Some hotshot magician, "Luke Blade," performs a sawing-in-half trick in front of a street crowd and, coincidentally, the same thing is happening in an empty theater elsewhere in town. Unfortunately, in the latter the woman is literally sawed in two and, of course, killed.
Things really get bizarre when the magician, who has planned three great stunts in three nights, has the same thing happen on the second night. His trick works just fine but nearby the same trick is done in secret and we have another murder victim. What the heck is going on?
Mac and the crew quickly deduce this Houdini-loving magician is the killer. The only question is: how did he do it? What's his motive and more importantly, how can we find evidence to convict him?
The answer, and the dramatic final scene are okay, but nothing special. The key was discovering what was in the childhood of this demented David Copperfield-wannabe.
Note:I have commented on some of the major changes in the show this year; some good, some bad. Here's another. Since when did all of these CSI people become wise-guy comedians? Now even straight-faced Gary Sinise is dishing out several of these puns and smart remarks. Stella gives several each show and Danny, Don and the others do likewise. Hollywood can never do anything subtle anymore. Now we have a CSI team of comedians in addition to forensic experts and get a joke every 2-3 minutes. My point: the jokes are clever - too clever for nerdy scientists, and way overdone. It's making all the characters look really smug.