Hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and remember that next week we'll have a brand new one!
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1106. Pariahville - Comments Thread
Hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and remember that next week we'll have a brand new one!
Good episode from Mr. Stiller.
ReplyDeleteLots to love, a town full of possible unsubs, good use of the team most of the episode, nice misdirection with the the sherrif girl friend, interesting story with Lewis and creepy guy hiting on Rossi over his shoes?!
Love how the Lewis will take or not the new job ended, with her taking it while staying with the BAU. I really like the character, best one since Emily Prentiss walked into Hotch's office with a box in her hands.
There was just a bit too much of the sherrif kids. The scene home with them and their dad could have been left out and put more team profiling.
Love the little chats between Rossi and Lewis and Lewis and Morgan at the end. This was diffinately a Lewis episode.
Will have more to say later on but for now, before a rewatch I will give this episode a 7.5/10 :)
Ok.. on First watch... Very solid episode from Erik Stiller.... Team was written well... I did like how they worked in Tara leaving but then staying in...
ReplyDeleteI did think there was a little too much of the Sherif's kids as the episode went on.. And that took away from the profile.. but it wasn't 'glaring'....
Loved the ending of the case.. That shot Lewis took made me go WHOA... And I did like Derek's talk with her outside the house, it made sense.. .
One other thing.. That perv hitting on Rossi was funny... Rossi's comeback FUNNIER!
Over all I'd give this episode a solid 7/10 and B... Good work from a new writer!
All right, this is my initial impression, because to give the best review, I need to rewatch it. Mainly because I don't see how they got from the behavioral evidence they saw from the victims to the profile they gave. Obviously they were way off on the age of the unsub, but I have no idea why they picked 35-40 as the age range for this unsub. Basically I don't think they got anything right about the profile, except that he was not part of the Glencourt Village community. They are usually not this off on the profile, but again, I didn't see any reason they would have drawn the profile they did, and why they choose to deliver it at that time. Too often, the profile just seems to be some sort of perfunctory formula that has no bearing on the rest of the case. But that profile was utterly useless in catching the unsub. They only got lucky catching him when they did, because of the happenstance that Riley's dude friend was a quintessential Nice Guy who abandoned her by the side of the road when she wasn't interested in him. And of course Matt came up on Riley to give her a ride. I called that she was going to be the Final Girl early in the episode, just because there was so much focus on her. I never really understood why Matt killed the first two victims, only because Riley was his real target, and he seemed to already have experience in that area. Why the need to work up to Riley? Yeah, okay, we would not have had a show otherwise, but it still made me wonder.
ReplyDeleteI have said on more than one occasion that I like Tara, and I do. But damn, did she get a hero's edit tonight. I mean, from the start, we were lead to believe that this was Tara's exit episode (since the initial pitch for Aisha's hiring is that she was brought in to cover AJ's maternity leave). So we saw a retread of the JJ exit story, where Tara's skills are just so needed, that another team needed her. Then we get the entire episode that was basically all about her. Granted, I like her soft touch, empathetic interviews, particularly in contrast to the loud yelling we sometimes see toward suspects in cop shows (including this one on occasion). It's just that there was so much of her. AND she got the hero shot off in the end, which was a touch risky, because Matt had only just removed the knife from Riley's throat. Only to find out in the end that Hotch made special arrangements so she can work on the project AND consult with the BAU. So obviously the intention from the beginning was to keep Tara around (which makes sense if another cast member is leaving, so we will temporarily have six profilers- though Matthew is likely missing episodes nine and 10- until one of them leaves and we will be back down to five).
I can't say I hated this episode, and liked some of the interviews and what little we saw of the main cast that was NOT Tara. But I think the writer needs to go back and polish up his storytelling skills, because I did not see any connection between the victims and behavioral evidence, the profile delivered, and the profile of the actual unsub.
Agreed about the profiling, it was off. If the write had cut a bit of the focus on the sherrif daughter's he could have spend more time on the profile.
