Grissom/Sara from CSI
Title: Follow the Evidence
Author: jjtaylor
Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Fandom: C.S.I.
Spoilers: Through the current season
Notes: Many thanks to sprencious. All episode dialog from The Body Farm transcripts.
The setting is the Las Vegas Crime Lab's graveyard shift. Sara Sidle is a crime scene investigator and Gil Grissom is the shift supervisor. Sara joins the team after being "hand-picked" by Grissom to work on the case of Holly Gribbs, an investigator who was killed at a crime scene. Grissom and Sara share a past - they're friends, but Grissom seems in some ways to be Sara's mentor.
Grissom is the team's expert and the leader. He is obsessed with his work in possibly the only healthy way - he thrives on it as a part of his identity. He's an incredibly gifted forensic scientist, but he's scientific to the point of losing touch with people. He isn't emotionless, but he has a hard time remembering that other people have feelings. He's especially bad at expressing empathy, and at some of the more subtle aspects of personal interaction.
Sara has much in common with Grissom, and everyone on the team recognizes that. Sara is professional but fun; she's devoted to the job to the point of a near-Grissom-like obsession, but she also jokes around. The main difference between Sara and Grissom, and the issue over which they clash most, is Sara's emotional range. She has enormous capacity for empathy and emotional involvement with cases, and she constantly seeks Grissom's praise and respect, while Grissom is mostly blind to this.
The canon:
Grissom/Sara is canon - in a way. There's always been so much subtext that thinking of Grissom/Sara as a pairing is an obvious assumption. The first season is full of fun subtext that builds on their strong friendship; hints and good-natured playing around with the idea of flirtation - it highlights their chemistry. The second season moves to more ambiguous subtext - all that joking around is turning into a barely hidden attraction. Season 3 has them running into the obstacles of the attraction, and the suggestion of taking this something in a new direction. At the end of Season 3, Sara voiced her feelings for Grissom, though Grissom did not respond. There's some argument over whether or not Grissom actually rejected Sara or whether he simply didn't act and therefore kept things from moving forward. In Season 4, Grissom reveals in a roundabout way that he has feelings for Sara, but that he has chosen not to act on them. None of this is blatant - Sara asks Grissom out to dinner, Grissom talks about "a woman" who came into his life - but it's easy to figure out what's not being said. Season 4 continues with that voiced attraction on both parts being shut down over and over. It's painful. We're in Season 5 now, and the chemistry seems to be on an unexplained rebound. There are smiles and compliments and maybe a little flirtation - and I have no idea where it's going. I'm incredibly happy it's back, but I'm cautious after having my heart stomped on so recently.
As much as I want to cover every single moment of subtext, there's simply too much. Also, you need to see it for yourself. I can talk for hours about how that moment where Grissom leans into Sara at the microscope reveals his true feelings, but you need to see the way it's played, and they way they react to all of the other people around them in contrast, to really believe it.
There are also hundreds of moments in episodes that aren't subtexty or even flirtations, but that build the friendship and their working relationship, that hightlights similarities between them, or that addresses their respect for one another. You need to see those, too, or else even the most powerful of these subtexty moments fall flat.
But to get you started, here's a crash course in Grissom/Sara:
Subtext highlights:
This scene, from the Crate and Burial is a great example of joking subtext. It's fun and never quite gets into actual flirting, but there are lots of moments like this in the first season.
(Sara steps out into the hallway from the garage carrying a roll of tape.)
SARA: Hey, Grissom ... could you come tape me up?
(Without waiting for an answer, SARA ducks back into the room. GRISSOM turns to look at CATHERINE.)
GRISSOM: I love my work.
CATHERINE: It shows.
The episode Sex, Lies and Larvae is famous for it's subtext. Sara and Grissom are working a particularly difficult case, and Sara can't help but get emotionally involved. We come to this exchange near the end of the episode, where things aren't going well for their case and Sara is looking for reassurance from Grissom.
GRISSOM: Did you find out anything about Warrick?
SARA: I'm here about something else. You ... you know how you say, "We're the victim's last voice"?
GRISSOM: Mm-hmm.
SARA: I thought it was our job to speak for Kaye Shelton.
GRISSOM: You don't crunch evidence to fit a theory.
SARA: What if you hear the victim's screams? In the car, at the store.
