THE NEW CRIMINAL MINDS EPISODES!!!!!!!!!!!!! (SEASON SIX)

[Graysongurl]

Ok, Ok, OK, I know that I'm a few days late to report on the latest episode of Criminal Minds. But, I'm here now, so here we go.

"JJ Saves The Day"

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The episode starts off with JJ in Hotch's office, with Strauss present. They're talking about a job offer that JJ has recently received from the Pentagon, asking her to be their communications liason. Strauss is urging JJ to take it, promising that she'll get a lucrative pay raise, and won't have to travel so much (so she can spend time with Henry). JJ seems resilient not to, and Hotch defends her right to decline job offers. After he makes this fine point, Strauss leaves, and then JJ and Hotch run outside to catch the plane. But even as they sit on their jet, heading to their next case, everyone on the team can tell something's up with JJ.

In Maryland, Kate Joyce, 20, has gone missing. The local police already have two suspects in custody,two 22 year old boys. the last people Kate was seen with. When the BAU arrives on scene JJ stays with the parents. Reid and Rossi start profiling Kate and try to figure out why she would leave with the two boys. Reid wonders if she knew them and says she must have trusted them based on what they know about her. JJ says Kate would have known better than to go off with two boys and "be outnumbered." This leads to the BAU demanding to interrogate the two boys.

Moments later, Hotch gets a call, which he claims is private, and walks into a separate room. In there, he takes the call, and we find out that it's Strauss, calling to warn him about "Jennifer's job". It's during this call that we are informed that JJ can't turn down her offer: Strauss has final say over transfers, and she says JJ is leaving. Hotch says he knows, and he'll tell her when they get home.

Back to the investigation, Rossi says the suspects seem to be the "typical" dominant/submissive," but they think there's something more to the case. The two suspects--Jimmy and Syd--claim everything was consensual between Kate and them. They profile Syd as being the more dominant one. Prentiss checks in with Syd to see if he wants anything to "establish trust," but doesn't go to Jimmy. Morgan interrogates Syd and downplays him. Prentiss questions Jimmy, and lets him see the officers in the hall with food in front of Syd's room. Hotch notices Jimmy never mentions Kate's name--he's depersonalizing her. Both suspects ask for a polygraph and both pass. Hotch is sure that at least one of them knows where Kate is. Rossi goes in to interrogate Syd, who says he "didn't do anything to her." He says he didn't kill her and has pictures on his cell showing that she went with him voluntarily. The pictures show a grinning Kate kissing Syd on the cheek. Reid goes in to Jimmy's room to interrogate him (cute!!), and the camera beeping gets to Jimmy immensly. Prentiss says that based on the way he won't open up to any of them, and how he can't establish eye contact with the camara shows that Jimmy is a follower and couldn't have done it by himself, but Hotch disagrees and thinks Jimmy's just acting. Then, after taking a closer look at the photos and seeing that Kate isn't with Jimmy in any of them, they realize that Kate was only interested in Syd, and that got to Jimmy. JJ looks at the pictures and notices Kate's phone in the backseat, which was found in her room. Syd doesn't know anything about it, and when Morgan questions him, he has no idea what he's talking about. They realize Jimmy brought the phone back to her house, and he used it as a ticket to get inside. Once she'd let her guard down, he attacked her and took her out to the inlet. Jimmy left her for the sharks to finish off. Reid realizes that this is how the two suspects passed their polygraph test: thy were telling the truth. Neither of them killed her, and neither of them knows where she is (because the sharks tore her to pieces, or so they think). The team rushes to Jimmy's boat, and, using the GPS, finds the last place Jimmy wen to on it.

About a mile north of the boat's last stopping point, they find Kate on a buoy in the water-alive, but severely dehydrated. At the hospital, watching over Kate, her father tells JJ she saved his life.