DeleteAs much as I like Tara, yes there was a bit too much of her, she was doing it all, even when Morgan was with her, she was the one in control of the interview.
This was... a great episode! Not as good as last week, but understandably so, as new Staff Writer Erik Stiller is still finding his niche, but I must say all characters were written extremely well, the shoe fetish scene with Rossi was hilarious, Reid and Garcia were both awesome, and there was a satisfactory amount of Hotch, considering he was probably in post-production for "The Night Watch." Also, I've never had a single complaint about Félix Alcalá's directing.
ReplyDeleteI said this same thing last year after "Rock Creek Park". His style of directing is different than any other director who's done an episode. I can't put my finger on it, but I love the perspectives he gives the audience. Also, I'm pro-gore (if necessary; not gratuitous) and Félix does it quite well. (504 "Hopeless" comes to mind) Quite a disturbing plot, but believable. I'm inclined to think that Jim Clemente, from whom we should see an epic episode next week, had something to do with the kick-ass profiling in this episode, as well as Erik. This is much better than his previous episode, "Breath Play" (which was still a good episode). Lots of unexpected twists and turns, great insight into Lewis's character, great resolution to her job dilemma, and an awesome ending.
8.25/10 (the 0.25 is because I gave "Outlaw" an 8/10 lol)
Well done, Mr. Erik Stiller! I continue to have eternal faith in this show. Can't wait for Beyond Borders, and definitely can't wait for "Target Rich" next week!
LONG LIVE CM!!!
My one big complaint is that the profiling was woefully lacking. The BAU was completely wrong in their assessment. And as the viewer I figured out who the unsub would be with absolutely no help from the 'team'....
DeleteAh...sigh. I think they just took a step back. They had a good premise, but failed to execute it properly. The moment we got all those scenes with the Sheriff's kids, I knew the killer was connected to them. Then in the scene where the UnSub attacked the cheerleader, I saw the dark hair and slim build and knew it was the boy. There I lost interest. I would have liked more profiling and less of the family.
ReplyDeleteThey gave Lewis a nice out so that they can bring back the character when they need her. Of the revolving door of female characters since Emily Prentiss, I like Lewis the best so far.
Right now not looking forward to JJ's return. From the brief scene they showed it looks like they are overdoing her return. I hope they prove me wrong.
Hoping the next episode will be two steps in the right direction.
Just for fun...
ReplyDeleteAs my idol, Yvette Nicole Brown of [i]The Walking Dead [/i] fandom does, I am taking notes as I watch.
Cool opening music. I missed more bc I was typing "cool opening music."
Of course, opening scene with Lewis, and she gets plum assignment offer.
I hate Garcia. GOSH. I hope that's it for her this episode.
I hate Lewis. She makes points. Reid spouts factoids. She doesn't need to advise these people, who have a ton of experience with vicious criminals, what to think. Just no.
Reid's less uncomfortable talking abut sex here than he normally is. This might be as close as I ever get to saying "Reid" and "sex" in the same sentence,
Hotch does not need Lewis's advice.
Has there been a morgue scene in every ep this season? Is that normal?
Joe Mantegna overacts. I'm sorry to have to say it.
Let me say here that Reid is very, very pretty.
What happened to Reid with Morgan? Does Lewis get to interrogate every UnSub this season? Oh wait, she's probably placeholding for JJ.
I couldn't care less about the cop and his kids.
Wait. They're delivering the profile? What's the profile? What'd I miss? Reid is pretty.
Of [i]course[/i] Lewis has offers. Reid has an IQ higher than Einstein, but Lewis has offers. And she's done this job for five minutes but she loves it. Of course. Wow. I'm kinda sick of Rossi's platitudes.
Who wrote this shit again?
I'm only half an hour in!
Reid should be fired. He isn't needed. They have Lewis now.
Petulant teen in revealing shirt mad about missing a party. I can't imagine the UnSub would strike her! No foreshadowing here.
