CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1108. Awake - Comments Thread

This thread is open for you all to post comments and talk about tonight's new CRIMINAL MINDS episode, titled 'AWAKE', written by KIM HARRISON.

Hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and remember that the next new episode won't air until December 2!

CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1107. Target Rich - Review

This weeks episode, Target Rich - by long time staff writer Jim Clemente - was about Rossi's daughter coming to her father and asking for assistance with a case that the BAU hadn’t been asked in on. After all these years, we’ve seen this set up several times ("I know we weren’t asked in, but this means a lot…") so we pretty much knew that the team would get involved and help save the day, justifying Joy’s plea for help.

What stood out to me in this episode wasn’t actually the main case - it was overall case of the week and nothing overly special occurred within it (I found it to be competent and by the numbers) -but rather the unique character beats.

Normally in an episode, we get one character with a soft focus and maybe a nice conversation between them and another character. In this one, however, we got several of these time-out type beats. This was led off by the return of my favorite girl AJ Cook to the role of JJ. Always missed when she’s gone, she immediately infuses the show with a sense of vitality and the family seems to come together then. I really enjoyed her opening bit where she reunited with Rossi, Penelope and Reid and then later with Morgan and Hotch, but the really nice scene was the one where JJ and Reid walked and talked about his sick mother and she reminded him that their friendship is a two way street. This later led to a bit where Reid left to go check in on his ailing mother; I hope this pays off as this has always been an interesting character note for him.

After that, we got conversations between Rossi and his daughter and then between Morgan and Garcia. The Morgan and Garcia one was especially emotional and helped to set up what could be coming up next. Morgan and Garcia have always shared a special chemistry and it paid out here.

In my opinion, the strength of Criminal Minds has always been the characters - they are why people come back week after week. The moments where JJ reaches up and hugs the typically stoic Hotch or where you see Garcia crying in the darkness, these are the ones we talk about, and dwell on. A mark of a good show - the reason this one is still on the air - is its ability to make you feel like you could be friends with a character or at least understand them if you were drinking beer with them; after all of these years, I feel like we have earned that familiarity entirely and this episode - even with a case that was very much Criminal Minds ordinary - gave me a lot of character meat to chew on.


~~~~Sir Gareth

CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1108. Awake - Promo Photos

CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1108. Awake - Sneak Peeks

Source & Exclusive: TVGuide.com

CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - Is Love in the Air (Again) for Rossi? - TVGuide SPOILER!

Rossi has vowed to never remarry after his three divorces on Criminal Minds, but an old flame might change his mind.

Now that Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and his daughter Joy (Amber Stevens) have a good relationship going, her mother Hayden (Paulette Ivory), aka the second former Mrs. Rossi, might ...

To Read More: TVGuide.com

CRIMINAL MINDS Season 11 - 1109. Internal Affairs - Press Release

WHEN THE BAU LOOKS INTO THE DISAPPEARANCES OF DEA AGENTS, AN UNDERGROUND INTERNET DRUG SYNDICATE BECOMES THE INVESTIGATION’S FOCUS, ON “CRIMINAL MINDS,” WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2 INTERNAL AFFAIRS – After two undercover DEA agents are murdered and a third goes missing, the BAU joins the NSA to investigate whether an underground Internet drug syndicate is involved. Also, Hotch hopes the team’s work with the NSA brings them closer to finding the “Dirty Dozen” hitmen ring, on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Dec. 2 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. CHEAT TWEET: The BAU teams up w/the NSA 2 investigate the disappearances of DEA agents @CrimMinds_CBS #CBS 12/2 9pm http://bit.ly/1NA7FKY WRITTEN BY: Sharon Lee Watson DIRECTED BY: Diana Valentine

REGULAR CAST: Joe Mantegna (David Rossi) Thomas Gibson (Aaron Hotchner) Shemar Moore (Derek Morgan) Matthew Gray Gubler (Dr. Spencer Reid) A.J. Cook (Jennifer “JJ” Jareau) Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia) RECURRING CAST: Aisha Tyler (Dr. Tara Lewis) GUEST CAST: Andrew Borba (Tony Axelrod) Richie Stephens (Jacob Dufour) Tom Everett (Brian Cochran) Rick Ravanello (Bernard Graff) Jorge-Luis Pallo (Agent Matt Lopez) Elizabeth Grullon (Agent Adrienne Mitchell) Shalaina Castle (Sarah Miles) Erin Cardillo (Jillian Carter) Travis Myers (Bartender) Lyn Mahler (M.E. Talia Rice) Orson Chaplin (John Portman) Eugene Young (Simon Kahn) Thomas Bell (Security Guard)