Man, oh, man. Words cannot describe how bad I felt that episode was. It was like somebody said, "OK, we
have to solve this GSR thing once and for all." (Why? I ask. Why is it so hard for Hollywood types to conceive of a normal relationship outside of work, and just leave it at that?) Anyway ... it was like that line that Finn said (which I'm sure Elisabeth Shue struggled with, because it was just so appallingly bad). Something like, "We know Sara is being framed, so how can we prove it?" Ack, that is the absolute
opposite of what "CSI" of old was all about!
This episode was, for me, the "jumping the shark" episode (by the way, through no fault of Jorja Fox; she did the best she could with what she was given), because it encapsulates how the powers that be have decided to turn "CSI" into a soap opera rather than what it was at its origin and throughout its strongest seasons: a forensic procedural with an empathetic human element, both from the viewpoint of the investigators
and the victims of violence. That was almost totally absent from this episode, so focused as it was on
The Breakup of Grissom and Sara.
We had a murderer whom I couldn't care less about. In fact, I barely remembered who he was till flashbacks explained it. And I don't think the case, and his antagonism toward Sara, could have been more forced or convoluted. And then the soap opera-ish lines our beloved main characters were given could not have been less believable. William Petersen has to be thanking his lucky stars that he got out when the getting was relatively good. Maybe he could see the trajectory that most TV shows take when they've run out of good ideas, and he wanted no part of it.
I had a bad feeling when Marg was given such a superwoman-type sendoff last season. But I had faith that the powers that be would get it all figured out. They haven't, and I feel like I've been patient enough. Sadly, it's sayonara from me to a once-beloved show.
What a horrible wrap-up to the whole GSR plot...if that was the end. Why can't William Peterson stop being so stubborn and just make an appearance!
Actually, that's the part that's easiest for me to understand. The show is not what it once was, and Petersen was always adamant about it meeting his very high and exacting standards of excellence. I think that in his later years with the series, he could see the handwriting on the wall, and he no longer had the energy to fight for the show's quality the way he did in the early years. He
needed to leave; there was no question about that. It wasn't just a casual "Oh, I think I'll take some time off to do other things." He is an actor who needs to feel passionately about the work he's doing; if the passion isn't there, then it's time for him to walk. So it really was the right decision for him to leave.
But then the ball was back in the network's court as to how they were going to continue without Grissom. I think if they had followed "Law & Order"'s lead (the mothership, not any of the spinoffs) and kept the relationship low-key and off-screen forever, till the series' end, that would have been fine with most people. But for some reason that I've never been able to fathom, they kept picking at it, like a scab they wouldn't let heal. And it was like, the more they scratched at it, the worse it got. They should've just left well enough alone, IMO.
