Hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and remember that next week we'll have a brand new one!
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
CRIMINAL MINDS Season 10 - 1004. The Itch - Comments Thread
Hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and remember that next week we'll have a brand new one!
I'm going to say what I did like first... Because well there wasn't much of it.. I liked the 'creepy' factor, although the bugs... well *Ick*
ReplyDeleteI liked Rossi kicking down the door. I liked Rossi throwing the right hook at the unsub to subdue him.
I liked Hotch interviewing the Group lady and I liked the ending with the group lady...
The rest.. not a fan of this episode.
Unsub scenes were way way too much even though they were fluid... I did NOT need to see "Unsub Love Story" and the bed scene...
The Team scenes were choppy and disjointed to me. Reid while having a good presence was 'flat'... actually felt like he was reading from a script. If this makes any sense he didn't seem "Reidlike'...quick of mind, processing info all the time..
Hotch, was ok, but again his lines and presence seemed just generic.. Rossi was ok but again very generic. Kate? Well I don't even know what to say about that.. JJ, seemed like they were trying to force her to be sympathetic and caring... didn't feel genuine..
I will watch this again to see if it was an off night for me... or for CM... as of tonight I would give this episode
5 out of 10
agree. Kind of a flat episode, Lack of mistery and suspense. I miss more chemistry between the original characters.
DeleteAfter last week excellent episode was a bit dissapointed with this week episode. It had good things; very creepy scenes with creepy creatures, those made me look away from the screen! Good interrogation scenes. Love the one Hotch did with the friend who was scratching her hands. Hotch sure knows how to get into people's head. We had good Reid scenes and Reid had that very EEEEW story about the woman scratching her skull! Rossi got to play hero this week, first he did kick down a door, Go Dave! then he did take out the unsub AND saved his intended victim from BIG crawly spiders! There was some good profiling.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this episode for me was way too much unsub. We saw him torture his victims, then we saw him at the meeting, with the girl at the restaurant, at her place etc...
What we saw of the team was good but I don't know maybe after last week great episode which was all about the team doing what they do best, an episode with lots of unsub was not what I expected.
Anyway, may have much to say about this episode after a rewatch, for now I gave this one a 6/10.
Unfortunately due to the excessive amount of JJ in this episode I am unable to give an objective view.
ReplyDeleteNow I know the real reason they dropped Reid's storyline.
Debra, I was thinkin the same thing--Reid's magic tricks are back--Poof! He disappeared mid-episode! Now that's what I call a vanishing act!
DeleteTammy I was thinking that if CBS wants another season maybe they could save themselves a boatload of money simply by only rehiring Shermar, AJ and Kirsten.Because from what I am seeing it's obvious the network must think that JJ, Morgan and Garcia can carry the show all by themselves. Yes I know that they said one time there'd be no CM without either TG or JM, but their actions and the way they have allowed EM and her people to run the show just don't line up with what they have said, at least to me it doesn't.
DeleteYeah they probably dropped Reid's story line so it wouldn't take away any of the Mary Sue's screen time.
Do we know what Reid's storyline was supposed to be? Was it something about addiction?
Deletesorry Debra, I don't see too much of Garcia in this episode. Don't agree. They kind of force JJ character..yes. the entire team and a balance between characters is necessary. I really miss the chemistry between the original characters. They all add something interesting
DeleteIt's tough to follow a really great episode. However, if there is a CM writer in my mind that could do that, it's Breen Frazier. Sadly, Breen failed tonight.
ReplyDeleteI'll say it again: I will never figured out what possesses those in the writer's room that think we need to see the unsub right away. This is NOT the formula that made CM the great show that it is. And excuse me, but sharing the same phobia, illness, whatever the word, is not a kinky way to get laid for me. I was ready to turn the channel to the World Series.
To Breen's credit, he saved this episode for me with a brilliant scene of Hotch doing what he does best: profiling people. From that point, the episode picked up a bit of steam so to speak that kept my interest. Throw in Rossi kicking in a door and this Hotch/Rossi fangirl found some redemption.
