#bartramcat

the grissoms + wearing matching outfits (a small sampling)

hi, @bartramcat!

so while the episodes of early s4 do indeed air out-of-order from how they were produced, it's unclear why such is the case.

production numbers for the first seven episodes show a widespread reshuffling, in terms of their airdates. 

the true production order for the episodes would have gone as follows (with the numbers of the list representing the production order and episode numbers representing the airing order):

episode 04x03 "homebodies"

episode 04x01 "assume nothing"

episode 04x02 "all for our country"

episode 04x07 "invisible evidence"

episode 04x04 "feeling the heat"

episode 04x05 "fur and loathing"

episode 04x06 "jackpot"

episode 04x08 "after the show" (note that this episode is the first one where both the production number and the airing number align)

of course, it is worth pointing out that there are also two other significant "out of order" episodes that aired later on in s4, as well: episode 04x13 "suckers" was actually the 14th episode of the season produced, while episode 04x14 "paper of plastic?" was the 13th (meaning that, had they aired sequentially, episode 04x14 "paper or plastic?" would have come after episode 04x12 "butterflied," as opposed to episode 04x13 "suckers").

what’s more: in terms of their “within the universe of the show” dates, episodes 04x15 “early rollout” and 04x16 “getting off” also air out of sequence, as the former episode supposedly takes place on 02.11.04, while the latter supposedly takes place on 02.05.04, even though their production numbers do otherwise match their airing order.

unfortunately, there is no information available on why the first seven episodes of s4 all were aired out of sequence from how they were produced or why episodes 04x13 "suckers" and 04x14 "paper or plastic?" ultimately got swapped.

however, one thing we can say for certain is that this reordering didn’t have anything to do with jorja fox and george eads being fired, as that event actually postdates both the filming and the original airing of s4 altogether, having occurred in summer 2004, prior to the filming of s5.

so looking to other possibilities to explain the restructuring, then:

it may have been the case that postproduction issues necessitated the reordering—for example, maybe “homebodies” required more second unit, sfx, cgi, and/or adr work than did “assume nothing” and “all for our country,” so while it was technically produced before they were, it was ultimately aired afterward, as it may not have actually been “finished” until long after the fact. perhaps such was the case for multiple episodes throughout the early season.

it may have been the case that the production team didn’t like the pacing of the season with the original production order and so reordered the episodes in order to make the overall story (in their opinion) flow better. for example, “homebodies” is a very heavy episode, so maybe they ultimately thought better of starting out their new season on such a down note, opting to go for “assume nothing” (which is, while certainly not lighthearted, definitely more upbeat than “homebodies”) as their season premiere instead.

it may have been the case that they had always intended to air the episodes in the order they ultimately did end up airing them in; however, they just happened to film/produce the episodes out of sequence, so even though “assume nothing” was always meant to be episode 04x01, its production number ended up being 0402 when all was said and done. perhaps filming or postproduction logistics played a role in episodes being finished out of sequence. for example, if the production team didn’t secure permissions to film at a particular location right away, then perhaps they might have worked on another episode in the interim, resulting in that episode being completed first.

it may have been the case that the network forced the reorder, wanting to place “assume nothing” and “all for our country” (which are paired with each other) up front because they are relatively flashy “classic csi” ensemble pieces that play well to advertisers AND create a natural momentum into the season. (if you watch the first part of the cliffhanger, chances are you’ll also then want to watch the second, and by that point, you’re hooked!) they may have also forced some reordering with subsequent episodes, as well—for example, maybe they wanted to make sure that “fur and loathing” aired around halloween because they hoped to capitalize on the whole “animal costumes/dressing up” aspect in their advertising. (the episode originally aired on 10.30.03.) if they did force their hands this way, then it’s possible that the initial changes they made then in turn forced other changes, with the production team having to swap around various other episodes in order to make everything flow and make sense from a story perspective. if so, then it might explain why every one of the first seven episodes of the season airs out of sequence from the order in which they were originally produced. (while of course i can’t prove my conjecture, i heavily suspect that this option was the case when it came to the swapping of “suckers” and “paper or plastic?” later in the season, as i think the network probably wanted to air a somewhat more lighthearted episode on the heels of “butterflied,” rather than jumping straight from utterly depressing tragedy to utterly depressing tragedy.)

anyway, i’ve never been able to locate any official word on why so much of the season seems to have aired out of sequence from how it was produced, so, unfortunately, the above speculation is all i can offer in terms of answering your question.

i will say that i have done the experiment of watching the season in its original production order, and while doing so doesn’t necessarily make a world of difference in terms of the overall story, it does certainly alter the flavor of the early season, particularly in the way of making the gsr “rift” arc much more of a kind of thesis statement for the season right from the get-go.    

