Appearances

In each of the original series' first seven seasons, Sidle appeared in all but six episodes, and then appeared in the first seven episodes of the eighth season before departing the main cast.^[5] Sidle had guest appearances in nineteen episodes,^[6] then rejoined as a regular character in the series' eleventh season. Sidle returned for the first season of the sequel CSI: Vegas.^[7]

Character development

Perhaps because of her traumatic childhood, Sidle has demonstrated compassion and empathy for victims of domestic violence, and fury against their abusers.^[8] She also has a soft spot for animals, and became a vegetarian after she saw Grissom conduct an experiment on a dead pig.^[9] She has also shown a tendency to become very aggressive when under pressure or annoyed, especially in cases involving abused women – such as her arguments with Catherine and Ecklie, and engaging in a heated argument with a man suspected of murdering his wife. In recent years, perhaps because of her mother's schizophrenia, she has been seen to work several cases with a mental health aspect.

In the early years of the show, Sidle is depicted as antisocial. Her hobbies are all work-related (listening to her police scanner and reading forensic journals); and she claims to prefer working with corpses over live people. In a mid-second season episode, she realizes how much she is missing out on and decides to "get a life" outside of work.^[10] During season three she dates a paramedic named Hank Pettigrew, but this relationship ends later in the season when she discovered that he had a longtime girlfriend. Later in the third season, she is injured in an explosion in the lab in search of Grissom, at the end of the episode she decides to ask Grissom to dinner though he turns her down, stating he doesn't know what to do about "this.".

During the fourth and fifth seasons, Sidle seems to be on a downward spiral as her memories of childhood resurface, with cases becoming more difficult for her emotionally. Also, the fact that Grissom decided to promote Nick Stokes instead of Sidle, did not help. Season Four concludes with Sidle being stopped by a traffic cop. Although she is driving under the influence, she is not charged, but Grissom, as her supervisor, is informed of her arrest. He arrives at the station to bring her home, and finally seems to notice her emotional state.^[11] Later, in season five, she loses her temper with a domestic abuse suspect and then argues with supervisors Catherine Willows and Conrad Ecklie, which results in her suspension. Following this incident, she admits to Grissom that she has a problem with authority, has chosen emotionally unavailable men (like Grissom), and has a self-destructive streak. Sidle then opens up to him and reveals her family story;^[12] it is during this season that she apparently starts bonding with Grissom. During the subsequent seasons (sixth and seventh), after it is revealed that they are in a relationship,^[13] she appears to be happier and on a more even keel.^[14][15]

In CSI's eighth season, Sidle becomes severely depressed after being abducted in the season seven finale (she is rescued in the first episode of the new season), and, even though she accepts Grissom's marriage proposal on the season's fourth episode, she shows signs of burnout during the subsequent episodes, breaking down on the season's seventh episode, leaving Las Vegas with only a goodbye letter for Grissom in which she tells him she loves him - also kissing him out of the blue in front of another colleague - and a good luck note for Ronnie Lake (played by Jessica Lucas). In the letter she states that ever since her father's death she has been living with "ghosts" and that she now needs to go away and deal with them before self-destructing.

Promos for the season nine premiere showed Sidle in three clips. She appeared in episodes one and two, and then again in the final scene of the tenth episode of season nine when she appears to be working on a research team in Costa Rica, where Grissom joins her after leaving CSI. Then they are married.^[16][17][18]

During the tenth season, Sidle returned to CSI on a recurring basis.^[19] This recurring role continued until the eleventh season of the show. She is brought back by Under-Sheriff Ecklie to aid the lab, which has undergone staffing cuts as a result of Warrick's death and the resignation of his replacement, Riley Adams. Adams was revealed to have resigned as a result of Catherine's poor management and lack of teamwork; when Catherine reveals this to Sara, she reminds Catherine that Grissom had Catherine as a number two, prompting the promotion of Nick Stokes to Assistant Supervisor.