Back in Virginia, JJ is packing up the case file, when Hotch walks into the doorway. Without turning around, JJ tells him that she already knows, and asks him when she has to leave. Hotch tells her "within the week" and then Hotch tells JJ they're not replacing her because he hopes they can get her back. And then he hugs her and tells JJ that he'll miss her. Almost in tears, JJ walks into the bullpen, and there the team has an emotional goodbye with her. JJ then walks down to Garcia's "lab", where she and Garcia break down, and reassure one another that they'll see each other every day, and keep in touch besides. Garcia asks if JJ wants her to walk her to the door, but JJ says she has one last thing to do. JJ walks upstairs, where she leaves the exit interview in Strauss' office without a word. The episode ends with a montage of JJ over the years with the team and her voiceover, which is what she wrote in her exit interview, as she walks down the hall and looks into the bullpen before getting into the elevator.

Jennifer Jereau, I can't speak for everyone. But I can promise you that the BAU will be out of place without you, and I will miss you until the day you return. cry

 

[Graysongurl]

OK, I'm late again. My apologies; I had a birthday to attend, and currently was to busy to post the newest episode. Here we go:

"Remembrance of Things Past No Control"

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

WARNING: THIS IS A ROSSI-SODE

This was the first episode in the post-JJ era, and the writers were smart to make sure there was no need for a media liaison this week. But in my opinion, the episode didn't feel right without one of those JJ Press Conference Scenes. But I suppose if there had been one, JJ's absence would have been more missed.

We open in Bristol, Va., with the DeLilly family heading to a football game. The phone rings as the mom's leaving the house after getting the tickets. Her husband wants the machine to get it. It's their daughter, Jenny, saying she's in "so much trouble." "When you get this message, I'll probably be dead," she cries. Cut to Rossi trying to write his new book. Hotch calls to tell him that two blonde women, Jenny and Kara Copeland, have been tortured, sodomized and electrocuted, and placed goodbye calls to family members. Rossi says he'll be there in 20 minutes and pulls out a box.

The episode heads off to everyone in the bullpen, talking to one another. It flashes for a second to Dr. Reid, who is looking down at a book, but doesn't appear to be reading it, as his eyes aren't moving. Missing Jennifer, Spence? We all are. The we see Garcia, walking down to her communications lab, and stopping by JJ's old office, where her name plate is still on the door. Looking ready to tear up, she removes the Jennifer Jareau slide and walks down the hall.
Meanwhile, Hotchner calls Rossi, and tells him about a new case he's just been invited into, one that shows murders very similar to a previous worked case. Rossi asks is he can come and work it with the BAU, because he currently had writer's block, and "the goddamn neighbors are constructing above me, and I'm losing my mind" Hotch gives the OK, and then calls the team for a briefing.As everyone gathers, Morgan shares that Ellie texts him every morning... and Reid is wearing his purple scarf! I heart that thing! Then, when they walk in and see Hotch's face, everyone gets real quiet, real fast.

In the conference room, Hotch tells them that the case he's chosen for them is very similar to another case previously worked by the BAU: The Butcher. The Butcher operated only in Bristol, Virginia, and would kidnap beautiful blonde women in their twenties, then torture them for hours before brutally killing them in any number of ways.To add to the horror, before finishing the job The Butcher had the girls call their parents or significant others to let them know they were about to die and that they were "enjoying it". This was The Butcher’s way of making an already painful event more painful for the family and showing off that he was in complete control. Agent Rossi had worked this case, and he had come so very close to capturing the unsub, but all of a sudden, The Butcher just stopped killing completely. After a month, the FBI went on to other cases, but Rossi never forgot it. He says he's never written about this unsub, because he "has too much power, too much fear. I can only write about this SOB when he's locked up. Though Rossi got close to him, The Butcher was never caught. Now, it appeared that The Butcher may be killing again – except for the fact that his signature (the women saying they enjoyed it during their phone call) was missing in these new murders. The phone calls were taking place, but that detail was not present. Hotch says it could be a copycat now. The goodbye calls were The Butcher's signature because he was a narcissist who wanted complete control over the girls. He would make them end the calls with "I enjoyed it." Hotch says, "He'd never give that up." This isn't him." During his spree, only two women didn't leave messages or make calls. But neither Jenny nor Kara said "I enjoyed it." Hotch later throws out the possibility that their calls were scripted. Morgan asks what's in the box. "Evil," Rossi says. Ha!

