Hesitant No More

Well, at least in regards to the shaving scene.

Too short? Yes. Not enough tie-in from the episode? Yes. Perfect scene? Definitely.

It's hard to explain, but something about it was so... right in the midst of everything saying it should be wrong. You have bad editing near the end, an unravelling conclusion to a tight episode, and yet this is what I love about the show and the ship:

These actors really can make you forget it. And I don't just mean Jorja and Billy. George Eads was fantastic, as was Paul Guilfoyle. I loved the Nick/Greg interaction, and...

Simply-put, it was only a great episode because of the skills of their cast.

The final scene was only perfect because the two actors saved an otherwise ridiculously-placed scene.

Hesitant? Not about GSR itself, but TPTB's ability to continue to portray it.

The Scene and Rants and Raves

Well, to begin with, the scene last week was... perfect. But perfect in the sense that it should've been awful. The fact that it was 'cute' that Sara smelled like garbage, that Grissom was stalking her down the hallway, that Sara hadn't known that he was coming back...

It all should've been awful.

And of course it was adorable.

There really isn't much else to say about it. I was just... happy with it. No real critiques needed, no in-depth analysis. I mean, there is some doubt as to whether Sara's end comment was flirty or angsty, but I think that'll be clear enough this Thursday.

For once, I felt as though GSR was on precisely the right level this season. In the past, there either wasn't enough, or I did think that people were attempting to tone it down or angst it up for the antis, but if they were planning fullscale angst, that does seem to be diverted now.

As for the rant and rave thread, I've settled the initial confusion, but I did want to say this: the ONLY reason I posted for spanish to come here was because of... well, two factors. The first I've already said (because people have assumed in the past, when I take it to PM, that I'm ignoring the user), the other is because my blog is not under my usual name(s). IBS/ABS got in trouble for posting under another name things that were very hateful toward the ship and (getting back to my original rant) was frowned upon for not admitting her secondary identity. I'm not going to go into her situation and whether that was right or wrong, but I assumed that it would make sense after that to include any blogs within our bios or signatures so that kind of thing didn't happen again, and to make actual reference to it myself.

I was't trying to advertise, and to be honest, if I had my way, I would've preferred it to be anonymous, but after the ABS thing, I did assume that people wanted to know who was behind their blogs.

It's not an argument that I really want to continue, and I'm not particularly expecting people to be clinging to my blog for updates on the "situation", but if someone was wanting to question that again, this is my basic response.

Response to Spanishfan from YTDAW

Just so that you know, I wasn't coming down on you because you said it. Considering that she posted it on a very public non CSI related website, for anyone to see, I'm fine with any comments made because she knowingly opened herself up for them. I just knew that she had written up a private blog, and I thought that if you were reacting to the blog (because I hadn't seen the post yet) then it was a little unfair, because it was something she'd written in private. So now that I know the situation, I really didn't mean to "police" you, and I'm sorry.

To be totally honest, even if WP had said to her, "Okay, first I plan to bitch-slap Sara, and then leave her for Catherine. Then Sara will be drawn and quartered..." I mean, I could care less about what was said. The issue that I personally took with the post on the open Chicago Trib forum was that she was acting as though she had been personally betrayed. And I thought that that was incredibly rude to Billy, who had taken this time to meet with her, set aside time out of his schedule after the play (and I've done high school theater, which is probably one-billionth the effort that goes into a professional production, and unless it's the final night, you're not necessarily ready to run a marathon right afterwards), and she felt betrayed because he didn't shave his facial hair?
That is the problem I have, in general, with some fans on either side of the line. Like I said - if she had gone up and said, "GSR 4 eva! Lady Heather sucks!" that's her business. It was the interpretation of something he had done as being a slap in the face that I think is expecting too much of a fan/actor relationship.

People want to call her deluded, they can go ahead. I don't know her, I don't pretend to know her and I'm not a licensed psychologist and I'm certainly not hers' (I'm not implying that she has one, just to get that out of the way).

And I lied - I do have a bit of a problem with the conversation itself, but not WP's side of it (I'm sure you're shocked. lol), as you said, it feels as though someone is using a very special situation to their advantage. You are granted an opportunity to talk to someone you really admire, and rather than saying, "Wow, I think you're wonderful, great job with the show, I'm enjoying it." (and if you aren't, then, like, focus on the plays or his movies or something. lol) but to use it as a platform to get a storyline you want...

I haven't heard extensive stories about the GSRs who went to see him and met him in the street. I mean, I've heard about their general trip, and the excitement of running into him, but I haven't heard much of the particulars in regards to the meetings.

So if a GSR went up to him and said, "Yeah - I just love GSR. Sara should be the only woman, from now on, that Grissom ever - EVER - looks at." it would be exactly the same thing.

So I agree with you, the whole thing just comes off as bad form.

