All right, so I watched the much hyped season finale of CSI last night. Now, I'm a big fan of both CSI and Tarintino, so I knew I was in for two hours of good television. And boy, was I right. Some people have argued that the reason cable stations are, by and large, putting out the highest quality television of all time (Soporanos, Six Feet Under) is that they're not restricted by the same censorship standards that regular TV is. This argument has always seemed, at least to me, ridiculous. Swearing, nudity and excessive violence doesn't make better tv. It's the solid storytelling, which is what CSI delivered.

Last night's CSI reminded me of the highest quality fan fiction, like Nicholas Meyer's Seven Percent Solution. When someone truly loves the source material they include the little details that fans know. Whether it's Holmes' tabacco filled slipper or Grissom's blood filled heads, fans treat the details of the original material with a reverence and try to cram as many of those details into their story.

Of course, being Tarintino, there's also the pop-culture heavy story telling as well: Tony Curtis and the (very recently)late Frank Gorshin talking about old Vegas, Hodges and Greg playing the Dukes of Hazzard board game, and classic 70s baddy, John Saxon setting the whole thing in motion.

My only problem was the lack of Sara Sidle. Sara's my favourite character on the show; she's got this great untapped backstory; she's got an unresolved emotional attachment to Grissom; she's laregly unaware of Greg's attraction. While I see why Nick was a good choice to put in the box (everyone likes Nick, he's like everyone's brother), Sara would have been an equally interesting choice to have been kidnapped.

All in all, I was really satisfied. The final shot, the team watching Nick's ambulance pull away, was the perfect note to end the season on. The wear of a long night, the emotional strain of the evening still visible on all their faces made Grissom's last line all the more poignant: "I want my guys back." Only after such a night could the stoic Grissom make such an honest heart felt request to Ecklie.

Listening to: Tom Waits' "Downtown Train"