CSI:Miami 10/02/06 "Dead Pool 100"

[jeff125va]

Wow, that might have been the worst, cheesiest ending to a show I've ever seen. What were they doing on the beach anyway? And where were they walking to?

And I've never hated Horatio the way some people do here, but the scene when he called the FBI guy and found out the kid had called his phone from the ship, then the guy said "whose number is that?" and Horatio closed his cell phone before answering "mine." I think I finally got why everyone hates him so much.

I didn't get why Calleigh was so indignant about Wolfe having the counterfeit $100? How was he supposed to know? Would she have acted like that if he had come back from Vegas with it? Or received it as change at the grocery store? (ok, I guess that would be unlikely unless he paid with a $1000 bill, but no less legal of a transaction is my point)

[Llwellyn]

Wow, that might have been the worst, cheesiest ending to a show I've ever seen. What were they doing on the beach anyway? And where were they walking to?

And I've never hated Horatio the way some people do here, but the scene when he called the FBI guy and found out the kid had called his phone from the ship, then the guy said "whose number is that?" and Horatio closed his cell phone before answering "mine." I think I finally got why everyone hates him so much.

I didn't get why Calleigh was so indignant about Wolfe having the counterfeit $100? How was he supposed to know? Would she have acted like that if he had come back from Vegas with it? Or received it as change at the grocery store? (ok, I guess that would be unlikely unless he paid with a $1000 bill, but no less legal of a transaction is my point)

Yeah, the whole "Baywatch" ending didn't do anything for me either... seriously, wth?

As far as why she was upset, CSI's are bound to the same moral code that police officers are because their integrity must never be seen as less than perfect. By Wolfe going offshore to gamble, he's intentionally circumventing Florida and federal law that controls that kind of gambling. That's certainly morally questionable. Also, it was more than just a slight rumor that the gambling may have been a front for something else, so he was also directly promoting a criminal enterprise by gambling at their boat. Also morally questionable and enough to have an ethics board look into it if anyone made a stink.

[jeff125va]

I must have missed the part about there having previously been knowledge or suspicions of illegal activity on the ship. That would make sense, since they could end up investigating them at some point. Not sure what you mean by "circumventing" or "morally questionable" though. Or is there a list of things that employees (or maybe just police/CSI's) are prohibited from doing even where they're legal?

[Llwellyn]

I must have missed the part about there having previously been knowledge or suspicions of illegal activity on the ship. That would make sense, since they could end up investigating them at some point. Not sure what you mean by "circumventing" or "morally questionable" though. Or is there a list of things that employees (or maybe just police/CSI's) are prohibited from doing even where they're legal?

A lot of employers write moral turpitude clauses into their employment contracts... executive offices, management, educational administative positions, law enforcement, and legal professions.

Gambling in and of itself could be a violation of a code of ethics or a specific contract requirement.

It's the appearance of the act sometimes rather than the act itself that looks questionable or shady.

In the example from the show, that type of gambling is illegal inside the US and Florida. By leaving the country to take part in it, Wolfe is showing disrespect for the law for his own edification. If the act were legal in his home jurisdiction, or even anywhere in his home state, it would be less ethically and/or morally questionable. It's not the gambling itself per se, but the specific type of betting taking place.

[dswallow]

In the example from the show, that type of gambling is illegal inside the US and Florida. By leaving the country to take part in it, Wolfe is showing disrespect for the law for his own edification. If the act were legal in his home jurisdiction, or even anywhere in his home state, it would be less ethically and/or morally questionable. It's not the gambling itself per se, but the specific type of betting taking place.
I don't disagree with the concept of what you're trying to say, but think the example of gambling you're saying it about is way off base.

Florida allows gambling; there are 5 casinos in the state.

Even if it weren't allowed; it's legal in other states and certainly if he traveled to Las Vegas nobody's gonna think he was some sleazy slimebag for gambling there when it was "illegal" at home. He wasn't at home. Similarly, offshore is essentially outside of the US, where it's legal. Just like it's legal in Las Vegas, or elsewhere.

It's conceivable to disallow someone from gambling within the state because they work in the state's regulatory agency oversseing the same gambling; but to keep someone in law enforcement from gambling because they might be investigating a crime there one day is silly... maybe he should be prohibited from going to a 7-11 because he might be investigating a crime there one day.

[bruinfan]

Artie Lange!!!

