#1x08: pipe cleaner

[hollygl125]

[finallygotaroundtochangingit]

Kicking off with a robber calling 911. Allie sticking up for Roby was great, as was Grissom and Sara continuing to investigate. Folsom and Grissom both had jokes, and I can only imagine how that bathtub would’ve smelled. I didn’t envy Folsom having to scoop the goop, and I can’t believe child pageants are still a thing anymore. Sara losing her ring was sad, Roby working on the case was to be expected, GSR being sneaky while solving the case was great, and the making of the fake finger was cool. We got an actual COVID mention, a Ramirez ex-wife mention, and a lot of awkwardness. Ramirez, Folsom, and Allie working to find Sara’s ring was sweet, as was Roby entrusting Folsom to help out with her investigation. What wasn’t however, was Allie very obviously being jealous- I wonder what her boyfriend would think. Grissom being snarky with classic Grissom remarks was awesome, and the tooth-reconstruction technology was cool- also, I knew the creepy pageant guy had something to do with the crime, but just how was surprising. Child pageants are honestly atrocious- parents shouldn’t be able to control their kids’ lives like that. Wix chewing out Sara was kind of funny, and Roby helping her with the case was good to see. Grissom putting his arm around Sara was the cutest, and the recreating of the scene was awesome. The entire ring scene was absolute perfection, from the clothes to the looks to the hands. The last scene provided some clarity for us and a lead-in to the penultimate episode. 

There was a lot of high-tech special effects this episode that were kind of jarring, and we found out more about Ramirez’s backstory, including why he moved to Vegas. With only two more episodes to go, we’re getting closer and closer to the end.   

[hiei29]

One of my fave scene in CSI Vegas. For reasons I cannot compute, TPTB shows only 1 kiss from the MARRIED COUPLE for the entire 10 episodes . So all additional PDAs/Kiss happened in my head 😁❤️😍🥰😘

I hope your day was good. Mine was okay, but now it’s time to log off and enjoy my evening.

[hollygl125]

[hollygl125]

[hollygl125]

10+1 questions: Sara Sidle + Gil Grissom

Just look at these two—they each think the other is so sweet! They have been smitten genius fools for over two decades!

@coping-via-clint-eastwood, I started preparing in my head fairly detailed responses to these questions after I saw your posts, so for the sake of my sanity I had to put my responses in a post of my own.  (This is basically how I ended up writing gsr fanfic, too, to be honest—because I kept rewriting the same scenes over and over again in my head.)

Who’s the cuddler?

Both.  They spent so much of their working hours just recycling each other’s air that I cannot imagine them not doing the same in private.  I think Grissom wants to be as close to Sara as possible because (1) he wants to be as close to Sara as possible and (2) he wants to protect her and to take away her pain.  I think Sara wants to be as close to Grissom as possible because (1) she wants to be as close to Grissom as possible and (2) she wants to reassure him.

Who makes the bed?

Sara.  Grissom can put up with some appearance of disorder in his surroundings (see: office).  But Sara likes order and is a control freak, so she would want the bed made.  Plus she lived in such tiny apartments pre-Grissom that they would quickly become messy-looking if she didn’t.  Plus she never sleeps.  Plus she told Greg that before she left Vegas she never left the house without making the bed.  Plus….  Although, that said, I could see Grissom becoming really good about making the bed just to please Sara.

Who wakes up first?

Sara.  Again, she doesn’t really sleep much.  But I like to think that post-“Immortality” she learned to relax and to sleep in a little more and that it becomes more of a mixed bag regarding who wakes up first.

Who has the weird taste in music?

Grissom, although it’s not really weird.  I think during her original run Sara is shown possibly to have the best general, well-rounded appreciation of music of the CSIs.  (See below the cut for a little rant on Sara and music and the writers in the later years.*)  I think Grissom has an appreciation for a lot of different types of music, but his penchant for Italian opera is in this age most atypical.

Who is more protective?

Both, although if forced I would give a slight edge to Grissom.  Again, especially after he learns more about Sara’s past, he really wants to make her feel safe and to take away all her pain (even if yes he makes a bunch of mistakes and inflicts a lot of pain along the way).  I think Sara most of all wants to protect him from himself, because she knows how hard he is on himself.  Post-“Immortality,” especially, I imagine her wanting to make sure he doesn’t blame himself for the things that went wrong between them, because she knows that wouldn’t be good for their relationship moving forward (and because she loves him and, again, doesn’t want him to be hard on himself).

I went kind of long on a couple of the remaining questions, so the rest of my responses are under the cut.

Who sings in the shower?

Sara.  Sara sings to herself.  (Grissom sings to Sara to amuse her, but not necessarily in the shower.)

Who cries during movies?

