Ok, good script, good performances, 5-star not win, but I liked the rhythm from one scene to another, and the ending was different. At the moment, it's the best I've seen, but I'm not completely satisfied. We have to wait for another week, hopefully they will improve the episodes as they pass the season.
I thought that was really a prett good episode. They finally let Reid do a few things, so it was good to see MGG have some screen time, but alas the Chief of police got a shot that should have been Hotchner's to take, and speaking of Hotchner, you know the guy in charge, where the heck was he for most of this episode?
The storyline was good.. but the absolute lack of Hotch in favor of a cop Virgil portrayed as a drunk alcoholic was horrible... Not to mention having the team in the church for that service just was NOT in team character... That's the writer's personal beliefs coming in..
I did like how Hotch and Lewis worked well together.. but even in the prison for the most part Hotch's voice was a voice over...
The Big Dog is back! I thought that was an excellent episode. This episode was great in highlighting Rossi and Reid as their dominant selves, and the story line was captivating with plenty of profiling along the way. Being a Hotch lover I knew we wouldn't see a lot of our fierce leader in this episode, since he would've been busy with pre-production of episode 5, "The Night Watch", which he is directing; however when he worked together with Lewis in this episode they were excellent.
Unfortunately, it did take away from Hotch's screen time and I do wish it would've been Hotch to take the sniper shot or at least to have him aimed at the guy, but this was still a great, scary, entertaining episode! Can't wait to see Thomas Gibson's episode next week and LONG LIVE CM!
Oh dear. It was another UnSub show with the team as supporting characters. There was hardly any profiling and we had to wait for the team to catch up. It was a good idea,but there had to be a better way to tell it without showing us the bad guys so early and a way of ratcheting up the tension as the episode continued. I got bored halfway through again.
Normally I don't pay much attention to how much air time a character gets. It's going to vary per character per episode. Hotch was virtually nonexistent. I know Gibson was prepping for his episode but sometimes I think they should just take the previous episode off so that they can focus on the one they are directing instead of appearing in one or two scenes and vanishing into the woodwork for the remaining time.
The take down bothered me. Apparently the FBI were the only ones who were allowed to shoot back. The cops, except for the Chief, who had a stronger vested interest in making the arrest were regulated to sitting in the car and watching it play out. That didn't seem right.
Well it is over and I shall wait for next week's episode and hope it is back to the show we know and love. My fingers are cramping from all the finger crossing.
Who was the lovely singer who sang "Amazing Grace" at the end of "Outlaw" Yes I wanted to know the same thing.....She had such a pure voice, with an occasional Irish lilt....I'd really like to know....Can someone please post an answer.....Thanks.....G.L.
I'm sitting through the opening thinking, "Wow, I love how Virgil wrote this. This a wonderful new approach on how the team gets the case from the usual." So I get my hopes up that Virgil Williams is back in his CM writing game.
But then, again, we get Unsub U. I thought this show was about an elite team of FBI agents that profile serial criminals. That is the premise of the show correct?
Don't get me wrong; it wasn't all bad. But I knew when the unsub figured out that the boy was his exactly how the rest of the episode was going to go. So the unsub pointing the gun at the father and son then commercial had no shock value for me. And I knew that Lester was going to show back up into the picture as well.
And when the sniper took the first shot, I thought, "that's gotta be Hotch." Sadly it wasn't. I get it, I really do that all the actors, not just TG, when prepping for directing, takes them away. I still don't believe that there is not a way to write/film around that.
I will give Virgil kudos for the ending scene. I totally bought into it. The team was still in town when the funeral for the female victim was scheduled. The team does the job for the victims and their families. To show support for the family and the LEO's as well was very fitting. And I loved the rendition of Amazing Grace as well.
Larry Teng did a great job directing (for the most part). Vrigil script, while it had some redeeming qualities still lacked the whole team (even if TG was available) doing their jobs.
Rockie, I agree that the church scene was in perfectly plausible for the team. It was, indeed, a beautiful ending, to what I thought was a pretty good episode. A huge improvement from "Protection", that is for sure.