GRISSOM: You have empathy for her, Sara. You want someone to pay for what was done to her. That's normal.
SARA: You want to sleep with me?
(GRISSOM freezes. He puts down his food and takes off his glasses.)
GRISSOM: Did you just say what I think you said?
SARA: That way, when I wake up in a cold sweat under the blanket, hearing Kaye's screams ... you can tell me it's nothing. It's just empathy.
That episode is very close to my heart, because Grissom address the issues Sara is having in a very Grissom way: he goes back to the evidence, does re-tests of their information, takes the investigation further because it matters to Sara. To read a transcript of whole episode, go here.
More-than-subtext highlights:
Sara and Grissom tear down the walls in an apartment in the episode Scuba Doobie-Doo. On this case, there's a body hiding somewhere in the apartment and they have to find it. Plaster dust flies everywhere. Grissom gets frustrated at not finding the evidence they need, and he goes out to get some air. Sara follows him and they share a moment outside; Sara touches Grissom's face, claiming to wipe off plaster. It's very tender, and Grissom's expression looks very much like confusion and desire.
In Burden of Proof, Grissom and Sara clash and clash again. They have a fight about meat that's not really about meat at all, although Grissom doesn't know that. At the end of the episode, Sara is requesting a leave of absence and Grissom remains clueless.
GRISSOM: What is this?
SARA: It's, uh, just what it says: It's a request for a leave of absence -- six months ... year, maybe.
GRISSOM: Why?
SARA: I was thinking of checking out the federal government system - FBI ...
GRISSOM: We have the best lab in the country.
SARA: I need a different work environment.
GRISSOM: What does that mean?
SARA: One with, um, communication ... respect.
GRISSOM: Everybody here respects you.
SARA: You don't.
GRISSOM: Is this about that hamburger thing?
SARA: No, Grissom ... this is not about that "hamburger" thing. I don't believe you. How can you reduce everything that I've said to some kind of single quirk? Do you think the problem here is just about me? If you don't sign my leave, I'm going to have to quit.
(SARA turns to leave. GRISSOM stops her.)
GRISSOM: Hey, Sara? The Lab needs you here.
You can hear in Grissom's pause that what Sara wanted him to say was "I need you here." Catherine comes to Clueless!Grissom's rescue later that night:
CATHERINE: I heard about you and Sara.
GRISSOM: Sara, you know, she gets very emotional.
CATHERINE: Are you in denial? No, that's ... no, no ... way too analytical. Wow, you got burned bad, huh? Welcome to the club. I got third-degree burns from my marriage. Happens to everybody. Everybody just moves on.
GRISSOM: Good. Let's move on.
CATHERINE: But you have to deal with it. You have to deal with it first. You got to deal with it before it goes away. You are the supervisor. You have responsibilities, and people are making a family around you whether you like it not, whether you give them permission or not. We don't have to go to the Grand
Tetons together, just ... every now and then you got to lift your head up out of that microscope.
GRISSOM: Yeah.
(GRISSOM puts the dish rag down and reaches for his little black address book.
He sighs. He leafs through it and picks up the phone when he finds the number
he's looking for. GRISSOM dials the phone.)
GRISSOM: Yeah, hi. I'd like to get some flowers for a girl. No, no. Not flowers. A plant. A living plant. She likes vegetation.
(CATHERINE sits down on the sofa. She smiles and takes a sip from her glass.)
GRISSOM: Yeah, that'd be fine. To a Sara Sidle. Deliver it at the CSI division, Las Vegas Police Department the one out on North Trop Boulevard. Yeah, you can bill me at the same place. Gil Grissom. (pause) The sentiment? Oh-oh, on the card. Yeah. Um, uh ... have it say ... have it say, uh ... "From
Grissom."
Catherine veers very quickly into explaining the situation to Grissom in terms of work, but it seems clear that both she and he understand what's really going on. She gets Grissom to display his appreciation for Sara with the gesture of the plant. The "From Grissom" though? Grissom assumes that all he needs to say is in the gesture of sending the plant. It should be obvious. And that is exactly why he and Sara continue to misunderstand each other.
The episode that follows the gifting of the plant, Primo Non Nocera the charm, the smiles, the flirting is back.
SARA: You just don't like sports.
GRISSOM: That's not true-- I've been a baseball fan my whole life.
SARA: Baseball. Well, that figures. All those stats.
