| O 811. PERENNIALS O |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Written by: | O Bruce Zimmerman O |
| Directed by: | O Michael Lange O |
|
| Original Air Date: | O December 12, 2012 O |
|
| O The BAU heads south to investigate a fast-moving unsub whose signature matches that of a serial killer from thirty years ago. Also, the team learns that someone is keeping track of their cases and replicating crimes they have solved. O |
||
| O 812. ZUGZWANG O |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Written by: | O Breen Frazier O |
| Directed by: | O Jesse Warn O |
|
| Original Air Date: | O January 16, 2013 O |
|
| O When Reid discovers that his girlfriend has been abducted by her stalker, he and the BAU band together to find and rescue her before it is too late. O |
||
- What worked? Why?
- What didn't? Why?
- What could have been better? Why?
- What was nearing perfection? Why?
Perennials was okay, good filler episode I guess and good referencing/realisation about the Replocatpr. There were plot holes, some icky stuff and some of the team. It wasn't the best episode but it wasn't the worst. The supporting cast were good again and interesting premise. Tbh, this episode was one that I wouldn't go out of my way to watch nor is it particularly memorable, but it was OK.
ReplyDeleteZuzwang... Well I know Reid fans had a love/hate relationship I would presume, poor Reid...
They should have let Maeve live and give MGG something other than angst. I liked the casting choices, I thought it was a fast paced episode and I'd watch it again. But I hated the conclusion of Maeve and Reid. If they wanted to do something unique, they should have let Reid be happy and give us a glimpse into how dr Reid dates rather than Zuzwang. Yes it was dramatic, yes it was evil, yes it was heartbreaking, although for me not up there with 100. It felt a little too big and to something away from the drama of the replicator. In fact they should have just got rid of the replicator, gave Reids love drama season8 and started again in season 9 with a big bad.
For me two good episodes, but I'm not the biggest Reid fan, so not my favourite episodes.
Sue
Perennials: All I really seemed to remember most was that they unsub had a warped view of reincarnation, Morgan was shot in his bullet proof vest, and Penelope was freaked- (a little of their game on returning there) and what's with JJ always lurking around when Pen and Morg are getting into it, LOL. I do remember holding my breath hoping the little enfant would not be hurt, but other then the Morg/Garc sense not much adrenalin happening.
ReplyDeleteZugwang was another story - fast moving, intense and thrilling. But while the pace was good, and the entire team were working well togeather, the ending was just too OTT for me. Frankly with some tweeking, it would have made a better last ep to the season then what they finally gave us with the replicator. I was so disappointed in just how disjointed that one was, and zugwang would have really lent itself to a great cliff hanger, with a little bit of a re-write.
Perennials was an OK episode. I was quite interested in the premise of reincarnation and the use of the larvae was unusual. It was good that the unsub was hoist with his own petard at the end. I thought the guest cast were good and the profiling was not bad - though I do often wonder how realistic Garcia's ability to find obscure data so fast is! Reid was shown as a grown up thank goodness - some writers have a tendency to write him still as an immature kid and there is often a disconnect from episode to episode with how he is drawn. The Morgan/Garcia bit at the end was obviously put in to please the Morcia fans. I liked the way they ramped up the Replicator storyline. All the little teasers about the Replicator were done well - which is partly why the actual Replicator episode was ultimately disappointing I think.
ReplyDeleteZugswang was a great episode - very fast moving and exciting. Sadly spoilers out beforehand meant we all knew what was going to happen but even so it was very upsetting. I do think they were wrong to kill Maeva off - they had a huge opportunity to take Reid in a very different direction but they cannot seem to do anything but hurt the poor boy! I agree with Anon above - this could have been a much better season finale than the Replicator.
Hotch was great in this episode - the strong leader we love to see. There was a great moment with Garcia and JJ - they don't seem to interact together much anymore.
Beth Riesgraf and Michell Trachtenberg were great in this.
It was great to see the team rally round - there was more of a "family" feel in this than in all the other cheesy family moments in the last 2 seasons.
Ultimately, despite it being a great episode, I still feel cheated by Maeve being killed off and think it was a mistake. Breen Frazier was positively gleeful about upsetting all the Reid fans which I found almost disrespectful. And we knew before it aired that they were out to shock us so it took away some of the impact.