About the too much unsub subject, Was wondering why this gets to me so much. There was lots of Foyet, of Frank in prior episodes and and it never bothered me but I realized it is because before, the team was, if not one step ahead of the viewers in their knowledge about the unsub behavior, they were at the very least on the same page as the viewers.
Plus, more than this, before the team was so much more involved. Look at Foyet, Hotch was so involved in trying to catch The Reaper and when things became personal because George went after Hotch and his family it made us the viewer CARE for will happen to those Hotch and his family. It was fascinating seing how Hotch reacted to what Foyet was doing, how the case got to him. Same with Frank, look at the scene between him and Gideon at the dinner, fascinating! The stake are high, is the sherrif still alive or her head is in that bag? Another episode the one with Tobias Hankel. Reid was on the ball the whole time even if he was at the mercy of Hankel multiple personalities. ALL that we learned about the unsub was from what the team found out and not from what we saw on screen. When we saw Hankel multiple personalities it was ONLY after Hotch noticed the skid marks on the kitchen floor where Hankel went from one personality to another and Hotch came up with the theory that Hankel was having dual personalities fighting within him. These days the writers just show us the unsubs, we watch them do their things then the team tell us what they found but by then it is already redounded because we already KNOW, this mean we cannot be in awe of the team skills, how good they are at profiling because why do any of the profiling parts if we already seen the unsubs in action? Those unsubs already explain to us why they kill ( 'proof' comes to mind).
You're absolutely right. The writing these days is ruining the show, at least for me, and it doesn't help when the guest actors are horrible, too, as they have been the past few weeks. I realize a poor script doesn't give them much to work with, but many of these actors have been worse than folks I've worked with in community theatre. I'm afraid we're never going to get back to the Criminal Minds many of us loved because the writers don't get it and they're not good enough or smart enough to write the kind of episodes that made this show unique and great.
It is my understanding that it's been established in CM canon that Hotch is a trained FBI sniper. Whether that was when he was with FBI SWAT is subject to speculation. Hotch did take the sniper shot in "Final Shot" (S9.3) to take down the unsub. That is what I'm basing the assumption on.
Sounded like Sharon van Etten. She did a really amazing song that was used in " The Walking Dead; "Serpents" it was deep sad song used on a sad scene . Love her!
Another unsub show with little real profiling, the magic computer in full flow, Hotch MIA and the end shoot out was predictable and overly drawn out. Plus points were some nice Reid moments and for that I rate it a C.
Susan Boyle is credited in the beginning version. The end version, sung in the church, is sung by Alaska Reid. This link gives all of the music, by episode, for the entire show. It's pretty handy
The episode was ok. Interesting unsubs, nice team work. Very good Reid. Loved when he was looking at the boar with all the victims pictures and was figuring things out.
The actors playing the unsubs were pretty good, would not have wanted to meet those guys in a dark alley!
As rocky the moment we saw the unsub little boy, I knew he would never shoot the little boy and his dad at the store. The scene at the store would have been so much more effective if it had happened before we learn he had a boy because we would have wonder why the behavior changed, just like the team did but since WE already knew he had a son all I wanted to tell the team was 'come guys catch up with what the rest of us already know!'
Yes, I too thought there was too much unsubs. we have beat that worse so many time that now only bloody pulp is left....
Like others who have mentionned this, We had next to no Hotch. I KNOW Thomas Gibson was busy preparing to direct the following episode and that his schedule may not have allowed him to be on set that much. That said it still suck that he had next to nothing and the one good scene he could have got, the sniper shot, was given to the cop of the week. BUT at least the writer Virgil Williams made a good effort to expplain where Hotch went and not just have him enter a building only to never been seen again.
All and all this was a much better effort from Mr. Williams than last season 'protection'. I'll give this one a 7/10
I'm with everyone else about not showing the unsubs until near the end of the episode after much profiling. It would certainly help with the suspense. These unsubs were MEAN, and it would have made them so much meaner with more suspense had we not known who they were.
I, too, missed Hotch. When he isn't there, the show isn't complete. I know, I'm whining.
