stunt_muppet

Sweet though Eric’s admission to Suicidal Rehab Girl was, it still felt like the writers were rubbing his miraculous, sudden recovery in my face. Um, so apparently, not only are we going to have him almost-fully recover from a head shot in the span of a month and a half, we’re also going to have three episodes of minor brain damage and then have Eric magically back to normal. Gah. Remember when I predicted that Eric’s head injury would be the S5 equivalent of Ryan’s eye thing? I was totally right.

 

Something just occurred to me. What with all this miraculous healing going on, someone should probably go dig up Speed. I’m sure the gaping hole in his chest has had ample time to close itself up by now.

 

That said, I have to hand it to Adam. Though Eric’s healed physically, Adam’s still playing him quite differently than he used to, and I think the change works. He’s become quieter and more cautious after Man Down, and you can tell that even though he’s recovered, he’s still worried about messing up.

 

Also, cheesy though it was, I really liked his speech to Suicidal Rehab Girl. One of the major things I’ve noticed during the past few episodes was Eric’s resistance to anyone who offered help or indicated that he’d made a mistake, and I’m glad they brought it up here. I think it’s an important part of his character and a significant part of what’s changed about him – being forced to seek help and rely on others is new for him, at least to this extent, and I feel like it’s changed the way he sees himself and his job. Also, it was nice to see someone besides Horatio offering sympathy to a helpless young woman, and Eric was pretty good at it. :)

 

And his hair’s starting to grow back. I am happy for that. The buzz-cut look wasn’t doing it for me. (I can’t say the same thing about his white pants – dark jacket combo, though. My fashion sense weeps.)

 

Calleigh was amazing this week; I think she had great candor with the folks in rehab and wasn’t as contemptuous of them as she certainly could have been. I loved her smiles and her lighthearted tone, especially at lines such as “it’s nothing like prison”, which could have been very heavy-handed but weren’t. Not sure how I feel about her reading tabloid magazines; Inner Feminist is all set to rant and rave about that (because of course all women, even capable and strong women like Cal, read trashy celebrity newspapers. Of course they do), but Spastic Fantard has her in a piledriver, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Frankly, I’m just happy for evidence that someone in that crime lab has a life.

 

Um…um…I was studying for my Bio test while I was watching this episode, so my memory of it’s a tiny bit vague. Ryan and Natalia didn’t really register this episode – they did stuff, but darned if any of it stood out to me at all. Same pretty much goes for Alexx, although she did get her requisite One Awesome Line Per Episode: “It’s rehab. Everybody’s screaming.” That line is actually the reason I bothered to watch this episode at all.

 

Frank is still mostly missing in action. Perhaps he’s hanging with John Munch, swapping stories about ex-wives.

 

And Horatio…well, two points. First off, it was nice to see him interacting with a mourner who wasn’t a helpless young woman. Sure, he didn’t go into Font of Sympathy and Support Mode nearly as much (which is weird because he used to do that with everyone – one more reason why Season 5 is annoying), but at least it was a change. Although, the guy did turn out to be guilty at the end, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

About that. After Manager/Murderer confessed, this episode went rapidly downhill. For starters, I don’t like the tone Horatio took with him after he confessed. The difference between the two murders is that the second guy got caught? I’m sorry, but it just sounded flip. Does the fact that he didn’t get caught invalidate what the other guy did, is that what we’re saying? That’s what it sounds like.

 

Now, I can see where I think the writers were trying to go with that. Maybe Horatio was just trying to emphasize to M/M that there was no difference between what he did and what the victim did – they were both killers, and what Victim did didn’t justify what M/M did. Okay. Fine. I can deal with that. But if that’s what they were going for, they could have stated it more clearly.

 

Also, I’m thoroughly tired of slow-mo perpwalks. It’d be nice if we went a few episodes without those.

 

The rest of the ending struck me as a huge wasted opportunity. They repeat the “we all have secrets” line twice – twice! – taunting us with its significance. Anyone who’s been following the series for any length of time knows exactly why Horatio repeats “some of us more than one”. And I got a little excited over that. I thought it meant that we were finally going to start addressing Le Big Mysterious Thing That Happened in His Past That May or May Not Be Connected to The Death of His Dad, which had not been brought up for a while. Granted, I kind of like that they’ve dragged it out this long. I may complain at the lack of information, but the truth is that a little mystery is good for Horatio’s character. Plus, it gives ficcers like me a little more wiggle room. Not to mention that I have a feeling that the minute Le Big Mysterious Thing is resolved, some fresh new angst is going to be injected into the series so that Horatio can continue brooding as normal (which I would not be pleased with).

 

But…but…the episode just ends after that. There’s just nothing there. Oh, except for a takeoff of Britney Spears that serves absolutely no narrative purpose and I still don’t even know why that’s there. Seriously, what was that? Why did we include that? When I saw the head-shaving thing in the previews, I assumed it would have some relevance to the plot – like maybe the actress Calleigh was talking to shaved her head and was wearing a wig to mask addiction, or something. But…it was just there. No purpose but to throw in a gratuitous pop-culture reference. Um, what.

 

Look, show, I’m not asking for much. Just a tidbit. A hint that something may later (season finale?) be revealed. Maybe a shot of him heading back into that chapel from the S4 opening – not necessarily praying, just going in. Hitting his own Level Six. Or maybe just a look, a suggestion that he might want to confess something to someone but doesn’t know who or how. That’s not too much to ask, is it? Let’s face it, the world doesn’t need any more Britney jokes.

 

I suppose, since everyone else seems to be discussing them, I should throw in a word or two about the previews for next week. I have my doubts that Eric and Calleigh will actually kiss, since this is CSI and nobody kisses. Ever. (I count Mac and Peyton as an exception to that rule.) My prediction, personally, is that Eric will expect a kiss and be all ready for one, whereupon Calleigh will totally cheat and hug him instead. Eric will be disappointed and sadfaced. The home audience will giggle like a sissy girl.

 

(Wait. Wait. I’m forced to rescind the comment about no-kissing-on-CSI. Miami’s had a kiss. I just remembered. And it was a kiss on the neck, too, which strikes me as way more sexual than one on the lips, no matter what any glorified preview tells me. My prediction for Eric and Cal remains utterly the same, however.)

 

As for Eric and Calleigh getting together, since now the show’s pretty much officially headed in that direction, I’m not sure what to think about it. I’ve sort of half-heartedly shipped the two for a while, so I’m not entirely bothered by this, but…I dunno. It feels very sudden, and I can’t help but think it’s not gonna end well. Office relationships have this bad habit of turning into office breakups with all their ensuing awkwardness (I point you to Season 4 Natalia), and Calleigh has not had good luck with boyfriends so far.

 

Hmm. I shall have to see where it goes before I decide whether or not I approve of this development. But I do have to wonder why we’re lifting the smooching ban now, as opposed to, say, S4, when there was a whole lot more relationship whatnot going on (no, I’m not just talking about Those Two. Shut up.)