Watching CSI

Here are some key clips from this episode courtesy of the lovely Mel. She’s the bees knees.

As you know I don’t do full recaps but I’d like to highlight some of the more significant moments of the evening. I really wasn’t expecting to see Jorja Fox in the episode except maybe in flashback but it was nice to see one of my favorite actresses appear in the first few minutes of the show. CSI has a habit of not using her early on in episodes and frankly I think it’s a big mistake. She’s a solid actress that’s a nice contrast to Marg.

I thought the Miniature Killer was simply going to grab Sara and be done with her but having Sara work the latest case was a nice connection.

Grissom’s Big Reveal
There wasn’t going to be any way to legitimately write an episode where Sara was in danger and still keep the romance under cover. I wish there had been a little more to this scene. I would have liked to have seen some solemn chatter after Grissom left the room. He honestly didn’t give them any time to respond. That worked well. The writers could have easily let the reveal take us away from our main focus, finding Sara.

I think the two best reactions were Warrick, who was taken completely off guard, and Greg who seemed to be eying everyone else in the room. Well played by both of them. Those were the exact reactions I expected. Warrick’s been too preoccupied with his own marital mess to pick up on any clues while Greg is still the youngest and needs reassurance.

I’m not sure I buy Catherine not knowing anything. Based on last week’s episode it’s basically cannon but really would Cath have missed that much? She knows people and picks up on body language. It just seems off.

The Interrogation.

I don’t think I have enjoyed Grissom in an interrogation scene so much since Butterflied. We know that Grissom knows how to get into real crazy people’s heads. I’m sure there some politically correct term for it but he can really deal with the nutters. His level of patience is exactly what is needed when you are dealing with people that aren’t participating in reality.

We’ve seen him lure them out with bits and pieces of his personal quirks but this particular interrogation was dead on. The first time I watched it I knew he was playing Natalie. With her kind of psychosis you can’t go barreling in with both guns. The second time I watched it revealed the layers of William Petersen’s portrayal.

William Petersen played this scene brilliantly. Grissom’s abject fear was just right there under the surface making him, in several instances, sound maniacal himself. I expected Grissom to throw back his head and do some weird joker laugh.

The most interesting Grissom scenes are when he’s emotionally invested. We hardly ever get to see that from him and the taut line of vulnerability showcases Petersen at his best.

Nothing to say about the woman that played Natalie except BRILLIANT!

As for Sara? I think she’ll be fine and part of me wonders if Jorja Fox has already signed the contract. If they weren’t going to use her next Season I don’t think we would have gotten the hand movement. Unless something truly breaks down between now and September she’ll be back and I can’t wait.

Gosh I can’t believe the season is over already. Sigh. There’s always reruns.

CSI CBS Television TV YouTube Miniature Killer Living Doll William Petersen Jorja Fox Sara Sidle Grissom GSR Marg Helgenberger George Eads Gary Dourdon Warrick Brown Nick Stokes Catherine Willows Greg Sanders eric szmanda

It’s taking a me a few days to step back and offer some evaluation of The Good The Bad and The Dominatrix.

I’ve been trolling the internet and have seen everything from rabid Grissom/Sara shippers feeling hurt and disgusted by Grissom’s behavior to rabid Grissom/Lady Heather shippers feeling elated and thrilled with Grissom’s attentiveness.

I certainly can see both sides. It’s hard but I can see them.

I’ve looked at the clips over and over again trying to see what cooler heads seem to be seeing. That Grissom is just caring for a friend. That Grissom was trying to keep her from killing herself blah blah blah…

While all of that may be true. The sticking point for me was that Grissom, once again, does not consider his significant other. The bottom line is that he failed to include Sara and that just stinks.

There’s been a lot of talk about Grissom Sara conversations off screen and that may have happened but I can only operate off direct information and inferences made on screen. My TV vision is telling me that Grissom did not consider Sara when he started spending vast amounts of time with someone, that at the very least, he has history with. This isn’t old friend Catherine, this is a woman he had some romantic feelings for.