And, while I don't hate Tara Lewis as a guest cast, I don't particularly love her; the one thing about her that does bug me is her hair...since it is so dark, it has no nuances, and I've never like the pieces sticking out in the odd places. I think one thing that would make her look better would be if they gave her a little something on her forehead instead of just pulling her hair straight across her forehead, that isn't a flattering look. I've seen her in pictures, and she's very attractive with a different hairstyle.
Back to the episode. even knowing the unsubs, I did enjoy the episode much better than last week's episode. But, I hope each week that it will bring us a classic CM episode with no unsub until toward the end, after the team has been profiling their little hearts out.
Alaska Reid, she tweeted about having "a blast filming & recording Amzing Grace" on Criminal Minds. Beautiful voice for sure. But it did remind me a lot of Audra Mae & Sons of Anarchy.
Adore CM but this episode felt like a throwaway. Boring, predictable. The ending was absurd. I could've written this and wish I had. Maybe I can provide them for free. If this is the trajectory for season 11 then my predictable prediction is a predicted cancellation. Kudos to cast for enduring this brainless script.
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Ok, good script, good performances, 5-star not win, but I liked the rhythm from one scene to another, and the ending was different. At the moment, it's the best I've seen, but I'm not completely satisfied. We have to wait for another week, hopefully they will improve the episodes as they pass the season.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was really a prett good episode. They finally let Reid do a few things, so it was good to see MGG have some screen time, but alas the Chief of police got a shot that should have been Hotchner's to take, and speaking of Hotchner, you know the guy in charge, where the heck was he for most of this episode?
ReplyDeleteThe storyline was good.. but the absolute lack of Hotch in favor of a cop Virgil portrayed as a drunk alcoholic was horrible... Not to mention having the team in the church for that service just was NOT in team character... That's the writer's personal beliefs coming in..
ReplyDeleteI did like how Hotch and Lewis worked well together.. but even in the prison for the most part Hotch's voice was a voice over...
The Big Dog is back! I thought that was an excellent episode. This episode was great in highlighting Rossi and Reid as their dominant selves, and the story line was captivating with plenty of profiling along the way. Being a Hotch lover I knew we wouldn't see a lot of our fierce leader in this episode, since he would've been busy with pre-production of episode 5, "The Night Watch", which he is directing; however when he worked together with Lewis in this episode they were excellent.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it did take away from Hotch's screen time and I do wish it would've been Hotch to take the sniper shot or at least to have him aimed at the guy, but this was still a great, scary, entertaining episode!
Can't wait to see Thomas Gibson's episode next week and LONG LIVE CM!
Oh dear. It was another UnSub show with the team as supporting characters. There was hardly any profiling and we had to wait for the team to catch up. It was a good idea,but there had to be a better way to tell it without showing us the bad guys so early and a way of ratcheting up the tension as the episode continued. I got bored halfway through again.
ReplyDeleteNormally I don't pay much attention to how much air time a character gets. It's going to vary per character per episode. Hotch was virtually nonexistent. I know Gibson was prepping for his episode but sometimes I think they should just take the previous episode off so that they can focus on the one they are directing instead of appearing in one or two scenes and vanishing into the woodwork for the remaining time.
The take down bothered me. Apparently the FBI were the only ones who were allowed to shoot back. The cops, except for the Chief, who had a stronger vested interest in making the arrest were regulated to sitting in the car and watching it play out. That didn't seem right.
Well it is over and I shall wait for next week's episode and hope it is back to the show we know and love. My fingers are cramping from all the finger crossing.
Who sang amazing grace at the end? Beautiful voice.
ReplyDeleteWho was the lovely singer who sang "Amazing Grace" at the end of "Outlaw" Yes I wanted to know the same thing.....She had such a pure voice, with an occasional Irish lilt....I'd really like to know....Can someone please post an answer.....Thanks.....G.L.
DeleteSusan Boyle
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGiFIxU8kQA
DeleteAccording to another sight, amazing grace was sung by Susan Boyle. However the sample of the song on the other site sounded different.
DeleteIt sounds like Audra Mae. She did some songs for Sons of Anarchy. Listen to "Forever Young" and "The Unclouded Day"
DeleteThe first person that popped into my head was Nataly Dawn (Pomplamoose)
DeleteI think it was Audra Mae.
