I hit the jackpot!!
No, I didn’t win the
Powerball. However, I get to review an awesome and amazing
Criminal Minds episode. That makes writing a review a pretty easy task. The episode basically writes the review. And relax
Reid fans; this die hard
Hotch/Rossi fan was in your corner before the episode even aired. Since
Matthew Gray Gubler had put in his contract to miss three episodes to do a project (per a recent interview with
Erica Messer), I pretty much figured
Breen would have him front and center with
Matthew’s return episode which would also started off 2016 for
Criminal Minds. The press release for the episode confirmed that. Like
Rossi once said, “
I was fine with that.”
The opening had
Reid getting out of a taxi in front of
Harry & Glenn’s Grill and Bar. I had already seen
Harry Bring’s spoiler pictures of the restaurant name that he posted on
Twitter. But I still had to LMAO about it. And given what
Breen Frazier (the writer) said in
the interview just posted here at
Criminal Minds Round Table (which is a great read),
Harry and
Glenn Kershaw have a lot to say about things behind the scenes at
Criminal Minds. It was a fun shout out to the two of them.
After
Reid is seated at the table, we saw a very typical
Reid; fidgeting with things; the glass on the table, his attire etc. And then he pulls out a single rose. I must admit – I only noticed the wedding ring he was wearing on my third watch of the episode. It was a quick selective shot that director
Heather Capiello used and only sharp eyed viewers could have caught it. No one at my usual live chat site noticed it.
Enter in
Cat; with
Reid doing his thing about hugs and contact. When they sat down, it was the usual blind date chit chat. I loved the
Kardashian joke that went over
Reid’s head; because his comeback was totally
Reid. I thought I was the only one that remembered
Robert Kardashian was part of
OJ Simpson’s legal team. But it was totally
Reid.
This is where
Breen wasted no time and got the episode rolling. Like I said earlier, I figured this would be a big
Reid episode; however I sorta figured
Breen would work in the rest of the team. Sure enough, we see
JJ and then
Rossi sitting at the bar, with
Hotch back at headquarters with
Garcia giving orders to the other agents. So like
Hotch. Sorry, a fangirl is going to slip now and then. :D But noticeably missing are
Morgan and
Lewis.
The scene goes into the discussion of
Reid’s “wedding ring” and quickly devolved. We hear a noticeable sound that even
Garcia recognized. And geez, did
Cat learn that move from
Emily with
Doyle (
Coda S6)? As
Reid explains that he knows
Cat is part of the crew trying to assassinate the
Dirty Dozen, aka
Garcia, “Ms. 45” being
Cat leans over the table. “
Hello Penelope.” That line was simply chilling.
The prologue ends with
Cat saying, “
I didn’t walk into your trap; you walked into mine.” I’m hooked.
Act I begins with
Reid explaining what
entropy means. When I noticed that I was on the
Criminal Minds Round Table schedule to review this episode, I did a
Google search on the word. I didn’t understand it then and I still don’t. But then again, I’m just the resident old grump in the rocking chair. Guess I’ll have to ask
Merlin to explain it to me. My point, whatever it means, it was a wonderful touch on
Breen’s part to include that explanation.
And then
Cat chases
JJ away. I nearly spit out the sip of my drink I had just taken at the “
Blondie McBlonderson” line. And back to
Hotch at headquarters giving orders to
Rossi and
Reid as
JJ walks by the table. “
Thanks for playing,”
Cat sneers at her.
Cat gets
Reid to deliver the profile of her. Let the game begin as
Cat starts the ticking clock. “
Oh boy,”
Garcia says. That was another great piece of direction and editing.
That scene moves to a flashback of
Reid. He watches a child on a swing at a park. I just know that has to have significance. Why else put that in the episode?
Reid then moves to
Derek and
Savannah’s home. I thought this was a brilliant set up on
Breen’s part. And you just had to love
Reid not sharing a fist bump with
Morgan (ala
S8 opener) and him looking away while
Derek and
Savannah being “kissy face”. Perfection!
The action quickly moves back to the restaurant with
Cat asking about
Reid’s time off and then back to the briefing in the Round Table room. I’m totally loving how the script seamlessly moves back and forth between the past and present.
We find out that
Hotch has former
NSA Director Cochrane sent to the
USP (
United States Penitentiary) in Terre Haute. For those of you that do not know, that is where the worst of the worst that have committed crimes against US federal laws are sent.
Timothy McVeigh, one of the Oklahoma City bombers was executed there.
Back to the episode; through a video conference call between
Cochrane,
Hotch and
Garcia (which tied up the ending scene of the previous episode before the holiday break), the team learns there are four contract killers targeting the
Garcia, the
Dirty Dozen in their world.
The Sniper,
The Chemist and
The Bomber are the first three. I loved
Capiello’s direction to show a snippet of each of their crimes that
Breen wrote in. And a great shout out to the upcoming
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders by
Hotch mentioning that
Jack Garrett’s team is following up on
The Bomber because of the international connection.