Sara.  Obviously (thought not often).  She is the most openly emotional of all our CSIs.  (I don’t mean this as a knock on her at all.  I too am a crier, even if the crying actually means “f*** off, you absolute pr***.”)

Who spends the most while out shopping?

Grissom.  Foster kid on scholarship to Harvard, Sara, must have learned to be really frugal.  Plus her wardrobe is (let’s be honest) occasionally not so great (that heartbreaking scene in 05x14, “Unbearable,” springs to mind), so I imagine she must have been buying mostly relatively inexpensive clothes she could chuck without a second thought if they got ruined on the job.  (Her wardrobe in CSI: Vegas was way nicer, so I headcanon Catherine having gotten them both some store credits at the Eclipse so they wouldn’t embarrass her by giving off salty sea captain vibes.)  Also, pre-relationship with Grissom she seems to have chosen pretty modest apartments.  So I see Sara still instinctively being frugal and Grissom (who is more senior professionally and otherwise and has more money and at least at one time drove a Mercedes) wanting to spoil her and buy her nice things (nice vegetarian food, necklaces, silk robes and lacy things, etc.).

Who kisses more roughly?

Neither, although if forced I would give a slight edge to Grissom as less rough.  I think, as @addictedtostorytelling has written (and apologies for any errors in paraphrasing), they are both incredibly gentle with each other—incredibly gentle and kind and respectful.  I certainly see them both as being very enthusiastic and sometimes intense in their interactions and yes definitely sometimes just fucking (pin me down, etc.), but absolutely not being rough.  That being said, I think Grissom would even basically have negative amounts of roughness.  Having seen WP’s sexual/romantic interactions in movies, I think his gentleness here is very deliberate (not that we got to see a lot of gsr kisses).  Grissom knows Sara’s past, and he wants her to feel totally safe and protected.  He knows she wouldn’t appreciate roughness or aggression (and it’s not in his character anyway, which is one of the things she loves about him).  I kind of imagine that, if she ever (after years and years and years of being comfortable with and having absolute trust in this man) playfully suggested he tell her she was a bad girl or something, his response would in essence be like, “No, you’re a good girl, Sara; you’re the best person I know, honey; you’re an angel, sweetheart; you’re a goddess, darling; sorry, my dearest, I can’t; you’re perfect.” Also, given their size (NOT height) difference, Sara could get away with a slight roughness without it really having any effect on Grissom, but Grissom has negative roughness with her.

Who is more dominant?

Neither, although if forced I would give a slight edge to Sara.  I see them as absolutely equal partners.  Especially given the inequality for many years in their professional relationship, they would strive for total equality in their personal relationship.  Given her personal history, Sara would not take well at all to someone trying to dominate her; she would be out the door.  But unsurprisingly, when she falls madly in love, it’s for someone who would never try to dominate her.  I think, because he wants to make up for all the pain she has suffered, and because he knows he was dominant in their professional relationship at the crime lab, Grissom would be okay with her being slightly dominant in their personal relationship.  But I think that, given her personal history, she would also not want to dominate him in the personal sphere.  But I can see Sara telling Grissom, like, “It’s time to fuck now, Gil,” (maybe not in those exact words) and him just being like, “Okay, great,” but I cannot imagine the reverse, on his part.  I can see her having to lift his head out of the microscope sometimes (and, post-“Immortality,” being more confident in doing so)—telling him it’s time to eat or to have sex or to whatever rather than to look at bugs or to make models of the crime lab or to try to fake DNA or to whatever.  So I guess I can see her taking the lead in some things (just like she occasionally has to smooth over what he says or to step in when he doesn’t know what to say) because he can be obtuse.  Also, through to the demise of their first marriage (and then some), they were just two science nerds in love who never fully lost their own individual insecurities in their relationship; I like to think that in their second marriage they have fully recognized their earlier mistakes and Sara especially would be pretty quick to take the lead to correct things if she saw a risk of anything going amiss.

My rating of the ship from 1-10.

1000.

*Rant on Sara’s appreciation of music: I have a lengthier note about this in something still unpublished, but in her original run Sara seems to have a good, well-rounded knowledge and appreciation of music.  Then the later-season writers (the same ones who brought us “The preposterous divorce that will crush your hearts and souls and then oh yeah we’re just going to ignore your co-favourite character’s personal development anyway”) give us the “Who’s Beyoncé?” line.  I’m not saying Sara would care much about B either way, but she would definitely know who she was.  To me the line is this really lazy, hack way to show Sara as the out-of-it nerd contrasted with the fun blondes Finn and Morgan.  And I think that’s bullshit, and I hate it.  Sara was a cool science nerd.  So my headcanon is that Sara just said that to get out of doing karaoke with Morgan. All of us have a silly hill on which we would die, and this is mine.