However, when Rossi and Morgan were talking with the CDC doctor that identified the unsub and Breen left hanging with the tidbit of "one more thing I wanted to try" I knew that Rossi was going to be the one to take down the unsub. Don't get me wrong: I loved that. But I just wish I didn't know it was coming. It would have gave the scene some more "wow" factor for me. And Larry Teng's directing of that scene made Rossi's punch look exactly like it was: acting. It wasn't real. I think back to Hotch and Foyet's fight in 100. I marveled at how good that was without the actors really not landing any blows.
Back on point; I liked the team aspect for the most part, especially with them sitting around the table discussing the case. For me, Reid had his usual spot on input and helped put the pieces of the puzzle together in finding the unsub. But where was Callahan in the scene?
Speaking of Callahan, her and JJ nailing down where the unsub worked while interviewing Jane (?) was a neat touch as well. And I liked the ending scenes. JJ taking the woman home, failing to get through to her. I'm a spoiler reader so I know what's coming and won't spoil it for others that don't and just say it made sense to me. Plus the ending scene of the woman Hotch interviewed finally moving on was wonderful.
All that said, I was really disappointed with this episode. I know Breen likes to do the weird, over the top stuff, and with seeing the spoilers about the bugs, I thought he would give me one of his usual wonderful wacko episodes. That didn't happen for me with this one.
Rockie's grade: C-
Very disappointing. The only good bits were Rossi actually being in the fore at the takedown, Hotch interviewing the group leader and Reid being shown as an intelligent adult and looking mighty fine - although Reid was sent to the drug store half way through and disappeared until just briefly before the end. And yay! They actually showed a SWAT guy at the end with Rossi, Morgan and JJ. Lately the team have done it all by their superhero selves. The rest was far too much about the unsub, there was zero suspense - those spiders were wasted - and whatever they are setting up for JJ I really do not want to know. Obviously they are reacting to the criticism of SuperWoman and trying to make her appear more vulnerable again. Sorry CM but that ship has sailed as I have no more interest in the character since they ruined her beyond redemption. This episode was especially a disappointment after last week's stellar show - I give it a generous D.
ReplyDeleteWell there is not enough science in the world to measure how much I do not care for that boring blonde, if this is the beginning of some dumb ptsd storyline for her, I mean, Im already annoyed as it is waaay after the fact and I don't want to focus anymore on JJ.
DeleteLoved it. Love this season compared to some clunkers last season, such as Rabid, speaking of bite marks. Thought the guest actors were excellent. Love good acting which I know is subjective. Laughing in first scene with good samaritan ready to smash his S Voice/Siri. Thought the actor playing Dr. Suri was very good, along with Jane. Roaches didn't bother me as they're not big people biters. Writers can hardly convey in minutes the desperation of delusion, the loss of a child, crossed brain circuitry, but they did a fine job. Very noticeable difference in JJ last episode and this one in her low key interrogation. If this is leading up to her PTSD, then I'll be in treatment for PTSD afterward.
ReplyDeleteWhat the? How the frakk did this episode turn into a “JJ is sad because the Morgellan’s woman blames me” episode? Why? As soon as JJ’s scenes were increased, I was done. So upset I wasted my time watching this episode.
ReplyDeleteWow! Reid pulled a helluva magic trick--disappearing mid-episode--now I know why, they had to make more time for SuperMomAwesomeNinjaBarbieWannabe JJ! So disappointing on so many levels. And the writers need to stop trying to make JJ appear more intelligent than Rossi, I see it all the time they are paired together; I think Rossi--the war veteran--might know more about phantom limb pain from amputations, duh, they should have switched their lines there.
I miss CM when it wasn’t about focusing on a boring as ever generic, vanilla blonde, I cannot stand “The JJ Show”.
Anyway, my rant is over--my thoughts on the unsub of the week: This story made my skin crawl so much, I had to mute it just so I wouldn’t have to hear the gross insect sounds, yikes, NO!
