Fish in a Drawer
"Fish in a Drawer" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom Two and a Half Men and the 113th episode overall. The episode was written by Evan Dunsky, Sarah Goldfinger, Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar, the writers of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, who swapped shows with the writing staff of Two and a Half Men.
"Fish in a Drawer"
Season 5
Episode 17
"The Man I Love"
"Unchained Melody"
"Who Are You" (altered version)
3T6267
May 5, 2008
The episode revolves around Teddy Leopold (Robert Wagner), who is found dead on Charlie (Charlie Sheen)'s bed during his mother's wedding reception. A crime scene investigation crew searches Charlie's house, trying to find out who murdered Teddy. "Fish in a Drawer" aired May 5, 2008 on CBS, and was watched by approximately 13 million viewers, making it the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami and Dancing with the Stars.
Plot[edit]
At the reception of Evelyn and Teddy's wedding, Charlie decides to marry Courtney, his new stepsister, and leads her up to his room. When they lie down on the bed, in the dark, Courtney discovers that she is lying on something, when Charlie turns on the light he finds Teddy lying dead on his bed with his pants around his knees, and lipstick on his "Hoo Hoo". When Charlie tells Alan, they know they have an even bigger problem: telling their mother. After pulling Evelyn away from the piano, they tell her and she then cashes in their honeymoon tickets for a trip for one to Fiji before calling the police.
After the police arrive and examine the crime scene, Charlie, Alan, Evelyn, Berta, Courtney, and Jake are brought to the station for separate statements. Charlie becomes sexually attracted to the female interrogator (Jamie Rose), Alan is afraid of going to jail and struggles to talk, Evelyn spends more time complaining about the coffee, Berta is unhelpful in her answers, and Jake talks about food. It soon appears to be Evelyn as the prime suspect, since almost all of her prior husbands had died. Evelyn mentions her first husband died from food poisoning, explaining she was a young bride, just learning to cook, and didn't know you couldn't "keep fish in a drawer".
After the files of Teddy and his daughter Courtney come back, the crime team discovers that their real names are Nathan Krunk and Sylvia Fishman, and they are not related. It turns out that Sylvia and Nathan were con artists. The crime team thought that Nathan was murdered, because of the bruise on the back of his head, but it was revealed that he died of a heart attack, while attempting to have sex with Sylvia. The bruise had occurred two days earlier, when he bumped his head while having sex with Sylvia. As the police lead Sylvia away, Charlie plans to berate her for lying to him, but he can only manage to say "I'll wait for you."
Reception[edit]
"Fish in a Drawer" was broadcast on May 5, 2008 on CBS,[7][10] and was watched by 13.61 million viewers,[11] that night beating The Big Bang Theory with 7.38 million viewers and making it the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami and Dancing with the Stars.[12] The episode was the fifth most watched program on CBS in the week of May 5 to May 11, 2008.[11]
Allison Waldman of AOL's TV Squad, stated that she found the corresponding CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode Emmy Award worthy, while she found "Fish in a Drawer", "not rip-roaring, but still good".[13] Andy Grieser of Zap2it, said that he was attracted to the episode due to the news about the crossover, he stated he found the Faux-Catherine "brilliant" and that "the grainy flashbacks were the best parts".[14]
Conchata Ferrell submitted this episode for consideration for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, but did not end up being nominated. The director of this episode, Jeff Melman, also submitted this episode for consideration for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, but was not nominated either.[15]