Happy New Year

We at Criminal Minds Roundtable wish all our readers a Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you all health and happiness.

Matthew Gray Gubler on The Craig Ferguson Show

On Tuesday, Jan. 3 Actor/director Matthew Gray Gubler from the CBS drama series “Criminal Minds” will appear on the Craig Ferguson show on CBS at 12:37 AM ET/PT following the Late Show with David Letterman.

Review 'Bittersweet Science'

A boxer’s whose son is dying from leukemia loses control when he is struck by ‘blood lust’ which makes him beat people to death. Meawhile, Hotch meets an interesting woman while training for the FBI triathlon.

This episode had guest stars Shawn Hatosy from Southland fame and Charles S Dutton who did among other things Without a Trace. There was a lot to like about this episode; excellent acting from Thomas Gibson, Hatosy and Dutton, who all had great scenes to shine in. Good writing. Attention spent on the details of the world of small time boxing, from the coach who drinks and  bets against his boxer,  to the washed up boxer who doesn’t know anything else but fighting but who is nothing more than  a punching bag for other boxers.  The boxing scenes looked good and not faked and so was the boxing club. The scene with the little boy passing was a powerful one. Great acting by Thomas Gibson in that scene!  Another great scene was when Jimmy, the unsub, killed his coach. Dutton’s character pleading for his life, telling Jimmy, that like him he was dad was one of the better moments of this episode.

The Hotch and Beth meeting was, as some fans have said, yes awkward especially on Hotch’s part. He looked shy and a bit unsure but that is understandable. When was the last time Hotch dated? Probably way back in high school when he met Haley. It was refreshing to see a woman going after a man she found interesting.  Loved that Hotch showed some of his humor when he asked her if she was training for surveillance!  It was high time that Hotch got something to smile about in his private life that is not about his son.  Small detail, funny that she is the one who gave him her information but he didn’t give her his.

One thing I love is the friendship between Hotch and Rossi. Those two are first friends and it shows. Loved the scene where Rossi tells Hotch that ‘distracted is good!’  Loved that in the last scene, in Hotch’s office, Dave showed Hotch some support by asking him if he would meet with Beth on the weekend.

Oh and poor Reid who didn’t get the bicycle reference but Garcia sure did, just look at the look she gave Hotch!

Favorite scene was the plane scene where everyone were gossiping about Hotch’s love life and Garcia got carried away until she realized that Hotch was there and heard it all.

Although, I did enjoy this episode more than Janine Sherman Barrois’ previous one, this one was, again, us watching the unsub do what he does. Although we got some profiling, as a long time viewer, I much prefer episodes where we get to learn about the unsub via the team profiling them.  Episodes like ‘Brother’s in Arms ‘and ‘Catching Out’ are episodes where all we get to know comes from the team’s work.  Another problem with episodes that have us watching the unsub do what he does is that there are no mysteries.  With this episode, we knew who did it, why and when from the promo and the first 2 minutes of the episode.  What was left was for the team to catch up with him. As a viewer, the previous episode where we get to guess who the killer is and why throughout the whole episode was much better because we still get to guess who and why until the end. We never get to lose interest.

Yes, the episode was violent but unlike Janine’s previous episodes, I didn’t feel like the violence was over the top like in the ‘Thirteen step’ where the violence was almost glamourized for the YouTube generation. This time we had a boxer who was losing control over his blood lust, who had for weapons his hands so yes it got messy but it never felt exploitative.

If I was to rank this episode despite being one that again was a ‘watching the unsub’ episode I would rank it in my top three for this season, a season that is so far turning out to be a much better one that last season!

"Kirsten is smarter because of Penelope Garcia." Kirsten dixit in this 2007 interview

KIRSTEN VANGSNESS

MIND OVER MATTER

by Jamie Steinberg 01/2007

Q) What are the current projects that you are working on?

A) Currently, I am working on a scruffy little show on CBS called "Criminal Minds." I just finished doing a play over Christmas. Right now, I am in the middle of working on my theater company's award show so I am rehearsing for that. I am also in the middle of filming the Super Bowl episode for "Criminal Minds."

Q) Please tell us about your character Penelope Garcia on "Criminal Minds."

A) She is the resident hacker for Quantico, in general, for the FBI, but she has sweetly and whimsically weaseled her way in to being invaluable for the Behavior Analysis Unit. She has quite an affection for the people that work in that group and she gets what they are doing. It's a big huge challenge for her. She's very eccentric. She's a total geek, but in a really hot way. She's got really fantastic shoes!

Q) What's new this season for the show and your character?

A) This season, thus far, we've gotten to see what kind of car Penelope drives, which is fantastic. You, actually, see that I have legs because I am walking around a lot more than I was last year. I believe in an upcoming episode I am not in the office at all! I go a whole episode where I am never in the Quantico office. I can't make any guarantees, but I think that might be in the cards. Everyone has sort of melded and molded into a delightful crime drama sandwich that makes everything compliment each other now so much. Last year, everyone was trying to get their sea legs about it. The writers were trying to figure out our characters and we were trying to figure out the writing. It was so great, but there is this sort of effortlessness about it right now where everybody just sort of gets it. It's just sort of moves along as entertaining, but yet creepy. It turns things into more of a puzzle than it was last year. I think there is a lot more thinking outside of the box, which I do enjoy. I don't like being in the box. So, as far away from the box that you can get I am a big fan of. And, I think we do that!

To read more go to Starry Magazine

Meredith Monroe was on board of "Criminal Minds" since the pilot... and talked about it in 2005

MEREDITH MONROE

MARRIED TO THE JOB

by: Jamie Steinberg 11/2005

Q) What are the current projects that you are working on?

A) Right now, I am working on a series for CBS called "Criminal Minds." It's a recurring character and I play Haley Hotchner who is the wife of Aaron Hotch. Right now, we're just introducing my character and showing that he has a family life. I was pregnant in the beginning and I've given birth. We'll see what will happen down the road. Hopefully, something good and juicy will come up. Maybe one of the serial killers will hit too close to home, we'll see.

Q) You play the character Haley Hotchner on "Criminal Minds." What did they tell you about the character when you originally signed on?

A) They had said it was a small character to start off with. She was one of the wives of the team and they had some pretty exciting storylines if the show got picked up for the entire year. They had some exciting storylines that they wanted to write for her if the show got picked up and continued on next year. They just left it kind of intriguing saying this is where she is at now, but we have some exciting stuff for where she can go, too. They left it mysterious and intriguing so I thought what the heck! It sounded fun!

Q) What made you want to be a part of this show?

A) I really liked the pilot that I had read. I thought it was good and fun. I've always kind of liked thriller-mystery television shows and books. I've always been intrigued by that kind of stuff. I read the script and it always deals with different serial killers. It's not just different police cases. It's serial killers that are tracked by this special team. I thought this was something interesting and it's different.

Q) How was it getting to work with such acting greats like Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore?

A) I think it's going to be more exciting as I, hopefully, get more to do on the show. It's wonderful working with Thomas because he's the one who plays my husband, obviously. I've only gotten to get quick little exchanges with Shemar and Mandy, whether it's seeing them on the set or at table reads. I'm looking forward, hopefully, to having more scenes with them.

To read more go to Starry Magazine