So I can tell now that Season 10 will suck just as bad as Season 9, which is a damn shame. I did not care for the Morgellan’s couple, their scenes were unnessesary and not fun to watch.
The only remotely good thing about this episode was Rossi’s unexpected KO of the unsub (yayx3), and kicking down the door (instead of Morgan); and Reid’s wardrobe, he looked great in what he was wearing for his 5mins on screen.
My rating 5/10 only for Rossi and Reid.
I have always said that as long as Reid and Hotch are still around, I will continue to watch, but now IDK, they may not be enough for me anymore. For me it has nothing to do with the addition of JLH, she doesn’t bother me yet. They REALLY need new writers or something.
Isn't not a show about just Reid or Rossi or Hotch. I love the entire cast
DeleteCarrroll, I didn't say it is a show about Rossi, Reid or Hotch, it obviously is not, it is "The JJ Show". I love most of the cast but ever since season 1, I was never intrigued by the characters of Morgan and JJ, they were never interesting to me and the overexposure of them since season 7 has been beyond ridiculous.
DeleteOh good lord. This episode is precisely why I typically don't watch creepy stuff. I am particularly phobic about spiders and I had to turn over and bury my face in my husbands chest during that scene.
ReplyDeleteI did like a few things, Hotch's interview scene with the woman, Rossi kicking down the door, and that first scene with the driver and his Siri was hilarious. Otherwise it was pretty meh. But then every episode is not going to be perfect and I do think they are doing a pretty good job over all this season.
This was really bad, in many ways. First, it's official, there is now a JJ Clone Squad, because she was in every scene, it seemed. When Hotch pairs Rossi with Morgan and JJ with Reid, first we do see Rossi with Morgan, then JJ with Morgan! Then she goes to the morgue to school everyone on drug withdrawal, with Reid right there.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where she and Kate are interviewing the unsub's GF, JJ gets this look on her face, I could swear she was turned on by making the girl squirm and itch. Kate, too, had a smirk of superiority, and the both of them rising and leaving the girl, who had done nothing wrong, mind you, distraught and alone. Profiling is about cruelty, now?
Reid disappears to the "drug store" for some reason for half the show, and it was obvious that the takedown scene was originally meant for Reid, but given to Rossi, who did a good job (and at least it wasn't JJ)…
And once again, they had Reid say something stupid. There is no physical way for even a severely deluded person to scratch through their scalp, skull and into their brain. Please.
I meant Rossi with Morgan then JJ with Rossi...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMary, that supposed patient had an infected scalp wound and osteomyelitis (softening of the bone). The way Reid said it, it was a physically normal person who could scratch her brain because her delusion was so strong. Not!
DeleteI bow to your superior knowledge Suegypt. But I bet that's where they got the idea as the article was called The Itch as well!
DeleteYeah, Mary, they even used the mirror trick, although in a questionable way. All that was in the article, I hope they gave the writer props for screenplay!
DeleteI agree with you Suegypt about Reid's disappearance, I know that "The Itch" was originally a more Reid centered epi but was later scrapped, I think because MGG was doing some things for a non-CM related project. That sucks, but I am sooo GLAD that it was Rossi and not the boring blonde or Morgan to apprehend the unsusb
DeleteYeah I read about it on NPR the woman had to be institutionalized for her own safety. I even turned to my husband and said to him, :that really happened." Sometimes reality is worse than what writers can dream up.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed many aspects of this episode. The opening was hilarious, with Siri not cooperating. I loved the scenes where the team was together and everyone got to pitch in - and Reid ultimately completed the profile with his knowledge of diseases and sicknesses, yay. :) I loved Hotch's profiling scene - it was wonderful to really see him profiling on the spot. We got to see him display his skills, and we were given insight into the woman's character (Lisa, I think?). I also liked the pairing of Kate and JJ, and I hope the writers continue showing us some different pairs, because I love all of the characters and it's nice when they mix it up.