Once they're in Bristol, Morgan and Prentiss check out the bodies with the medical examiner, who says that multiple knives were used, and the cuts demonstrate physical force, which doesn't match The Butcher's finesse. They later visit Jenny's abduction site and conclude that it had to have taken two people to grab her.

UNSUB: A blonde woman says hi to Colby, an awkward guy who's pulling stuff out of a van labeled "Mullens" in front of a house. A crotchety old man, who turns out to be his father, comes out, saying he's hungry. Inside, Colby runs a slideshow of places for his dad to name. He gets one wrong and demands to "go out." So they go to a park and snatch a girl, Heather Langley. The next scene: Poor girl is tied down, a la a mental patient, in her undies. "We're going to tell you exactly what to say," Colby's dad says. Later, his dad chastises him for never helping out. "When I was 10, I helped with the woman in the hallway," Colby says. His dad wants to abduct Anna, the girl who was talking to Colby, next, but Colby refuses and makes him pick a girl from three photos. He picks Shelly, who works at a pharmacy, and they grab her. Angry pops then "shows" Colby how to kill her.

At the station, Rossi and Reid listen to digitized recordings of The Butcher's victims. Rossi says he never wrote about The Butcher because he had too much power. They listen to the one from Susan Cole, The Butcher's 20th and final victim, who says she's in trouble, which matches Jenny's call, minus the "enjoyed it" line. The connection doesn't end there: Heather's body was dumped in the same place as Susan's body. Reid notes that there must be something significant about the last case for it to be reenacted because reenactments usually start from the beginning. Hotch is ready to give a profile of two copycats who are fans of The Butcher, but Rossi wants to wait because he thinks The Butcher is involved. Hotch decides to go ahead with it because of media leaks (JJ shout-out!) During the profile, Rossi zones out. Hotch tells him to explore The Butcher as a suspect, while the team explores the possibility of copycats. I love how these two always settle disagreements so maturely.

Rossi deduces that The Butcher is part of a father-and-son unsub team, which he never profiled. Detective Green, the Cop of the Week, bolts in to say that Heather's father got a goodbye call. "Please know that I enjoyed it," she says in the message. Bingo! But why is The Butcher back? Reid suggests they look into the two victims who didn't make calls. One was Sylvia Marks, the first victim, and the other was Karen Bachner, the eighth. Rossi says he interviewed Karen's husband, Lee Mullens, who said he didn't get a call and had no answering machine. Garcia finds out that Karen had a son, Colby Bachner, with Lee two years before marrying him. Karen never made a call because the most important person in her life — Colby — was in the room with her. The Mullens these days are electricians.

At the Mullens' house, Colby is digging Shelly's grave as Lee bellows for them to go "hunt." He doesn't remember hunting or killing Shelly. Colby later feels guilty, so he tells Lee that he'll hunt Anna and will pick him up later. The team arrives at the house, and Rossi tries to apprehend Lee, but stops when he sees him urinating on himself. Reid says that everything in the house is labeled and finds Alzheimer's medication, which explains why Lee can't remember his last kill. The slides, it turns out, are of his prior abduction sites. Meanwhile, Colby ties Anna on the bed in the mysterious chamber.

Rossi tells Lee that they met 20 years ago and that Lee killed Karen when she figured him out, before busting out photos of Sylvia's burned body. Lee mentions a brand named Lexwell, which once made electroshock therapy equipment. Garcia figures out that the Oakton Center, a mostly abandoned mental institution, still uses Lexwell. The guys head over — except for apparently Reid (Dude, where are you? You break the case and now you're gone.) — and talk Colby out of killing Anna by reminding him that he helped and watched his mother die, and that she did not go to Boston as he believes. Colby remembers and we flash back to her face-to-face goodbye "call" to him.

As everyone's packing up, Morgan gets a text from Ellie. She needs him to text her "good night" every night. Prentiss thinks Ellie's better off talking to a PTSD professional. "Or someone who's been there," Morgan says. As Rossi's walking out, Lee says that he remembers him. "You're the reason I stopped," he says. Rossi give him a look of pure disgust, and walks out without saying a word. On the plane going home, Rossi gets a call telling him that Lee slit his wrists in jail, but apparently lived. Rossi turns and tells Hotch he wants to use the rest of his vacation time: he doesn't have writer's block anymore.

