CSI finale 5/18/06 - spoilers

So…did anybody else find the “big surprise” at the end of the CSI finale to be sort of…meh? In fact, the whole episode just didn’t do it for me–the buildup with Brass’s injury just kind of fizzled as they wandered off to pursue two rather boring cases (I’m *still * not sure what the point of Corset Guy was–did people really do that in Civil War days? Why?) and there was no real urgency around whether Brass was going to live or die. Then he flatlines, they bring him back, and next thing you know he’s awake and entertaining his “fan club.” I think they should at least have gotten rid of one of the cases and concentrated on one case + Brass.

But the end…it felt tacked on to me. I know there’s been some on-again off-again buildup for Grissom and Sara getting together for quite awhile, but after all that, the way they handled it was anticlimactic, like “Okay, they need to have sex now but we’re running out of time. Stick it on to the end of the episode.” What was Grissom’s motivation for this after all this time? Brass’s brush with death, and the associated feeling that he had to either get out and live more or develop some relationships so he didn’t need to give his power of attorney to his buddy?

What do you folks think?

Well, my main problem with it is that I’ve never really liked the Sara Sidle character, so yeah I hated the ending.

I think what I’ve most liked about Grissom is that he was always so comfortable with his detachment. He used it as an advantage, and when he almost had a relationship with that woman who was a skeletal reconstructionist, he made a conscious choice to give one aspect of his life precedence over the others. So to me, the sudden relationship made no sense.

Having said all that, the other observation I have on this episode is that Brass’ crack-whore daughter is hot.

thwartme

Re: the relationship making no sense:

I think that he and Sarah had a glimpse of mortality. They could die at any time, so they better live while they can. I’m sure this will be explored in future episodes, too.

Hmm. Regarding the Grissom/Sara ending–I got the feeling that it wasn’t the first time that they had been together. They seemed too comfortable with each other for that to have been a “first time”. Maybe that was the surprise at the end, that they had been doing it for awhile?

I thought the same thing. The surprise was for us, the viewers, but we were supposed to get the realization that they’d been doing the deed for some time.

I agree…the past 5-6 episodes have had verbal foreplay between the two…
They’ve been “doing the nasty” for some time…

I haven’t watched CSI for some time, but I thought they had been involved earlier? A couple seasons earlier?
Or did she just like him and he refused to go anywhere with it (as her supervisor, that makes good sense)?

Even though I knew Paul Guilfoyle was signed for Season Seven, I was worried they’d off his character anyway just for contrast with saving Nick last year. As for “next thing you know”, we don’t know how much time passed between the Code Blue and the penultimate scene, so I’ll give the show a pass on that.

Agreed. Let Warrick and Catherine spend their obligatory screentime on the A-plot or with Brass and/or Ellie (who I wanted to slap). Oddly I didn’t mind the Civil War storyline, and I usually dislike the “freaky subculture” stuff.

About the end: the G/S relationship has been present, usually as subtext but lately more overt, since the second episode, so the pairing isn’t out of the blue. As to why now, the “contemplating mortality” theme doubtless factored in but really the writers and producers have had this resolution in mind for much of the season. Remember 6-05 “Gum Drops”, the ep re-written because William Petersen was absent? Originally there was to be a “morning after” scene with Grissom and Sara in a motel - this was confirmed by Carol Mendelsohn in TV Guide. (Sept. 25-Oct. 1 2005 Vol.53 No.39 Issue #2739. As Sara said, “Cite your source.” :slight_smile: ) They just moved it, and the season finale is a logical choice. Personally I wish Sara had better taste in men, but being linked to the series star is good for Jorja Fox, so I can deal.

I thought the finale was ‘meh.’ There wasn’t enough tension built up around Brass’ struggle to survive. I hated Ellie and wanted to kick the t.v. everytime she was in a scene.

The whole thing was just flat. I’m not all that surprised at the ending. I love Jorja Fox so if this means we can see more Sidle and less Stokes, I’m all for it.

I’d like to add, that if I were writing the show, the final scene would have cast Sidle and Curtis. :wink: