have to wait to see if that's how she feels. She tells Ray she hopes he finds peace.

His phone rings. It's a text telling him the IA interview is at 9 a.m. the next day.

We see Ray surveying the horrible bedroom crime scene. Brass joins him and asks what he's doing there. Ray doesn't respond. Brass says Ray killed a murderer in self defense, he gets that right? Ray says he gets that he did everything that he could for Gloria. We get a flashback to the actual self-defense/murder. Ray beats him pretty good and talks to him and takes out his anger from all the scarring Haskell did to him including taking his kidney. Haskell taunts him but doesn't fight back. Ray says he knows where Haskell wants to "take him" but says he's "already there" and throws him through the bannister. Brass says they are the only two people in the world who knows what happened there and that they need to keep it to themselves. IA will try him for murder and it won't be just himself he's crucifying--and we see Brass pocket the flex-cuffs.

We get an answer to the white powder issue. Gloria had been writing music notes in chalk on the floor. We flash back to a better time when Gloria was giving Ray a private concert, on their first date, playing "The Swan" from "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens. Brass tells Ray he did the right thing.

Ray goes to look at Haskell's body in the morgue. Robbins figures it's natural Ray needs reflection. Ray says that's what Haskell saw in him, a reflection. Robbins says Haskell wanted to bring Ray into that house, with horror on one side of the wall. Ray says that horror was on the other side of the wall in his house too, but that unlike Haskell he trained himself to be "good" like other people. Robbins says Ray is good.

We cut to the IA interview for Ray. The gang waits outside as Ray is interviewed. He says he killed a man. Schulz asks if it was self-defense or murder. Before Ray can answer we cut to the credits.