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bartramcat · 2 years

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CSI: End of Season 4 GSR Trilogy

Thanks to @addictedtostorytelling's gifs of Turn of the Screws, I decided to rewatch it and the following 2 episodes last weekend. The 3 episodes are kind of a microcosm of the GSR emotional rollercoaster during season 4, so it was perhaps apropos that the first episode was about an actual rollercoaster.

I have always thought it fascinating that, after all the angst of the season, Grissom and Sara seem genuinely comfortable with one another in this episode. During this viewing, however, I think we also begin to see hints of the Grissom of early season 5, wherein he is actively trying to rebuild trust with Sara and doing a lot of sidelong flirting along the way.

I do not think putting Grissom and Sara and sex on a rollercoaster together in an episode was at all unintentional. Now I probably have a pretty eccentric view of things, but I think a good deal of the subtext is almost entirely about Grissom's continuing romantic interest in Sara, despite the fact that he thinks he no longer has any kind of chance with her. I suspect the best he can hope for is a return to their pre-Play With Fire work dynamic. While I think that is what he is thinking on a conscious level, it also seems that, on a subconscious level, he clearly wants more.

As an aside, one of Grissom's issues is that he is blind to how Sara sees things. Because of that, he often tends to see their relationship in very black and white, either/or terms. That is not to say he is intentionally obtuse; only that his complete and utter lack of experience with the whole being in love thing makes him myopic. He assumes that when he turned her down in PWF that that was the end of it for her. Seemingly, it never occurs to him that she could be carrying as much of a torch for him as he is for her. That is perhaps why, towards the end of Season 4, he is again comfortable with bantering and flirting with her, although I think his jocularity is a poor mask for his heart's true desire. IOW he really does want to be alone with her. And, yeah, he probably has fastasized about sex on a rollercoaster. With Sara.

Grissom's other problem is that he has a cause and effect disconnect where Sara is concerned, which segues into No More Bets. When he decided to pick Nick over Sara, he thought he was doing the right thing, because he knew deep down he couldn't be objective. By choosing Nick, neither he nor anyone else (Catherine) could ever question his motives. (Interesting that the whole promotion thing comes to a head in an episode in which Grissom forces Catherine to go home so there won't be a hint of impropriety…exactly what Grissom was trying to avoid by choosing Nick, even if only in his own mind.)

What Grissom is totally unable to anticipate is that, to Sara, not getting the promotion isn't just a work disappointment but a personal rejection all over again. She can't help but think he is punishing her for daring to want more from their relationship. In an instant, all of the seeming simpatico of TOTS disappears; in an epiphanic moment, he suddenly recognizes he has actually hurt her. The little wince in the limo when she says it's a stupid reason betokens both realization and regret. But in this scenario there is no going back.

So…with all things GSR, we have one step forward and several steps back.

Taken together, these two episodes epitomize the emotional convolutions of the entire season. When there is no “baggage” getting in the way, as in TOTS, they obviously enjoy one another’s company and operate absolutely in synch, an aspect to their relationship as natural as breathing…when they aren’t thinking about it. Then NMB and all of the unspoken issues between them brings all of the hurt and disappointment back into play, and the chasm between them is as deep as it ever was.

Bloodlines presents us with a Sara who is hard to get a handle on. On the one hand, the fact that she doesn’t want to take the victim statement seems to be a red flag for Catherine, and she reports to Grissom. Since we don’t actually see the tone of her report, we aren’t sure whether she is concerned or aggravated by Sara’s decision. Obviously, for Grissom, it raises a concern, and he suggests she could probably use a vacation. Again, we are not given entree into whether or not he thinks her disappointment in re the promotion plays a part or whether he simply sees her not taking the statement as a symptom of potential burnout.

What dots he does not connect go back to Butterflied. He has no idea that Sara saw his confession, so he has no idea that she knows he cares for her but just not enough…..Given what he knows, he can only surmise that she’s smarting from the promotion thing but, apparently, he also begins to suspect that something else is wrong with her, and burnout is the most logical choice. In their conversations about vacations, she more or less reminds him how alike they are, since he has never taken a vacation either.

Sara’s next actions only serve to dispel any of Grissom’s immediate fears that something could be off with her. She works up the Coombs’ family tree and goes out to the “residence” of the anti-social brother, discovering the missing Pontiac from the earlier rape/murder case in the process. As far as Grissom can tell, she is back on track as far as job performance goes.

The beauty of the ending to Bloodlines is how it ties all of the elements of the past 2 episodes–and of the whole season–together. Most of BL gives the impression that Sara’s hurt from the promotion is no longer in play…until the scene with Nick where she congratulates him, and he teasingly says that was hard for her. And she admits it was. As per usual with the team, Nick has no idea how deep the hurt goes. He assumes it’s more sibling rivalry/team competition than part of a deep and abiding hurt inside her: that no matter what, Grissom will always reject her, one way or another.