ReplyDeleteI loved Rossi's KO of the unsub. After he outsmarted him (which was also wonderful to see Rossi display his intelligence) I totally did not expect him to throw a punch. :)
I loved JJ's scene at the end. I think we've all experienced a time when we know that we're doing what is right, but others don't see it that way, and no matter what we do we just cannot convince them. I think AJ did a wonderful job of expressing how helpless JJ - or anyone - would feel in that situation. It showed her softer side, and I think it's building up to something in the future... :) Anyway, that scene hit me right in the heart.
With all of the things I enjoyed, I could've done with a little less unsub. A certain amount is necessary, but this episode had a little much.
I definitely could've gone without the love scene thing... That was weird and unnecessary.
Overall, I am loving where they are going with season 10 so far. Nothing could've followed last weeks episode, but I still enjoyed many aspects of this one.
Here's to Season X. :)
C average overall. I did like the beginning of the show. I agree with Rockhotch31 there was too much unsub and the bedroom scene was not necessary. Lisa the lady that was tied up they should have made her more traumatize with the spider. Thank you for giving Rossi some action and i like the punch aswell. Reid was just Reid not so interesting this time. Kate was not around the table when Morgan and Rossi was eating. Where did she go? This episode should have been on Law and Order! Not the CM show I am used to. Still love the cast
ReplyDeleteI need to mention, you all are very critical! I liked this episode, a lot, I even liked it more than i liked a thousand suns, and that is becuase i love weird minds! (This beeing the main reason i watch this show) The bugs were nasty and I looked away from the screen when the last victim had the spiders crawl on her. However I found the scene where Hotch "profiled" that the woman had lost her daughter unrealistic, how on earth did he profile that her kid was a girl? Anyway, when JJ and Kate interviwed the blond lady who had sex with the unsub, I had to laugh a little bit. It was kind of funny the way they got their information, their attitude it was actually a bit mean, they almost seemed to bully her a bit. I felt for her, the blond woman.. poor lady. And the scene at the end, where JJ talks to the blond woman, it was really good acting!
ReplyDeleteI did notice that Reid just disappeard though, and it was odd without him for so long. But I loved the scene where Rossi hit the unsub, it was cool seeing Rossi like that.
I have to say one more thing.. I really miss the way criminal minds used to be in the earlier seasons (1-4) I dont want to see the unsub right away, and its a little too much unsub sometimes.
I wish everything would not go down so quickly. Its like they know everything all the time. I never see them think or wonder or being unable at one point to solve the mistery. Everything seems so simple all the time and the team dont show any emotion, they never show that they're sleepy or tired or fed up. But I really love this show, and I cross my fingers that they will continue to make more episodes and that they will air with season 11 sometime.
i love weird minds, but this episode lacked of mistery and suspense, agree i don't enjoywatching the unsurb so soon
Delete@Lisa Wallace
ReplyDeleteYour comments have been deleted by this administrator for the following reasons:
- Criminal Minds is NOT a medical drama, they rarely expand on the symptoms of any given illness, and even less on how a character has acquired it, unless the plot depends on the explanation to be clarified or to progress.
- The episode never was about that particular disease, but about how a particular man, Leo Jenkins, lost his mind and reacted to the world at large after contracting it. For all intents and purposes, he could have contracted the flu or developed ALS.
- The fact that some people change their views of the world after dealing with a chronic, mostly unknown illness should surprise nobody. As depicted in Criminal Minds, each time this kind of personal event is used to explain the reasoning behind the devolution of a person from "normal" to "criminal", and taking into account which kind of criminals the BAU persecutes - in real life and in the show,- informs the viewer of how unusual is in the first place.
And reminder for you, and everybody else, a comment full of links will always be removed... that's called Spam, and never will be allowed in this site.
~~~~Sir Elyan the White
Thank You Sir Elyan,
ReplyDeleteWhile the information Lisa provided would be very useful to some people who maybe experiencing this condition, I too felt that it was out of place on this blog!
