This morning I turned on my phone (it gets shut off the moment I walk into my house after work everyday, my space is MY space) and I got one voice mail and one text message. A warning before you go too far here, if you watch CSI and haven't watched last night's ep yet, don't go on, I'm gonna talk about it.

The voice mail was my friend PrissyMae singing in her big ole southern fried voice:

Happy Late Birthday to you
Happy Late Birthday to you
Happy Late Birthday to you (insert my real name he-ere)
Happy late Birthday day to you
Hope you get laid....

Oh how I love you Pissymae!

The text was from E-beth saying that "this show" meaning CSI I would assume, gives her indigestion.

That made me laugh.

I suppose if I didn't know what was going to happen I'd have had indigestion too but I knew pretty much all of the big stuff from that ep from the promos and the picture.

Almost all of it. I didn't know that the brother was dead already. I thought that was a really nice twist.

You know, for all the build up and rah rah, I enjoyed last night's episode the same way I enjoyed most of Season One's episode. It was good story telling, the characters acted IN character. We weren't having anvils dropped on our heads but the relationships and closeness of the crew was evident in the way that they worked together. THAT was CSI at it's best.

The fact that they had to wait for the season finale to pull together what worked in a regular old anytime of the year show in the first season is disappointing, but the fact that they still know how is nice.

Here's what worked for me most about last night:

1. Nick and Warrick

I've missed them together. They have an easy humor that serves the show well.

2. Catherine doing her job without making the entire job about her personal life. There was no reference to how this related to how her marriage was, how her daddy left her, how her daughter is a punk, how she used to be a stripper, she just came in, did her job and was likeable.

3. Grissom intereacting with other lab staff in a way that doesn't make him come off like an asshole. The scene with the serology was classic CSI. Grissom showing the new techies how it was done old school because he doesn't need it to be anything more and doing it in a way that is quiet and not bossy or short tempered.

4. Grissom and Sara working a case together, being in the same room together, being clearly comfortable in each others presence and focused on the job at hand instead of making eyes at each other like teenagers or spending 6 episodes at a time never being in the same room together.

An extra note about this one. Yes I love GSR. Yes I used to love the small moments, like the chalk dust or when they met under the bridge because they both follow the same logic. I loved Sara asking him if he wanted to sleep with her so he could tell her it was only her empathy that made her wake up in a cold sweat. I loved that Grissom did the pig experiment for her and that she brought him a blanket and coffee and sat with him to watch a pig rot.

I loved those things because they were natural.

The moment it became THIS everything changed and it was an either or situation. Either he had to be away from her completely or they had to deal with the fact that at least one of them wanted more. There is no good way to do this if the show is to continue. I love Grissom and Sara. I will write them together for as long as I have any interest in the characters and at this point I feel like the show has pushed themselves into a corner. They either have to get together or stop playing at one another BECAUSE they put it on the table. They could have left it at that small measure of tension forever but they caved to the pressure of the people who watch that think they know what they want to see.

Hope you're happy people, cause when you get it you're gonna love it for exactly a minute.

Don't get me wrong. I'll be happy in that moment too, but part of me will be sad for the days when a quiet glance across a room was enough.

and finally:

5. Captain Jim Brass.

I'm glad they let him have the swansong, he deserved it. Jim Brass is everything that is right about this show. It breaks my heart that they could let that go, but last night he was spot on, one hundred percent a joy to watch.

The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way last night? Well, I'll leave that to next week so as not to spoil anyone who doesn't want spoiling.

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