Which is the better way to go out, with a bang or a whimper? Unlike its Miami-based counterpart, “CSI” has never been about the bang. The flagship show’s characters are more cerebral, its sets dressed in somber blues. It may have made for better storytelling to have Sara Sidle die at the hands of the Miniature Killer, but her actual departure fit better with the show’s sensibilities.

[Sara didn’t have the sawdust to handle spoilers.]

We open with Sara alone in the dark, cutting at something. The background lights to reveal the LVPD locker room, and then we’re at a stereotypical college dorm. Not stereotypical is the girl falling to her death.

Want to see your favorite investigators this week? Too bad. They get less time than when Jack Malone stormed through last week. Instead, we’re all about Sara. To that end, the falling girl is connected to Marlon West, the killer from a few years ago whose super-genius little sister threw enough doubt into a jury to ruin Sara’s murder case. Now in college, Marlon was dating Kira (this week’s corpse) until a very public breakup that ended in a fistfight with Kira’s new boy.

Supergenius sister Hannah is teaching and doing graduate studies at the same college, and no points for guessing she stymies Sara’s investigation again. Unfortunately for Marlon, a chip of his tooth is found in Kira’s hand, and Sara figures out (thanks to photos that may as well have giant flashing “Clue” signs) that Hannah took the chip from the fistfight, drugged Kira’s adult-use lubricant, planted the chip in the girl’s hand and then pushed her out the window. Why? Because Marlon was drifting away - also known as developing a normal life - and Hannah couldn’t stand not having him close by at all times.

I don’t think she thought her cunning plan all the way through. While jail may indeed keep Marlon close, it also proves to be a convenient spot for suicide. Sara gets to destroy Hannah with the news.

Oh, there was a micro-subplot about an abused woman that served only to contrast Ronnie’s optimism with Sara’s cynicism. Feel free to ignore it.

Gil_240 Anyway, at the end Sara pens a very sweet letter for Grissom and then leaves with no set destination. Poor Gil is devastated - William Petersen’s one expression conveys more emotion than Sara has all season.

Really, we see Sara isn’t so different from Hannah. Both are brilliant but socially inept and so tend toward overly dramatic but ill-conceived gestures. That was my interpretation, anyway, and for me the heartfelt feelings in the letter were absolutely invalidated by the fact that Sara would rather just run away with no plan.

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