OK, so Rossisodes aren't always great, being that they're usually cold cases, but I enjoyed this one. The part where Colby was yelling at his father that he helped him with one of "those women", and it turned out to be his own mother helped the father capture: OMG!!!!!!!!!! JJ, I MISS YOU!!!!!!!!! cry

 

[Graysongurl]

You know what? Let's just assume that I won't be able to post the newest episode reviews until the weekend, KK? Let's go!

"Compromising Positions"

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

This episode of Criminal Minds begins with two victims naked, handcuffed and awkwardly positioned in the back seat of the captor’s car. The captor then shoots them both.

The scene flashes to the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s conference room, where agent Aaron Hotchner brings in the new case from Akron, OH. The first couple was killed in their house while the second couple was killed in their car. It is discovered that the husbands were given Viagra and forced to have sex before they were killed.

Garcia steps up to take J.J.’s place and she begs Hotch to let her go along with the rest of the team to Akron. Though Hotch is reluctant, he says he can “explore it on a trial basis and see how things go.”

While the team is waiting to take off, they discuss possible reasons for the killer to stab the victims. The reasons range from impotence and the possibility of the unsub having met the victims before. Then Garcia gets on the plane in attire far different than her usual bright colors and eccentric designs. As the plane takes off, Garcia walks into the cabin, dressed in black (EEW!) and gets a lot of weird looks and wolf-whisteling from the team. Morgan says something like, "Dang, babygirl!" Garcia smiles, curtsies, and tells them it's not her style, but she wants to look more professional if she's going to be the team's new liason.

Upon arriving at the Akron police department Hotch, Dr. Reid , agent Rossi, and Garcia meet with the leading detective David Crowley, who informs Hotch that everything the team needed was set up and taken care of, courtesy of emails sent out by Garcia. Garcia also mentions that she’s contacted the families of the victims and set up interviews with the two who responded immediately to her.

Agents Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss investigate the car of the second couple, discussing possible ways the unsub may have gotten into the car. Morgan turns the car on, where Prentiss feels the heater is turned all the way up and after flipping through the radio stations, Morgan finds that the one playing when he turned the car on was not a preset station. Confused and baffled by the unsub’s efforts to make his victims comfortable, Morgan and Prentiss head off to investigate the other victims’ house.

We return to the police station and into the interview room, where Rossi is talking to the father of the first male victim while Reid talks to the mother of the second male victim. The connection between both victims is that they are “alpha males” who were both driven at work. Therefore, the unsub sees the husbands as his only competition.

Meanwhile, Garcia is outside talking to a sleazy reporter trying to get the inside scoop on the killer. Hotch comes to her rescue and sends the reporter away with no comment. He tells her that he’ll deal with the press and asks her to finds out the credit card and phone records for the husbands, as the unsub was targeting them first.

Prentiss and Morgan return and inform the rest of the team that the unsub’s control of the situation is romantic instead of sadistic, which could mean the unsub’s trying to recreate a fantasy in which the couples are his surrogates for a physiological need that has left him impotent. The reason for using condoms is yet unknown.

Jump over to a scene where a husband fights for his life and does a hell of a job with it, considering his hands are handcuffed behind his back. But the unsub manages to grab his gun from under the bed and kills the husband. Then he makes the wife say she wants him and the wife, though terrified, performs exceptionally well. However, she too is killed, though she does a great job in trying to fit her killer’s fantasy.

The following morning at the fresh crime scene, Reid deduces the change in the unsub’s pattern in that he shot both victims instead of stabbing the wife to death. With the control gone, Rossi says the unsub enraged and out of control. The husband has full contact defensive wounds from his knee to his ankle, which leads Reid to believe the husbands may have something else in common: working out.

