Re: Grissom & Sara #28: To heart's and eyes' delight
I know I haven't been around lately. Part of that is life, and part of that is that I don't think I can function properly in the rest of the board. This little haven saves me. My fiance and I were talking the other day, and I said, "Yeah, I read on the anti-GSR board..." and I had to stop. I never realized that's how I see this place, for the most part, but I do... and it breaks my heart. I've stopped saying much anywhere on this board because it's just hard to be a GSR shipper unless you're in this thread. So, I love you guys and this thread... and I'll try not to let my problems with other parts of the board keep me from commenting in here, anymore.
The finale was a whirlwind of psychological games, disturbances and intrigue. I loved the GSR in it, but I still think there were signs that Gil and Sara were not quite on top of things, or back to normal. He's still trying to go on with life and be cool about their relationship, but she needs a grand sign and he hasn't given it to her, yet.
She keeps getting these weird hints, and I think, "My dear" was another example of that. She didn't expect him to say it at all, and when he did, she didn't really smile at him. She looked more shocked than anything that he said it, and she really needed some clarification...
Not that she won't fight like heck to survive, but I think that a little affirmation on his part would have helped. Yes, he admitted to the crew that he loves her, but she needs to hear it, too.
I think the way they handled the GSR reveal was PERFECT. It was absolutely perfect. I was just sitting there, and as he set up the line, a train of thought, it was perfect. And, the best part is that it's in his character. He often talks aloud as he puts pieces together, and then he changes his train of thought and walks out without telling anyone what the heck just happened in his head.
It makes me think of Sara's little "Manleigh Chickens... See how it feels?" Still makes me giggle to watch that exchange. Ah, the blissful days before he took a sabatical and fractured her trust in their situation.
And, yes, he has realized that he loves someone. He was trying so terribly to keep it together, but the fact that he called her, knowing she had already been abducted highlights his desperation. When she doesn't pick up, he starts to get frustrated, but composes himself as he approaches Judy's desk, trying to stay in control, trying to keep a cool head because logically he knows that's what's going to help Sara. He needs to stay calm.
But, when he's with the group and he sees the picture, it's frightening, and it's beautifully set. There's Grissom, with his back to Natalie, but Natalie is just over Sara's shoulder, between her and Grissom. She's watching. And, Grissom remembers that day, Sara's outfit, the feel of her skin that he just couldn't resist touching because it was warm enough for her to wear a short-sleeved shirt. He covers his mouth in shock as the pieces come together, and he starts to put the blame on himself. That's the moment he realizes why Natalie took Sara, and he starts to think that he's the reason. If only he had composed himself and kept himself from touching Sara, Natalie wouldn't have had the clue she needed to execute this terrible plan.
It soaks in, and his brain shuts down as he tries to stay logical, but the facade is broken, and he's weary. He stares down at the table, and I can't help but remember "Butterflied." Sure, this time there's something to see on the table, but he tends to look down when he's talking about himself. He speaks of love, and I don't think he meant it in any incestuous way as some people might think. He was talking about TRUST. It's about loving someone so much you trust them completely, and you give yourself over to that trust.
Natalie was broken, and couldn't cling to anyone. She didn't trust her father... he broke her, in her mind. She certainly didn't trust her sister. And, she didn't trust her foster Mom. Ernie was the one person who made her feel whole, who made her feel like she could find acceptance and love. THAT's what Grissom was talking about. He was talking about THAT kind of love. It's not definable by brother/sister/mother/lover. It's just this trust that comes from knowing that this is the one person in the world you can count on. This is that one person who can't possibly let you down, because you've built them up so much in your mind.
Natalie probably watched Gil and Sara for a while after making the initial observation. She saw this trust, this love that Gil had for her. Heck, he was copping feels in public! He saw only Sara....
Back with the team, Grissom speaks aloud, and he's letting it all fall into place in his mind. Natalie has to kill the person he loves most to torture him...
And let me say, I don't think the team was being unemotional or uncaring when it came to Sara's abduction. Greg was trying to surmise if the living doll meant a living Sara. Nick was thinking about how much space they had to cover in the desert to look for Sara... But Catherine refocused them. They were all freaking on the inside, but like Grissom composing himself before he talked to Judy, they refocused to try to save Sara.