That whole conversation in the lab where Sara supposedly gave him permission to check on his friend clearly shows a hurt Sara. How hurt is certainly up for argument. But she was hurt and I’m baffled by any other interpretation. Just as I’m baffled by Grissom not stopping her before she walked out of the room. The Grissom we saw is very different from the Grissom we’ve seen with Sara over the season. Sure he’s not overly demonstrative but he does value his relationship with Sara-or so I thought.

I’m not a Lady Heather hater. Never have been. I’m not particularly moralistic about her lifestyle or behavior. I don’t think of her as a glorified prostitute though she very well may be one. There were times I found her character intriguing and she found her way into a fanfic or two of mine.

That being said, Lady Heather had been overused in some very preposterous ways and it’s just getting old. I’m really irritated with our cool headed Grissom being knocked off his game over and over again whenever she arrives.

We’ve never seen Sara knock him off his game and he’s supposed to love her. Hmmmmm well now something just occurred to me.

Maybe all that stammering and not sending letters and stilted conversation is Grissom being off his game-with Sara.

What do you think?

csi tv television cbs lady heather grissom gsr sara sidle

Okay so I didn’t think it was possible but CSI Miami, in it’s wonderful cheesiness, has actually made me care about Ryan Wolfe. A dressing down by Calleigh will do that for you. I appreciate the fact that she ran down all his issues and made him really look at ALL the crap he’s pulled. And our Ryan has pulled some crap.

Ryan has had a number of issues since he replaced Speed. He started out as a straight arrow and went strictly downhill after that. He’s done everything from fib about the condition of his eye after the accident to leak information to a reporter he thought was cute

While Ryan’s “doesn’t this job ever get to you” conversation with Calleigh certainly doesn’t justify all of his bad judgment it does help to explain some of it. Wolfe jumped from patrol to CSI without much of a blink.

What I’m not clear on is what Horatio plans to do to help Ryan. Then again it’s CSI Miami. I don’t have to understand all the time I just have to enjoy most of the time.

csi csi miami ryan wolfe cbs TV television Jonathan Togo

Update: You can learn more about Jorja’s Season 7 contract status HERE.

Alright so I think we are all caught up. You have all the stories, promos, pics and details that I have up to this point. Now let’s get to some serious discussion. Don’t worry. I’ll still be your source for all kinds of juicy CSI dirt.

The biggest news in CSI world right now is the possibility of Jorja Fox Leaving. It’s all over the net including

Here
Here
And Here

Everyone seems to have an opinion about whether Jorja has put her Johnette Hancock on the dotted line.

Living Dolls(7×24) may or may not be a cliff hanger. Only you spoiler people will know although the Post article says it will be open ended….whatever that means CSI doesn’t have a history of cliffhangers but there’s a first time for everything and Grey’s Anatomy has proved to be stiff competition and they might need a boost.

CBS refuses to comment.

Jorja’s people say they are in negotiations.

In this interview Jorja said that as far she knew everyone would be back.

Oh yeah and we also know that Grissom has to come clean about he (or is it him)and Sara during the season finale because Sara goes missing.

There are also some some telling Grissom Sara scenes ahead according to the Leapin Lizard promo pics. (See below)

What does it mean?
It means that Jorja is either in great position of strength or terrible place of weakness. I prefer to go with the later. When Season 7 started William Petersen was our real concern. We thought he wasn’t coming back and most rabid fans weren’t happy but they understood he wanted to pursue other things.

Shock of shocks he renewed and Jorja seemed to be the hold out. Or is she?

Maybe it’s all good and they are trying to sucker us in for the finale. Guess what PTB? It’s so working. Most people are up in arms that Jorja might not come. There are those few wet blankets that would be happy to see her go. I’ve never been clear why Jorja haters continue watching the show in the first place.

My general take is that Jorja will be back next season. What’s yours?

Technorati Tags: CSI, CBS, TV, Television, Jorja Fox, Sara, Grissom, Sara Sidle, Gil, Grissom, GSR,