Or maybe some fans don't want any human near Nick unless their chromosone starts with the second last letter of the alphabet and their name starts with the seventh letter of the alphabet.
My comment actually has nothing to do with that. I support various ships (actually including N&M) and I have no objections to seeing Nick near female characters. If that were the case, then I think I'd see Riley or Catherine as far more of a "threat". What I don't like is the character herself and that the episode seems to be so centered around one CSI.
It's all about one canon character and one who already gets plenty of screentime on a regular basis at that. Yeah, I know Nick didn't get as much screentime as Grissom, Cath or Sara. But he still definitely got more screentime, and more storylines, than the rest of the main characters.
Like I said already, I really can see your point about the gender. I see myself as a feminist and I'm just tired of seeing shows where there's always the pretty young woman with baggage that the cute male canon character needs to protect/feels sorry for. If it was a male character instead of Swift's character, I probably wouldn't feel the same way because he wouldn't be a damsel in distress. As it stands, I'm tired of seeing damsels in distress on TV. It honestly wouldn't make a difference to me whether it was Nick, Greg, Grissom, Ray or any other character who felt the connection to the character. I'm just tired of the stereotype of an attractive, young woman always in need of protection. That stereotype is probably why I stopped watching CSI: Miami. Because every attractive female needs oh so much saving by Horatio. I feel like Swift's character fits that prototype -- one that you definitely see all over fanfiction -- to a 't'.
Also, yes, I am obviously aware that there is nothing romantic between the two of them, just like there isn't anything romantic between Horatio and the vast majority of the women he saves/fails to save. It's the whole concept of the PYT needing saving that irritates me. One of the reasons I like Riley so much is that she's (finally) a female character who isn't overloaded by baggage and whom no male character feels the need to protect.
I guess to me this just reminds me of the whole Kirsty/Kristy/whatever her name is angle. I think Nick is a strong and very compassionate character who is capable of feeling a personal connection with any character -- whether they're young or old, male or female, attractive or not. I read a really cute story a while ago about Nick helping an elderly homeless alcoholic woman. I would much prefer something like that. One thing I've always really liked about CSI is how it switches the roles around -- just like in Disarmed and Dangerous, where the underdog halfway house residents turned out to be the ones saving the day, rather than the CSI: Miami approach of always having Horatio Caine save the day. What I mean is just that it'd be nice to see Nick feeling protective instincts over someone else, specifically someone that didn't fit the profile of a MarySue. Her character, from what little I've seen so far is way too similar to fanfiction MarySues. It would be really nice if they were someone out of the ordinary -- perhaps someone who was in a more marginalized group, like in a particular disabled group, or who was in some way an underdog, like the kind of person that is normally underrepresented on television. Other than that, it would be nice if the character with whom he felt a connection was in some way related/similar to Warrick. I feel like that would bring a better sense of closure, and specifically the kind of closure that Nick, IMO, needs.
Like I said before, though, if it works to bump up the ratings, then I guess I'm alright with it.
