CSI S11E14 “Sqweegel”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Jan 052026
 

CSI usually follows a certain format: e.g. we rarely see action that isn’t from the perspective of an investigator or a detective. Episode S11E04 “Sqweegel” (aired October 14, 2010) radically departed from this rule, so much so that some scenes look more like a slasher or giallo film.

Someone is slashing famous people around Las Vegas with a straight razor. Through the usual forensics business, the CSIs find that the assailant was wearing a latex suit. One of them even comments, “Time to get kinky!”

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CSI:Vegas S02E01 “She’s Gone”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Jan 012026
 

The revival series CSI: Vegas starts its second season with a dead sex worker, unsurprisingly. One of the first lines of dialog is a CSI looking at the bondage gear and saying, “The more things change, huh?” The cast of characters is mostly new, but the dynamic is largely the same.

The victim is pro dominatrix Lynn Zobrist, stabbed in her home with piece of a broken mirror. The perpetrator also took the time to drag all of the furniture out of her dungeon, cover the walls, floor and ceiling with glued-on mirrors, and leave Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” playing on repeat. Her housekeeper described her as “sad” and alone except for her clients.

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Body of Proof S02E01 “Love Thy Neighbor”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Dec 212025
 

Body of Proof is another post-CSI investigative procedural, this time focused on the life and work of medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delaney). The season 2 debut “Love Thy Neighbor” (aired September 20, 2011) bears a strong resemblance to the CSI episode “Swap Meet“.

An apparently accidental death in a suburban cul-de-sac turns out to be not-so accidental; the deceased has ligature marks on his wrists. “I used to live on a cul-de-sac like this. Nothing is ever what it seems,” says Megan (a metatextual joke as Dana Delaney also starred on Desperate Housewives). The clues suggest infidelity and one of the detectives searches a house and finds a locked cabinet. It opens with the mysterious key found on the victim, to reveal padded handcuffs, floggers and leather hoods. “Guess we know who tied him up now,” says the other detective. The couple who own the house look embarrassed.

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Law & Order Special Victims Unit S24E16 “The Presence of Absence”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Dec 162025
 

Air date: March 23, 2023, Director: Norberto Barba, Writer: Brendan Feeney

Two women, Zoe Greene and Jenna Scott, are in a nightclub. Jenna is pushing hard for Zoe to date again after the death of her husband. Jenna introduces Zoe to a dating app and gets her to connect to “Klaus Darcy”. Zoe’s online relationship with Klaus escalates to sexting, a little D&S, and gift exchanges, like lingerie. (Zoe mentions that she and her late husband used to get “a little freaky”.)

Zoe sets up a meeting with Klaus at a hotel room, including bondage with her late husband’s neckties. She’s wearing black lingerie and a collar with an O ring. The text messages tell her to pose by the window, and she answers “Yes, sir.”

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CSI series finale “Immortality”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Dec 032025
 

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series finale “Immortality”

A suicide bombing in a casino brings the gang back together for one last case. Never mind that Willows is now an FBI agent and has a conflict of interest because she owns the casino, and Grissom left law enforcement to become a maritime vigilante.

One of the pieces of debris from the bomb vest is a square of metal marked “LHK”, which Grissom recognizes as the monogram of “Lady Heather Kessler”. (She used her real last name as a pro-domme?)

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CSI S05E05 “Swap Meet”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Nov 282025
 

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation S05E05 “Swap Meet”, aired October 28, 2004. IMDB

In “Swap Meet”, the CSI franchise checks another sexual subculture off its list: swingers. While not directly related to BDSM, this episode does illustrate how investigative procedurals like CSI handle alternative sexualities.

The episode opens with aerial scenes of Las Vegas intercut with soft-core style shots of a couple making out. Cut to a hetero couple going to a swingers party in a posh gated community, with the soundtrack of “Vertigo” by U2. This being TV, everybody is younger and prettier than they would be in real life. This being CSI, it’s only a matter of time until a dead body turns up. This time, it’s a woman in a fountain, stabbed in the back and drowned.

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CSI S04E05 “Fur and Loathing”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Mar 142024
 

The notorious “Fur and Loathing” (aired October 30, 2003) episode of CSI is supposed to be about the furry subculture, but it actually demonstrates the investigative procedural’s particular view of sexuality and identity.

A routine traffic accident leads Grissom and Willows to what they at first think is a coyote but is actually a dead man in a raccoon fur suit. This leads to PAFCon (Plushies and Furries Convention), which the deceased, Robert Pitt, attended.

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NYPD Blue S04e13 “Tom and Geri”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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May 262023
 

NYPD Blue S04E13 “Tom and Geri”, aired January 28, 1997

Geri, a police administrative assistant, has had an un-returned crush on Detective Andy Sipowicz. (In a previous episode, S04E06, she told him she was wearing rubber underwear.) The B story of this episode is that Geri tells Sipowicz that a friend she knows, Tom, has died in bondage gear in his apartment. Sipowicz, who wants nothing to do with Geri, hands it off to his superior, who in turn delegates it to a pair of female detectives, Russell and Kirkendall. Even at this stage, Geri seems distrustful of everyone.

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