On the characters’ living spaces—most specifically the bedroom in the “Way to Go” (06x24) reveal:
I was asked about the bedroom in which Sara and Grissom find themselves relaxing at the end of “Way to Go” (06x24)—whose bedroom it might be, or whether it might be that of a hotel.
This is a fun question for me because I have a pretty firm opinion on it!
The options are:
Sara’s bedroom;
Grissom’s bedroom;
Sara and Grissom’s bedroom; or
Somewhere else, like a hotel room.
I’ll tell you upfront that I very strongly believe this is intended to be Sara’s bedroom, and I think it’s quite well suited to its purpose.
In support of this conclusion, I’ll first give an overview (and pictures!) of the different places where we see Sara and Grissom each live over the years, then I’ll explain my reasoning with respect to different aspects of the room.
EVIDENCE:
Grissom’s home in “The Strip Strangler” (01x23):
This place feels a lot like Grissom to me, especially for this era of his life. It’s got tons of specimens up on the wall. It’s got lots of books. It’s got what looks to be a nice sound system. It’s not super tidy, but I also wouldn’t call it messy. It is a bit cold and sterile looking, though, which I think comes a lot from the lighting but also the industrial loft vibes that don’t really have anything to soften them.
Grissom’s home in “Burden of Proof” (02x15):
I was always convinced this looked like a different place from the last one, but on close inspection it could be intended to be a small portion of the space from the first season, just shot up closer (maybe because they’d disassembled or couldn’t use the first space and wanted to recreate as little of it as possible) and with warmer light.
Sara’s home in “You’ve Got Mail” (02x12):
This appears to be a tiny studio apartment. Given that her bed is in the foreground and her kitchen is in the background, there doesn’t appear to be any more to it than what we see here. There are two bar stools and a desk and chair, but otherwise there’s no seating area and no dining table. This really is an apartment for a girl who does nothing but work, read, and listen to her police scanner. It also seems to have little in the way of personalization (although there are some plants, on the bar, fridge, and shelving unit!).
This is pure speculation / headcanon, but I could see this being a small, furnished place she chose quickly, maybe even intending it to be a short-term things, when she first moved to Vegas and in which she finds herself a year and a half later because she really hasn’t bothered to pursue anything but work (and, I mean, obviously spending as much time as possible with Grissom, in that capacity) since she moved.
Sara’s home in “Nesting Dolls” (05x13):
Okay, discussing this from the perspective we see in the first and last shots I’ve included, the near wall has the front door (which looks like maybe a door to outside, with a bicycle opposite it), the far wall has a window, the righthand wall has a door to the bathroom, and the lefthand wall has something with shutters over it, which I assumed was a window because of all the light coming from it but could I guess also be a closet (because there doesn’t otherwise seem to be one).
I’ve always thought this was another studio, with a bed in the far lefthand corner. There appears to be something there with a blanket (or blankets) on it, but it’s hard to make out what it actually is. At any rate, this place looks larger than the first place either way, and it seems to have some decorative flourishes that actually belong to Sara, so it’s a step up from her first place.
The bedroom in “Way to Go” (06x24):
This is the bedroom that will be discussed in more detail below.
The bedroom in “Leaping Lizards” (07x22) (also seen in later episodes):
When I first (re)watched this episode, I assumed this was Grissom’s (new) home and Sara was just spending time there—i.e., that they were not technically living together though in practice they basically were. I think this is probably mostly just based on the fact that I had a hard time believing two people would be living together while still conducting a secret relationship (and, again, I still thought they were in practice basically living together).
I guess I revised my opinion mostly based on personal preference, though I do think Sara’s quick disappearance from Vegas in 08x07 would have been hard to orchestrate if she had still been living in her own apartment, so I will say I think they are living together at this point.
In my opinion, this bedroom looks the most like it belongs to a home they might share together, is the most inviting of the places we’ve seen for either of them up to this time, and is the most sophisticated. I will echo Goldilocks and say this is where they get things just right:
Nice wall colours;
Nice artwork;
Appearance maybe of vegetation outside the window;
Nice decorative touches beside the TV;
Bedside tables present but not overcrowded;
Nice lamps, with appropriate ambient lighting that does not require the use of scarves;
Good-sized bed;
Simple but comfy-looking bedspread or duvet; and
Dog.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS:
Grissom is older (has been in the workforce longer) and more senior in the workplace (has a higher paying job), so unsurprisingly his “townhouse” looks larger and nicer than Sara’s first two apartments.