In many ways, Season 4 can be seen as Grissom and Sara on a parallel journey, as each tries to navigate the terms of their relationship post Play With Fire. Each tries to find a way to exist with the other on purely professional terms. Still, within the season, there are these moments that compromise that attempt, none more so than Butterflied, when Grissom is forced to confront his own regret in turning down a life with Sara. Unbeknownst to him, she overhears him and learns he "couldn't do it:" he couldn't put his feelings for her over all that he had worked for in his career. To her, as she tells Warrick a few episodes later, "Losing's losing."

In that same episode, the possibility that Sara could have a drinking problem is teased. Unlike so many other shows, it is just dropped into the narrative, but there is no continuing follow-up. Instead, we see a Sara becoming more and more withdrawn into herself. In fact, the only times she seems like her old self is when she works with Grissom in Bad Words and more obviously in Turn of the Screws.

Then No More Bets pulls the rug out from any hope she may have had that Grissom valued her professionally, even if he couldn't cross the line into the personal. Where he's concerned, she receives no "validation" whatsoever. After she admits to Nick how hard it was for her to congratulate him on his almost promotion, we see her wander off…possibly into a bar where she tries to drown her sorrows.

The phone call to Grissom is so telling. Instead of being angry or befuddled that his employee could have been caught doing something so heinous as to risk her career–and to reflect badly on him–his only (anxious) question is “Is she all right?” Clearly, that is his overriding concern–that she be all right. Despite everything, he is still in love with her, and were anything to happen to her, his world would be shattered.

When he walks into the police station and sees her so humiliated, he is overcome with both relief and tenderness. Grissom then takes her hand, which to my mind is his way of saying, "It's okay. I love you."

I have always believed that it is in those moments that he decides he is going to allow himself to love her without reservation, even if she is no longer able to love him back. If nothing else, he is going to be her friend and be there for her.

While the GSR saga to this point is 4 years long, these 3 episodes reiterate what has been lingering in the background for most of the season and push the narrative forward by forcing Grissom to come to terms with the fact that it is time for him to learn how to love someone.

#csi #gil grissom #sara sidle #gsr #04x21 #04x22 #04x23 #sara x grissom #csi: crime scene investigation

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addictedtostorytelling · 1 year

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Do you think Sara actually deserved the promotion?

hi, anon!

do you mean the promotion in s4 or in "immortality"?

in s4, i think we don't have enough information to make a determination.

without knowing exactly what duties and responsibilities the "lead csi" position entails, it's impossible to say how qualified sara may or may not be for it based on what we see from her on-screen.

at no point during s4 does the show clarify what a lead csi actually is/does.

honestly, it's unclear how the position differs from being a supervisor or assistant supervisor, why it's not simply a matter of seniority, what the scope of responsibility would be for the person who had it, and even where and in what capacity the person holding said position would be working within the department hierarchy.

for example, is there one lead csi per team or is there one lead csi for the entire department?

unfortunately, the fact that there is ostensibly no lead csi that we know of prior to s4 (and never is one afterward, either) means that there's no way for us to extrapolate.

that so, it's somewhat impossible for us to judge whether or not sara would be a good fit for such a role.

she is generally an exemplary csi who has a high solve-rate on her cases, being both a hard worker and a smart one. she is also a good teacher (as we see from her as she helps to train greg in s4/s5). however, one weak spot on her résumé is that she isn't very politic and her people-skills sometimes leave something to be desired, particularly when we compare her to nick. she is also an unknown entity when it comes to fulfilling administrative duties, as she has never been in a leadership role prior to this point.

if the key position were all about individual performance and casework or even involved an element of teaching, then it's possible that she would be very deserving of it.

however, if it were more of a managerial position that might require her to deal with personnel issues and/or be involved with administration in the department, then maybe nick would indeed be the better fit for it over her.

it really depends.

frustratingly, grissom's ultimate decision regarding the position offers few clues to us about sara's level of qualification for it overall.

by his own admission, he chooses nick over sara mostly based on the criteria that nick seemingly doesn't want the position, whereas sara does.

which is, as sara points out in episode 04x22 "no more bets," a "stupid reason."

however, whether the implication to this decision is that nick is actually more qualified than sara is based on all the potential criteria points PLUS the fact that he doesn't want it, that nick and sara are otherwise "neck in neck" in terms of qualification but nick's ambivalence about either getting the position or not is the thing that pushes the needle more in his favor, or that sara is actually more qualified on paper but grissom still nevertheless chooses nick over her because he likes nick's attitude better, we honestly can't say.

the whole matter is, of course, complicated by the fact that throughout s4, grissom, based on his largely subconscious desire not to show sara favoritism, repeatedly thwarts sara's efforts to distinguish herself and bolster her résumé, while simultaneously doing all he can to build up and support nick.

