Why oh why did they have to kill off Sam?
All I can think of is that they were setting up Marg's exit arc. There was noise some time ago about Catherine leaving CSI and taking over Sam's businesses. This would only work if Sam was gone.
Like so much of what TPTB imply will happen, nothing yet. :shifty:
LaSquisita
My understanding is that that move had a lot less to do with TPTB and more to do with Marg. I vaguely remember reading an interview where she said that she had, at one point before the writers' strike, been planning on leaving, but was reinvigorated after the writers' strike and inspired to stick it out for longer on the show. If/when she leaves, TPTB certainly may take advantage of that plotline again; it's just that they haven't needed to. They certainly wouldn't get rid of a character if they didn't need to, especially at this point in the series, having just lost three key characters.