[jeff125va]

Yeah, I'd have to think that any such "moral terpitude" things would have to be spelled out in a list. I have a friend who works in the Athletic Dept. at our alma mater. Not only can he not do an NCAA basketball bracket (for money at least, maybe not at all, I forget) he wasn't even allowed to play in a pool that a buddy of mine did for the World Golf Match Play Championship (if that's not the exact name, then the one that's a single elimination with 64 players) because of that bracket's resemblance to the NCAA basketball one.

So if gambling is on such a list, that's one thing. But to say that its inherently unethical because it's illegal in some places doesn't hold water. You could just as easily say someone is circumventing the speed limits in the residential or business disctricts by taking the interstate. Or circumventing the laws regarding state income taxes in the states that have them by moving to Florida or Texas or whichever others don't have them. Or building a restaurant in a commercial-zoned district because it's prohibited in a residential-zoned district.

It didn't seem to me that she was admonishing him for gambling alone, but because that's where he got the phony currency. Like I said, maybe I missed something about the gambling boat being under suspicion for counterfeiting or whatever, but it didn't seem during that conversation that he could have had any clue about it ahead of time.

As far as your 7-11 example Doug, I agree, but the context of my example was if the Police already had reasons to suspect the counterfeiting operations. I guess it would be hard to say that shopping at the 7-11 under similar circumstances would really pose any ethical dilemma, but I do think that Wolfe coming back with a wad of phony $100's would have if he'd had a reasonable suspicion of that possibility. Again, I don't recall that, just taking Llwellyn's word for it.

[desulliv]

She may have been put off that the gambling involved betting on when people were going to die.

[jeff125va]

She may have been put off that the gambling involved betting on when people were going to die.
She wasn't just "put off" though. She was going on about how it could involve an investigation into the lab, etc.

[Lopey]

I didn't get why Calleigh was so indignant about Wolfe having the counterfeit $100? How was he supposed to know? Would she have acted like that if he had come back from Vegas with it? Or received it as change at the grocery store? (ok, I guess that would be unlikely unless he paid with a $1000 bill, but no less legal of a transaction is my point)


Didn't Wolfe actually participate in the death pool? Maybe the problem wasn't with the gambling but with what he gambled on.....

Opps, just noticed someone else posted the same thing.....

[Lopey]

She wasn't just "put off" though. She was going on about how it could involve an investigation into the lab, etc.


Yeah, because it involved life... not a sport. If the person that Wolfe had put money on had been murdered and he had won alot of money from it... couldn't he be a suspect??

[Jesda]

I sometimes wonder if the show is mocking itself intentionally.

[jeff125va]

Yeah, because it involved life... not a sport. If the person that Wolfe had put money on had been murdered and he had won alot of money from it... couldn't he be a suspect??
On that basis (motive) alone? There are plenty of perfectly innocent, mundane things that under certain circumstances could appear to give someone motive in a crime. Are they supposed to avoid every activity that falls into that category? If one of them is married, then they should never get life insurance on their spouse because their spouse might die under circumstances which suggest possible foul play.

[Lopey]

On that basis (motive) alone? There are plenty of perfectly innocent, mundane things that under certain circumstances could appear to give someone motive in a crime. Are they supposed to avoid every activity that falls into that category? If one of them is married, then they should never get life insurance on their spouse because their spouse might die under circumstances which suggest possible foul play.


But they also have to think about the lab..... It's just better off to play it safe and not draw bad attention to the lab.

If it were real life, and it got out that an officer/csi, or politican placed money on when someone was going to die..... how would that play out in the press??

[jeff125va]

Maybe, but she didn't say anything about that. All she said was ~ "the bet might be legal but the payout [meaning the cash] isn't. Hover (or whatever the name was) is dirty."

All of those other considerations aside, I think she clearly implied that he was somehow responsible for ending up with the counterfeit bill, which I think is ridiculous, especially considering how they portrayed them as pretty much the best counterfeiting job ever done. He had no way of knowing they had other operations going on in addition to the gambling.

[SoldOnTiVo]

I sometimes wonder if the show is mocking itself intentionally.

which could be why I seem to find it more entertaining these days. :D

I did kind of like the effect show when Wolfe was walking (slow-mo, of course) through the scene and people he'd walk in front of would just disapear. I mean, people you'd see on the right of the screen ("in front" of Wolfe) wouldn't show up on the left of the screen ("behind" Wolfe). That was kind of a cool shot. Pointless, but cool. :)

[alpacaboy]

I sometimes wonder if the show is mocking itself intentionally.
I liked some scene a couple seasons back where some misc drug guy does something like look at Horatio, drug guy puts on sunglasses and has some line like "yo dog, we never stop." Though the memories of the details escape me.