GRISSOM: It's a beautiful game.
SARA: Since when are you interested in beauty?
GRISSOM: Since I met you.
In the finale of Season 2, Hunger Artist, we blow right past subtext here, although all of it remains unspoken.
The investigation into a young model's death leads Grissom to some subtle but powerful reflection about how he is choosing work over other parts of life and not realizing what he's missing.
Near the end of the episode, Grissom wanders out of the victim's apartment, in search of evidence but seeming to walk in no direction whatsoever. The most important part of the scene is the music in the background, from Robbie Robertson's song "Unbound":
With eyes of fire
No one can see
I am drawn
I am drawn to her
Like a moth to a flame
she leads me down
Unbound
As the music fades, Grissom ends his wandering and turns into the overpass where the victim was found. There he sees Sara standing in silhouette, cast in almost an ethereal glow.
I remember watching this episode for the first time and feeling my heart explode. Grissom understands his feelings through his work, and his cases make him examine his life more than any other outside influence. Except Sara; and here, the case and Sara are leading him to the same conclusion. We make the connection, and hope Grissom does, too.
Actual Text highlights:
At the end of Season 3, in the episode Playing with Fire, Catherine accidentally blows up part of the lab. Sara happens to be walking by and is knocked to the growd by the force of the explosion and the shattering glass. Grissom finds her, dazed and injured, and attempts to get her taken care of by and EMT. He also calls her honey in his concern. At the end of the episode, we see that the explosion has led Sara to suddenly reevaluate some part of her life, and she goes to Grissom's office:
SARA: You got a minute?
GRISSOM: I was just leaving.
SARA: Yeah, the, uh, schedule says you're off tonight.
GRISSOM: I am.
SARA: Me, too.
GRISSOM: You should be on paid leave.
SARA: I'm fine.
GRISSOM: Is that all you have to say?
SARA: Would you like to have dinner with me?
(GRISSOM stops.)
GRISSOM: No.
SARA: Why not? Let's ... let's have dinner. Let's see what happens.
GRISSOM: Sara ... I don't know what to do about this.
SARA: I do.
(They stare at each other.)
SARA: You know, by the time you figure it out, you really could be too late.
Season 4 brings us Invisible Evidence, and possibly the hottest moment ever on C.S.I. Sara and Grissom review evidence for a case, except that's not what they're doing at all.
(SARA is standing in front of the bed sheet hanging against the wall, studying it when GRISSOM walks into the lab and sees her.)
GRISSOM: Checking my work?
SARA: Oh, I'm just looking around.
GRISSOM: What are you thinking?
SARA: Well, her body left behind this void.
(SARA walks up to the sheet, her hands out in front of her to indicate the area
she's talking about.
SARA: The attacker was on top. He held her down by her wrists.
(She turns around to look at GRISSOM.)
GRISSOM: Which would explain the transfer of wax from him to her.
SARA: Yes. (pause) Pin me down.
(GRISSOM takes a step forward. He holds SARA'S wrists and pushes against her as she pushes back to illustrate what she's thinking.)
SARA: She would have struggled. Then, she gave up. Afterward, when he got up, he put his hands on the sheet for leverage.
(After a moment, GRISSOM releases SARA'S wrists and places his hands on the sheet near her waist.)
GRISSOM: Like this.
(SARA nods.)
GRISSOM: Which explains how the wax got from him to the sheets.
(SARA turns to look at GRISSOM.)
SARA: Yes.
(For a moment, the two are standing there. SARA takes a breath and breaks the moment. She puts her hands down and steps away from the sheet - away from GRISSOM.)
An overwhelming number of screencaps here and here, because you have to see this.
And then we come to Butterflied, the episode guaranteed to either break your heart or make you completely furious; in my case, it's both. Grissom takes a case with victim that looks eerily like Sara; the case possesses Grissom for the entire episode, occasionaly seeing a vision of Sara when he's looking at the victim. As Grissom confronts the woman's killer, he delivers this monologue.
GRISSOM: It's sad, isn't it, doc? Guys like us. Couple of middle- aged men who've allowed their work to consume their lives. The only time we ever touch other people is when we're wearing our latex gloves. We wake up one day and realize that for fifty years we haven't really lived at all. But then, all of a sudden ... we get a second chance. Somebody young and beautiful shows up. Somebody we could care about. She offers us a new life with her, but we have a big decision to make, right? Because we have to risk everything we've worked for in order to have her. I couldn't do it ... but you did.
