| O 807. THE FALLEN O |
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Written by: | O Rick Dunkle Danny Ramm |
| Directed by: | O Doug Aarniokoski O |
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| Original Air Date: | O November 14, 2012 O |
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| O The BAU travels to Santa Monica when burned bodies of homeless people begin showing up by the famous pier. Also, Rossi reconnects with his former Marine sergeant from Vietnam. O |
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| O 808. THE WHEELS ON THE BUS O |
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Written by: | O Kim Harrison O |
| Directed by: | O Rob Hardy O |
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| Original Air Date: | O November 21, 2012 O |
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| O The BAU team goes in pursuit of a missing school bus full of children outside the Washington, D.C. area, and it becomes a race against time for them to bring them home safely and to capture their abductor. O |
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- What worked? Why?
- What didn't? Why?
- What could have been better? Why?
- What was nearing perfection? Why?
IMHO, it is rare that Rick Dunkle misses when scribing a CM ep. This one, along with Danny Ramm, was another masterpiece. I know the story was near and dear to JM's heart and the writers delivered. And Doug A., like Glen K. is a CM director that knows his stuff. This was a true CM ep with the team building the profile, all the cast got their screen time (I know JM a bit more; understandable) and we didn't get to see the unsub's true identity until the later part. I thought it was one of the best eps of the season.
ReplyDeleteWheels on the Bus? That's a different thing. I just watched the rerun on CBS and felt the same as I did the first time. I wanted to pull the trigger myself on those two unsubs. Does that make for good writing or not? *shrugs* Still pondering that issue. I wasn't exactly fond of this ep because of that. However, I didn't give the ep a total fail 'cause the end scene with Rossi and Garcia was just too precious. That's the last two peeps I would have thought of for hooking up for nite of relaxation away from the BAU. Kim scored points in my world; however solely because of that scene. Other than that, this ep was a take it or leave it with me.
I completely agree with rockhotch31 about The Fallen. One of the best episodes of season 8.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also agree where Wheels On The Bus is concerned. Way too much of the unsubs. It was tiresome and I didn’t even watch it all the way through the second time. There was so much unsubs and other distractions thrown in, that it was hard to enjoy watching the team work. That is, when we saw them. But the scene with Rossi and Garcia was rare. And it was both funny and touching.
Wheels On The Bus was in a word BORING, way too much focus on those 2 obnoxious brats(unsubs)and that idiotic game they were forcing their victims to play.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do enjoy the episodes where we don't learn the unsubs identity until near the end, like we got with The Fallen.I also don't mind the episodes where the unsubs are revealed earlier.It's when they get tons more focus, like we got with WOB,than our team, that I begin to have problems with it.
After three viewings now I am still not sure what I feel about The Fallen. There was so much hype about it before it aired and I know it gives an important message about the fact that veterans deserve to be honored, supported and respected when they return home - but when I watch it I feel kind of subliminally pressured to think it is a brilliant episode. In fact, I don't feel that at all - to me it is just a decent episode with an important message incorporated. I'm not a fan of too much in the way of flashbacks so that put me off to begin with. I also get very caught up in the fact that it proves Rossi is at least 61 and surely he shouldn't still be running busting doors down and shooting unsubs. I come away from this episode thinking I have somehow failed in not recognising that it is better than I think!
ReplyDeleteThe Wheels on the Bus seemed liked a lost opportunity to me. The general premise of the story had potential but it was not done well. too much time was spent on the unsubs and there was insufficient explanation how two kids managed to set up the location, the equipment and the guns - surely a very expensive operation. It also seemed to reference lots of popular culture of the times - the Hunger Games for example - so seemed a little too derivative to me. I did enjoy the end scene with Rossi and Garcia - though I wish they would show Garcia and Kevin have moved on by now.
I also do not mind if I know the unsub's identity early on or at the end. We are rarely invested in these characters - the focus of the show is the profiling and as long as that takes center stage I don't really care where the unsub comes in. This is not a crime show like a film of an Agatha Christie mystery where all the characters are in play from the start and the audience can work out who is guilty. What possible difference can it make in this show if we don't see the unsub till the end and it is some bod we have never heard of?? I agree with Anon at 6.23pm above - the focus has to be on the team and the profiling and not on the unsub.
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I completely agree with you /
ReplyDeleteI wanted to love The Fallen and it was a good episode, one of the better episodes of the season for me, but with all the hype and the good cause angle of the storyline it didn't blow me away. It was a good episode, it explored Rossi well and it felt like a proper CM episode, but for some reason it didn't have that big of an impact for me. It was obviously really close to JM and it was entertaining enough, but I felt the same way as you, that I knew I was supposed to think it was amazing that the episode dealt with such prominent issues and that we should be thinking about what soldiers deal with and that this episode was at the forefront of the debate, but something fell a little flat.
Also, completely agree about how we're just supposed to accept that Rossi should have retired from the field by now, but I can suspend by belief for having Rossi on the team.
The second episode was good too, entertaining and a promising story, but agree with every one who has said there was too much unsub. The writers can't seem to balance unsub focus and the team without pushing the team a little in the background. I did like the episode and would watch it again if it were on TV, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.
Fast action and supposedly controversial unsubs and crimes are fair enough, but I hope next season concentrates a bit more on the team and the victim/families rather than the unsubs and showing the crimes they commit with a lengthy back story for why they commit the crimes. Id rather learn why the commit the crimes through the profiling rather than see the unsub's carry out the crimes and watch the unsubs lives unfold.
Let's face it, CBS and CM lost ground with Chris Mundy and Edward A. Banero gone- not saying there haven't been some good ep's since but just not of their calibre. Come on writers take a few lessons from those guys. They really understood what made loyal fans like me stay on for more; intelligence, balance within the team, great characters and cast, continuity and stories that even when shocking and stark, held people's interest and wanting more.
ReplyDelete