If for nothing else, anyone who saw the episode and wanted to learn more about Morgellen's could easily do their own research.
I would like to mention that I have come across other fans saying that Breen got inspiration for this episode from an article written about a woman who suffered from this condition as well as having a brittle bone disease. (I will not post the link, but it's easily found)
I give the writers, producers, and actors kudos for bringing to light conditions that may otherwise not be too well known or brought to the fore front.
Respecfully
Barbara Reilly
Maybe it's because I'm a huge AJ Cook fan and have always enjoyed JJ's scenes, but I really don't understand all the negative comments about her. Why is no one complaining about where Kate disappeared to? She had the least amount of scenes of all of them.
ReplyDeleteI realized that, too, Kate completely disappeared, that sucked, she doesn't bother me.
DeleteSusie
ReplyDeleteFor this episode I think actually missed Kate... had some wonderful lead in opportunities and then POOF, gone fishing... As for JJ, I think alot of long time fans miss the warm, comforting, caring JJ that in episodes past said she was happy in her role of Media Liasion and didn't want to be a profiler... Now after last season and how she dominated nearly every episode, and was soon so out of character to what we fell in love with to begin with, Fans have had enough. And while I understand that in order to maybe undo some of the damage done from last year she's got to be in scenes, I don't need or want to see her in 'every' scene...
I'm a long time fan of JJ and don't feel like she has become any less "warm, comforting, caring" than she ever was. I for one like that she decided to become a profiler. She's learned a lot from the others and when you think about it, with all the different files that she's looked at through the years to decide which case to take, she has essentially been somewhat of a profiler.
DeleteSusie, The problem for me, among many, is that I wasn't given a good enough reason as to why JJ changed her mind about becoming a Profiler after originally turning Hotch down when he offered her a role as a Profiler on his team.
DeleteI'm not too bothered by JJ being a profiler, prefer her as the media liason but my main problem with JJ is what was done with the character in '200th' It made no sense to have JJ in the middle east at all. They needed someone to interrogate the woman but JJ had no experience doing so, she, at that time, was not a profiler so why was she send there? Hotch had been the one send to Pakistan, he is a skilled interrogator why not sent him? Or any of the BAU profilers? Why send the media liason?
DeleteThe writers have tried to tone down JJ this season and I actually do not mind her this year and had no problem with her in 'The Itch'. Liked her scene with the woman at the end with with Hotch.
JJ was much better when she was a liason. Not every character has to be a profiler, the tech, the liason even a chief section like Strauss always addded a balance.
Deletestill i like the cast, Love them all. I think criminal minds has one of the best team in a tv show, and every character is important to me. And Aj cook is a great actress same for each one of this amazing team
DeleteYes, with her years of choosing cases JJ had to be somewhat of a profiler.... However, last year they didn't just turn her into a profiler.. they turned her into a negotiator, interrogator,(even though she 'worked' FOR the two men who literally wrote the book) quasy unit chief giving orders,(she took over roundtable discussion as well as Jet discussions. She lost her 'friendliness' with the god father of her son. She lost the 'closeness' to Garcia... she was hard and cold... She was badass in a bad way... She was on every take down, she 'ran' profile presentations, she was the whole team wrapped into one package... And that was wrong... That's what fans got sick of..... Not that she was a profiler per sey, but how they made her so implausible as to be unbelievable. Then they threw 200 at us and it was horrible... it was a milestone episode about a team that wasn't hardly in the episode... They rewrote 8 previous yrs of JJ cannon in that one episode and it didn't sit well with fans...
ReplyDeleteAfter the backlash of anti JJ after 200, they did try to tone her down which was good, but alot of fans had already had enough. To alot of fans the character was already ruined, and now they're afraid that EM will do it again this year. I loved her in 10.3 and want to see her soften up and maybe renew her relationship with 'Spence' and "Penny"... I would like for them to remember that she is one of the 'least' experienced profilers on the team.
i agree, i miss Reid JJ and Garcia scenes. brotherhodd scenes
DeleteI agree completely. 200 was a complete insult to the viewers' intelligence and a waste of a one-off special celebratory episode. I do not think it can be forgiven or forgotten no matter what they do. I agree they have softened up JJ a lot this season so far, but I would rather they left the events of 200 in the bin where they belong instead of dredging all that nonsense up again for the "anniversary" episode.
