Normally, when you’re watching an episode of Elsbeth, Elsbeth is the one having hunches. But during last night’s episode of the CBS procedural, audiences might have caught a brief secret voice cameo and thought, Wait, is that David Fincher? At least, you might have if you’ve watched the Gone Girl director’s commentary as many times as I have (specifically the part where he talks about Ben Affleck shutting down production for four days because he refused to wear a Yankees cap).
In the episode, titled “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” Elsbeth finds herself digging into a decades-old Mafia murder that she suspects wasn’t as cut-and-dried as everybody thinks. A breakthrough in her investigation comes upon watching the director’s commentary for the famous film about the case, City on a Knife Edge, in which the director, Francis Martino, drops a key detail about one of Elsbeth’s suspects (played by Alyssa Milano doing her best Carmela Soprano impression). Since Elsbeth loves an iconic guest star, it would only make sense that the series would turn to an actual famous director known for his commentaries to take on the role. In addition to sharing a suspiciously similar voice, Fincher and Martino also both use their DVD commentaries to vent about unprofessional demands being made of them — in Martino’s case, it was the mob requesting that he cut an incriminating scene — but at least Affleck didn’t leave a dead rat on Fincher’s doorstep.
Fincher feels like a natural fit for the show; after all “Elsbeth” is just a few letters off from “Lisbeth” from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Now all we need is an Elsbeth crossover in a third season of Mindhunter. Let’s get Jonathan Groff in a fuzzy pink hat and tote bag stat! To paraphrase Fight Club, the first rule of secret cameos is don’t talk about secret cameos, so CBS couldn’t confirm the true identity of Francis Martino. But try on Elsbeth’s detective hat for size and take a listen for yourself.