Relationships

Sara Sidle's romantic relationships have been largely unsuccessful. In the first season she named a college boyfriend, Ken Fuller, with whom she had an unsatisfactory relationship, also saying that they had joined the Mile high club (Unfriendly Skies). In season seven she mentioned a college boyfriend who cheated on her. It is unclear whether Fuller was also the boyfriend who cheated on her. In the third season she had a casual relationship with Hank Pettigrew, who was an emergency medical technician. He was involved in several of her cases, but they later broke up after she found out Hank had a longtime girlfriend.^[20]

During the first seasons, coroner David Phillips, laboratory technician Greg Sanders, and fellow CSI Nick Stokes occasionally flirted with her, but nothing more than friendship resulted from those flirtations.

Since CSI's first season there were hints that both Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom were interested in each other romantically; in fact, the show's producers initially introduced Sara Sidle as a future love interest for Grissom.^[21] However, during the show's first three seasons Grissom flirted with other female characters, and when she asked him out to dinner he rejected her, saying that he didn't know what to do about what was going on between them.^[22]

In season four and five there explorations of Grissom's feelings in "Butterflied," Sidle's drinking problems, and a refusal by Grissom to fire Sidle for insubordination.^[12] By the end of season six, it is reveled that Grissom and Sidle have worked together through their issues, and were a couple.^[23]

In season eight it was revealed they have been intimately involved for two years. This revelation caused mixed emotions from fans, some of whom see this relationship as CSI "jumping the shark," an attempt to include more drama and romance to the show to compete with the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which airs in the U.S. at the same time.^[24] By resolving the sexual tension between the two characters, critics posited that the show might appeal to some of Grey's younger audience.^[25] This has been denied by the writers. In one interview, producer Carol Mendelsohn said that she has never been able to see Grissom with any other character other than Sidle and that this episode was seen by the writers as the right time to reveal the relationship. Jorja Fox and William Petersen have also said that the relationship between their characters is not new.^[26] In season 10-13, Sidle and Grissom's relationship starts to dissolve, separate, and re-unite by the series finale.

William Petersen has said that what Grissom loves about Sidle is her tenacity. "She's a bulldog. And he always saw that in her. And he always knew that subconsciously the only person who'd be able to give him a second look is someone who's not willing to take the first look for granted."^[27] On her side, Jorja Fox has said that "The story of Sara and Grissom is a little like a fable. And most great fables don't really have 100 percent resolution."^[28]

Reception

Sara Sidle has gained an extensive fan base throughout the years. A romantic relationship between Sidle and her supervisor, Gil Grissom, was hinted at during the first years of the show; but it was only in Season 6 that the relationship was confirmed and then made definitive with Grissom's marriage proposal in Season 8.

Grissom and Sidle's relationship has been the subject of intense debate in the press and on-line forums, between fans of the romantic relationship and those who believe the romance detracts from what was once a show devoted mainly to mysteries and a forensics laboratory.^[29]

In early August 2007, upon rumors of Jorja Fox leaving the show, a grassroots campaign started.^[30][15] Thousands of fans donated to the cause, and they had a plane flying over the Universal Studios of Los Angeles weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a "Keep Jorja Fox on CBS" banner for a month.^[31] The online forum Your Tax Dollars at Work, which has about 15,000 members and has organized the campaign, created another campaign that includes mailing the show's producers a dollar, so as to keep Fox on the show. By October 5, 2007, more than $3,500 had reportedly been mailed to the Universal Studios from forty-nine countries. The campaign had started less than a week before, on September 29, 2007.^[32]

Though the effort garnered media coverage, it was announced in late October, 2007 that Jorja Fox's final appearance as a full cast member would be in the episode Goodbye and Good Luck, which aired on November 15, 2007. Both writers and Fox have said that they believe that Sara Sidle "will be back" sometime in the future. Fox and CSI writer Carol Mendelsohn chose to donate the money sent to the studios to CASA, a national association that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children.^[33][34][35]

CBS initially confirmed that Jorja Fox would be returning to CSI in the tenth season for the season premiere and four subsequent episodes. Executive producer Carol Mendelsohn has amended that Fox's tenure on the show has been extended indefinitely.^[19] CBS states that the season premiere would deal with where life has taken Sara and what brings her back to Las Vegas.

Video games

Jorja Fox voiced Sara Sidle in the first two CSI video games, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Dark Motives. The other two video games, CSI: Hard Evidence and CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder, were recorded by Kate Savage.^[36][37] Rachel Robinson voiced Sara in the ninth CSI game, CSI: Fatal Conspiracy.^[38]

Career