DeleteMary,
DeleteI've come to NOT believe a thing Erica Messer says when it comes to 'what's planned for happening in the show.
I am extremely happy that what appears was supposed to be a Reid battling addiction again (my theory) story arc was scrapped or shelved.
I am 'nervous regarding the Hotch/Beth break up... I hope to all the God's that whoever write's is doesn't do 'Heartache Hotch' again, and that it's Rossi who he confides to. I miss Rossi/Hotch friendship scenes and hope they bring that out more.
Also, since A Thousand Suns aired I can't help but wonder 'what' the ratings would have been as well as fan reaction if 'that' episode (or something like it) had been 200...
*sigh* Alas, we will never know.
I'm also glad they shelved Reid battling the drugs again and I do hope that it is Hotch calling time on the Hotch/Beth relationship and that he is the one in control of events this time. I also never believe Erica Messer on what's happening but I see that we are due at least two major JJ episodes - If the Shoe Fits coming up soon and the "anniversary" PTSD episode so it seems that this may end up another season top heavy with JJ. I just hope they can pull some decent stories out about the rest of the team to balance things out. If only Sharon Lee Watson's approach to writing the team was echoed by the other writers. We shall see but I'm bracing for yet more JJ.
DeleteI would like to propose that all the other writer's have a contest to see 'who' can write the team as well as Sharon did! LOL... I'd cough up money for the winner of that one!
DeleteHow do you all know these things? like that they shelved Reids drug addiction and that Reid was supposted to be centric and Hotch is going to brake up with that woman he dated in season 9 and so on? Do you guys read spoilers or something? if so, where do you find these spoilers?
DeleteLiv
DeleteAll this is available from Erica's 'interviews'... CMRT usually posts all the interviews.
Thank you so much, Barbara :)
DeleteYou're very welcome Liv....
DeleteI agree with you on the backlash over 200. If you remember, They put Paget through the same ringer when they wrote her out of the show. Could this be a preamble for an exit of AJC? They both would still be gone today if it hadn't been for the fan revolt over their exit in 2010. I see it as an intentional destruction of the fan support for AJC so when they do pull her contract, there won't be the outcry like there was in the past. Sometimes the writers forget. They present marginal scripts and expect the actors to pull the rabbit out of his lair. This may be one of those occasions. IMO writers can be changed, Main cast character changes should only be done at the actor's request. (I.E. M.A.S.H.)
Delete@ RoberttheFrost
DeleteWell I can certainly understand your point of view. I myself keep looking for reasons why CBS keeps letting Messer shove JJ down the throats of the fans. When it's become clear that a good many of us have become sick of it. However if they are doing this,don't they risk destroying the show altogether.
I really enjoyed 200; for me it explained why JJ had changed her mind about becoming a profiler. IMO, the events that happened changed her make up. I fully bought into her becoming a little tougher, maybe even getting a bit rougher edge.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some fans, maybe even a majority of fans do not like the new JJ. However, it is not all CM fans.
You are right, many still loves her, it is all a question of balance :)
DeleteBalance is not showing On Screen, the torture of a woman for over 27% of the entire episode. The time would have been better served in building a better backstory without so many holes in it.
DeleteThis was an interesting and different episode, but I wasn’t feeling it for some reason. I didn’t hate it, but I honestly had a hard time paying attention. I do like Breen's writing more often than not, but something felt off to me this time around. It was good to see the team conducting an equivocal death investigation, just because that brings a different sort of case than the BAU typically encounters. So it was nice to see the show mix things up. I thought I would be creeped out more by the bugs, but the scenes weren’t that bad. Maybe it was the over abundance of unsub that sort of turned me off. There was a LOT of unsub and much of it felt superfluous to me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was the team interactions that felt off to me. Granted not all of them, because there were some I liked, but to me, it felt like different team members should have gotten more focus. I know this was originally supposed to be a Reid story, and I wonder what the original Reid storyline was supposed to be. I can see how his experience with withdrawal could have tracked with this story, and his own personal feelings of bugs crawling on him (if that is what he actually experienced).
