I am happy with the whole cast as it stands now, and Sara is stronger, but it seems strange that she's here, when she left so drained and sick of Vegas, adn she just got married this is odd for sure:cardie:
I agree that it was odd that this has never really been explained. However, I think we can infer a few things from the sequence of events: Sara left to deal with her own personal demons. She must have had success with that, because she let Grissom know that she didn't have to have him in her life, that she was strong within herself to go on with or without him. He was free to make up his own mind, based on what
he wanted and needed, not what she wanted and needed.
I think that was the real turning point, not them getting married. When she was strong enough to let him go, that meant she was a much stronger person than when she left. And I think that freedom to explore his own feelings, unconditionally, ultimately drew him back to Sara because they essentially share the same worldview.
So by the time we see Sara again, she's actually been in this "new reality" for quite some time; it's just new to us because until this year, we hadn't seen much of her for the previous year and a half. And she would feel no need to explain her new/old self because she knows her friends get this about her.
As for Ray, I actually liked him better during his first season with the show, when he was a newbie learning the ropes. Somehow, something hasn't quite come together for me with his character this season, and I really believe it's because the writers still haven't got a handle on who Ray is. Is he the eager student, wise in so many areas, but inexperienced as a CSI? Or is he a dominant force, a leader who was supposed to take Grissom's place (even though we in the audience have divided loyalties, many favoring the old hands in the cast)? Each episode this season has seemed to vacillate between the old and new Ray, with the writers taking tentative steps toward the "new" Ray, only to pull back, almost as if they are reading the forums and getting a sense of the audience's dismay.
I don't fault Laurence Fishburne for any of this. I think he's doing the best he can with a character who's often waffling in his traits. I think the writers really need to sit down with him and firmly establish who Ray is, and what his role is going to be on the team, before we in the audience can move forward with him.