And now, it's a third count on bad form because she's using it as a weapon she can hold over us, "Here's what I did - here's what he said - you're screwed!"

By the way, for anyone who hasn't yet, I would recommend that you read the blog itself. Because I think it's too easy to hear snippets from the grape vine and just judge the whole thing based on that. I read it basically when it came out because someone else told me about it, but also because (I think) it was one of the first major fan accounts to come out of the play thing at the time. She also has pictures, for anyone who doubts that it happened at all.

But anyway, public service announcement over.

I think that if the conversation took place the way it was represented (and it is VERY detailed, by the way) that there is a high possibility that it was a simple misunderstanding on her part.

Honestly - honestly- I have no problem with the antis themselves. I mean, we ship what we ship. I didn't become a GSR so I could tell the antis to go to hell. What I don't like is the same thing that they don't like of me - I don't like it when they feel the need to come in and give proof as to why we're all delusional. Now it's tempting to say that as GSRs, we obviously have canon and years of proof under our belts. And I've played that game. I've played the "fact vs. fact" game. The thing is at the end of the day, they're still going to ship who they ship. We're not Jehova's here - we don't have to convert everyone in order to achieve the enlightenment of a GSR wedding or something.

My main argument is that I think that there's a BIG difference between writing a letter, as a fan, and with TPTB knowing, when they receive it that it's going to either be a positive or negative critique of the show, and essentially cornering an actor during what he thinks is just a fan-meet. Both sides want to criticize the other for saying that one writes a lot more letters and for facetious reasons. That we're using fake names, that we're unfairly influencing. You know what? Letter-writing has been around since the dawn of time.

The fan-meet scenario, however, (I think) should be seen as a priviliage - not a right. And I don't believe that in this case she was right to try to pressure him to change an entire, established storyline. So it's two-fold. I think she was wrong to try to basically tell him how she wanted things to be done, and then later to be furious when he didn't listen.

Antis vs. GSRs -- Outside Sites

"The Watcher" from The Chicago Tribune wrote up a review of tomorrow's episode. The first reaction was that an anti felt the need to post, talking about (and this was never mentioned) the declining ratings of CSI.

Naturally, my opinionated fingers betrayed me, and I'd hit the send button a nasty little response before I had time to properly think it through.

But here's the question: why do we get into fights, or why do we plaster controversial posts (especially when past experience tells us it will develop into a fight) onto a relatively neutral site?

I'm sure that, by now, most publications who've had to deal with this back and forth likely think that the CSI fan community is - by far - one of the craziest and most outlandish out there.

I think it's a simple matter of... away from out own surroundings of complete attention to CSI, the level of alarming spite we show towards one-another is all the more evident.

And I'm clearly including myself in that, but it's still... strange.

Strange that we seem to think that "besting" the other is going to make any difference in the end.

I have to wonder why that person thought leaving that post would have any affect. I, at least, knew that mine was a rebuttle to a nonsensical rambling about ratings, which the review had nothing to do with. I think that they believe if they keep repeating this mantra, everyone will accept it as truth. Yet the reviewer seemed to enjoy GSR, or at the very least not mind it.

That goes against the mantra - so let's throw ratings at it.

Now here's where I come in with my overdeveloped hero complex. I have to respond. It's a compulsion. Maybe I don't like that someone's manipulating one of these outside sources. Maybe I'm just bored writing my Psych paper tonight.

Whatever it is, the most vocal members of these two sides... we need to give our heads a shake sometimes before we take this fight into other realms.

It's a little like in Bridget Jones, when they crash into the Greek restaurant.

Awkward.

When You've Decided to Move On

When you've decided to let go of a show you've liked for ages, you would think that it would come with a great deal of trouble. That you'd fight against it, I suppose - try to find the good in the new episodes, even though you can tell it's past the point of no return for you.

Logical as that is, it just hasn't been my experience. I'll admit, I even liked Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I had been watching since the third grade. If you've been watching something for the better part of you elementary school experience, it does become somewhat iconic in nature. For instance, teens watching The Smurfs or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has more to do with nostalgia than quality (with the exception of WW. You can't not love Gene Wilder). Yet when the fifth season hit, I took one look at Dawn, or as Jump the Shark likes to say, "The New Kid on the Block", and I tuned out. It was as simple as that. I had lost interest.

And I was invested. I bought the books, started websites, bought the VHS tapes (yes, people - VHS. It was the second season, after all), I watched it every single week, I checked websites to look for the synopses of the episodes, looked at pictures... short of joining chat rooms, I was part of the "community", as most fanbases like to call themselves.

But it was as easy as that - I just stopped watching. And I stopped caring.

Once in a while, I'd flick over, and I found I couldn't even watch a whole episode. Now, naturally I tuned in for the finale, but by that point the whole thing seemed so mangled that I was sad that it had to end on that note, even though it was a decent episode.

But since this is a CSI: blog, I'll get to my point.

Yes, the antis.