But even if Reid didn’t get a personal story to go along with this (and unless they were doing a drug withdrawal story for him, anything else definitely wouldn’t have fit), I think he should have been in more scenes, since so much of this episode was more about the mind and other obscure things that seemed to be more up his alley than JJ or Rossi for instance. JJ was all over this episode (in what was originally a Reid-centric episode) in a wide variety of scenes and was definitely talking about stuff that seemed to be more up Reid’s alley (e.g. the effects of narcotic withdrawal). Granted I like the information Reid imparted about Morgellons Syndrome, but other scenes should have had Reid in them. I would have preferred Reid talking Leo down. With his brain and his gentleness, he's the perfect man for the job. You know he's talked his mother down multiple times when she was in a schizophrenic break, and he did so good in "With Friends Like These...” and in “The Uncanny Valley.” No one is more soothing to a person in severe emotional distress in my opinion, though Hotch can come close.
Along those lines, it was a bit of offputting watching JJ and Kate interrogate Jane. I get they were doing their jobs trying to get information out of her, and maybe it wasn’t the intention of the writing, but something in the line delivery and facial expressions sort of conveyed the idea that JJ and Kate were secretly enjoying tormenting Jane to get answers from her. Again, Reid is so much gentler and non threatening. I doubt the intention was to make them appear callous and condescending, but that is sort of what came across. And JJ couldn’t figure out why Jane didn’t want to make nice with them at the end.
A couple notes:
As much as we complain about the ridiculous things Penelope finds online (“Fatal” having some of the most eye rolling stuff), she should have been able to find a birth and a death certificate for Lisa’s daughter. I couldn’t tell if Hotch actually knew that background information, but was gently prying it out of Lisa (and Hotch showed way more sensitivity and gentleness than JJ and Kate), or if he was just doing some cold profiling to see where it lead. But if he was just cold profiling, he should have had that information on hand already. That one is more of a question of the writing than the acting, because the acting was good.
There's a Morgellens support group in Atlanta (a fairly obscure disease), but nothing for more common diseases? How convenient for the team that their suspect pool is so limited. *rolls eyes* Yeah I get it's a one hour show, but we can pretend they have to do more detective work than hitting upon the correct support group the first time out.
agree, Garcia isn't able to find some information lately, in previous seasons she even helped the team finding information not only using her system but also chekking old archives, or using her hacker tricks, she even interpreted the law, to enter some system. Like Rossi once says: she is a investigator too, i like when she "did something." Hotch and garcia are now the liasons, i don't see much of that. And i miss the banter between her Hotch Rossi Garcia and Reid. Since JJ is a profiler i don't see much of these 2 girls old friendship.
DeleteIt really depressed me that Kate wasn't at lunch with them. Really, they're banishing her to the dungeon already?
ReplyDeleteI think the UnSub story line was good. A bit too gross, but the parts with Jane I understood. While in the earlier seasons, they didn't have as much UnSub, I still feel this harkens back to the olden days when there would be a lot of the victims. It's kind of the same thing because they are showing this UnSub more as a victim himself.
JJ showing up at the morgue really confused me. She was at the college with Rossi and suddenly she pops up with Reid? I didn't mind it, it was just confusing. And her hair looked really weird.
This is what I describe as fascinating, but boring. Things drifted along instead flying.
8/10
They should have used Garcia more to gathered there information. This episode was a bit off to me, like the characters lack character.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the characters lack character! In the earlier seasons like season 2 and 3 it was more personal in a way.
Deletei would love to see garcia a little be more, she is great. looking for information, sneaking into other systems, somebody's pc...