(He calls it a townhouse early in the series, but it doesn’t look like a townhouse to me, being from all appearances one level and above street level. But I still headcanon it as being a townhouse, with its own entrance, because that is my prerogative. Anyway, that’s not the point.)
I find it highly unlikely that, whenever Sara and Grissom move in together, they would move into a place that is smaller and less nice than where Grissom was previously living. It’s more likely that they would either (1) move Sara into his place or (2) together move into a new place that is as nice as or (because pooling their money) nicer than where Grissom had previously been living.
When I speak in generalities here, I’m speaking from a North American context. I don’t expect that these generalities would necessarily hold elsewhere in the world.
ANALYSIS:
Size:
Based on what we can see, the room seems on the smaller side, for the context. (By context, I mean what we see of other places characters in the show live over the years, the fact that they’re not twentysomethings or living in New York City, etc.) We can’t see the wall on the left, but I’d expect the bed is supposed to be somewhat centred.
You could argue, if it were a real bedroom, that perhaps it’s in fact larger than how it’s shot to appear; you could also argue that if you wanted a different headcanon. But the point here is that that is how it’s been shot to appear—as in, that is the choice “the show” (its creative team) made.
The room is much smaller than what one would imagine finding in Grissom’s quite spacious townhouse. It’s also smaller than a Las Vegas hotel room would be. (The only way I can see it working as a hotel room is if it were somehow part of a larger rental unit or maybe some sort of bed and breakfast.)
Even though bigger is not always better, I don’t imagine Sara and Grissom moving into this bedroom, which feels somewhat small for them as a shared bedroom, when, based on Grissom’s townhouse, they must have had the option for something larger.
This room does feel the right size for Sara, though, based on what we’ve seen of her other apartments. It could either be the bedroom of the last apartment we saw (if we believe there was a hidden door to a bedroom and ensuite) or, if one gets studio vibes from that place, like I do, this would be a reasonable step up for Sara into a place that’s a bit bigger, with one bedroom.
Furnishings:
Bed:
The bed looks like a queen to me. I expect a single adult with enough space and money would likely have a double or a queen-sized bed. With enough space and money, a couple might go for a king-sized bed, but they might also have something smaller. (A single adult could also have a king, but this would presumably be rarer. I love a king-sized bed in a hotel, even just for myself, but I don’t really know how common they are out in the real world.) A hotel could also have a queen or a king.
Based on the above, any of the options is compatible with the bed size.
Bedside tables:
The room has two bedside tables. I’d expect a single adult with enough space and money would likely have two bedside tables, whether it be because they potentially want to “entertain” (if you get my drift), for the aesthetics (symmetry is beautiful!), for extra storage, as a place to put another lamp or more decorative elements, or whatever combination of the above. I’d also expect a couple or a hotel to have two bedside tables.
Based on the above, any of the options is compatible with the bedside tables.
Laundry basket:
This is my best guess for what’s behind Sara, to our left (her right)? I’m open to other suggestions! Anyway, I’d expect a laundry basket in someone’s home, but not in a hotel room.
Bed linens:
The bed linens are light green with a bit of light blue. I used to think the pattern was a paisley, but looking at it more it looks like a floral (or maybe a vegetational!) motif. The front pillow is a decorative bolster. The two pillows behind it look like they have pillow sham covers, but you can see that they’re stuffed in a way that makes them look just slightly lumpy (not smooth as you’d imagine at, for example, a nice hotel). The two pillows behind that presumably have standard pillow cases.
This is a less sophisticated look than what we see in the bedroom in 07x22 and onward. The bedding is also not what I would imagine Grissom buying (both because of what we see in that subsequent bedroom and just generally). Hotels usually stick with standard white bedding, so I can only imagine these linens in a hotel in a particular kind of bed and breakfast context.
I actually think, though, that these bed linens are a perfect representation of Sara and where she is in her life.
First of all, we know Sara often dresses very practically for work, but she also dresses up for every occasion in which we’ve seen her in which that would be appropriate. She does wear makeup to work and straighten her har. She has some nice decorative elements to her apartment in “Nesting Dolls.” In 2021, JF even described her as a “girly girl.” (I’d possibly have questioned this statement coming from anyone else—I think JF is more of a girly girl—but if JF believes it then so do I.)