as i talk about here,

after he turns sara down at the end of s3, grissom spends all of s4 [unsuccessfully] trying to keep his distance from her and disengage from her emotionally. however, his attempts to move on prove futile, because no matter what he does, he can’t change the fact that he loves her. the more he realizes that his efforts to disengage from her aren’t working, the more he panics, and the more irrational his behavior towards her becomes.

that’s why, during s4, grissom so often pulls sara off career cases while allowing nick to work career cases solo—i.e., because he is trying so hard to put distance between himself and sara and to prove to himself and sara that he isn’t ruled solely by his feelings for her.

of course, the irony is that in trying to prove that he isn’t ruled by his feelings for sara, grissom actually proves how very much he actually is.

every action grissom takes towards sara is personal, whether he believes it is personal or not. he’s not even consciously aware of what he’s doing, but the truth is that every time he finds himself wanting sara, he physically sends her away from him, which usually means she ends up at another crime scene, off whatever big case he’s working (see, for example, what happens in episode 04x02 “all for country”). likewise, whenever he finds himself wanting to give sara special treatment, he reacts by forcing himself to get tough on her and read her the riot act (such as we see him do in episodes 04x07 “invisible evidence” and 04x08 “after the show,” for example).

in the meanwhile, he continues to manage nick according to merit, meaning that whenever he feels nick has earned a privilege or proven himself worthy, he rewards him (see, for example, episode 04x11 “eleven angry jurors,” when grissom allows nick to reopen an old case and investigate it solo, then gives nick credit where credit is due when nick solves the case using creative investigative methods).

by constantly suppressing and thwarting sara while at the same time encouraging and supporting nick, grissom gives nick an unfair advantage over sara in the race for the promotion without even realizing that that’s what he’s doing (or being consciously aware of his own motivations for doing so).

nick continues to rack up career cases, professional accolades, and grissom’s personal favor, while sara just can’t win for losing and is unable to catch a break, even though the quality of her work and work ethic remain as impressive as ever.

that so, even if it is the case that nick does ultimately end up looking like the better candidate when all is said and done, one has to wonder to what extent that outcome would still be the case were grissom not actively sabotaging sara's efforts at advancement throughout the beginning of s4.

if he were to actually give her a fair shake and afford her some of the same opportunities he does nick (in terms of working high-profile solo cases and being given credit where credit is due for her accomplishments), would she eventually come out the clear-cut favorite?

of course, it goes without saying: one really has to wonder how sara would fare if anyone but grissom were the one in charge of making the recommendation for the promotion. would nick still get chosen if the evaluator weren't desperately trying to wrestle his burning love for the competition into submission? perhaps so but also perhaps not.

anyway.

all of the above is to say that given the dearth of information we get on the topic, i don't think we can determine definitively one way or the other whether or not sara is deserving of the lead csi promotion in s4.

it really depends on what the job itself entails and how she actually performs in the areas related to those job responsibilities (removing any bias coming from grissom out of the equation).

as for the promotion sara gets in the series finale, she flat-out isn't qualified for it and in the real world never would have even been considered for it.

i talk about why not here, if you're interested.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #anon #asks: csi #**#my meta #meta: csi #meta: sara #let's talk shop #04x11 #04x22 #csiverse

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addictedtostorytelling · 2 years

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So I'm watching season 4 of csi and in the episode "eleven angry jurors" this dude says to Nick that Grissom gave Sara this good recommendation because of their "history" and Nick it's like 🤨 but in the end of the episode Grissom goes for Nick for the Csi Lead.

So my question is, why Grissom changed his recommendation? I mean, literally everyone thinks he's gonna pick Sara( which is weird) but in the end he chooses Nick.

In the seasons finale, he ends up hurting Sara because of this, and he gives her a lame excuse about why he chose Nick over her, because "Nick doesn't care if he gets it or not" WHAAAAT? If he doesn't care, why give him the recommendation?

My baby Sara looks so hurt that I would slap Grissom.

hi, @sassylittlewoman!

so despite what's going around the rumor mill at the lab, sara doesn't actually have the promotion in the bag at that point. while others may think that grissom is going to award the position to sara based on the fact that gave her a good evaluation (and also because, as the day tech puts it, they have "history"), grissom himself has never made that claim, either to sara or anyone else.

that so, to say that he "changed" his decision on who to give the promotion to between sara and nick would technically be inaccurate.

he didn't actually change anything; he just made up his mind, and the way he did so happened to be different from what people expected of him.

all the same, just because he zigged where others expected him to zag, that's still not the same as reversing his decision after it had already been made.

you can't take something away from someone if they never actually had it to begin with.

as for why he does ultimately recommend nick for the promotion over sara, there's actually a lot more going on there than meets the eye.

the tl;dr version is that he’s trying so hard to prove to himself and sara that he can be just a supervisor™ to her that he ends up going overboard and rather than managing her neutrally he instead comes down kind of hard on her and is a jerk to her in the workplace.

for the longer version, check out this post, this post, and this post.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #sassylittlewoman #asks: csi #04x11 #04x22 #let's talk shop #csiverse

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