Morgan and Prentiss examine the couple’s bedroom, recreating the scene for themselves. While they try to understand the wife’s actions and connect it with the unsub’s use of contraception, they throw out the possibility of the unsub having been a “swinger,” or one who shares a woman with another man, and that he’s trying recreate the fantasy now that he’s impotent.

Back at the police station, Reid reveals that each of the husbands worked out at local gyms, country clubs, or YMCAs, which would have made it easy to stalk victims. However, Rossi points out the unsub’s fantasy has been interrupted, which may lead him to escalate his violence or be hunting again that very night. With all of the knowledge, Hotch prepares to give the profile to the Akron police. But first, he asks Garcia to find information on everyone involved with the local gyms, including maintenance, outside vendors and others. Garcia, overwhelmed with talking to family members, cataloguing the husbands’ records, and helping Morgan find information on former swingers and swingers’ clubs, asks to bring in Kevin Lynch (Nicholas Brendon) to help her prioritize matters. Hotch agrees and asks her to tell Morgan and Prentiss to release the profile to anyone they’ve met in the swingers’ community.

While Morgan and Prentiss meet with one of the former swingers, Garcia tries obtaining information from one of the gyms and gets hung up on. Kevin calls her to inform her that he’s got the information on members and employees, but outside vendors would be difficult to track down. While they’re talking, Det. Crowley tells Garcia that Paul Wilson’s family is at the station for interviews. At first Garcia asks Crowley to tell them to wait, since the rest of the BAU is delivering the profile, but she changes her mind and decides to talk to them herself.

Reid, Rossi and Hotch deliver the profile to the Akron police while Prentiss and Morgan deliver it to the swingers they’re interviewing. These swingers reveal that in order to enter a swinger’s club, a male must have a female partner with him. Otherwise he’d never get in the door. The woman’s role as hostess is to make other females feel safe and secure in an environment with as many men as women. Morgan says the BAU had never thought of that. Prentiss asks how the unsub’s fantasy of two men and one woman for sex would work. The swinger explains that it’s usually a married couple and that consensual cheating with an unmarried man makes the sex hotter. The husband chooses the wife’s other partner and then steps in to exert his dominance and show everyone that only he can give her what she needs. Morgan comes to the conclusion that after the unsub became impotent, he began to question his manhood, as did his wife, and then his wife was his first loss of control.

The scene flashes to what looks like a nightclub with flashing lights and highly sexualized behavior. A woman walks around and hands out drinks to party members. A knock at the door draws her attention and she finds a man, whom she recognizes, waiting there. He enters, saying his wife is right behind him. However, once he’s inside, he goes on a shooting rampage and kills a lot of the people inside.

While they’re investigating the scene, Reid finds out from the hostess that this James is a locksmith, which is how he’s been able to get into the victims’ homes and cars. Hotch goes immediately to tell Garcia to check for all the locksmith companies tied to the gyms, but Garcia panics because she hasn’t finished compiling the information on all the outside vendors, making the excuse that the office she’s in is a “revolving door of people bugging me and I cannot do two jobs at once!” Hotch stresses the importance of finding all the locksmith companies and asks Garcia to shut out all distractions, which she agrees to do. Prentiss and Morgan return and tell Hotch about unsub’s decompensation and how the end of his marriage may have led him to hunt other alpha-male types. This might tell the team where the unsub’s been, but the team will have to look at unsolved murder cases.

Meanwhile, Morgan convinces Garcia to just be herself instead of trying to replace J.J., which leads Garcia to find out the unsub’s name, James Thomas. SWAT units storm the apartment, but find only Thomas’ wife Maryann, who is pregnant but not by her husband. When the team pulls aside to discuss who should interview her, Reid steps up, saying, "I should. This woman is used to being surrounded by alpha-males. I wouldn't be percieved as a threat to her." (LOL, it's true-he's not an alpha. But I hate that he was depricating himself.) Reid shows her several case files of unsolved murders, despite her protests that her husband would never kill anyone. But one of the murders shocks her, as it is the man who impregnated her, and she tells Reid and Prentiss how her swinger days started at Dunley’s Bar.