Dude who parks car and makes moves on girl looks literally ten years old. Hilarious.
Dude who picks her up looks 12.
Second? Third? Interrogation with Lewis. Bored now.
Reid jawline = good directing.
Confession: I have no idea what's happening. I'm just watching for Reid.
Dozed off. Lost my train of thought. Lewis shoots UnSub. Seriously? Lewis and Morgan have a moment. Morgan spouts platitudes. Makes everything ok. Lewis has epiphany I think.
Hotch makes deal with Lewis? I can't even stand it. Lewis obv has Hitch's balls in her pocket.
Sneak peek of next week's ep is more 50 shades? This hasn't been done?
Love your take! Who did write this sh**? If you were watching for Reid you must have been disappointed. We're back to disappearing Reid. They must be practicing for the extra, special, pretty, pretty princess to return next week.
DeleteWarning!! Hang onto your socks. I agree with all the reviews above with a few minor different views than others.
ReplyDeleteErik Stiller wrote a reasonably good episode, given that he's still a sorta "newbie". What worked for me the most? I gotta go back in time. In his first interview after joining the writing staff as a fulltimer, Stiller said something about "continuity" isn't all that special or something to that affect. I'm beginning to think the writer's room is getting a steady diet of red herring for lunch. Because Erik, unlike some of the other writers, nailed the continuity. Yes, Jack is 10 years old. And yes, Rossi has to visit Tommy Yates (Profiling 101/S7) on his birthday to get the name of another victim to give closure to the another family. Then add in the Rossi line, "How 'bout I boot you in the ass and you tell me." LMAO! That was classic Rossi and Erik gets a fruit cup for lunch.
Yet, with that goodness, the unsub part of his script had holes big enough to drive my SVU through. And the much astute reviewers before me have pretty much pointed out all those holes. After his fruit cup, Erik gets lunchtime detention.
What saved this episode for me (and IMHO, Erik's assets ;) ) was, as my friend SCMF pointed out, Felix Alcala's brilliant direction. Felix just brings it every episode that he directs. And I'm not just talking CM. My second watching obsession is Madam Secretary and Alcala directed an ep there recently. It was like he does for CM. He's just that good.
And a HUGE Rockie shout out to the CM props department!! Hotch has FINALLY got an updated picture of Jack in his office. This has been a very large complaint of mine for four years. I'll say it again: the crew behind the scenes at CM is the best in the biz.
To the cast: yes, TG disappeared a bit again. I know its the d*mn directing thing. I get it; doesn't mean I have to like it. And I agree it was pretty much a Lewis ep. But I remember the DVD commentary about Ed Asner guest starring last season and Bruce Z. said it was time for a "Hotch episode". Harry Bring has stated the same on Twitter. Ok, I'm in. And I really like the Lewis character. I totally agree with the CMRT reviewer to a point: she's been the best "introduced" character since Prentiss. I still miss Blake. And JJ.
Rockie's grade: Solid B
*dives into bunker to take cover from the JJ firing squad* :D
Lol...you're not going to get any rotten tomatoes lobbed at you from me. I miss the JJ of old. I hoping they heard our comments and we once again get to see her softer side and less of the badass side.
DeleteRockie, that was beautiful! You're truly an astute Criminal Minds fan with good taste. We share much of the same preferences when it comes to certain points! :) P.S. I hope you have room for me in your bunker; the JJ hit-squad is packin' some serious heat! P.P.S. I'm glad you caught the reference to 7-22 "Profiling 101" a Virgil episode that we both like; I very much appreciated the nod to that storyline in Rossi's convo with Lewis.
DeleteUm where is Hotch? where is reid? where is Garcia? OMG I have been disappointed in these episodes what's going on? when is it going to be good again. And usually I love Aisha Tyler but really we just wanna watch the main characters. PLEASE be good again soon I love this show
ReplyDeleteagree i want to see the main characters. I like Aisha but i also like Reid Garcia and Hotch. More team, please
DeleteFirst off; thank you!