Back to the restaurant where
Cat accuses
Reid and the team that they are not profilers; they got lucky in finding
The Snowman. Back to the BAU; I feel like I’m watching a tennis match. And I don’t care. The action and dialogue, plus the editing are top notch. And I got my first
Rossi snark line; delivered by
Joe Mantegna like only he can. “
Great; now who’s this Snowman jag off?” Fangirl slip two; it’s a small one. :D
This scene is another example of
Breen’s crisp dialogue.
JJ: “
So the Snowman is being held against his will in a safe house.”
Garcia: “
Wonder what that feels like.” My rather large tusch is starting to creep to the edge of the chair.
Reid narrates over the footage of the FBI’s takedown of the safe house after
Garcia digs through
Cochrane’s flash drive and we all get our usual
Morgan/
Garcia scene.
This provided me one of my favorite scenes with
Garcia not saying a word. She makes contact with
Barry Winslow, aka
The Snowman. Sign: “
We’re coming for you.”
Garcia quickly scribbles: “
Now”. She scribbles some more: “
Get down!” Bang! The takedown happens and it ends with
Rossi saying, “
Welcome to the FBI kid.” I loved that until I realized that only two of the four were gone.
The episode moves back to the restaurant and this is where I noticed the sheer brilliance of
Cat/
Aubrey Plaza and
Reid/
Matthew acting so well together.
Cat makes another accusation that
Reid is a cheater.
Breen wrote
Reid/
Matthew a wonderful section of script describing how this was not his first time facing this kind of situation. The two actors took the dialogue and ran with it. And for those of you keeping score,
Reid just won the first set of the tennis match.
Or so we thought.
Hotch orders
Rossi to move in. This is the one part I have a quibble with. Or maybe, more like a question for you astute
Criminal Minds viewers. After nearly thirty years in FBI,
David Rossi is not that sloppy hiding a gun; or at least, I’d like to think so. Was this part of the plan the team had set up? They figured
Cat would have made out
JJ and
Rossi at the bar? Whichever, the
First Act ends with
Cat proclaiming she’ll “
kill the Fed coming at me.” I make a mad dash to the loo and I decide I’ll go with option two: all part of the plan. *looks around* OK, busted again on being a fangirl.
Sitting back down, now more on the edge of my chair, I’m wondering where the heck
Morgan and
Lewis are while all that is going on.
Cat looks at
Reid with a sneer. “
You’re all alone; I flushed them all out.” That supports my theory more. Cut to
Morgan and
Lewis sitting at a table. “
Guess again bitch.” The more
Tara Lewis (expertly played by
Aisha Tayler) is around, the more I love her.
It is here that I realized I’m not watching a tennis match. I’m watching a ping pong (or table tennis) match. Everything is moving that quickly. Flash to the BAU; “
We need a target worth coming out for.”
Garcia: “
That’s me.”
Hotch and
Morgan delivering a firm “
no” together. And while we don’t see the actual profiling being done by the team, it’s very obvious.
Reid has put together
Ms. 45’s MO and then discusses it with
JJ and
Hotch making his case that he’s the perfect target.
Back to the restaurant;
Reid confidently looks at
Cat. “
A little secret; everything falls apart. The trick is accepting when it’s over.”
Rossi and
JJ, being on the “bench” (loved that two line conversation), discover the bombs that are planted.
Cat looks at
Reid. “
Looks like I won.” That ends
Act II. I’m now trying to frantically to get caught up on my live chat conversation. So is everyone else in the chatroom; because no one has said a word in between the commercials. That means all of us in our live chat are completely glued to our TV’s. I don’t think we’re the only ones.
Act III starts with
Cat and
Reid; then quickly moves to the team discussing bomb strategy.
JJ says only a cellphone call can arm the bomb.
Hotch gets
Lewis going on a plan to evacuate the restaurant.
Cat quickly sees through that. “
There they go.” She tells
Reid the FBI is trying to lessen the collateral damage. This is where things get intense.
Cat wants to quietly slip out with the rest of the patrons, which
Hotch approves.
Cat gets up to leave and
Reid challenges her. “
Double or nothing,” he calmly states and convinces her to sit back down.
This is where
Breen’s script totally upped the game between
Reid and
Cat.
Reid tells her he figured out who her father is (with
Garcia’s help just before the date) and that he is in the DC area. Cat volleys back, demanding that
Reid tells her the real reason for going to see his mother.
Reid admits
Diana is in the early stages of
Alzheimer’s. Just like
Cat’s dad not recognizing her, it took
Diana three seconds to recognize
Spencer. The striking similarities of the two stories are eerie. The quick scene of
Garcia whispering to
Hotch “
Did you know?” with his soft reply of “
no” is touching. “
All the memories we used to share are just dying,”
Reid admits. However
Capiello’s shot over
Morgan’s left shoulder as he listens to his friend’s admission is wonderful; and haunting.
Morgan is clearly affected by the news as well with the tightening in his left cheek that we see.
We then get the flashback scene of a young
Reid and
Diana in a park with
Reid on the swing, tying together the shot in the first act. And since they could not get
Jane Lynch,
Capiello’s clever filming of that scene through the water play sprinklers to hide the actual faces is brilliance. And we learn that while
Reid escaped his mother’s schizophrenic gene when he turned thirty, he questions if he can dodge “this’ bullet.