The team ruches of to the bar, where the unsub is spotted immediately, holding what looks like an appletini and hitting up some chick. emily looks at Hotch, and tells him she wants to go and 'get him". At first, Hotch protests, but he immediately realizes that this is the only way they could approach him safely, or he might start shooting. Emily sidles up to the unsub, and pretends to be one of his old swinging partners. She talks about how her boyfriend, Tony, never stopped talking about that night. This catches the unsub's interest, and he tells her, "You know, my wife and I used to have a system about how to pick partners. We'd only pick up married couples." At this, he smiles evily, and holds up a gun to her gut. Less than a second passes before the team opens fire, and shoots the unsub dead. Emily is left staring at him as he dies. When Hotch asks if she's ok, she just looks at him.

At the end of the episode, Garcia is in her lab, when Hotch walks in. Garcia looks at him, almost in tears, and tells him that she wants to, but she can't do two jobs. Hotch tells he he's trying to get JJ back, but until then they do need a liason. He asks Garcia if she would mind handeling appointments, and planning cases, if he would do the interviews and press things. Garcia smiles that amazing smile of hers, and nods. Hotch, walking out, looks over his should and tells Garcia, "You did a wonderful job, Penelope." The episode ends with an outchot of a smiling Garcia.


OK, love the plot line in this episode! Very refreshing, the "swingers" angle. And the Garcia byline was fascinating. I know that the writers were testing out how Garcia would work as a liason just so people would stop missing JJ so much. Guess they figured that if people like her instead, they wouldn't need to bring back JJ. I almost cried when Garcia was tearing up in her office because she was stretched too thin. So emotional. JJ, if even the amazing Garcia can't fill your shoes, they'll need you back!!!!

 

[Graysongurl]

Time for a recap of yet another FAB Criminal Minds episode! Let's go!

"Safe Haven"

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Garcia is back in her regular role this week as tech goddess, but she spoke in the round table room at the beginning of the episode. It was a little weird, since JJ or Hotch has always been the one to present a case. It shouldn’t have seemed so foreign all of a sudden, given this is the third episode we’ve had without JJ, but I guess it’s going to take a while before it feels normal.

Anyway, this week the team tracks a killer who’s targeting families, killing the children and husbands in front of the mother, and saving her for the last, and most brutal, death of all. Mare Winningham guest stars as one of the mothers, and does an excellent job.

Here’s the case: two families are killed. The kids have been strangled, but not sexually assaulted, the fathers are stabbed, and the mothers have both died of blunt force trauma to the head. One of the fathers has been opened up "like a frog in a science class". The BAU get ready to get on the case when Ellie shows up at the BAU. Apparently, she hopped on a plane to Virginia to get away from her foster family. The older boy tried to watch her in the shower. Ugh. So they let the authorities know, but don’t send her back (obviously), and Morgan tells Ellie to go hang out in Garcia’s lair until he gets back.

Once on the scene, Reid and Rossi head off to look at the latest crime scene. There was no sign of forced entry, an extra setting on the dinner table, and a vegetarian meal on the stove, which someone wouldn’t have taken the time to make if they were being forced. The unsub got the children alone, tied them up, and used them as bait to attack the parents. Between the door, dinner table and the fact that the unsub would have had to have been left alone with the kids, Reid and Rossi determine that the unsub must have been someone they trusted.

Back at the station, Prentiss and Hotch are going over victimology. Both families were religious, and both were involved in some sort of charity work. They think maybe the unsub was a volunteer worker or other kindly soul the victims knew. They also explain that the unsub is really just targeting the mothers. The murders of the kids and husband are done in front of her, then she’s beaten to death brutally.

Meanwhile, some unsuspecting kid is being driven up on by some guy who claims to be a preacher. He offers the kid a ride, and the kid (Jeremy) takes it… and the reverend ends up dead. Jeremy’s the killer.
Garcia gets in touch with Ellie’s foster family. Turns out the family has six foster children… and they didn’t realize Ellie was missing. Garcia’s already looked into transferring Ellie to Virginia, and Morgan gets her on trying to find Ellie’s mother.