sara sidle + reacting to gil grissom shenanigans

episode 01x16 "too tough to die" || episode 09x06 "say uncle"

hi, @bartramcat​!

i apologize for taking so long to reply to your question.

honestly, i'm not sure how they would have handled grissom's exit if warrick hadn't been killed off, as, like you say, warrick's death is one of the major catalysts for the gsr story arc in s9, and, without it, so much of their basic trajectory would have inevitably changed.

assuming that aside from warrick not dying/gary dourdan not leaving the show, the specs for s9 would, in this hypothetical scenario, otherwise remain the same—i.e., the production team would still only have access to billy for ten episodes in total and jorja for guest spots in four—then i can imagine a couple of different routes they could take.

one is that they could contrive a similar “i can’t go there to you, but you can’t stay here with me” situation to the one we see in canon, only built around another kind of visit than sara coming back to vegas for warrick’s funeral.

for example, they could have potentially gotten sara back to vegas for a case—maybe the same one from the canonical episode 09x02 “the happy place,” involving her old friends the adlers—or said that she had been called upon to testify in one of natalie davis’s sanity hearings (much like grissom is in episode 09x07 “woulda, coulda, shoulda”). 

alternatively, they could have had grissom go to sara wherever she was at (at her request).

in either case, the storyline likely would have played out a lot like the one from canon, where though it’s clear they both desperately miss each other, sara can’t be convinced to stay with grissom in vegas in the long term, and grissom can’t be convinced to go to sara elsewhere in the long term. this realization could have then led to a break up much like the one from episode 09x05 “leave out all the rest,” and grissom’s depression storyline could have followed from there.

another option is that rather than having grissom and sara visit each other, tptb could have taken the opposite tack—i.e., having sara’s “radio silence” with grissom start earlier than it does in canon.

in canon, grissom and sara maintain regular contact with each other throughout the end of s8 and into s9, up to the point when she leaves vegas again in episode 09x02 “the happy place.” they then endure “radio silence” between episodes 09x03 “art imitates life” and 09x05 “leave out all the rest” before sara breaks up with grissom via video email.

in this arc, they could have maybe used one or two of jorja’s guest star spots to show that as of the beginning of s9, sara was becoming increasingly aware that her absence and the liminal state of her and grissom’s relationship was taking a toll on him—i.e., phone calls, depicted from both ends, where we see them dancing around the indefinite nature of their current situation, where she can hear the strain in his voice and can’t come up with answers to the questions that he’s still more hinting at than outright asking. 

she could have then arrived at a decision much like the one that he made with regards to her back in s4: i.e., “if i can’t commit to anything certain here, then i need to cut ties in order to be fair.” she could have then broken up with him as early as episode 09x02 or 09x03.

her dropping off the edge of the planet (where he’s concerned) early on in s9 could have then jumpstarted his depression arc enough that, even without warrick dying, he could have soon come to the conclusion that he was miserable in las vegas without her and in need of a change. things could have then played out similarly to how they do in canon.

yet another option would have been that the writers could have just turned up the volume on the "grissom becomes dissatisfied with his work/life" part of his s9 storyline altogether, making the cases he dealt with more heartbreaking/soul-numbing and his basic existence in the absence of sara even more repetitive/monotonous/pointless than what’s in canon, etc.

of course, considering how depressing s9 already is in canon, i don't know that trying to make things even more depressing would be the right route to take here. one can only imagine how bleak and joyless such a storyline would be.

yet another option would have been to resort to some kind of deus ex machina development: for example, maybe grissom’s otosclerosis could have recurred, forcing him into an early retirement; or maybe the writers could have made something happen with sara, like a car accident or something, where grissom ended up needing to go to her and just decided to stay with her permanently once he was there.

for the record, i don’t think that either one of these options would have been very satisfying, and i doubt that the writers would have been likely to choose them, as i suspect that they always wanted grissom to leave the lab on good terms and of his own choosing (rather than because he had had his hand forced). still, they’re there.

all in all, i think that had warrick not died, the main thing that would have changed in grissom’s exit storyline would have had to have been the pacing; either the writers would have had to draw things out more (with grissom and sara breaking up earlier than they do in canon) or they would have had to invent some kind of sudden reason for his departure later on.

to my mind, grissom was always going to eventually get to the point where he was miserable enough living without sara that he would finally go to her; warrick dying just accelerated his realization process and threw the whole situation into sharper relief for him.

of course, the other main thing that would have changed is that we likely would have never ended up with ray langston on the show, as grissom would have been able to leave the team in the care of catherine and warrick (who had always been his “heir apparent” and would have been his top choice for assistant supervisor, had he lived long enough to assume the role).

anyway, those are my thoughts.

gil grissom (with bonus sara) + cold fury directed at smug murderers

gsr + grissom reacting to sara crying → episode 04x03 "homebodies" vs. episode 07x18 "empty eyes"