However, still an intense and thrilling episode - shame it just leaves the feeling that a big trick was missed.
/
Perennials was a forgettable filler episode with Replicator references. Probably not going to watch this one again.
ReplyDeleteZugzwang was great. Superb character development for Reid, great team interaction, fantastic guest actors and an okay storyline - although the obsessed female stalker thing has already been done before in Somebody's Watching. I liked wrapping up the episode with Maeve's death. It worked for me. I don't need all my CM characters happily dating someone. Hotch dating Beth has turned him into wallpaper. I'd hate to see that happen with Reid.
I get what you're saying about relationships on this show, for me this only relationship that was ever interesting was Hotch and Haileys and that was because of all the ups and downs. I do think however the actress playing Maeve had way better chemistry with MGG than the actress playing Beth has with TG, so I wish we got to see more of Maeve rather than Beth.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's her acting style or TG's acting style but their supposed chemistry is a little forced to me. And it's not just Beth hate, I felt the same way about Will and Garcias new Beau, and Rossi towards his ex wife.
I wasn't blown over by Zuzwang, I tought it had been built up a bit too much and was probably a little too much during the dulled down, anti climatic Replicator arc. I think sometimes the writers big themselves up with coming up with amazing ideas yet they pile so much into an episode and focus so much on the Unsubs that I feel a little let down at times.
Then theres the writers notion for a character driven episode(s), that we have to see their other halves (with the exception of Morgan). For instance with Reid in season 8, they wanted to give him a story line, so they put him in a relationship. Great. That's what they did to Hotch with Beth. they introduced Carolyn and then a relationship with Strauss for Rossi. Garcia's centric episode had that randomer she went out with and Kevin. Blake has James returning home. Will usually features in JJ's episode, so why not give Reid a gf. But it can't be simple for Reid, so lets make it really weird and have them never actually meet. She has to have a different backstory and we want to tie in his headaches and it can't be a Reid story line without some angst,so we might as well kill her and have him grieve a bit over her.
Tbh, half the time, I couldn't care less about what's going on in their personal lives. Sure I like to see them outside of the job every now and again, and their home life, but I don't need to see their significant others to make it a character centric b story in an episode.
I do agree wholeheartedly with Anon at 7.17 am above. The Hotch and Beth pairing is one of the worst things to happen to CM. The only Hotch we see lately is the gigantic slab of cheese that is his and Beth's relationship. My point regarding Reid and Maeve though is that for 8 seasons all they seem able to do with Reid is angst and tragedy and it would be nice to see them take him in a new direction. Although Anon is probably right in that they cannot do 'happy' at all well - Garcia and Kevin, Hotch and Beth and Willifer are all very much sub standard soap opera and I also would have hated to see that with Reid.
ReplyDelete/
This episode was in my option great because it focus more on Reid being in love with someone and it not be a fling along with the fact that when you are in a job like the FBI it's almost impossible to have a relationship dead or alive.
ReplyDeleteSo I recently got to rewatch this episode. I do think it probably was the best one of the season, despite that shocking ending, although I really wish they had not gone that route.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise it was very much like old CM to me. The emphasis was more on the team doing their job than it was on the unsub.
Unlike so many other episodes I felt that they showed just enough of Diane and her interaction with her victims, for us to get a feel of her.
And bc it was more about the team doing their job, I felt they all had good screen presence, even though Reid was the main focus.
I liked the reference to Reid's eidetic memory and I totally bought his reasoning for why it wasn't doing him any good at the moment.
I thought it made perfect sense for Reid to choose Alex to help him sort thru it all since they do have similar minds.
I'm still not at all clear about what the connection was between that phone call Reid received and the Replicator other than the term Zugzwang.
I personally think they should've made Reid's storyline and the Replicator two completely separate arcs.
It was so heartbreaking seeing Reid this way and I thought MGG did a phenomenal job. I also liked the fact that Hotch seemed more like himself than in some of the previous episodes.
Although I'm not a fan of the JJ/Morgan pairing, I did like the fact that we got a visual along with them speculating as to what probably happened. This is something I really missed from the earlier seasons.
I know that there was another episode where Morgan and Rossi were speculating as to what probably happened and they also showed visuals while they were doing it.
Anyways I hope they keep it up this season and that we see it in even more episodes.