DeleteDebra, I agree with you. The people running the show would be well served in stepping back and assessing what they are doing to Criminal Minds. But personally, I don't think their hubris would allow them to do so. I don't know the details, but it's my belief that EM was the clear winner in a WTA fight behind the scenes for control of the show in 2010 - 11. Having won this fight, she probably isn't willing to allow anyone within 5 feet of the title of "Show Runner". Again, it isn't the actors, both men and women, fault. It's the seriously degraded scripts that are holding the show in this unending circle. Couple this with the fact that the writers, after stating there wouldn't be any more episodes referring to 200, are now producing an episode with AJC having a major PTSD issue. My only fear in that is we will be "treated" to more torture scenes evolving around what happened in 200. If this is the case, the writers run the risk of much more backlash and angry rants like this one. As I've stated in another comment on this blog, 27% of a show dedicated to the on screen torture of a major character, was way over the top of acceptability. The people (translate Creeps) who do these things for real, don't need any encouragement to commit these terrible crimes. As a fan, I was personally much more interested in the methodology, thought process, and actual effort employed in catching criminals than in what the criminals do to their victims. We already know that. Lets move on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you RtheF, unfortunately.
DeleteRobert, I've also heard something similar about that behind the scene's fight.Sadly both to the detriment of the show and it's characters EM came out the winner.
DeleteI wouldn't have mind so much if EM had shown that she cared about the original concept of both show and characters, but I saw evidence of just the opposite happening, unfortunately.
Oh and if you are referring to JJ's screen time in 200 the actually percentage was over 50% Because the episode was only 42 minutes long and at least 27 minutes of screen time was dedicated to the Mary Sue's predicament. Meanwhile Morgan and Reid didn't even get a lousy 5 minutes. It was a disgrace and out outright travesty. And the only reason I can think of as to why EM decided to go back on her word regarding 200 is she likes pandering to the tweeny boppers who are as in love with JJ as she is.
Debra, The Screen time I was referring to was the actual time the writers, director, and editors spent torturing AJC on screen. I find that type of Television to be tawdry, unnecessary, and beyond the scope of family T.V. during a family hour. (8 PM here) We already know what these creeps can do. (the show IS named Criminal Minds) the reason I started following this show was for the thought processes, and different methods used to capture these people who do these things. I haven't signed up for the gratuitous abuse of women on T.V.
ReplyDeleteI also think the reason EM has "walked back" on 200 was to justify and deflect the flack she, Larry Teng, Rick Dunkle, Jim Clemente, and Shemar Moore took for talking AJC into doing those torture scenes. I also think Ms. Cook was hurt much more than either she or the show let on. The type of injury she described on "The Talk" is an injury to the spine, not the arm, as reported. This injury is between the C-5 and C-6 area of the spine. It's the type of injury that forces truck drivers to retire prematurely. (It's what happened to me.)
In an ensemble cast such as this one, there are going to be some members of the cast who aren't going to get "equal" air time. Over the course of a year, it "hopefully" averages out. I'm more concerned with EM's apparent abandonment of the precept of how they go about capturing the criminals. It's about profiling, not about the "perils of Pauline".
I'm kind of glad I didn't watch the whole show! I saw the previews, and, despite the ick feature if bugs decided to watch. But..the needle at the beginning going into his arm and something moving inside made me scresm. Lol
ReplyDeleteThen, after seeing Reid pull a bug out of the guys nose, I was done.
Reading comments it doesn't sound like a great episode.
Looking forward to tomorrow night's episode!
Janet, There wasn't a lot of procedural Behavior in the episode, and the ICK factor on a scale from 1 to 10 rated about a 12.5. But there were some good points to the show. Particularly the scenes at the end with Hotchner getting a woman suffering from this disorder to see past it and move on. JJ tried the same thing with another woman with no success. Other than that, it was pretty uneven.
ReplyDeleteI too am hoping for a better show, but with kids involved, it could be a real crapshoot.