Reid tells
Cat that he can’t help his mother; but he can help other people.
Cat challenges him about showing up to help her. “
Do you know how many men told me they could help me? How do you think that worked out for them?”
JJ reports the bomb has just been armed, ending
Act III.
I set a land speed record getting to the loo and back to not miss a second of the final act, sitting back down, now on the edge of my chair.
Because the
Final Act did not disappoint from the get go.
Hotch,
Morgan and
Lewis quickly work the profile, figuring out the bomber is there as well and she is female. While
Reid is taking on
Cat,
Lewis identifies the bomber sitting at the bar. I absolutely loved this scene:
Morgan and
Lewis playing the dating couple looking for more action and they walk to bar area to leave. Plus, I noticed the wonder caricatures the set people had on the walls of
Harry and
Glenn as
Morgan and
Lewis moved from their seats. That was a great touch by our terrific
Criminal Minds crew.
The takedown of the bomber with
Morgan shutting off the cellphone he pried from her hand as
Lewis subdues the bomber by slamming her head into the bar had me jumping out of my chair shouting “
Go girl!” Did I mention I love this character more each episode?
Yet, that alerts
Cat he missed a couple of agents.
- JJ reports, “Hotch, we’re clear.”
- Hotch responds, “Reid isn’t.”
The real cat and mouse game begins; no pun intended. However, it is with
Morgan and
Cat with
Reid playing along. And as
Cat hears the police vehicle beeping that it is backing up to the door, with
Rossi directing them, I’m thinking “
the team really had this ALL planned going in?” This is where the absolute glory of
Breen’s script shines. I’m one of those
Criminal Minds fans who wants to see the team profiling. While we got a glimpse of that in this episode, it is now very obvious the extensive profiling and planning they did to take down this
Unsub.
Morgan talks
Cat down with
Reid telling him “
don’t let her win”. Through my re-watches, that has raised a huge question. Was this all part of the plan? Yet
Cat surrenders if
Reid takes her out. “
Hotch, we’re clear,”
Morgan reports.
I loved this next small scene. Through the whole
Dirty Dozen arc,
Hotch has been
Garcia’s rock. I just simply love their working relationship. When
Hotch put his hand on
Garcia’s shoulder and asked, “
Do you want to go home” my heart melted. It’s very clear how much
Hotch cares about his valued team member.
Here’s where I have my biggest bark about
Breen’s script.
Cat, in the paddy wagon, her dad not there, tells
Reid she’ll be out in twenty years. “
What will you remember then?” It’s a total gut shot to
Reid; but highly inaccurate.
Cat is a serial killer; she will only leave a federal prison in a coffin. However, I’m the one that has always barked around here about “
it’s a TV show; they take poetic license to make it work.” So I have to live up to those words.
That takes us to the ending scene of
Reid and
Morgan in front of the house. I’m out of my chair again, knowing what is coming. What I didn’t expect was
Garcia flying out the door. And I make no apologies; I totally loved and LMAO at drunk
Garcia. Who can blame her after living in witness protection at the BAU? However, as a former bartender with thirty plus years of experience – girl, stick with one of the three wise men;
Jose,
Jack or
Jim. You DO NOT do
Jäger. Period.
And I have to add this: after the episode aired,
Kirsten tweeted she was not drunk during the filming. But she did ad lib her final line about being too hot and taking off clothes. And
Rochelle Aytes (
Savannah) totally ran with her ad lib. Can I say I loved that scene more?
Then we get to the most heartfelt scene of the entire episode. I won’t replay that back for you. You all can remember your own warm fuzzies. All I know is that
Criminal Minds fans have been clamoring for years to see the return of the broffection between
Morgan and
Reid got it.
Reid’s deep hug, tightly wrapping his arms around
Morgan was just outstanding.
And the final scene of
Reid sitting down on the swing wrapped the episode up the best way possible.
Final Analysis
I’ll make this quick.
Heather Capiello did a fantastic directing job. The
Fantini brothers,
Marc and
Steffan, along with
Scott Gordon provided a brilliant backdrop of music. I must note they sure love their cello music for the emotional ending scenes ala the scene of
JJ announcing
Prentiss’ death in
Lauren (
S6) among others.
I must give huge kudos to episode editor
Jimmy Hall. He nailed it. And a total shout out to the THE best crew in TV for bringing this wonderful episode together.
Now to
Breen: bud you wrote a wonderfully fantastic script. You gave
Matthew Gray Gubler his chance to shine now back on the
Criminal Minds stage while giving the rest of the team some great scenes as well. But really?
Reid gets past his schizophrenic worry to now deal with another issue? Really? You broke this
Hotch/
Rossi fan’s heart. Yet, it was powerful; and yes, dramatic TV poetic license taking.
Sharon Lee Watson better step up to the plate huge the next two episodes she pens. Because right now,
Breen Frazier is hands down the front runner for taking the
Best Writer of the Season Rockie Award away from her three year reign.
You all know my final grade.
~~~~rockhotch31 (Guest reviewer)
P.S. Thank you to Sir Elyan for the wonderful screen caps that will be inserted into this review.