When Grissom makes his confession, the looks around the room are priceless. Catherine's listening,and she just can't believe what she just heard. She turns to him, wondering if the man who had his head stuck under the microscope finally looked up and she didn't notice. Warrick's eyes go wide as the man he knew as the constant bachelor, the man who was "destined to be alone and ok with that" admitted to loving someone. That's what he said, right? And Greg looks around, wondering if anyone else heard what he said, or if he's suffering some sort of brain damage from his brutal beating earlier this season. Nick's not sure what to think....
But Grissom's ahead of them, and he's out the room in a flash as Catherine stands there with her mouth agape. The way he said it, the way it just rolled off his tongue without reservation means it was a slip, not something he meant to tell the world. Like calling Sara "honey" in Play with Fire, he was just speaking out of fear, worry, and in this case, frustration. He spoke the truth because he just couldn't keep it inside. That's one of the first clues that the logical side of Grissom is quickly deteriorating. He's fighting for it, but he can't hold it together as he wonders what happened to his beloved Sara.
Behind the glass of the interrogation room, he and Brass talk, and Brass doesn't ask anything about Sara. I'm assuming he knew already, which is fine, but he grants Grissom the chance to talk to this psycho. And, Grissom tries to flirt with the girl, to charm her as he did the woman at the brothel in "Ending Happy." He talks about chess and flatters the girl, telling her he's been thinking about her...
But the girl catches on, realizing that Grissom's only doing it for Sara. It's all about Sara. And that pisses this little girl off who wants to be the only one. She didn't want a little sister hogging all the attention. She wants to be the one person... even in this moment with Grissom she doesn't want anyone to be more important than her. I fear for the life of the shop clerk who put her off for a few moments to help a little kid. What kind of offense might her twisted mind see that as?
And, Grissom's starting to lose it. He yells at the girl, screaming, shaking her. He needs to know where Sara is. He has to know, and this freaky girl is the one thing standing in his way. He shakes her, violently, trying to stop her singing, to get the information out of her. His rational attempt at retrieving the information failed, and now here he is. He covers his mouth.
He can't believe what he just did, that he shook this girl... but it's Sara we're talking about. And he's sitting there, losing precious time as the woman he loves clings to the murky mud around her, gasping for air as the pressure of the car sits on top of her.
He's sitting there across from the girl who might have killed the woman he loved. Sara's out there, and now he knows she's alive, but he can't get to her. He can't save her. Time is running out, and he's lost. He's falling apart.
Part of me thinks that Grissom never directly told Sara, "I love you" because a part of him was still afraid of giving Sara that control over him. Follow me: I don't think it was a conscious decision. I think it was just this basic fear that came from being alone for 50 years. He loved her, and he knew it, but telling her was a whole different thing. He wanted her to just know by the way he treated her that he loved her...
And, trust me, this is not uncommon. I sometimes see bits of my fiance and me in Grissom and Sara... creepy, I know, but this is one case where I'm so happy I'm marrying an introvert: because I get a better picture of what's going on in the mind of an introvert on TV.
I'm Matt's FIRST girlfriend. His first girlfriend, and we've been together 4 years, and we're getting married. Even now, he's still not used to being a part of a duo, a couple... and sometimes he just wants me to KNOW that I'm loved... and I'm that TOTAL opposite personality type from him, so I want affirmation. It's a mess, but I get it... and I still love him.
Sara's always had to read between the lines with Grissom, but before he left for sabatical, she seemed to think she understood him and that she knew where they were going. She was safe and secure in the relationship. Ever since he left and came back, she's not as sure. She still loves him, and she's still with him, but she's frightened. If he left once, he could do it, again, and for how long this time?
For the longest time, she didn't think he thought of her while he was gone, and then she got a letter saying he had... that he loved her, but he never mailed it...
Then, enter Lady Heather, and though Sara loves Grissom, the trust has been chipped away from the sabatical. It's not that she's waiting for him to make a mistake, but they still haven't completely healed, and she wants to believe him, and believe that everything is ok, but a part of her is involuntarily aching. Past issues that weren't sufficiently dealt with are coming back to haunt her, and she's struggling.
