What I find amusing are all the comments on "it should've been two hours" or "it was rushed" or "this is the third time a CSIs life has been in peril, where's the originality?"
One- Brass was a detective who put himself in harm's way to help the case and catch the guy. He's not a CSI.
Two- Had this been a 2-hour season finale, with the MK reveal in the first hour and the hunt for Sara in the second, someone would've griped that it was too much like Grave Danger and that it wasn't original.
Let's face facts. Nothing in tv land is ever really original. Nothing about Grave Danger was so amazingly original that it blew our minds. The being buried alive scenario has been done several times over, just like someone being kidnapped. I guess what I'm trying to say is, we can't have it both ways here. Given the hole the writers dug for themselves by stretching out the GSR and MK storyline all season, they did a hellava job pulling themselves at least half way out. Most shows on today write in so many different storylines, some get lost in the shuffle. CSI, given the fact that it is a crime drama, does a very good job at keeping the integrity of the show intact while trying out different things (ie GSR, the MK, narration at the beginning of an episode (fallen idols), the crime through the killer's eyes (killer), etc. the list could go on).
The more I look back on it, the more I really enjoy the MK reveal so early on. They have been building this person up for four episodes prior to this. To prolong the reveal and the development of this killer would've just been unnecessary torture.
I also agree with what someone else said above. After seven years, it wasn't necessary to have huge amounts of time spent with our actors as it was very important that we understand Natalie. I suspect in the season opener next fall, we'll see more of the emotional reactions we thought we would see tonight. CBS only gave CSI an hour, so trying to cram in their emotional reactions would've been hard to sell. WP did a very good job at the end, given he only had a minute or two to flip out.
I'm saddened there is so much disappointment that some will consider not returning to watch Season 8. I had my disappointments in this episode as well, but I think it was more getting high hopes for a phenonmenal episode and being slapped in the face with a To be continued. . . I said before that I thought the writing was up to par, the pace was fine and the actors seem to always bring even the dullest of lines to life. Kudos to the staff, actors and writers for a great season. Honestly, I think we'll have a lot to reminisce about over the summer while we wait on the conclusion to this one.