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I completely bought into JJ becoming a profiler. I had no problem with that given what she did with her former job. However, that said, I agree JJ got overused to a point, especially with Morgan. And I like she can kick an ass. But I agree, it should be an occasional ass. :D
My last comment was to CM12. Why can't I reply to her comment? Oh well, the joys of getting old. The nursing home attendants are coming to put me to bed.
ReplyDeleteLol...apparently it likes me. I was all for her becoming a profiler. It was part of the natural progression of the character even though she said way back she never wanted to be one. But I don't think there was a learning curve in it. It was a 90 degree change in the character. I sometimes think because Prentiss was considered more kiss ass and she was no longer around, they needed one so they took that characteristic and stuck it on JJ. It altered the character to the point people didn't like her anymore which is a shame.
DeleteIt was just meh for me. There were some bits I liked - the opening sequence I thought was excellent, I liked Rossi's snark, I liked the dark atmosphere that was dark without being their usual pitch black. But whoa there! There was vastly too much Lewis! I quite liked Tara to begin with but if they keep putting her in every scene that's not going to last! Reid vanished in the last third of the show - is that in the rules now for the writers? The profiling was off and they no longer seem able to inject much suspense into things. I know it's possible to give the viewer that edge of your seat feeling even in long running shows so again I put it down to the writing. I can't give Erik Stiller a pass for being a new writer on the show - a new writer on a top rated show should still bring a top rated script and a fresh look at things and this was sadly not there. It's just a C for me and I am so depressed about the upcoming few episodes - the Rossi longlost daughter soap opera continues, JJ is back and doubtless dominating every scene and Reid is missing entirely from at least 2 episodes. Times are hard!
ReplyDeleteAgreed -- new writer doesn't get a pass. We are in the 11th season; there isn't time to flex creative muscles and warm up. New writers need to hit the ground running.
DeleteMary, I agree with your critique. You know, I was thinking as I watched some of the (many) Tara scenes: this would be really good if it were the launch of a new show, a police procedural that riffed off the once-great Criminal Minds. Tara had a lot of interesting things to say, to bring to the table for the psychological underpinning of the community, and some interesting personal dilemmas. But this is the 11th season of Criminal Minds, a show with tons of history and canon characters who could be used every week to tell these stories. Why didn't they explore how Morgan felt, going into the sex offender community? Instead, they had Tara defending the entire community as good people juxtaposed with shots of adult white males learning at children on bicycles.
ReplyDeleteI liked the scene of Tara and Rossi talking about The Job, and how you have to make decisions carefully in order to do it well and stay safe yourself, but she also got a tender scene with Morgan at the end, and bookend scenes with Hotch about the demand for her perfection. This character, who was supposed to be recurring and is supposedly going away, has been turned into the biggest Mary Sue I've encountered on TV. She is incapable of making a mistake! I feel like Reid might as well disappear in the last third of the episode, because his skills simply aren't needed. Go read a book, Spencer.
The writers of this show do not use the characters any more to tell the stories they are supposed to tell. Every week now, for the last 3 or 4 seasons, the writers have written for the guest stars, primarily the unsubs, because they either won't or can't write the rich characters they have properly. When they try, often they write OOC crap that retcons the whole 11 seasons. Next week they seem to be having Reid passionately sweeping JJ off her feet into his formerly shy and introverted arms. He's also going to disappear to who-knows-where for 2 episodes in the near future, and I can't help but think he's just going to go see Mom, and come back with a tan.
Where are the stories? Where are the profiles? Where are the characters we know and love? Why do I care anymore?
I meant "adult white males leering at children"
DeleteYou are so right. And why do we care, indeed?
DeleteThey've rehashed so many older plots this year that I can't help but wonder if what we're getting is the material that failed to pass muster with the original set of writers. Those writers were capable of taking a plot point and building an engaging story around it. What we get now is the rejected waste material from the originals.