Reid and Rossi go to the next crime scene the next day. They decide the unsub’s rage is unpredictable, so much so that he could have crashed the truck by attacking the reverend while he was driving. On top of that, the unsub has dissected this victim’s arm, like he came right out of rage and went to curiosity. Rossi is stating how the cuts seem curious, and not torturous. Then he pauses suddenly, looks up at Reid. Reid takes one look at his face, and utters this quiet little gasp, like something's finally just clicked into place for him. "Who's typically nonthreatening, curious, and could be left alone with kids?" Rossi asks Reid. Says Reid, "A pubescent child would never be noticed." AHA! So the unsub, as we saw earlier, is some (male) teenager. They can’t diagnose a kid with a mental illness, so they call this little bugger a “budding psychopath” in their profile, which I think is just great, and they start trying to figure out how to catch him.

Meanwhile, back to Jeremy. He's at some gas station, watching as a family (a mother, daughter, and son) go into the restrooms and exit again. As they come near the vending machines, he kicks it, pretending it'e eaten his dollar. The mother looks at him, and asks, concerned, where his ride is. To which Jeremy replies that the bus he was riding on took off without him. The woman offers him a ride to the police station, and he graciously accepts. However, when they arrive, Jeremy asks if he'd have to sleep in there with all the thugs and felons in the same cell. Not having thought of this, the mother immediately pulls out of the station, telling Jeremy he can stay at her house for the night, and she'll put him on another bus in the morning. Jeremy smiles, a little evily, pehaps?, and says thank you.

Retracing the killer’s steps leads the BAU team to look at the area near Omaha. They believe that this kid was probably left at a hospital in Omaha where the mother from the first victimized family worked. In Nebraska, there is a “Safe Harbor” law that allowed parents to leave children that they could no longer care for at a hospital. They believe that he will head back home in order to exact revenge on his estranged mother.

By the time they reach the latest family to take pity on this young boy, they find the children tied up and the mother missing. The serial killer has taken the mother and made her drive him the rest of the way home, and then stabs her.

When the boy does get home, he finds his little sister there alone. The team tries to get a hold of the mother but by the time they talk to her she is already home and finds out that her daughter has been taken hostage by her son. Eventually, Agent Morgan is able to talk the killer into letting the girl go and he is taken into custody.

Earlier in the episode, Ellie (whose father was killed in last season’s finale) has run away from her foster home and flown to Virginia to find Morgan. She was being neglected at the foster home and Morgan, of course, feels like is solely responsible for her well being. He asks for Penelope’s help to find a way to get Child Protective Services to allow her to be removed from the home. Penelope and Agent Morgan eventually find Ellie’s mother and reunite them. At first, Ellie refuses to talk to her mother, but Morgan pushes her to try and give "her only family left" a chance. By the time the credits are rolling, Ellie and her mother are laughing together.

OK, good episode. I like that Ellie's going to be in Virginia from now on. A soon as she appeared in the episode, I was like, "OMG, is she gonna live with Morgan? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!" But it was not to be. *Sigh* Oh well. ANother home run from the most amazing suspense show ever to grace telvision! biggrin

 

[Graysongurl]

Yay, a Halloween Episode!!!!! Let's Go, people!

"Devil's Night"

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

In Detroit, the three nights surrounding Halloween are collectively known as Devil’s Night. Vandals take over the city, smashing windows and lighting fires. For the past three years, a certain unsub has been kidnapping one person a day on the three days leading up to halloween, chaining them up to the ceiling of some old warehouse, covers their head, dumps gasoline on them, and burns them alive. When the episode starts, we see our unsub dragging a black man into the old warehouse, covers him in gas, and starts the fire. While the man screams, the unsub watches.

Flash over to Hotchner, sitting in his dining room with his son, Jack. They just finished making some Halloween cookies. Jack is trying to decide on an outfit, but he rejects the Spiderman outfit. When Hotch asks him, "Well, who do you want to be?' Jack says, " I don't know. Can I have a cookie?" Hotch says, 'I don't know, can i have a cookie?" And Jack says, in this adorable way, "Yeah!" Awww. . .

