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Friday, January 16, 2009

CSI “One To Go” : Grissom Departs, Goes To Grissom Heaven

All Images From CBS


The departure of Gil Grissom – and William Petersen – from the forefront of the CSI series has finally come. While this episode of CSI (CBS), “One to Go” was dark and depressing, Gil isn’t really sad, though. He'll be on to better things. His colleagues are thankful of the support that Gil has given them over the years, but in the end they know they have to let him go. At the end of the show, the sad picture of Gil Grissom walking with his back to the audience is replaced by images of Gil as he arrives in what is probably his own personal heaven - lots of nature, lots of bugs, and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox).

But the case in this episode wasn’t all that great. I am not a big fan of serial killer storylines, which seems to glamorize and stylize murder in such a horrid way. This episode is a continuation of the episode “19 Down” where the CSI team work on the resurgence of murders seemingly at the hand of the Dick & Jane killer. Grissom brings in a college professor, Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne), in on the case as a consultant, which makes Langston happy because he feels his serial killer lecture helped to enable more murders at the hands of a possible accomplice. Later, when the case is over, Grissom offers Langston a job, which we all know he will take seeing that Fishburne’s addition to the cast was so well publicized. I think Fishburne will do a fine job and hopefully bring a new spark to the show.

My opinion is that no one cared about this case anyway, at least not the viewers. Everyone wanted to see how the team was dealing with Gil’s departure. Some people got their chance for goodbyes in “19 Down” and the rest of the gang was able to finish in “One to Go.” It was touching to see Gil and Nick (George Eads) say their farewells, and hysterical to watch Hodges (Wallace Langham) pontificate, Grissom rolling his eyes.

One thing that has been bugging me with the series as late is that it seems that every time they are in the lab or when Capt. Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) is in interrogation, everything looks so blue. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to look through the glass bottles of “Halo” shampoo, which was a blue color. It would always make everything look so cold. Maybe they are purposely going for a cold, sterile look by putting what looks like a blue filter on these shots, but it is hard on my eyes and it just looks too darn depressing.


But it brought a tear to my eye watching Gil walk away, but even more so to see him enter a jungled rain forest area in Costa Rica, filled with plants and of course lots of bugs. You could almost feel the delight Gil would be feeling as the camera turns its lens to a bug sitting on a large leaf. And while I am not a Gil/Sara “shipper”, I think it was a nice touch to have them be with each other at the end, both of them probably feeling a kind of joy that had been missing for a good part of their recent lives. It was a fitting farewell to a character that spent so much time analyzing the seedy, ugly side of people’s lives to be rewarded with a happy ending, and hopefully, a much happier life.



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