Re: Grissom & Sara #31 :TBA
Copied from the 8x04 thread:
I have to say, I loved the episode all around. I really did. Of course, I had a blast with the Gil/Sara proposal, though the end made me cringe.
Please, allow me to explain: I think there are a million and one layers to this scene. Two pointed out by others that I will address because I like them are the fact that Sara's in white, and the comparison to "Butterflied" with Gil touching Sara's bare hands rather than there being a barrier between them of latex.
But, I'll start from the top. I just wanted to make sure I gave credit for those two observations to the rightful people! I don't remember their names at the moment, but I want to make sure you know they werne't me! I'm just expanding on them, if you will.
I love that Sara came in to see Gil, coming inside his world. I know that sounds goofy, but there's always been a lot of symbolism between these two and doorways. At the end of "Play with Fire," Sara stood in the doorway of his office, trying to reach out to him, to get through to him, and he turned down her dinner invitation, stating he didn't know what to do about "this." In season 5, in "Nesting Dolls," he finally crossed her doorway into her world for the first time. We've seen them in each other's homes now, with Sara walking through the doorway at the end of "Way to Go," but this moment is special.
He's a bug guy. He's never excluded Sara from his obsession. He even gave her a book on the subject for Christmas one year, as we learned in "XX." He even sent her a bug, for goodness sake! But, here, she's entering his world, and there's no resistance. She steps in, dressed from head to toe, and he calls out to her. They play, they joke. Before getting down to talking, they exchange a hello that's specialized and personalized, and all their own for that moment.
She's honestly interested in what he's doing, and she wants to learn, and she wants to be a part of his life in this way, and he welcomes her in, inviting her to take off the glove. She comments that she trusts him. I noticed this immediately, and it can be seen as a throwback to the shaving scene, when Sara asked Gil if he trusted her. He answered, "Intimately." I think she trusts him the same way. At first, she seems leery of taking off the glove, but she exposes her good hand to the bees, and he can't help but be proud and filled with joy as he watches her watching the bee on her hand.
It's like watching someone discover something new, and you were hoping they'd like it, and they did. For me and my husband, it was "The Court Jester." There was a particular moment in the movie that I about died at. I just couldn't stop laughing when it happened, and my husband's face swelled with pride as he smiled at me, laughing with me. At the time, I thought nothing of it, but he later told me that he knew if I liked that moment, I was the girl for him. It was two years into our relationship, and it was wonderful.
I feel like this was Gil's "Court Jester" moment. He just looked at her experiencing something he'd hoped she would like, and he saw her enjoying it. There was just a click in his head as he looked, first at her hand, then at her radiant face regarding the creature crawling across her skin. He purses his lips and considers the thought that entered his brain.
In the past, he would have put the stops on that thought, would have held it inside, would have kept it from entering the audible world for fear of the reaction, and I do think that he's afraid. But, he's grown. He's changed. For better or worse, he's adapted. He almost lost her at the begininng of the season. He almost lost every chance to talk to her and tell her how he felt, so I think he's not holding back nearly as much as he once would have. He puts it out there, and she just looks at him, her face filled with shock and amazement.
Her pulse quickens as adrenaline rushes through her, and the bee freaks. Gil apologizes, recognizing that her body change was due to his proposal. He busies himself taking care of her...
Taking care of her. That struck me so hard the first time I watched this scene. He's standing there taking care of her.
Yes, he's holding her hand, an obvious juxtaposition to the latex gloves comment of "Butterflied." But, more than that, to me, he's taking care of her. He's cradling her hand.
See, on her own, she'd try to pick it out, like she's tried, in the past, to pick out what she didn't like. She'd try it on her own, to pull whatever horrible thing in her past was crawling in her skin away. But, she'd inadvertently release the venom into her bloodstream, causing her even more pain. In this moment, Gil's holding her hand. She's not alone. Not only that, he's the one taking care of the pain, taking care of the thing she wants to cast out.
It's her job only to be still and to trust, and he doesn't betray that trust. He coaxes the offending thorn/stinger out of her skin. He gets caught up in the moment, worried about her, but his thoughts return to the proposal.
Sara's mind never left it. She giggles when she's stung, as if proclaiming, "Silly me! You propose and I freak out and get stung!" Then, it's that moment, which I remember clearly from my husband's proposal of, "He's serious." She watches him, blinking rapidly, her brain going through a thousand moments and days, the good and the bad, and she's staring at this man, here, and he's holding her hand, and he's caring for her, and he's showing love the best way he knows how.
Any other woman might laugh at the proposal, pass it off as idle words, but Sara's been through it all with Gil. She knows how guarded he can be, and how he tries not to say things without thinking them through, without understanding the implications of what's coming out of his mouth. We've rarely seen him lose his cool, but when he does, he really loses it.
In this moment, he's saying what he feels, and after the sting, he's afraid of what she'll say. He's petrified that he's put himself on the line and she's going to reject him. Though he's come a long way since "Butterflied," the lingering fear remains that it's all temporary. In the traditional world, marriage symbolizes a sort of permanence, so long as human life allows. He's telling her, essentially, that he wants her for as long as they're both alive. He's proclaiming to her that she's the one for him, and he's hoping desperately that she feels the same way.
When he starts to bumble about his words, he can't look at her. He doesn't want to look at her face to face if she rejects him, and she feels it. She seeks out his face, eager for him to meet her eyes when she says, "Yes." She knows the hold fear has on him, and wants to allay that fear with loving eye contact. Even when he finally meets her eyes, it's as though he's in a trance.
And then, Sara utters the words that really hit it on the nail for me. "Let's do it."
These words struck me so hard the first time around, and it wasn't until someone brought up "Butterflied" that I realized why.
"I couldn't do it."
Gil said that. He recognized that Sara was someone he could care about. She offered him a new life, and he couldn't do it. Essentially, he's offering her a new life with this proposal. It's a new status and a new label and a new committment. Yes, they're in a committed relationship already, but he wants her to know he's in it for life.
He couldn't do it. But, he's doing it. No. They're doing it.
No longer is Gil Grissom floundering alone, wondering what might have been. He's standing there, cradling the hand of his beloved, and he's stepping out on that ledge that for so long seemed too treacherous to travel. He's facing this beautiful woman, and she's looking back at him, affirming his hopes and dreams. She's in it for life, too.
Let Us Do It. I can break this down for ages, but it just stands alone.
Us. There's two of them. He's not standing behind the glass bemoaning his fears and inadequacies to a criminal, and she's no longer standing behind the glass, unseen, unheard. There's a unit here now.
Do It. He didn't know what to "do" about "this." He couldn't "do" it. It's a small, tiny word that's come up so much in the Grissom/Sara mythology. And, here, it's the defining word. There's no "let's think about it." "Let's meditate on it." No. "Let's do it." There's a definity to it. There's this lack of wavering to it. It's solid and steadfast, and their vision is set. It's beautiful.
The writing is just so layered and textured in this scene, and part of it has to do with the performances, but so much of it comes from a great script. And, I think it wouldn't have been the same had a man with a theater background not been behind it.
Both Gil and Sara are exposed, now. They're open and connected, and the smile on her face and the fascination and amazement on his just show, to me, how much they connect.
Now, I did cringe at the almost-bee-net-kiss. I thought it wasn't necessary. If I could cut the scene off at Sara's glowing face, I would. But, the point it, it was a gorgeous scene from my perspective. I love layered, textured scenes!
I thought it was a well-rounded episode, in all, with lots of great character moments, and a good balance of story and science. I hope there are more episodes like this to come this season!