We don't know it until Grissom is finished speaking, but Sara's watching Grissom through the two-way mirror from the Observation Room and appears to have heard the whole thing.
Season Four ends with Sara getting picked up for drunk driving. (Though a minor plot point, there had been several mentions by other characters that Sara seemed to be drinking more and otherwise not acting like herself. It's easy to assume, since there's no explanation for her change in behavior, that it has something to do with Grissom.) She's given a pass by the police , but they have to call Grissom, who comes to pick her up. The last line of the season is Grissom telling Sara, "Come on. I'll take you home."
The current season brings us some interesting scenes where Grissom and Sara talk-but-not-talk about what happened with Sara's drinking and in general about how Sara's doing. A few episodes into the season, and the flirting and the smiling and the complimenting from Seasons 1 and 2 seem to be making a comeback. It's a great time to start watching
Resources:
The Body Farm - great episode guides and transcripts
http://www.typhoidandswans.com/thebodyfarm/episodeguide/epmain.html
William Peterson Online - The actor who plays Grissom
http://www.billypetersen.com/
Jorja Fox online- The actor who plays Sara
http://www.jorjafox.net/
Scene of the Crime
http://sceneofthecrime.00freehost.com/Index.html
Risk
http://risksit.topcities.com/main.html
Like a Moth to a Flame
http://members.lycos.nl/love_of_my_life/
Grissom Sara Love Lab
http://grisssaralovelab.bravehost.com/index.html
Grissom and Sara dot com - under construction/redesign, but at AWESOME site once it's back up
http://www.grissomandsara.com/
C.S.I. Web Awards
http://www.csiwebawards.tk/
Elyse's C.S.I. Site
http://members.aol.com/JRD203/csi.htm
Black Glass - screencaps
http://www.fan-sites.org/csi/
The Wrap-Up:
You can catch C.S.I. Thursday nights on CBS, and reruns every weeknight on Spike TV.
You know you want to watch. You know you want to fall for Sara the way Grissom has, and adore Grissom the way Sara does. If there's any way I can help get you hooked, let me know.
Author: jjtaylor
Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Fandom: C.S.I.
Spoilers: Through the current season
Notes: Many thanks to sprencious. All episode dialog from The Body Farm transcripts.
The setting is the Las Vegas Crime Lab's graveyard shift. Sara Sidle is a crime scene investigator and Gil Grissom is the shift supervisor. Sara joins the team after being "hand-picked" by Grissom to work on the case of Holly Gribbs, an investigator who was killed at a crime scene. Grissom and Sara share a past - they're friends, but Grissom seems in some ways to be Sara's mentor.
Grissom is the team's expert and the leader. He is obsessed with his work in possibly the only healthy way - he thrives on it as a part of his identity. He's an incredibly gifted forensic scientist, but he's scientific to the point of losing touch with people. He isn't emotionless, but he has a hard time remembering that other people have feelings. He's especially bad at expressing empathy, and at some of the more subtle aspects of personal interaction.
Sara has much in common with Grissom, and everyone on the team recognizes that. Sara is professional but fun; she's devoted to the job to the point of a near-Grissom-like obsession, but she also jokes around. The main difference between Sara and Grissom, and the issue over which they clash most, is Sara's emotional range. She has enormous capacity for empathy and emotional involvement with cases, and she constantly seeks Grissom's praise and respect, while Grissom is mostly blind to this.
The canon:
Grissom/Sara is canon - in a way. There's always been so much subtext that thinking of Grissom/Sara as a pairing is an obvious assumption. The first season is full of fun subtext that builds on their strong friendship; hints and good-natured playing around with the idea of flirtation - it highlights their chemistry. The second season moves to more ambiguous subtext - all that joking around is turning into a barely hidden attraction. Season 3 has them running into the obstacles of the attraction, and the suggestion of taking this something in a new direction. At the end of Season 3, Sara voiced her feelings for Grissom, though Grissom did not respond. There's some argument over whether or not Grissom actually rejected Sara or whether he simply didn't act and therefore kept things from moving forward. In Season 4, Grissom reveals in a roundabout way that he has feelings for Sara, but that he has chosen not to act on them. None of this is blatant - Sara asks Grissom out to dinner, Grissom talks about "a woman" who came into his life - but it's easy to figure out what's not being said. Season 4 continues with that voiced attraction on both parts being shut down over and over. It's painful. We're in Season 5 now, and the chemistry seems to be on an unexplained rebound. There are smiles and compliments and maybe a little flirtation - and I have no idea where it's going. I'm incredibly happy it's back, but I'm cautious after having my heart stomped on so recently.
