Go well, Grissom

In a time when kicking, shooting, swearing action guys seemed to be taking over TV, CSI's quiet Gil Grissom made being a thoughtful nerd fashionable again. Last week the CSI team said goodbye to this much loved character.

Nowadays we have computer geek Chuck, science boffins Leonard and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, and the clever guys from numbers, but when CSI first started their investigations in 2000, brainy heroes like Gil Grissom (William Petersen) – who also happens to not like guns much – were few and far between.

After 192 episodes, Grissom broke the sad news to his team: it's time to say goodbye.
The announcement isn't totally unexpected – after all, they are a forensic investigations team, who over the years has been trained to notice the finest details. When Gil, in a quiet moment, tells Catherine (Marg Helgenberger), "I know I surprised you today with the…", she interrupts him and says "I knew… I knew before you knew…".

Still, there are at least two consolations for Grissom fans: Firstly, the writers and producers have left the door open for William Petersen to return to the series if he wants to (like Sara Sidle, played by Jorja Fox, who returns to CSI in season 10). Secondly, the series scores with the addition of the formidable Laurence Fishburne to fill Grissom's shoes (well, sort of: Laurence Fishburne's character, Dr Ray Langston, whom we met two weeks ago, joins as a level one team member, he doesn't take over as the team leader).

When he took a sabbatical during season 8, William Petersen cited his love of theatre work as his main reason. At the time he told entertainment network RTL: "I started in the theatre and needed to get back to it to touch base with what I have learnt. And I think Grissom is also in a place where he is getting somewhat burnt out doing his job. We both need to touch base with those elements that made us love our jobs in the first place."

After news of his resignation leaked to the media, he told eyelab: "Grissom and myself are on similar journeys. It's an adult in his fifties who tries to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. What Grissom has been going through is also what I'm going through in terms of preparing to leave the people I love and a job that I love."

We're going to miss you, Gil!

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