CRIMINAL MINDS Season 9 - 907. Gatekeeper - Review

This week's episode Gatekeeper - directed by our very own Dr. Reid, Matthew Gray Gubler, and written by fan favorite Rick Dunkle - was a really interesting and compelling episode. What I have always loved about Criminal Minds is how it perfectly dances on the line between being a show about the good guys catching the bad guys and the bad guys being human even in their evil. Sometimes we get truly depraved villains, but sometimes we get people who just cracked down the middle like we did this week, and the story is just devastatingly sad.

This one was about a father named Tanner Johnson who didn't pay attention when he should have been, and lost his child because of it. And then his wife, and finally his sanity completely. His way of coping was to try to create family around him to show that he was worthy of a second chance. Unfortunately, he demonstrated this by stalking the people he was “protecting” and murdering those who would hurt these people, which is why our group got the call in.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story because it made me feel something, and that's always more interesting to me than just stock good and bad situations. Psychologically, it was fascinating to watch. That said, I did have a moment of being irritated with our team. After the baby was born, Morgan pulled the father out, and it just seemed unnecessarily harsh considering that we know what had broken his home. What would letting him see his child have hurt? He'd likely never see it again, and it just seemed a bit cruel to me deprive Tanner of those few seconds.

Some great team character moments included Reid delivering the child, his clever thinking with the scissors, Rossi and his bar ("Eagles" for the win!) and then of course the bit at the end with karaoke and Hotch smiling.





~~~~Sir Gareth