‘CSI’ Creates Conflict Between ‘The Two Mrs Grissoms’

Sara Sidle’s (Jorja Fox) personal and professional lives collide during the upcoming CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode “The Two Mrs Grissoms”, which guest-stars Marlee Matlin and Phyllis Frelich. (Contains minor spoilers!)

As CSI Files previously reported, Matlin and Frelich will play professors at a college for the deaf. Frelich portrays Betty Grissom, the mother of former CSI boss Gil Grissom (William Petersen), and Matlin plays a woman from Grissom’s past named Julia Holden. Even though Grissom is no longer a part of the series, his presence is felt in “The Two Mrs Grissoms”. “When we were talking about doing this show, I did call him, because I wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with this,” Fox told Zap2It. She added, “We do talk a lot about him, really. We couldn’t do this episode without the character of Grissom, and yet he’s not in the show. I wanted to make sure that he was OK with that. He’s great about it.”

“The relationship between me, Julia, and Sara is interesting because there are some surprises that arise during the episode. I know her husband; we had a past; we were intimate,” Matlin explained. “At the same time, (Sara) has a lot on her plate, not only about her husband but trying to figure out if I’m the murderer or not. She’s straddling the fence as to whether she should trust me as a woman who says she didn’t do anything wrong, because there’s a conflict there.”

Grissom’s former protégé Nick Stokes (George Eads) has a great deal of respect for his mentor’s mother. “I invented this whole back story,” Eads said. “I’m overtly gracious to Mrs. Grissom when I see her, almost like she’s a surrogate mom. Because of the regard he has for Grissom, he thinks the same of the mom.” He added, “So I’m playing a little bit where I’m Mrs. Grissom’s pet, and Sara’s kind of the problem child. Nick likes seeing Sara in an awkward and precarious position.”

The full interview is available on Zap2It.