| O 819. PAY IT FORWARD O |
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Written by: | O Bruce Zimmerman O |
| Directed by: | O John Terlesky O |
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| Original Air Date: | O April 10, 2013 O |
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| O When a time capsule in a small Colorado town is opened twenty-five years later and contains a gruesome discovery, the BAU investigates the crime and find a possible link to the death of a local police officer. O |
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| O 820. ALCHEMY O |
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Written by: | O Sharon Lee Watson O |
| Directed by: | O Matthew Gray Gubler O |
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| Original Air Date: | O May 1, 2013 O |
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| O The BAU travels to Rapid City after two male victims are discovered murdered in a ritualistic manner. Also, Reid continues to grieve over Maeve's death. O |
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- What worked? Why?
- What didn't? Why?
- What could have been better? Why?
- What was nearing perfection? Why?
I'm never a huge fan of Bruce Zimmerman's episodes, they're too unsub heavy, too case heavy and gory, then the team are often an after thought.
ReplyDeleteThat being said 8x19 was okay, the team were present and it was an interesting concept but I had a lot of issues with the case and how it ended up and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again.
Alchemy... was definitely directed by MGG and was very Reid focused.
I loved the continuity in this episode, I did like that they had Reid properly grieve, the interactions with Reid and the team, especially Rossi was great, which showed how Reid's still got issues, some things I wished they showed with Hotch a little more in season 5.
As much as I prefer Maeve to many other BAU spouses, this episode was a little cheesy at times and I was ready to move passed that story line by this episode and focus more on the Replicator arc.
Many BAU spouses have bit the dust over the years and Reid's loss was handled really well, I would have just preferred to see other story lines handled like this one before they created this arc for Reid, which was an obvious attempt to provoke a reaction from fans, rather than develop a character or season arc, and create an angst filled arc for MGG/Reid to show him suffer a little bit more than he already has done.
Season 8 was very Reid centric which is great for his fans and everything, it was better than shoving Blake down our throats straight off the bat like they did with Seaver (that's a whole other discussion for #6) and I did like the actress who played Maeve, although that's about the only thing I liked about that arc, as someone who isn't enthralled with Reid, I'd probably skip this episode again.
I also am not a fan of Bruce Zimmerman's episodes. It normally doesn't bother me too much if the unsub is shown early on but here we see him from the start, even before the titles roll. It was an interesting concept and I can't imagine the guilt the girl must have felt being the cause of all the killing. However, for some reason I wasn't gripped by the episode and won't put myself out to watch again. There was no real tension in the episode, no edge of my seat moments. Good points were that the team were pretty present and there was some profiling. Reid and Rossi work well together - I love Rossi's throw away comments - "Was it my cologne?". Garcia was just bearable - not too over the top for once.
ReplyDeleteAlchemy was great! One of my favorite episodes from the whole series. While I didn't like the Maeve storyline - it would have been far better for them not to have killed her off and given Reid something other than angst, angst and more angst - having done that at least this gave us some continuity and was beautifully done. It was a typical MGG episode and he does weird so well. Reid's grief and the way he was clinging onto her memory was heartbreakingly believable and the Rossi/Reid moments were very well done. I love Rossi - he is an absolute legend. I get annoyed by Garcia STILL squealing about the ickyness of the crimes - it is just unbelievable that she would not have developed a more professional attitude by now. Nice to see Morgan and Hotch working together - they don't often do that. Much better than Morgan and JJ being paired all the time. I liked the ending. I liked the closure for Reid with Maeve - it was utterly charming. A great episode, the whole team played their part, it was nicely weird, beautifully directed and for once we got some timely continuity.
I know people complain that Reid was in Season 8 a fair amount but really it was so nice after he barely had a showing in the previous 3 seasons. And yes, I am a Reid fan!
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Both of these epi's, fall into not easily believable to me. As for Pay it Forward, I can never understand why a women who lives with a guy for many years, can not come upon his wierd batcave in the basement sooner, and see the weird in him, and I never really had a solid sense of why he was what he was. Just did not hold my interest for long, so I got up and only watched out of the corner of my eye as I worked on other stuff.
ReplyDeleteAs for Alchemy- I usually really like Reid material but even this just came out looking like a bad horror flick, people sucked into walls, etc., etc. And what a strange husband/wife relationship - just way to OTT for me. The ending did appeal as they have left grieving issues far to often, especially re Hotch and Haley's death which could have been a whole ep in itself, considering Hotch's role in her death. There was more about the effect of Prentiss's supposed death, but so very little re Hotch and I'm hoping the season 9 ep about this doesn't end up looking anticlimatic as a result. (All in a dream state by the look of it.)
I also get a kick of how they market this show by telling us that the fan's deserve these back stories - in my opinion it's their way of saying "we didn't do a very good continuity job and we are running out of ideas, so now you're going to see a season of 'fill in the blanks'."
Fans are a lot smarter then that.
I could be totally missing the mark, but I do believe when the fans were demanding more team, they meant in a totally different way then we got this season.
ReplyDeleteI sort of suspect fans wanted to see the team within the capacity of doing their jobs and their interactions with each other. And I hate that between the BLEEPING unsubs and the personal back stories, that has pretty much taken a backseat.
So I really wish these writers would stop bringing in these outsiders and let us see the team interacting with each other.And can they please stop pushing the "We are family" agenda and allow for some conflict among the team.
I don't mind the backstories per say,especially where Reid is concerned.I actually ended up liking his storyline with Maeve better than I thought I would, although I really wish they had not killed her off.IMO the Maeve/Reid storyline was head and shoulders above the Beth/Hotch storyline.
Still I'd much rather have episodes where Reid is allowed to show off that brilliant mind of his, like was done in the earlier seasons.
I agree so much with Anonymous at 7.03 pm above! Show us the team working together and interacting ina believable way. Thinking back to the little bit of inter-team conflict they introduced with "Proof" I think it was an insult to the fans to wrap that up with a pasta dinner at Rossi's. I think it would have reverberated through the following seasons.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Hotch/Beth storyline, it seems to have been aimed at either the pre-teen fans of second rate Disney style romances or the fans of those awful B rated made-for-TV slushy romance movies and I find the twee and wooden relationship impossible to watch. The Reid/Maeve storyline was so much better and had real promise of something different - so naturally they killed her off!!
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I completely agree, that they took what fans wanted the wrong way. When we want to see them outside of work, it's together/a few of them, meeting up, doing things, or even seeing them during a case and at work, just team bonding, being in conflict, or competition (just to show different dynamics rather than everyone being bffs or like supportive team mates) just something that is pertinent to what ever was going on in the case and gives us some insight into how they interact with each other and how they get along as a group or individuals in the job.
ReplyDeleteWhen we want development it's in their jobs, as agents, or even just who they are as individual people but in relation to their careers/team mates. Seeing their pasts should be relating to what ever is going on in the episode and to show how they got to where they are today, not to add a piece of fluff, bookend or not actually go anywhere.
The team's love lives don't equal character development, like the writers seem to think, especially when we get relationships like tween-rom-com Hotch/Beth, always going to end badly Reid/Maeve, to justify real life pregnancy/little chemistry for years JJ/Will, unnecessary drama Garcia/Kevin or no point Garcia/Sam, and always doomed Rossi and his partners.
Let's see more of the team being a team and the characters being agents and friends, not randomers and random story lines.