The Lonely Whale (Spoilers)
I watched the whole interrogation. I learned a lot. Especially the end. You should watch it.
I'm posting this here because I don't want it to get buried at the main board. I know that means no one will probably see it, but hopefully it also means it won't get deleted in time.
There is a lot of dissent around this, the final episode of CSI, but to me the most compelling part of the show was always the characters' lives outside of the crime lab. That being said, the final two minutes felt like a touching tribute to the end of the series. Watching Grissom and Sara sail off into the sunset is a simplistic image, but enough to get my heart rolling. The Norah Jones song that played throughout also lent a melancholic touch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INCWyHgroCg
Granted, I haven't watched the show since season 10. I did think that Brass's final scene (being set on fire) was odd and out of place, and the fact that Nick Stokes, the only character to remain throughout the 16-year run, decided to opt out of a final appearance was disappointing to say the least. Despite this being the two-hour finale, everything felt rushed. I do think it's nice that Catherine Willows finally got her due and Sara Sidle hopefully found a satisfying conclusion to her character arc.
Producer Anthony Zuiker had this to say about the characters' fates:
I believe in my heart 10 years from now that Grissom and Sara not only are conquering the seas and sailing the oceans, but they are also probably saving the environment on land and sea. They would probably have children and they would dedicate their lives to the betterment of humanity. In terms of the other characters, probably Catherine would still be running the crime lab, Brass probably would retire, living somewhere in Hawaii, and DB probably is working in the private sector in Washington DC. And I think that all these characters would still have their toe in the crime water.
All said and done, the best part of the finale was Grissom's touching soliloquy about the whale:
There's a great mammal in the ocean known as the 52-hertz whale. All year, he practices his love song for the female. Travels thousands of miles to find her. But when he finally gets the chance to serenade her, she doesn't give him a call back. Why? His love ballad is sung at 52 hertz, a sonic signature one note higher than the lowest sound of a tuba. The average female hears at 10 to 15 hertz. So she never hears his song. They call him the lonely whale. And year after year, for a hundred years, he works on a new love song and never, ever gets a call back. Eventually, he dies off... Forever alone, heart breaking.share