"You Kill Me" Discussion *SPOILERS*

I can't ever imagine Hodges being a CSI. he's so snaky/snarky and weird, and he can get away with this behavior in the lab, he'd never make it in the field, it takes a certain type, and we've got them with our original CSI team. they all rock, he's an expert in the lab, so he'll stay there! my opinion Now Greg, was in the lab, but with his expartise, and his grit, passed his proficiency test, and is great out in the field, I miss his quirky funniness in the lab, he's a bit more serious now, but still has his moments, and he cracked me up with his comment to Grissom on Hodges, "Doesn't that guy bug you"? Grissom "no more than anyone else"

 

Exactly DJ. Remember how many people were so against Greg going into the field? And now you're all defending him and doing the same to Hodges... live and learn people

Hodges and Wendy would both make great CSI's, IMO, they don't base criteria for becoming CSI on how 'snarky' or 'weird' someone is...

Remember when Greg blew up at Nick and Warrick in his lab? There was no reason behind that, Greg was just having a bad day. What he said to Grissom was not a "blow up," it was a "yeah, whatever" which seems to me like he was more tired than angry.

 

With all due respect, DJ I see that your a Hodges fan, I'm not! so, I can never see him out in the field he's way to nosy, and a butt-in-others business type, I remember an inccident where in 'ABRTI" Hodges couldn't or wouldn't throw the gun on the roof in an experiment, and Grissom asked Sara to do it, he would be constantly aggravating, irritating, annoying and have confrontations with Grissom he's way to namby-pamby to be hard-nosed as a real CSI! and Greg isn't, his personailty is not fit to be with the other CSI's, and that's my view of this, everyone has one.. so if you think he'd be great. so be it, I just don't!, he'd always be in the way, and annoy everyone .. however Greg is likeable and was always a favorite of Grissom's even though he was a hard-ass on him at times he always liked Greg, and no one can stand Hodges, especially the 'boss' I like the team the way it is, and miss Sara deeply, and hope she comes back to even it out like the old days!

 

I honestly think Hodges would make a good CSI myself, and even though his personality does irk others (meaning the CSIs) I could see it being an interesting twist. When Sara first came on, she wasn't exactly liked by the other CSIs either. It took time for everyone to learn to mesh well together. To me...Catherine, Warrick and Nick have gotten along the best out of the bunch, but that's also because they were the main crew to begin with...they worked the longest together. I'd include Grissom in on that, but he's started out as a supervisor, and his friendships have always been different.

And frankly I don't think Grissom dispises Hodges, because if he did...he wouldn't sit down and play a game with him. Grissom is Grissom, and he just doesn't really open up to anyone that well. Including Sara!!!! Sorry...I had to throw that in. Its just his personality, and he also has no problem showing that he is irriatable with whoever is causing his irriation.

I think if anything Hodges or Wendy could bring back something that CSI has been missing for too long. I do miss Sara, but its a nice not to be surrounded with GSR so much.

 

This is the very first episode of CSI that I've watched in a looooong time, so I have no idea of what happening as far as character development; all I have to say is that every time SuperDave said, "No sign of sexual trauma!" I exploded in laughter. Hilarious stuff.

 

I disagree with this. Greg strikes me as someone who does not handle confrontation well. Plus, he's always been intimidated by Grissom. Combine those two with the fact that Grissom and Sara had a romantic relationship, and I don't think Greg is going to be opening up about this with Grissom anytime soon. If at all. It may come out in little passive-aggressive barbs like the "Yeah, whatever."

Of course, it could be that he had a bad day, too. But Greg strikes me as the kind of person who wears his heart out on his sleeve; I doubt that having a bad day would produce that kind of reaction. He's probably had plenty of bad days (as have they all), but because bad days are part of the job, that's just part of the "new normal" for him. Something he hasn't learned to cope with is more personal, like losing his best friend, so he's not handling it very well.

