Re: Sara *May contain spoilers*
I've stopped posting much... and may stop posting all together, soon, because I'm just tired of all the polarization prevalent on this board. However, I would like to chime in on this matter.
There's been a lot of debate in many threads about Sara leaving, and whether or not the letter is the ONLY indication Gil has that something's wrong with Sara and that she's leaving. Personally, I would like to hope that she says goodbye with more than a letter, but part of me understands it if she only leaves a letter behind.
For Sara, she's been through a lot in her life, and hasn't even began to deal with her past (despite the post-near-DUI therapy) and especially not with what happened to her at the hands of the miniature killer, who intended to leave her for dead.
Sara needs to get away from CSI and Gil to get herself centered, again, I believe. It's interesting that she smiles when she's with him a lot more than when she's with others, and part of me wonder if, despite her love for him (my opinion), she's using him as a bit of a crutch in these tough times.
Please hear me out: I believe that she loves him dearly, and that he brings her great joy, but she's not facing her past and it's quickly coming to get her, like something out of a nightmare.
We know that an old case comes back up that bothers Sara, and we've seen that she's been a bit burned out since she got back to work. The one place she seems happy is with Gil, but if she continues to lean on him, someone's going to break.
She needs to discover happiness and tranquility apart from him, I believe. I think that she needs to face her past and deal with all that she's been through in an environment where there are no distractions. I do hope she doesn't cut off all communication with Gil... a telephone call or letter here and there would be nice, since it bothered her so much that he hardly communicated with her while on his sabbatical.
However, I do think she needs to face these demons on her own, to a degree. She let her past define her for so long, and she can't fall into the trap of letting her relationship with Gil define her as a means to escape that past.
I believe Sara is still a very strong, independent person, but I think she's running away from her past and her fears and burying them, and it's not healthy, and she's finally realizing that no matter how much it breaks her, she needs a break. She needs to step back and figure out who she is and recognize what she's been through without allowing herself to remain a constant victim. She's always been incredibly emotional, especially when it comes to domestic violence cases. I think she sometimes feels too deeply because she empathizes with the victims.
Gil once asked her about her distractions in life, about what she did outside of crime, and she didn't have much. Gil liked to ride rollercoasters. Cath spent time with her daughter. Sara listened to scanners and read books on criminology. Maybe she needs to go after some other dream that she's kept in the back of her mind that she always put aside because of her driving need to succeed and to push forward, and to put the puzzle pieces in place and the bad guys away.
I just hate to think that she'd leave with only a letter to explain why, but at the same token, I can see her being unable to face Gil and explain that while she's happy with him, she has to leave. I think it's the same problem he had when he took his sabbatical.
He was burned out and tired and frustrated, but not with anyone in particular. The miniature killer case was getting to him, and a pedophile with a cruel attitude brought his migraines back, and he was just reaching a breaking point. He took off without giving anyone much notice, and his goodbye with Sara was incredibly awkward. Maybe she wrote a note to try to avoid the awkward goodbye...
As I said, personally, I hope the note re-enforces something else that she's already told him about her taking a break... but, I guess I could buy it if the note was the only goodbye he got, too, as long as there's some sort of contact while she's gone. We don't have to see it, but just the casual mention of him having contact with her at some point would ease my worries just a bit.
Also, I think a lot of how I'll react to it depends on whether or not Sara and Gil are married at the point that she leaves. I don't know why, but I feel like that little point will affect my view of it.
Of course, all these thoughts are pre-air, and based on the most minimal of spoilers. But, I thought it'd be ok to get that off my chest, here...
