603 7 Men Out

A marriage of greed and blood lust wedded to technology


Summary: The FBI investigates a gambling ring playing a deadly game of Russian Roulette

Original air date: October 9, 2009 (US)

Written by: Don McGill

Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski

Opening numbers:

8: men
4: Cities
1: Million dollars
1: Bullet


Family Concepts: (character development)

  • Amita is at a conference; while there she sends Charlie several examples of wedding invitations.
  • Larry enjoys Mel Torme and the Three Tenors
  • Alan’s retirement saving has devalued to the point he’s decided to go back to work
  • Colby uses Twitter
  • Alan asks Charlie for lessons in computer design

Episode Quotes:

  • Alan: I’m joining the ranks of those who’ve watched their 401k’s turn into 201k’s.
  • Colby: You give any thought to our last conversation?
    David: About me signing up for Twitter? Hell yes and the answer is still hell no.
  • Colby: You know if you were in Twitter you wouldn’t have to tell Don about this in person.
  • Colby: I liked that guy a lot better when he was pointing the gun at his own head.

Episode Synopsis:

LAPD calls in the FBI when it appears a serial killer is at work in LA.  Three men have been found in the LA area dead from a single shot to the head; the MO fits cases in Miami, Houston and Denver where in each city a total of seven men were killed in the same manner.  The latest death at least has a new clue, wires for a video camera, so the FBI knows someone else is involved. They also get another lead when it appears all of the victims use online sites to gamble.

Charlie is able to narrow down the area to search for the killer when he discovers a four block area where the three men all crossed paths.  An IP address for one of the gambling sites is also within the radius. David, Colby and Nikki go to the address, a strip club and find a healthy, illegal gambling ring in a back room.  It appears all of the victims owed money, several hundred thousand dollars to the club’s owner, Margo.  Margo tells Colby a man came to her looking for her most hard up debtors for a game; the payoff for the gamblers is a way to get out from under their debts. She doesn’t have a name but did record the man in one of her private rooms, Kai Kragen.  Kragen made and lost a fortune on reality TV shows; he lost it all when one of his games went very wrong and a contestant died.  Kragen tells Colby and David he is a legit infomercial producer now and he’s out of the reality business.  David doesn’t believe him, especially when he finds evidence of a cocaine habit in Kragen’s apartment.

The FBI gets another lead when a woman reports a bleed through video transmission showing just what it is everyone is gambling on:  a Russian Roulette tournament.  The players are the men Margo gave to Kragen.  Charlie is able to hack the web site where the bets are taken and the videos streamed from, and thinks he can trace everything back to an actual location the next time the site transmits. The FBI is also able to identify the surviving player in the video as Glen Olin, Olin’s wife had reported him missing several days ago.

Charlie is able to find a location the next time the web site starts streaming video, and Colby, David and Nikki are sent to the address.  They get there too late to save another gambler, but are able to make a series of arrests, including Glen Olin.  The surviving contestant in this match, “The Immortal” manages to escape however.  Olin states only that he is a consenting adult and the FBI has no reason to hold him.  Don admits he is right and let’s him go, knowing Olin will return to the game but also knowing he can’t stop the man.  Larry however is suspicious of the man’s motives wondering if there is something Glen knows about the tournament.

Charlie and Larry figure out the tournament is rigged in such a way the House will always will the loin’s share of the money.  They also work out how the guns are rigged to allow “The Immortal, aka Brian Wilson, to end up the ultimate winner.  Olin also figured this out on his own and as a way to make sure his wife is financially taken care of, he bets what money he has left on Wilson, knowing the fix is in and he, Olin, will lose. David, Colby and Nikki go back to arrest Kragen only to find him dead and Wilson leaving the scene.  Kragen and Wilson were in on the scheme together and Wilson got greedy and killed his partner.  Wilson has also set up the last round of the tournament with a live audience of very high rollers. The FBI is able to raid the location of the tournament and David diffuses a very tense confrontation to arrest Wilson.