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bartramcat · 4 years

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Random Thoughts on 6 Months of Obsessing on CSI's GSR

I’ve suddenly come to the realization that it’s now been more than 6 months since I happened upon my CSI/GSR obsession, so I thought it might be time to do a little analysis (and self-analysis) of the exact why this quirky love story grabbed hold of me and hasn’t quite let go.

I think the thing that stands out to me more than almost anything about it is that it is honest. Now exactly what do I mean by that? Leaving out the IMO preposterous divorce, the problems faced by these two characters either in getting together or sustaining their relationship are purely internal: derived from their own characters and not from circumstances contrived to separate them.

I suppose that brings up the most important aspect to this whole thing: these are flawed characters, but that also makes them very human ones--and makes both the love they feel for one another and the permutations they go through because of that love more compelling and believable. That's what gives their whole story a kind of integrity. They're not perfect plastic people; they're not interchangeable with any other couple who has ever inhabited the small screen. Neither one of them ever becomes someone they cannot be. They are who they are.

Curiously, I was watching one of the innumerable manifestations of Star Trek for a short time the other night, and it occurred to me that if GSR were tossed into the ST universe that he would probably be a Vulcan and she an Empath. Rather than “logic,” it is science on which he bases his existence, and she feels too deeply for the victims, at times almost to the point of incapacitating empathy.

The main theme of the GSR love story is Grissom finding his humanity through his love for Sara. What makes it realistic is that it doesn't happen overnight; hell it's at least 4 and a half years of show time before they become a couple, depending on when each individual viewer decides they got together. (I'm assuming no one dates their physical relationship before Nesting Dolls.) Between ND and One To Go, Grissom goes from a man who barely allows himself to feel anything to one whose life decisions are driven by his love for Sara. How much she affects his life choices is done incrementally, so it's not as if the man falls in love and changes overnight. We learn that, in fact, he fell in love with her "at first sight," yet it takes him years to recognize, to give into and, finally, to place his love for her above everything else.

(While I have a great fondness for the Finale, the fact that it was needed to "fix" GSR is absurd. They never should have needed fixing in the first place. I have so many problems with the divorce that I could write pages of rants about it. Well, I have, but I won't include them here. The divorce can be rationalized, and @addictedtostorytelling has done as plausible a job as possible, but, still, in fiction, if a plot point or character action has to be rationalized, that fiction has a credibility issue.)

There tend to be 2 types of love stories: redemption and salvation. GSR is unusual in that there is no redemption needed; these two characters, for all of their eccentricities and emotional disconnections, are actually of exceptional moral character. Instead, it is more a tale of mutual salvation, as each ultimately manages to save the other from a life of loneliness and despair. More even than that it has always struck me as being about 2 people who complete each other. Accident or not, the crossword puzzle metaphor is there in the background from beginning to end: they fill in each other's blanks. And, finally, the genuine sweetness about it is that they make each other happy, not a small thing in the lives of these two for whom happiness is a near alien concept. A lot of fiction pays lip service to the fact that 2 characters need each other; these 2 really do.

Everyone sees things differently, but one of the reasons I find them enchanting is that, as a couple, they have almost a preternatural innocence about them. A lot of that is driven by the fact that it's clear these 2 adult characters have never loved anyone else (or are incapable of loving anyone else), nor been loved. On one level they're like a couple of kids in love for the first time, learning how to "be in love" together; on the other there are aspects of their relationship, especially the emotional trust between them, that are refreshingly mature. They never play vindictive "love games" of any kind. There is jealousy in both of them, but that jealousy comes more from senses of inadequacy in each of them rather than from possessiveness. They are lovers and best friends. While we are given more overt evidence that she confides in him, we are also given hints here and there that she is the only one he can willingly bare his soul to.

It is somewhat anomalous that a show that never shied away from depicting the nuts and bolts of sexual deviance in its crime scenes was downright prudish when it came to its one great love story. At times one wonders if the writers were incapable of depicting normal, loving sexuality: that were we given "details" that it might slip into the realm of the prurient, so they exercised excessive restraint. For such a "cutting-edge" show to operate as if the 1960s CBS censors were looming over GSR is curious. But, then, GSR as a love story is more about their emotional connection than their physical one, and it is certainly made clear, in an almost 1940s movie kind of way, that while sex is not the only element in their relationship that it is not in any way an insignificant or problematic one. Yes, even in the 21st century, it is possible to present a relationship that evinces sexual tenderness without ever once depicting actual sex.

I've very much oversimplified the love story here. I think as a Romance that it was a magnificent achievement--near epic in its scope--especially for prime time TV. It probably demands volumes: it contains metaphysical and existential complexities on the nature of love and the self in love. It's not only a beautiful love story but a very human one.

I am probably not done exploring it yet.

#csi #gsr #gil grissom #sara sidle #grissom and sara #jorja fox #william petersen #mytext

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annabethlestrange · 3 years

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THE KEPT WOMAN (WILL TRENT #8) - KARIN SLAUGHTER

RATING 𝟒/𝟓 🌟

𝑬𝑵𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮, 𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑼𝑰𝑵𝑮, 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲, 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑩𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑨𝑭!

“If you love someone, you don’t go out of your way to hurt them. You don’t torture them. You don’t terrify them or make them live in constant fear. That’s not how love works. It’s not how normal people work.”

Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors! What more can I say? It's almost perfect for my taste. I like how disturbing and horrifying the details are here. The plot and characters. There's always a surprise element and twist in each of the books. I admired Karin for her excellent talent for telling us backstories without compromising the whole storyline.

“Every relationship, romantic or otherwise, had a certain level of selfishness. It went back and forth, depending on who was stronger or who needed it most.”