DeleteOn the website tunefind it says Alaska Reid.
DeleteI'm wondering too who sang Amazing Grace. anyone know?
ReplyDeleteSusan Boyle
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf6gAHLHGHg
DeleteCould it be Toni Childs who did Amazing Grace, sounds just like her. Beautiful voice.
DeleteEveryone who is saying Susan Boyle, I think is wrkng. Susan Boyle is amazing, but it's not her
DeleteEveryone who is saying Susan Boyle, I think is wrkng. Susan Boyle is amazing, but it's not her
DeleteDoes anyone know where to find it? I can't find Audra Mae or Alaska Reid singing it.
DeleteCould have been done for CM only.
DeleteThe credits listed Alaska Reid.
DeleteDefinitely her. She tweeted about it: https://twitter.com/AlaskaReid/status/657070484916318208
DeleteI'm sitting through the opening thinking, "Wow, I love how Virgil wrote this. This a wonderful new approach on how the team gets the case from the usual." So I get my hopes up that Virgil Williams is back in his CM writing game.
ReplyDeleteBut then, again, we get Unsub U. I thought this show was about an elite team of FBI agents that profile serial criminals. That is the premise of the show correct?
Don't get me wrong; it wasn't all bad. But I knew when the unsub figured out that the boy was his exactly how the rest of the episode was going to go. So the unsub pointing the gun at the father and son then commercial had no shock value for me. And I knew that Lester was going to show back up into the picture as well.
And when the sniper took the first shot, I thought, "that's gotta be Hotch." Sadly it wasn't. I get it, I really do that all the actors, not just TG, when prepping for directing, takes them away. I still don't believe that there is not a way to write/film around that.
I will give Virgil kudos for the ending scene. I totally bought into it. The team was still in town when the funeral for the female victim was scheduled. The team does the job for the victims and their families. To show support for the family and the LEO's as well was very fitting. And I loved the rendition of Amazing Grace as well.
Larry Teng did a great job directing (for the most part). Vrigil script, while it had some redeeming qualities still lacked the whole team (even if TG was available) doing their jobs.
Rockie's grade: C
I do not understand something, why do you assume that Hotch was the sniper? Since when has that role, if he does not have such experience?
DeleteRockie, I agree that the church scene was in perfectly plausible for the team. It was, indeed, a beautiful ending, to what I thought was a pretty good episode. A huge improvement from "Protection", that is for sure.
DeleteAbout the too much unsub subject, Was wondering why this gets to me so much. There was lots of Foyet, of Frank in prior episodes and and it never bothered me but I realized it is because before, the team was, if not one step ahead of the viewers in their knowledge about the unsub behavior, they were at the very least on the same page as the viewers.
DeletePlus, more than this, before the team was so much more involved. Look at Foyet, Hotch was so involved in trying to catch The Reaper and when things became personal because George went after Hotch and his family it made us the viewer CARE for will happen to those Hotch and his family. It was fascinating seing how Hotch reacted to what Foyet was doing, how the case got to him. Same with Frank, look at the scene between him and Gideon at the dinner, fascinating! The stake are high, is the sherrif still alive or her head is in that bag? Another episode the one with Tobias Hankel. Reid was on the ball the whole time even if he was at the mercy of Hankel multiple personalities. ALL that we learned about the unsub was from what the team found out and not from what we saw on screen. When we saw Hankel multiple personalities it was ONLY after Hotch noticed the skid marks on the kitchen floor where Hankel went from one personality to another and Hotch came up with the theory that Hankel was having dual personalities fighting within him. These days the writers just show us the unsubs, we watch them do their things then the team tell us what they found but by then it is already redounded because we already KNOW, this mean we cannot be in awe of the team skills, how good they are at profiling because why do any of the profiling parts if we already seen the unsubs in action? Those unsubs already explain to us why they kill ( 'proof' comes to mind).