I think she was even a little unsteady in this episode. As said before, the "my dear" seemed to take her off-guard. Yes, part of that could be because he was saying it at a crime scene, and many fans once bemoaned the fact that Sara called Hank "baby." However, this just rolled off the tip of his tongue. He's getting more bold with her, but she still needs a clear, simple sign that this is it; her love for forever, that he wants her for forever.
It was a great finale. I knew what was going to happen, but it was still great, and it's going to be interesting coming into next year to see how they deal with things.
Personally, the whole contract hype reminds me a lot of the season 3 ST:VOY finale and the hubub about Kate Mulgrew wanting to leave the show, so when her character got injured we all freakin' flipped that they could kill off the captain of the show.... That's just my opinion, though.
Next season will be interesting. If Sara lives, breaking them up is too soapy for me. It reaks of "Dawson's Creek." I think there'll be some issues and some recovery, but I think Grissom would be the first one to take himself off the case to protect the evidence. It would KILL him, but after the way he manhandled Natalie, I think he scared himself. I don't think he realized what he was capable of, and might worry he'd hinder the investigation more than help.
However, I do think Cath would mosey over to see Gris, maybe share the sketchbooks with Sara in them (and hopefully Grissom as well) to try to establish a timeline, etc... and to see the touches of Sara in his home...
I don't want some dramatic kiss in the mud. Sorry. Not going for that. If she is found, I expect her to be unconscious and on the brink of life.... and from there? I don't know. I can imagine many different possibilities, but this needs to be done SO delicately.
I think the finale was a huge risk. I felt like I was watching a European film with the slow, psychological buildup to a powerhouse ending. Most American viewers wouldn't like that sort of thing, but my fiance and I loved it. It was an intense buildup, and the payoff was fine. I think there's a second half we've yet to see.
Some have speculated that certain shots were done a certain way because Ms. Fox was unavailable... blah, blah, blah. I think they were purposefully shot the way they were, especially the scene in the parking garage. Even without Ms. Fox, they could have included the tasering originally written... I'm guessing they're going to save all that for the season opener as they reconstruct what went down... We'll get to see flashbacks of what happened to Sara, so Ms. Fox'll have more to do than struggling for breath under a car and showing up for the last five minutes in some capacity...
I hate to say this, but I think I'm going to stop believing anything I read in the presses about CSI, because NOTHING is reliable. I'm not trying to bash anyone. The nature of the business is that things change, and often change quickly, but this season has just been annoyingly inaccurate in terms of the press. And, I don't think it's any one particular person's fault, but it's easier to stick to spoilers and ignore the press.... boy, that sounds really contradictory.
Anyway, remember the rumors about Archie trying to hook Sara up with someone? They said we'd see something about that at the beginning of the season, and it never happened. We never learned much about GSR's origins and background in San Fransisco. We got three little lines in the first episode shot of the season, but nothing much came of it.
LH had the EXACT affect on GSR that I predicted, contrary to CM's assertions in TV Guide. Ausiello is off on his tangent about Sara being axed, and it makes sense that he would considering he's the guy who said CSI would be fine without George Eads and Jorja Fox during the firing debacle.
So, I'm just going to sit back and soak up the finale, rewatch it a few dozen times... try to pick up on more of the symbolism, etc... And bask in the glory of the GSR reveal, and Grissom's freak-out over his missing girlfriend.
Next season should be awesome. I mean, I loved this season... There are very few eps I didn't really like. Strangely enough, though, most of 'em were in the latter half of the season. Go figure! I didn't like the setup of TGTBTU for the finale. I think the ep should have been done as 7x20 or something... but I get it, whatever.
This is why I'm not a producer, I guess.
And
TOM: I was fast-forwarding past the end of my CSI tape to record something, and guess who I saw in a commercial? Tom Selleck! I immiediately thought of you.
Ok.... night night time.
ETA: If you haven't been to my blog in a bit, I'll be posting ALL my thoughts on this past week's finale soon.
http://starseneyes.blogspot.com/