DeleteThe creative stories, the profiles, the characters, have all been lost with the writers, and showrunner, who brought them to us in the first place. Which means, sadly, that they are probably not coming back.
Or perhaps they are just trying to make the show as unpalatable as possible, to ease the pain of unavoidable separation.
I agree with your critique. I want to watch a show about the main characters that we all love doing their job, not a backstory on the Unsub of the week. By the way, how do you know Reid is disappearing for two episodes?
DeleteHave to agree, and we have said it often, we. watch. for. the. team. Why would those writers fail to understand this is beyond me. Maybe the rating they got today, 1.5 demo and 7.8million viewers will wake some up, after all CM was tied with SVU in the demo.
DeleteI doubt anything will change, too bad because either CM will end this year or be moved to a 10pm slot next year one that could be the dreaded Sunday night one. :(
Matthew was out and about on the East Coast for most of October so not on set filming episodes 9 and 10 at least. Unless they insert a retrospectively shot cameo it seems certain those 2 episodes will be Reid free and minus one viewer at least!
DeleteUnless there's a compelling explanation for Reid's absence (and much angst over finding him), those episodes will be minus this viewer as well. By definition, they would fail the Reid-meter. And pretty much every other kind of meter.
DeleteMe three.
DeleteNot great for me, either. I think the idea was good but then poorly executed. I don't feel that there's any excuse for that. So he's a newbie writer. Aren't there other writers there to give feedback? Isn't that what they're supposed to do for each other. And where is Jim Clemente? How could they have gotten the profile so wrong? I come in each time wanting to like the new character (except for Seaver) but the stuff the writers do is what shapes how I feel about the characters. Since Prentiss left at the end of season 7, there's been a push to try to make these newbies seem so valuable. What happened to the scrutiny the new member, even a temporary one like Jordan Todd, had to endure to make sure she was measuring up to the performance expectations of the BAU? Instead of getting a new character with some good skills that will prove valuable to the team, we now get the newbies who can do it all. I don't want to see any one team member, not even Hotch, do it all on any case. You have a team of agents. Use them. Last week we also had the personal story line of Lewis and her fiance and this week it's the personal story line of Lewis and her new job offer. And on top of that she is everywhere in the case while others seem to disappear. I don't get this kind of writing. It's bad enough that there's so much focus on unsubs now. Don't diminish the rest of the team even more. There was potential in the ideas the writer had. He didn't flesh them out well enough and there certainly should have been other writers reading the script for flaws, things that didn't make sense or couldn't happen in the time frame the writer chose, etc. And on top of that, some of the acting was just awful. I can't give this more than a 5 out of 10. I'm afraid of where they're going this season.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, jonishackley---no slack for the new writers. This isn't a class, it's a profession.
DeleteI find the focus on the unsub to be self-indulgent writing, because it excuses the writer (in the writer's mind alone) from writing for and about the established characters----which task would require homework, reflection and finesse.
I also think that the portrayal of the Lewis character and, for that matter, season 7 JJ, as fully accomplished profilers has been a huge mistake----not just because it is preposterous, but because they completely passed on the interesting dramatic potential of having a profiler struggle with the job, and with finding their place. Especially for JJ, changing her function with the team, it could have been fascinating. Instead..... I excuse the portrayal of Blake and Kate only because so little was written for them.
To me, there is a pervasively immature feel to the writing, despite the not-so-immature ages of the writers. I was initially attracted to the show because of the well-drawn character of Spencer Reid, but I stayed with the show because I thought it had a mature approach to storytelling. That is no longer the case, and so I watch only for Reid these days. Which means, it appears, that I will be watching two fewer episodes this season.
Instead of limping to the end of the show's run, I wish CBS, or ABC, or the showrunners, or the writers, or any combination there of, would aim to cross the finish line strong, with heads held high.