You're absolutely right. The writing these days is ruining the show, at least for me, and it doesn't help when the guest actors are horrible, too, as they have been the past few weeks. I realize a poor script doesn't give them much to work with, but many of these actors have been worse than folks I've worked with in community theatre. I'm afraid we're never going to get back to the Criminal Minds many of us loved because the writers don't get it and they're not good enough or smart enough to write the kind of episodes that made this show unique and great.
DeleteIt is my understanding that it's been established in CM canon that Hotch is a trained FBI sniper. Whether that was when he was with FBI SWAT is subject to speculation. Hotch did take the sniper shot in "Final Shot" (S9.3) to take down the unsub. That is what I'm basing the assumption on.
ReplyDeleteI hope that clears up your question. :D
Sounded like Sharon van Etten. She did a really amazing song that was used in " The Walking Dead; "Serpents" it was deep sad song used on a sad scene . Love her!
ReplyDeleteAnother unsub show with little real profiling, the magic computer in full flow, Hotch MIA and the end shoot out was predictable and overly drawn out. Plus points were some nice Reid moments and for that I rate it a C.
ReplyDeleteIt was not Susan Boyle.
ReplyDeleteHer name is Alaska Reid, but I can't find it other than on the show
DeleteSusan Boyle is credited in the beginning version. The end version, sung in the church, is sung by Alaska Reid. This link gives all of the music, by episode, for the entire show. It's pretty handy
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tunefind.com/show/criminal-minds
Deletehttp://www.tunefind.com/show/criminal-minds
DeleteThe episode was ok. Interesting unsubs, nice team work. Very good Reid. Loved when he was looking at the boar with all the victims pictures and was figuring things out.
ReplyDeleteThe actors playing the unsubs were pretty good, would not have wanted to meet those guys in a dark alley!
As rocky the moment we saw the unsub little boy, I knew he would never shoot the little boy and his dad at the store. The scene at the store would have been so much more effective if it had happened before we learn he had a boy because we would have wonder why the behavior changed, just like the team did but since WE already knew he had a son all I wanted to tell the team was 'come guys catch up with what the rest of us already know!'
Yes, I too thought there was too much unsubs. we have beat that worse so many time that now only bloody pulp is left....
Like others who have mentionned this, We had next to no Hotch. I KNOW Thomas Gibson was busy preparing to direct the following episode and that his schedule may not have allowed him to be on set that much. That said it still suck that he had next to nothing and the one good scene he could have got, the sniper shot, was given to the cop of the week. BUT at least the writer Virgil Williams made a good effort to expplain where Hotch went and not just have him enter a building only to never been seen again.
All and all this was a much better effort from Mr. Williams than last season 'protection'. I'll give this one a 7/10
I'm with everyone else about not showing the unsubs until near the end of the episode after much profiling. It would certainly help with the suspense. These unsubs were MEAN, and it would have made them so much meaner with more suspense had we not known who they were.
ReplyDeleteI, too, missed Hotch. When he isn't there, the show isn't complete. I know, I'm whining.
And, while I don't hate Tara Lewis as a guest cast, I don't particularly love her; the one thing about her that does bug me is her hair...since it is so dark, it has no nuances, and I've never like the pieces sticking out in the odd places. I think one thing that would make her look better would be if they gave her a little something on her forehead instead of just pulling her hair straight across her forehead, that isn't a flattering look. I've seen her in pictures, and she's very attractive with a different hairstyle.
Back to the episode. even knowing the unsubs, I did enjoy the episode much better than last week's episode. But, I hope each week that it will bring us a classic CM episode with no unsub until toward the end, after the team has been profiling their little hearts out.
Alaska Reid, she tweeted about having "a blast filming & recording Amzing Grace" on Criminal Minds. Beautiful voice for sure. But it did remind me a lot of Audra Mae & Sons of Anarchy.
ReplyDeleteAdore CM but this episode felt like a throwaway. Boring, predictable. The ending was absurd. I could've written this and wish I had. Maybe I can provide them for free. If this is the trajectory for season 11 then my predictable prediction is a predicted cancellation. Kudos to cast for enduring this brainless script.
ReplyDeleteDef Alaska Reid...just played the episode & her song in sync
ReplyDelete