I don’t know about the fanbase as a whole, but I really liked Keppler. I was clutching my tv remote like a madwoman during that episode.
Also, I had assumed that Sara’s reaction to Grissom was, “Oh crap. You’re back … and I smell like rotting garbage. That’s attractive.” She seemed more unprepared and nervous than grossed out, to me.
I feel like a pouting kid waiting for them to open that damn box.
Unfortunately, I deleted the episode. But, if my memory serves, the Trenton cop seemed genuinely surprised when he learned there was another person in the hotel room. He then hounded Keppler to find the person’s name, with the expectation that he intended to “remove” the witness. When Trenton cop showed up at the motel at the end of the episode, it seemed he did so to kill the hooker (and I assumed he thought that’s why Keppler called him in the first place). I can’t rectify that with his planting the evidence.
I thought that was pretty weak, too. On the other hand, it had two redeeming effects: 1) adds a misdirecting clue to the crime scene, making the hooker look more like the target than the cop; and 2) assuming the alternative is cleaning the hand, that may point the CSIs in the direction of looking for a scratch, which Trenton cop has.
The dumpster was a poor choice – too high a chance for it to be found in the investigation.