As much as I want to cover every single moment of subtext, there's simply too much. Also, you need to see it for yourself. I can talk for hours about how that moment where Grissom leans into Sara at the microscope reveals his true feelings, but you need to see the way it's played, and they way they react to all of the other people around them in contrast, to really believe it.
There are also hundreds of moments in episodes that aren't subtexty or even flirtations, but that build the friendship and their working relationship, that hightlights similarities between them, or that addresses their respect for one another. You need to see those, too, or else even the most powerful of these subtexty moments fall flat.
But to get you started, here's a crash course in Grissom/Sara:
Subtext highlights:
This scene, from the Crate and Burial is a great example of joking subtext. It's fun and never quite gets into actual flirting, but there are lots of moments like this in the first season.
(Sara steps out into the hallway from the garage carrying a roll of tape.)
SARA: Hey, Grissom ... could you come tape me up?
(Without waiting for an answer, SARA ducks back into the room. GRISSOM turns to look at CATHERINE.)
GRISSOM: I love my work.
CATHERINE: It shows.
The episode Sex, Lies and Larvae is famous for it's subtext. Sara and Grissom are working a particularly difficult case, and Sara can't help but get emotionally involved. We come to this exchange near the end of the episode, where things aren't going well for their case and Sara is looking for reassurance from Grissom.
GRISSOM: Did you find out anything about Warrick?
SARA: I'm here about something else. You ... you know how you say, "We're the victim's last voice"?
GRISSOM: Mm-hmm.
SARA: I thought it was our job to speak for Kaye Shelton.
GRISSOM: You don't crunch evidence to fit a theory.
SARA: What if you hear the victim's screams? In the car, at the store.
GRISSOM: You have empathy for her, Sara. You want someone to pay for what was done to her. That's normal.
SARA: You want to sleep with me?
(GRISSOM freezes. He puts down his food and takes off his glasses.)
GRISSOM: Did you just say what I think you said?
SARA: That way, when I wake up in a cold sweat under the blanket, hearing Kaye's screams ... you can tell me it's nothing. It's just empathy.
That episode is very close to my heart, because Grissom address the issues Sara is having in a very Grissom way: he goes back to the evidence, does re-tests of their information, takes the investigation further because it matters to Sara. To read a transcript of whole episode, go here.
More-than-subtext highlights:
Sara and Grissom tear down the walls in an apartment in the episode Scuba Doobie-Doo. On this case, there's a body hiding somewhere in the apartment and they have to find it. Plaster dust flies everywhere. Grissom gets frustrated at not finding the evidence they need, and he goes out to get some air. Sara follows him and they share a moment outside; Sara touches Grissom's face, claiming to wipe off plaster. It's very tender, and Grissom's expression looks very much like confusion and desire.
In Burden of Proof, Grissom and Sara clash and clash again. They have a fight about meat that's not really about meat at all, although Grissom doesn't know that. At the end of the episode, Sara is requesting a leave of absence and Grissom remains clueless.
GRISSOM: What is this?
SARA: It's, uh, just what it says: It's a request for a leave of absence -- six months ... year, maybe.
GRISSOM: Why?
SARA: I was thinking of checking out the federal government system - FBI ...
GRISSOM: We have the best lab in the country.
SARA: I need a different work environment.
GRISSOM: What does that mean?
SARA: One with, um, communication ... respect.
GRISSOM: Everybody here respects you.
SARA: You don't.
GRISSOM: Is this about that hamburger thing?
SARA: No, Grissom ... this is not about that "hamburger" thing. I don't believe you. How can you reduce everything that I've said to some kind of single quirk? Do you think the problem here is just about me? If you don't sign my leave, I'm going to have to quit.
(SARA turns to leave. GRISSOM stops her.)
GRISSOM: Hey, Sara? The Lab needs you here.
You can hear in Grissom's pause that what Sara wanted him to say was "I need you here." Catherine comes to Clueless!Grissom's rescue later that night:
CATHERINE: I heard about you and Sara.