I've spoken to a few people who generally say the same thing - once a show went somewhere they didn't want to follow, they just cut themselves out of the fanbase. During "Heathergate" at YTDAW, there were a number of people who stopped posting and were going to stop watching, until the episode aired and it turned out to be "not that bad".

So I guess the question is: is this the same experience for most people? And if so, why would people who claim to hate the show now still be watching it and devoting their time to boards about that program that they now so loathe?

I don't want to say "just move on", because everyone's allowed to be pissed about a storyline. It's just that I don't believe that anyone who really hates something would still be devoting lots of their time to it. No matter how invested they once were.

So is it, perhaps, simply for the benefit of TPTB, should they stumble on these comments and decide to reverse the changes?

I don't know.

But I can only really compare it to past experience, and my past experience has told me that when my ship goes bust (Willow/Oz), or a character I hate is introduced (Dawn, Glory), I have to tune out because it's just no longer worth the watch.

How Much Control Should the Fans Have?

I'm drunk on blogging power, apparently. It's my first time starting one of these seriously, so I'm likely trying to get the feel of it by mass-posting all on the first day.

But anyway...

Over the summer, the antis claimed that they were plugging out a really impressive amount of hate mail due to the finale. At press conferences, different reporters claimed to have huge amounts of negative fan mail.

Recently, the GSR side put out their own flurry (and yes, I sent a rather alarming amount myself) of mail.

CBS has created a message board for CSI. Both from the way people are writing, and the fact that it's there, I think everyone's assuming that they want a direct link to fan reaction.

But how much power should we really have over a show? I wonder if, given the knee-jerk reactions that often occur, if similar snap judgements won't be made on the behalf of the writing staff. We all seem to post the most heated thing - good or bad - right after an episode, and by the time we cool down to the, "It was (good/bad) but not THAT (good/bad)", it's likely a week or so later.

TPTB started with a really subtle season for GSR. Then all of the sudden Catherine/Grissom bonding moments seemed hastily pasted in. Then we were back to GSR, but on a much faster, fuller tilt. It's almost as though you can see the waves of fanmail changing the tides.

Like in chess, if you move fast on a gut reaction without thinking, you tend to miss the move coming at you three paces later. This is exactly why I have never won a game of chess. I can't think beyond surviving that moment. If TPTB get a flight or fight response to every bit of mail, I have to wonder if this slight warping of the GSR/Catherine-Grissom dynamics won't be a continual thing.

The letters seem to become a competition - oh! The antis sent 10? We'll send 100. I mean, we are (in the internet realm) a much bigger group. It makes sense. The number one topic of fan letters received prior to the finale were about GSR. That can't simply be us stomping our heels unfairly.

Little GSR, no GSR, Catherine/Grissom, LOTS of GSR. It just seems odd. And in truth, perhaps our fantastic connections with people who are kind enough to provide their e-mails, like David Rambo, might wind up hurting more than it helps.

A Note on Antis

I don't presume that all anti-GSRs ship the same ship, or love Catherine or adore Grissom or hate Sara by herself.

Having said that, it does seem as though antiGSR often stands for, "If Catherine/Sofia/Heather isn't his true love, then that makes no sense, because they are prettier, and Sara is a twisted, ugly troll."

Really?

Also that GSRs can't hate Catherine simply for Catherine. We view her as a threat to our ship. Since when? Like the dastardly time she got Grissom to send a plant to Sara to apologize and keep her on the team? Other than trying to fire Sara, which was more a threat to her job, has Catherine ever romantically interjected herself between them?

The problem I have with the antis is their complete lack of reasoning.

"Why do you hate GSR?"
"Because Jorja is ugly and they've turned Grissom into a zombie and WP hates it so much that he left to do a play."

I know there are plenty of antis who just don't like it and have perfectly good reasons for not liking it. But the conspiracy theories from the select few drag down the arguments.

Presents and Letters (Spoiler Warning)

The subtlty and the simple beauty of the two scenes from the past two weeks highly exactly what makes me hesitant about GSR.

These two actors have a quality of making mountains of subtext from a handful of lines of dialogue. Their real power is in that understated performance, the powerful (but restrained) chemistry.

Better than a domestic flashback fighting scene, the letter basically just let us into Grissom's mind - something I doubt the flashback could've ever done. As well, and always, I'd rather them keep Sara's emotions controlled so that the old manipulative claim can't be placed on her shoulders.

But... the closer that "real" GSR comes, the more I wonder if it will work. The shaving scene in particular seems over-the-top. And it only really could be over-the-top when you're dealing with actors who've made an entire relationship out of body language and voice inflection, yet haven't even so much as touched as a couple yet.

In this particular case, it doesn't seem that huge scenes are necessary. So will they, because of this, feel excessive?

Both the present and the letter were sweet. I'm glad that any and all angst seems to be toned down, if not erased. I'm just...

Hesitant.