I still think back to the fact that without exception, every single person who met Grissom had something to say about Sara, either directly or indirectly . . . except for Greg. And you'd think, with Greg and Sara being such good friends, he'd be the first in line to commiserate with Grissom. The fact that he didn't says something. I'm not sure what, exactly, but I don't think that line was just thrown in there for the heck of it.

 

As for Hodges, I'll chime in with my 2 cents' worth: I like him, though he's not an easy character to like. He strikes me as someone who is deeply insecure, and hides his insecurities with false bravado. He brags because he needs others to build up his ego, unaware that his bragging is such a turnoff that no one else will want to build him up because they'll think he's too busy doing it for himself.

Part of learning humility is also, paradoxically, learning to love yourself just the way you are. People who are truly content with themselves don't need endless praise from others to prop up their fragile egos. And they don't need to brag endlessly about all the great things they do because they know in their heart the good that comes out of whatever they do, and that's enough. They don't need to have that validated by others.

Which is not to say that support from others isn't needed. Of course it's needed. But it's not too difficult to spot who's needy and who isn't. Hodges is needy, but also such a braggart that few people can see past his boasting to the emotional vacuum in his life that he's trying to fill through his work. I think Wendy has spotted this, but is frustrated by Hodges' inability to truly open up to her.

However, as Hodges has demonstrated, he's not completely clueless. He has moments of real humanity, and of course that's what makes a great character. We always pull for the underdog, the one who seems unsalvageable but we, the audience, know does have redeeming qualities. That's Hodges.

As for whether he could work out in the field, my sense is that he likes the control he has in the lab. Out in the field, he would lose that control of his little kingdom. I'm not sure that he would embrace that, and that seemed to be a part of his response to Wendy: a fear of "what's out there" in the field. Hodges doesn't seem to like taking risks, and I would think you'd have to be a risk-taker, someone who embraces change rather than a steady, predictable routine, to be able to handle that job. (As one example, look how "safe" he played it with the tape recorder to tape all the different scenarios. He didn't trust his own instincts and creative ability to get that on his own, so he made sure to tape others' ideas so that he could augment his own. He didn't trust them enough to simply ask for their ideas, so he did this surreptitiously.)

Of course, all of this is just pure speculation on my part. Hodges intrigues me as a character, and that's in large part a tribute to the way Wallace Langham plays him. Langham knows one of the basic rules of acting, that you never play a "bad" guy as a bad guy . . . because bad guys don't think they're bad. They think they're just misunderstood, or whatever. So you play them like people, but people nobody but they understand. Early on, Hodges seemed to be a bit of a "bad guy" caricature, an easy replacement for Greg because now he was the annoyance, the one they could pick on for getting on their nerves. But as time has gone by, we've got to know Hodges a bit better, and we -- and the other characters -- realize he's not such a bad guy, after all. That's good writing, but also very good acting.

 

I remember when Hodges went out in the field for the second time, (I can't remember what episode it was.) He told Catherine, he don't want go out to the field, so he like to stay in the lab and he also told Catherine, he don't want to end up like Greg or something.

 

^^ I don't think anyone here is saying Hodges SHOULD go into the field, or that he WANTS to, we're just defending that his character would be able to.

And byline I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with that description. :lol: nice job.

 

You are incredibly eloquent. And I think that your take on the Hodges character is correct. I agree with giving the writers and Mr. Langham credit with making Hodges more than one dimensional. I also agree with the fact that Wendy sees the good that is in him and is just trying to wallow through the mire of his insecurities to get there. I find all that very interesting. At any rate, I very much enjoyed your post and am with you one hundred percent.

 

Wow, thanks for the compliments! I just like seeing that kind of character development, and also an actor so capable of taking it on and making it believable.

Edit: By the way, sorry I yammered on for so long. I just read what I wrote about Hodges and was surprised at what a long post it was. Hodges really impressed me in this last episode, so I guess that's why all that came out. We saw little glimmers of the person he really is, who he could be if he were more secure within himself.

Lord, here I go again!