CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Difference between revisions

* [[Call It Karma]]: A low-budget porn director slashes the throat of an actress that had been revealed to be HIV-positive and thus unable to make more porn films. Her blood spills all over his face, some of it getting inside him through the eyes, and he gets AIDS himself as a result.

* [[Canon Immigrant]]: Sqweegel, who originated in Anthony Zuiker's digital novel "Level 26".

* [[Cast the Expert]]: David Berman, who was a real life coroner before playing '[[Super Dave]]' Phillips, the coroner's assistant.

* [[Celebrity Paradox]]: In an episode of the early seasons, we can see the [[Myth Busters]] making a cameo as extras. Fast forward to season 11 episode 2, there is a character exclaiming ''"What am I one of those Mythbuster guys? I don't know."''

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: The real Las Vegas Police have Criminalist level B and A. (all the CSI series merge the roles of criminalist and CSI into one). And it's not LVPD, it's LVMPD, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

* [[Dirty Cop]]: Vega.Mcquaid and one other FBI agent.

* [[Disappearing Box]]: A woman seems to disappear for real in "Abra-Cadaver".

* [[Do Not Call Me Paul]]: D.B.Rusell. Nobody calls him Diebenkorn. And Julie, who prefers 'Finn', which is short for Finlay.

** The 12 years-old in "Go to Hell" is even worse.

** The young killer in "Unusual Suspects" and "Goodbye And Goodluck".

* [[Enhance Button]]: They once used a reflection in a young girl's eye in a photo to get an image of a location of where the picture was taking at (a boat).

** A particularly [[Egregious]] example happened when they showed off a 3D crime scene scanner. Such a device does actually exist, using a laser to create a 3D image of an area, but they then used the computer to ''lift the body off the bed to look at the stains on the sheets underneath it''. It's the equivalent of taking an ordinary photographic image and being able to "strip away" the skin and muscles to get an image of not just the structure of the person's bones, but what ''color'' they are.

* [[The Gambling Addict]]: Warrick

* [[Game of Nerds]]: Grissom is a baseball fan

* [[Gorn]]: The [[Fan Nickname|TMI-cam]]

* [[GPS Evidence]]: Often. As an example: in the season five finale, ''Grave Danger'', Grissom, Entomologist Extraordinaire, determines Nick's location from the ants in his box, since fire ants can only be found in nurseries in Nevada, which means that the soil... you can figure out the rest.

** Played straight with Haskell: {{spoiler|His father has been killing for years and his victims include Haskel's mother.}}

* [[The Intern]]: Greg, when he decides to leave behind life in the lab to become a CSI.

** In the episode ''Random Acts of Violence'', Warrick is processing the scene of a suburban drive-by shooting, at which a young child has been shot and killed. Upon discovering that the child's father is a close friend (known to be an admirable and honorable person generally), Warrick does his best to comfort the grieving father. Aware of this connection, Grissom arrives and checks on his colleague:

{{quote| '''Grissom''': You going to be able to handle this?<br />

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: After ten long years, they finally poke fun at their periodic explanations of how a test or piece of equipment works for the benefit of the audience, even though there's no good reason for, say, Sara to be telling this to Nick in the course of everyday work.

** Lampshades were also hung about being a forensics series in "I Like to Watch"

* [[Left Hanging]]: ''Bad to the Bone''. Six or seven subthreads, none of which were even close to being resolved.

** Pretty much every season finale since season 7 has been this way as well. They love their end of season cliffhangers.

* [[Long Runners]]: Eleven seasons and counting.

* [[Lower Deck Episode]]: ''You Kill Me'' and ''Lab Rats'', both featuring the lab techs.

* [[Mad Doctor]]: 'Doctor Jekyll'

* [[Magical Database]]: Revolutionized this trope. They have demonstrated databases on blood, hair, rope, wire, shoe prints, tire treads, tire rubber compositions, and even clown makeup patterns. There was a [[Lampshade Hanging]] in a sixth season episode, in which Hodges sarcastically suggested searching a database to discover the brand of a hot dog.

* [[Mulder Moment]]: "Fur And Loathing". The normally sexually-open Catherine is weirded out by the Furries while Grissom is typically intrigued.

* [[The Murder After]]: Warrick and a stripper who is found dead in his car.

* [[Murder Suicide]]: Generally played straight, though it was inverted in one episode where a stalker attempted suicide in his crush's house, resulting in three people dying.

* [[My Card]]: The investigators will often give a witness their card and say "call me if you remember anything."

** Grissom also gave Catherine's abuse ex-husband an [[Oh Crap]] moment when said ex tried to bully Catherine.

** In fact, Grissom tends to go [[Papa Wolf]] whenever his team are at risk of harm, for all he usually comes across as emotionally distant.