GRISSOM: Sara, you know, she gets very emotional.
CATHERINE: Are you in denial? No, that's ... no, no ... way too analytical. Wow, you got burned bad, huh? Welcome to the club. I got third-degree burns from my marriage. Happens to everybody. Everybody just moves on.
GRISSOM: Good. Let's move on.
CATHERINE: But you have to deal with it. You have to deal with it first. You got to deal with it before it goes away. You are the supervisor. You have responsibilities, and people are making a family around you whether you like it not, whether you give them permission or not. We don't have to go to the Grand
Tetons together, just ... every now and then you got to lift your head up out of that microscope.
GRISSOM: Yeah.
(GRISSOM puts the dish rag down and reaches for his little black address book.
He sighs. He leafs through it and picks up the phone when he finds the number
he's looking for. GRISSOM dials the phone.)
GRISSOM: Yeah, hi. I'd like to get some flowers for a girl. No, no. Not flowers. A plant. A living plant. She likes vegetation.
(CATHERINE sits down on the sofa. She smiles and takes a sip from her glass.)
GRISSOM: Yeah, that'd be fine. To a Sara Sidle. Deliver it at the CSI division, Las Vegas Police Department the one out on North Trop Boulevard. Yeah, you can bill me at the same place. Gil Grissom. (pause) The sentiment? Oh-oh, on the card. Yeah. Um, uh ... have it say ... have it say, uh ... "From
Grissom."
Catherine veers very quickly into explaining the situation to Grissom in terms of work, but it seems clear that both she and he understand what's really going on. She gets Grissom to display his appreciation for Sara with the gesture of the plant. The "From Grissom" though? Grissom assumes that all he needs to say is in the gesture of sending the plant. It should be obvious. And that is exactly why he and Sara continue to misunderstand each other.
The episode that follows the gifting of the plant, Primo Non Nocera the charm, the smiles, the flirting is back.
SARA: You just don't like sports.
GRISSOM: That's not true-- I've been a baseball fan my whole life.
SARA: Baseball. Well, that figures. All those stats.
GRISSOM: It's a beautiful game.
SARA: Since when are you interested in beauty?
GRISSOM: Since I met you.
In the finale of Season 2, Hunger Artist, we blow right past subtext here, although all of it remains unspoken.
The investigation into a young model's death leads Grissom to some subtle but powerful reflection about how he is choosing work over other parts of life and not realizing what he's missing.
Near the end of the episode, Grissom wanders out of the victim's apartment, in search of evidence but seeming to walk in no direction whatsoever. The most important part of the scene is the music in the background, from Robbie Robertson's song "Unbound":
With eyes of fire
No one can see
I am drawn
I am drawn to her
Like a moth to a flame
she leads me down
Unbound
As the music fades, Grissom ends his wandering and turns into the overpass where the victim was found. There he sees Sara standing in silhouette, cast in almost an ethereal glow.
I remember watching this episode for the first time and feeling my heart explode. Grissom understands his feelings through his work, and his cases make him examine his life more than any other outside influence. Except Sara; and here, the case and Sara are leading him to the same conclusion. We make the connection, and hope Grissom does, too.
Actual Text highlights:
At the end of Season 3, in the episode Playing with Fire, Catherine accidentally blows up part of the lab. Sara happens to be walking by and is knocked to the growd by the force of the explosion and the shattering glass. Grissom finds her, dazed and injured, and attempts to get her taken care of by and EMT. He also calls her honey in his concern. At the end of the episode, we see that the explosion has led Sara to suddenly reevaluate some part of her life, and she goes to Grissom's office:
SARA: You got a minute?
GRISSOM: I was just leaving.
SARA: Yeah, the, uh, schedule says you're off tonight.
GRISSOM: I am.
SARA: Me, too.
GRISSOM: You should be on paid leave.
SARA: I'm fine.
GRISSOM: Is that all you have to say?
SARA: Would you like to have dinner with me?
(GRISSOM stops.)
GRISSOM: No.
SARA: Why not? Let's ... let's have dinner. Let's see what happens.
GRISSOM: Sara ... I don't know what to do about this.
SARA: I do.
(They stare at each other.)
SARA: You know, by the time you figure it out, you really could be too late.