I feel sorry for Will. He deserves to be happy. I hope Sara will not give up on him. I can describe the whole story as INTENSE. Every ending of one chapter will make your heart explode with excitement. There is a lot of violence too. So, I can really truly say that this is not for everyone. At some point, it can trigger your anxiety.

“Trust me, Will. Life always makes you pay for your personality.” Amanda gave him a rueful smile. “It catches up with her every single second of the day.”

Couldn't agree more with Amanda Wagner. She's my top favorite strong female character of all time! I believe that KARMA'S A BITCH!

Honestly, I'm appalled and surprised that Angie is still alive. No matter how horrible her life has been, she gets no sympathy from me. Next book, please, I want her DEAD and BURIED! With Lena Adams please. 🙃 lol

Obviously, I enjoyed reading this. If you like disturbing dark crime, complicated characters, and full of action stories, then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! START WITH THE GRANT COUNTY SERIES!

▌│█║▌║▌║ - ║▌║▌║█│▌

READ DATE 𝟎𝟕/𝟏��/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

READING CHALLENGE 𝟓𝟐/𝟏𝟎𝟎

GENRE Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Suspense

🎧 Vindicated 🎙️ Dashboard Confessional 🎶

▌│█║▌║▌║ - ║▌║▌║█│▌

⌘ Husbands and wives. Mothers and daughters. The past and the future.

⌘ Secrets bind them. And secrets can destroy them.

⌘ The author of Pretty Girls returns with an electrifying, emotionally complex thriller that plunges its fascinating protagonist into the darkest depths of a mystery that just might destroy him.

⌘ With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop.

⌘ Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn't belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim—a woman—who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn’t found.

⌘ Will is already compromised, because the site belongs to the city’s most popular citizen: a wealthy, powerful, and politically connected athlete protected by the world’s most expensive lawyers—a man who’s already gotten away with rape, despite Will’s exhaustive efforts to put him away.

⌘ But the worst is yet to come. Evidence soon links Will’s troubled past to the case . . . and the consequences will tear through his life with the force of a tornado, wreaking havoc for Will and everyone around him, including his colleagues, family, friends—and even the suspects he pursues.

⌘ Relentlessly suspenseful and furiously paced, peopled with conflicted, fallible characters who leap from the page, The Kept Woman is a seamless blend of twisty police procedural and ingenious psychological thriller -- a searing, unforgettable novel of love, loss, and redemption.

#2021readingchallenge #thekeptwoman #karinslaughter #willtrentseries #book8 #bibliobibuli #readingwrapup #bookstagram #bookwhore #bookrebellion #randomunbosom #julyreads

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comicweek · 7 years

Conversation

Witchblade Creative Team Caitlin Kittredge & Roberta Ingranata on Alex and Character Design

BRITTANY MATTER: The original Witchblade gauntlet and accompanying outfit is unequivocally famous. It was a sort of parasite armor that wrapped around the host’s body, creating a highly sexualized look, emblematic of the ‘90s of course, but also acted as a character in itself. How did y’all work together to update WITCHBLADE? What did you know you wanted to keep, and what were you most excited about adding?

CAITLIN KITTREDGE: The concept of living armor, and the symbiotic relationship the Witchblade has with its host, were really fascinating to me as this sort of catch-22—the host needs the Witchblade to fulfill her purpose and fight against the forces of evil out there, but the Witchblade also needs a host because without her, it's really just this cosmic force trapped in a tiny piece of jewelry. Roberta and I talked a lot about how to honor the concept of the living armor and, at the same time, update the design to divorce it from the heavy male-gaze element of the original. We wanted to convey strength and feminine power and the aspect of a warrior, and we actually ended up covering the host entirely. Trust me, when you finally get to see it, it's pretty spectacular.

ROBERTA INGRANATA: We've tried various designs, and we're still working on it. I can only say that it's going to be something that will reflect my own personality and taste, with a look to more modern designs, that's for sure. But, don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed.

BRITTANY: As for the new bearer, Alex Underwood, how did you two go about designing her character? What can you tell us about her?

CAITLIN: With the freedom to entirely reboot the origin story of the Witchblade's host, Top Cow put a lot of trust in me, and I spent a lot of time thinking about whose story exactly I wanted to tell. Alex is very different from Sara—Sara was this great tough, gritty, quintessential New Yorker. She was a blue-collar cop, scrappy and combative—very brash when the original book started. Alex has followed a very different life path—she's Sara's opposite in a lot of ways. She's a WASP from Philadelphia, a New York transplant who doesn't really feel at home in the city.

Compared to Sara, Alex should have had a perfect life, but things rarely work out that way. They do share the same need to help the helpless and defend the weak. Alex just did it with a camera rather than a gun. She's a former TV investigative reporter, but due to an assignment that went horribly wrong and left her traumatized, she dropped her entire career and became a victim's advocate for the NYC district attorney's office. She spends all day working with victims of violent crime, doing her best to make sure their voices are heard. When the story opens, she's just trying to survive and work through the darkness that has descended over her formerly blessed existence, and that struggle becomes literal when the Witchblade chooses her as a host.

ROBERTA: Alex is a very tall girl, very towering. She’s simple with a minimal look, but she’s very strong, and she looks like somebody who can kick your ass anytime. I’ve used some reference of Katheryn Winnick. She’s a beautiful woman and she’s perfect for Alex.

She is a rock solid character like Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones is, but without the dragons. She discovers a great and ancient power inside her, and she starts using it!

#comics #image Comics #top cow #top cow comics #Witchblade #Caitlin Kittredge #Roberta Ingranata #quotes #interview #comic books

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