* [[The Perfect Crime]]: In "Working Stiffs," a lowly office drone makes a seemingly perfect get rich quick scheme. {{spoiler|He manages to get the unbreachable safe open, but is crushed against the wall by a piece of it that comes flying at him. Upon seeing he actually succeeded in doing the impossible, his last words are "I knew it would work..."}}

** Played straight whenever they don't get the perp, though special mention goes to "Alter Boys" ( {{spoiler|the team knows for sure that the actual killer is not the man arrested but his [[Evil Twin]], yet every bit of evidence points to the former}}), an ep with one of the most remarkable [[Downer Ending|Downer Endings]] in the show.

** Not so much anymore, now that he's had several serious character arcs (not to mention becoming one of the most experienced CSIs on the team). The role has been taken over by Hodges and the supporting [[The Lab Rat|Lab Rats]].

* [[Police Are Useless]]: A major wallbanger happens in Season 11's "Cello and Goodbye". Ray catches up to Nate Haskell at a carnival, both men have guns drawn. Haskell is raving about how Ray's ex-wife is still alive, weilding his gun all over, yelling at the top of his lungs, and just seven feet away. Cops catch up to Ray and... [[It Makes Sense in Context|arrest Ray.]] They [[Plot Induced Stupidity|somehow]] miss the [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|screaming madman on a nearby platform with a big gun.]]

** And the episode "Hollywood Brass" certainly feels like a PDP. Were they thinking about a Jim Brass spin-off set in LA?

** It seemed possible also with the episode "The Thing About Heroes" of ''[[CSI: NY]]'', which introduced at least one major character from the Chicago police department, but no spinoff was launched.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: Keppler killed an innocent man on the word of a corrupt cop. Guess what happens in the episode that outs the secret?

* [[Revolving Door Casting]]: Seems to slowly be heading towards this with the original cast gradually leaving the show and replacements being brought in over time.

** "Unfriendly Skies", inspired by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Burton Jonathan Burton] case and aired only months after the incident.

** "Anatomy of a Lye", based on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Biggs Gregory Biggs] case.

* [[Sex Is Evil]]: One of the more frequent knocks on ''[[CSI]]'' is that this is pretty much how it treats any sex practices (regardless of consent) outside of hetero and committed.

** This is a common problem with any [[Crime and Punishment Series]], really, as the only time the characters usually encounter alternative lifestyles is when there's a grisly murder involved.

** [[CSI]] tends to be a bit schizophrenic about this, really. While they tend to portray "perverts" of various types as being twisted in various way aside from their sexual appetites, those that weren't involved in the crime of the week, and even some who were, are ultimately portrayed sympathetically for the most part. The best example is [[Recurrer]] Lady Heather, a dominatrix who is a tragic and sympathetic character. Admittedly, most of the tragic part is in some way due to her lifestyle, but it is ultimately left up to the viewer to decide whether this is due to her own "sins," or other people's (including her own daughter) reaction to them.

** Humorously, ex-stripper Catherine seems to be the most squicked out by alternative sexual practices. Grissom, of course, finds it all very fascinating.

* [[The Show Goes Hollywood]]: "Hollywood Brass" and "Two and a Half Deaths".

* [[Shown Their Work]]: More often than you think; it's the editing that turns it into [[Hollywood Science]]. There's also the episode involving a not!Star Trek convention, which is filled with references, including the Picard Maneuver. The shirt-tugging one.

* [[Sick Episode]]: ''Grissom's Divine Comedy''

* [[Side Bet]]: In one episode, Greg Sanders's replacement eventually cracks from the pressure to be just like Greg and quits. Nick forks over a bill to Warrick. (Who really [[Broken Aesop|shouldn't have been participating]]...)

** And then [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Wendy kicks his ass]].

*** [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|Wendy kicks his ass frequently]]. The first time he doesn't completely screw up in a [[Lower Deck Episode|Lab Rat Episode]] is when he finally gets a kiss.

* [[Underside Ride]]: In "XX", a woman tries to escape from a prison in this way and suffers [[Ludicrous Gibs]] from getting caught in the moving parts. {{spoiler|Subverted when we find out that she was already dead - the killer was getting rid of the body}}.

* [[Unfortunate Name]]: Diebenkorn. Not a punny or risque one, but still one that he'd probably like to forget.

* [[Welcome Episode]]: Subverted in a major way by having a [[Welcome Episode]] premiere which ended with [[Naive Newcomer]] Holly Gribbs [[Stuffed Into the Fridge|getting shot dead]].

** Then played straight when Sara Sidle is brought in to replace her/act as an independent investigator.

* [[Whip It Good]]: Lady Heather.

* [[Working the Same Case]]: Frequently

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Series]]

[[Category:CSI]]