Season 4 brings us Invisible Evidence, and possibly the hottest moment ever on C.S.I. Sara and Grissom review evidence for a case, except that's not what they're doing at all.
(SARA is standing in front of the bed sheet hanging against the wall, studying it when GRISSOM walks into the lab and sees her.)
GRISSOM: Checking my work?
SARA: Oh, I'm just looking around.
GRISSOM: What are you thinking?
SARA: Well, her body left behind this void.
(SARA walks up to the sheet, her hands out in front of her to indicate the area
she's talking about.
SARA: The attacker was on top. He held her down by her wrists.
(She turns around to look at GRISSOM.)
GRISSOM: Which would explain the transfer of wax from him to her.
SARA: Yes. (pause) Pin me down.
(GRISSOM takes a step forward. He holds SARA'S wrists and pushes against her as she pushes back to illustrate what she's thinking.)
SARA: She would have struggled. Then, she gave up. Afterward, when he got up, he put his hands on the sheet for leverage.
(After a moment, GRISSOM releases SARA'S wrists and places his hands on the sheet near her waist.)
GRISSOM: Like this.
(SARA nods.)
GRISSOM: Which explains how the wax got from him to the sheets.
(SARA turns to look at GRISSOM.)
SARA: Yes.
(For a moment, the two are standing there. SARA takes a breath and breaks the moment. She puts her hands down and steps away from the sheet - away from GRISSOM.)
An overwhelming number of screencaps here and here, because you have to see this.
And then we come to Butterflied, the episode guaranteed to either break your heart or make you completely furious; in my case, it's both. Grissom takes a case with victim that looks eerily like Sara; the case possesses Grissom for the entire episode, occasionaly seeing a vision of Sara when he's looking at the victim. As Grissom confronts the woman's killer, he delivers this monologue.
GRISSOM: It's sad, isn't it, doc? Guys like us. Couple of middle- aged men who've allowed their work to consume their lives. The only time we ever touch other people is when we're wearing our latex gloves. We wake up one day and realize that for fifty years we haven't really lived at all. But then, all of a sudden ... we get a second chance. Somebody young and beautiful shows up. Somebody we could care about. She offers us a new life with her, but we have a big decision to make, right? Because we have to risk everything we've worked for in order to have her. I couldn't do it ... but you did.
We don't know it until Grissom is finished speaking, but Sara's watching Grissom through the two-way mirror from the Observation Room and appears to have heard the whole thing.
Season Four ends with Sara getting picked up for drunk driving. (Though a minor plot point, there had been several mentions by other characters that Sara seemed to be drinking more and otherwise not acting like herself. It's easy to assume, since there's no explanation for her change in behavior, that it has something to do with Grissom.) She's given a pass by the police , but they have to call Grissom, who comes to pick her up. The last line of the season is Grissom telling Sara, "Come on. I'll take you home."
The current season brings us some interesting scenes where Grissom and Sara talk-but-not-talk about what happened with Sara's drinking and in general about how Sara's doing. A few episodes into the season, and the flirting and the smiling and the complimenting from Seasons 1 and 2 seem to be making a comeback. It's a great time to start watching
Resources:
The Body Farm - great episode guides and transcripts
http://www.typhoidandswans.com/thebodyfarm/episodeguide/epmain.html
William Peterson Online - The actor who plays Grissom
http://www.billypetersen.com/
Jorja Fox online- The actor who plays Sara
http://www.jorjafox.net/
Scene of the Crime
http://sceneofthecrime.00freehost.com/Index.html
Risk
http://risksit.topcities.com/main.html
Like a Moth to a Flame
http://members.lycos.nl/love_of_my_life/
Grissom Sara Love Lab
http://grisssaralovelab.bravehost.com/index.html
Grissom and Sara dot com - under construction/redesign, but at AWESOME site once it's back up
http://www.grissomandsara.com/
C.S.I. Web Awards
http://www.csiwebawards.tk/
Elyse's C.S.I. Site
http://members.aol.com/JRD203/csi.htm
Black Glass - screencaps
http://www.fan-sites.org/csi/
The Wrap-Up:
You can catch C.S.I. Thursday nights on CBS, and reruns every weeknight on Spike TV.
You know you want to watch. You know you want to fall for Sara the way Grissom has, and adore Grissom the way Sara does. If there's any way I can help get you hooked, let me know.