But we also know that Sara spent time in foster care. She’s a bit of an awkward loner. She never told anyone but Grissom about her family. I don’t really imagine her having any significant mentor figures. I think she probably didn’t really have any good role models for how to be an adult. (We can maybe see this in all the takeout she eats, although to be fair my mother is a great cook—literally taught foods and nutrition—and I am still highly takeout dependent.) She also wouldn’t have had much money, and I imagine her still not spending a lot of money on unnecessary things. Moreover, I don’t imagine her having had any significant romantic relationships before Grissom.
All of that is to say that . . . I think she’s advanced intellectually / academically / professionally. I think in some ways, in terms of all she went through as a child, she has wisdom and experiences beyond her years. I even think she’s a bit of an old soul. (She’d kind of have to be, to vibe with Grissom.) But in other ways . . . I think in her personal life, she’s maybe been a bit behind what one might expect, because, like I mentioned, she just never had any good role models for how to be an adult.
But now she’s finally in the first real romantic relationship of her life—with a man who’s about to turn 50, no less—so I think it finally makes sense to her to try to step it up a notch, and that’s why the bed setup is maybe trying to be a bit fancier than what she has likely had in the past. But, looking at everything I described about the linens, they (as does the rest of the decor) seem both fancier than what she might have had in the past and at the same time not as sophisticated as what we see in the bedroom in 07x22 and onward. So I actually think these bed linens (and the decor) do a really great job of depicting where Sara is in her life in that moment.
Also: vegetation!
(None of what I’m saying here is meant to imply any general expectations for where people are or are not meant to be at a particular age or time in their lives—I’m like a permanent boomerang child, so I would never. The expectations conveyed are specifically based on how long Sara’s been on her own, how long she’s been employed as a professional, where she lives (Vegas), where else we see her live (other homes), etc.)
Decor:
The bedside tables both have a lamp and are covered in a lot of framed pictures and knickknacks. Honestly they’re not very functional; they’re way too full of stuff. (The one beside Grissom looks like it may have a book on it, but no room for anything else, like a glass of water.) They also look like they’ve been decorated by the same (one!) person, and (though I don’t like to stereotype by gender) I think they have a decidedly more feminine vibe.
I can’t imagine these bedside tables (very fully decorated, not very functional) in a hotel, again unless maybe it were a very particular kind of bed and breakfast. (Does anyone else remember the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode with the bed and breakfast with all the dolls?)
I also can’t imagine Grissom having chosen that decor for his own bedside table, whether it be in his own bedroom while on his own or in a shared bedroom with Sara.
I think it fits perfectly for what I’ve described above for Sara, though, as someone who’s trying to make her space nicer now that she’s finally regularly entertaining the love of her life but hasn’t quite hit the level of sophistication we see in the bedroom in 07x22 and onward.
Moreover, the scarf (or whatever) over the lamp to create more ambient lighting, which we see on Grissom’s side of the bed, has definite “woman entertaining a man” vibes. Vibes are not definitive—nothing I’ve described here really is definitive—but there is nothing presented to us, before, during, or after this scene, to suggest that we are not supposed to follow the most natural and obvious interpretations. So, you know, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras—unless maybe you’re in Africa.
Clothing:
Sara is wearing a robe with a floral decoration. Grissom is wearing WP’s favourite shirt plus a pair of jeans. (The jeans aren’t visible in the episode but are seen in still shots of the scene.)
Sara’s robe is not of the kind I would expect to be provided by a hotel. I also find it unlikely that she and Grissom would have gone home and packed these very specific items then gone to a hotel after Brass’s shooting.
Sara could have a robe she keeps at Grissom’s, since they’ve been dating for about a year. She could also have a robe at her own home, obviously. If anything, Sara being in a robe and Grissom being in street clothes would maybe also suggest that this is most likely Sara’s apartment, but I don’t think that’s a very strong suggestion.
OVERALL IMPRESSION AND CONCLUSION:
Everything about this scene tells me this is meant to be Sara’s apartment (and Sara’s alone). I see her trying to have a place that’s a bit nicer and fancier than what she’s had in the past but not yet hitting the level of sophistication of what we see in the bedroom in 07x22 and onward. Overall, I think this bedroom does quite a good job of conveying where Sara is in her life at that point.
