Won't Get Fueled Again (CSIM)

[mirium]

(the one that starts with the burning guy)

That last scene was strange, when the bad guy came to collect the women he was holding captive -- didn't he notice that all the girls were suddenly wearing white? The one who had escaped earlier wasn't, so he wasn't keeping them color-coordinated before. And why did they make him kneel and then get up again, why not just handcuff him?

[jaglady]

Sorry I took so long in answering this one, Mirium. When I watched this one I was hoping it would be better than Resurrection, the week before. Seems like after the writers' strike they went from fantastic to, "Meh" to "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!"

In the early years the writers and TPTB were pretty good about keeping the science as accurate as possible for the Hollywood flash-bang. In this one they seemed to make no effort. Within less than a minute, somebody who was totally engulfed in fire like that wouldn't be able to breathe, let alone scream like that. The superheated air would've seared his lungs AND his vocal cords. Hubby and I watched that and said what we've been saying all through S7--YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!

And everybody at that tent party just stared. NOBODY made any effort to help that guy or at least take something to him (water, one of those fancy curtains, etc) to put the fire out).

[mirium]

That hadn't occured to me -- that it got much worse after the writers' strike. Maybe we're seeing the results of an undeclared strike, intentionally poor writing done before the official strike to demonstrate how important writers are (and how important it is to keep them happy), and when the strike turned out to be a long one, they didn't have time to fix things before the scripts were shot? *tries to be an optimist*

They're certainly taking massive shortcuts on some things -- such as making all the bystanders just stare, instantly identifying them all (and the host of the party) as totally horrible people. Quick, simple -- and unrealistic. Maybe the later episodes, written well after the strike, will improve?

[jaglady]

Well, I read the ratings roundup, and if they can aggregate their fecal matter, maybe so.
But if that's what the writers actually did, I'd say it backfired on them big time.
JMHO--the show started losing something with S6. It started losing its hominess, its cameraderie. One thing that sticks out in my mind--Calleigh went from being practical and professional to looking like a Pat Benatar wannabee. And admittedly I haven't watched ALL the S7 epis, but has she test-fired anything in the ballistics lab at all in S7? I just wondered whether she was still our bullet girl.

[mirium]

Calleigh's drifting away from ballistics could have a legitimate reason behind it, not just the writers trying to remake her into a Barbie doll; she asked to be reassigned as a regular CSI instead of a ballistics expert after Hagen committed suicide, remember? She could be getting stuck in that attitude and letting it get stronger, instead of recovering.

I wish she'd rediscover her love of guns, too; maybe Eric could have a heart-to-heart talk with her about it. Would make a good fan fic, if any authors out there like the idea.