Fans put through ringer on Jorja Fox’s farewell episode

Do the creators of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” enjoy torturing their fans?

Jorja Fox’s last appearance as a regular (Wednesday night at 9 on WBZ, Ch. 4) was bound to be difficult. “Goodbye & Good Luck” is excruciating. Given the final moments, the title seems cruelly ironic.

CBS has asked that I refrain from any potential spoilers. If the network were serious, it would have gagged both Fox and the “CSI” producers weeks ago. It’s no secret that Fox’s investigator Sara Sidle lives to see another day.

As to what kind of day she’ll be waking up to, well, that’s something viewers will be pondering for some time.

In Wednesday night’s episode, Sara shows obvious signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, a result of her recent kidnapping.

As a battered wife stands in her blood-spattered living room - with a knife stuck in her back - Sara uncharacteristically shows no concern.

When Ronnie (Jessica Lucas) wants to intervene in the case of the brawling couple, Sara replies, “We’ll be back for her body next month. Or his. Or both.”

The case of a co-ed pushed from her dorm room brings Sara back into contact with killer Marlon West (Douglas Smith) and his pint-sized prodigy of a sister, Hannah (Juliette Goglia). Marlon is a student at the college; Hannah is teaching and proves to be just as much a roadblock as she was the first time they crossed paths and helped Marlon escape justice. Sara is determined to right that wrong.

“You are not going to muddy the waters this time,” Sara tells the twerp.

“Are you sure you’d know if I had?” Hannah replies.

Hannah, improbably, seems to be the only one to realize Sara is imploding emotionally.

At a key moment late in the episode, Sara walks into the CSI offices and plants a kiss on Gil Grissom (William Petersen). It’s a moment that will make devoted fans of the show squeal - until they realize, as Gil does, too late, that Sara is saying farewell.

The top-rated show about forensic detectives made the Sara/Grissom relationship the greatest mystery of the series. Viewers followed a faint trail of crumbs over the years that led to the reveal of their relationship. Sara’s moments tonight with Grissom are, in the tradition of the series, short and maddeningly frustrating.

Fox decided not to renew her contract, but she deserved a better sendoff than this. The nature of her departure will stab at the hearts of viewers. But there remains a chance she could return.

Someday.