*waves* I'm lurking these days, but here is my review of the ep: It's mostly GSR... so... I'm posting pretty much all of it in here for once.
Let's start with Gil finding Sara... He walks through those familiar halls, so dejected, and the camera follows him, as once Sara did in pursuit of his time for, perhaps, a meal. This time, we're following him in a seemingly aimless walk ending in his office, where he finds something he never expected. There she stands, and for this time, none of what has transpired between them matters. Any bad tastes left in their mouths from how she departed need not be addressed, because in this moment she is there for him and his needs moreso than her own. She often in the episode seems out of place in Vegas, to no longer consider it her present and future, but in this moment, she just holds him.
It's very much her supporting him. He buries his head in her shoulder as she holds her hand high on his back, keeping him steady, letting him know that it's ok to let it out. Since walking in the doors, since the moment Warrick died, he's been holding it in. He's been just going through the motions, but in this moment, in her arms, he chokes up, and allows himself to feel a bit of the dispair he's been bottling inside.
When we come back, they're hand in hand, across from one another, and he's telling her about what happened. At first, the "Tell Me" from Sara bothered me, but the more I think about it, it's her coaxing him not to hold it in. Several years back, he demanded answers out of her in her apartment as she weeped out a story she dared not say before. It was a horrible burden to bear, but having someone else there to carry it made it easier, and I feel like she is offering that to him when she says, "Tell me." It's not about her being nosy or trying to pry, but giving him the ok to talk about it, and what's even more remarkable, is that he takes it. He opens up to her, and tells her things that he probably could not tell anyone else.
When the others walk in, their hands separate, but linger slightly, as though sharing that last bit of support and love before rejoining the group. When they got together, Gil and Sara tried to keep their romance separated from their work, so it makes sense that though they are no longer in hiding, they're still not going to be too incredibly overt in front of everyone.
Sara's little speech within the scene at his apartment is also very telling of how she has changed since leaving Vegas. She mentions how she used to make her bed in case she never came home, and that hit me really hard. I've worked in news, and sometimes things can get so dark. You sit there in a dark newsroom on the night shift, surrounded by people who constantly voice their desire for a shooting, preferably a violent one, maybe a double shooting. It gets into your blood, and it aches. After a while, it's too much to handle. I believe Sara's desire for justice drove her farther than her heart had strength to take, but now she's living a life without that darkness, without the constant reminders of death and her own mortality. She's finally LIVING with a sight towards a future.
Sara tells Gil he needs to see the video, and I love that she can get him to stop, to take a moment out of his time to see how much this man really loved him. They had such an amazing relationship in earlier seasons, and it's just so beautiful to see Gil and Sara standing there, and though Warrick never referred to Gil by name, Gil got to know in what high regard he was held. For once, the accolades are not bestowed upon Gil for his scientific prowess, but for his nature as a human being. I doubt Gil ever thought of himself as "nurturing" despite his ability to teach. For one, he gets to see someone who loved him because of the man he is, because of the life he led. I think that could be a driving force for Gil in helping him realize that there is so much more to him than science.
I love that Sara was the one to come up with the break in the case, to figure out what piece of evidence might help them. It reminded me of so many other times that she was the final piece of the puzzle... with the Calendar and fake victim in that one serial killer case, when she told Gil to "think outside the box," when she realized how the wax in "Invisible Evidence" was transferred. There was something about it that showed that maybe she's living another life, but it doesn't mean she's not sharp. She hasn't lost that magic that she has, which might make it harder for Gil to understand why she does not want to return to her life as a CSI. Just because one has skills does not mean one wants to spend a lifetime using that one section of abilities. Sometimes, people have to branch out. Gil spent years encouraging Sara to do that, to try to keep her from chasing rabbits and listening to scanners all the time. She has finally found that place where she's not doing that, but Gil's not quite ready to follow her out.