Now we go to the F.B.I, where Reid is wearing this odd clear-with-a-mustache mask, and he's babbeling nonstop to Emily about the history of Halloween. While they walk, you can see emily rolling her eyes constantly. As they walk into the conference room, Emily takes a seat next to Rossi, and in answer to his glance at the still gabbing Reid, says, "I only asked him what his plans were for Halloween!" Reid says something about a ghost theatre show he happens to have an extra ticket to(at this point he glances aroud the room for takers) and Garcia walks in, saying, 'Sounds tempting, honey." BTW, Garcia was decked out in orange-even her fabulous hair!!!! Hotch walks in with a hint of a smile on his face, and quickly sits down. He begins to explain the case. Apparently, for the past 3 years, in the three days leading up to Halloween, someone has been kidnapping a victim a day (so three a year) chaining them up, covering their faces, and burning them alive. The vicim's bodies, all varying in age, sex, and race, are always found in the buildings where they were burned. The fact is, another victim was found the previous night, and the B.A.U. has been formally invited in. At which point, Reid (so adorably) butts in, "But it's Halloween weekend!" Everyone gives him a look. Then they all, Reid included, walk out.

On the plane, the group profiles the unsub as not being an arsonist, just using fire as his weapon. Detroit's "Devil's Night" is a "violent Mardi Gras," because the unsub does't kill any time except these three days.

Once in Detroit, Morgan wants to start the investigation off by looking at firefighters and first responders (the most likely occupation for a firebug), his investigation if complicated by the fact that a thousand-strong civilian organization called Detroit’s Finest has been patrolling the area. Hotch and Rossi visit the morgue and discover the victim was struck from behind before dying and his face was covered. Hotch describes the murder as an "execution." Garner meets Prentiss and Morgan at the crime scene and tells them about the mysterious "Detroit's Finest," a volunteer community group; they add them to their suspect list. They look at the crime scene and notice that the unsub's position isn't about being near the exit. Meanwhile, the unsub packs up a van and includes a "Detroit's Finest" sign.

Reid notices differences about the first victim--he was buried and burned multiple times--and they think the unsub knew all the victims. Rossi helps Kierston, wife of the latest victim, go through the previous night's events. She remembers they separated for food and Tony was at a Mexican restaurant. Rossi gets her to recall looking at her husband breifly while she was buying huros, and they are able to learn that the UnSub’s body is probably badly burned. He only commits crimes on Devil’s Night because his disfigurement seems like a Halloween costume, so he can blend in. They profile him as seeking revenge, no matter how small the offense. Morgan profiles him as going after those who remind him of what he's lost.

UNSUB WATCH! The unsub watches as a man pulls up in a driveway, singing with his daughter. As the man bends over to get his groceries, our unsub walks up to him and grabs him. The girl looks up from her seat, and sees what she'll later describe as a monster taking her daddy. She screams, "Don't take Daddy! Daddy! DADDY!!!!!" and is forced to watch as he's taken away.

Morgan says the unsub is driven and aggressive and Hotch suggests looking at fires involving couples over the past few years. The team receives the call about the latest victim, Chris, a general contractor. Garcia looks into anyone whom he's worked with, and finds a connection to Vinnie's Welding and Fence. She finds Kaman Scott after a few connections: a drug using, gambeling, criminal-with-a-huge-record. Garcia discovers he cleaned up his act in 2004, which the BA.U. classifies as he may have found a woman. Apparently, shortly after that, he was hit by the first victim in a car collision, where he suffered the burns. The latest victim was Kaman's landlord.

Morgan and Prentiss go to his address and notice how dark and impersonal it is. They remark they need to find the person who drives everything and that Kaman has an end game. As Kaman sets Chris on fire on the side of the road, he apologizes. Chris runs out into the street and gets hit by a car; Kaman runs away. They find his van with welding equipment and a cage inside. Morgan finds a picture of a girl, the same girl Kaman is carrying a picture of. Kaman enters Jay-Mo's diner and asks where someone named Tracy is. Whan Jay-Mo won't tell him, he refuses to leave and starts hitting Jay-Mo. The team heads for the diner as Kaman sets a fire. Hotch enters the diner and gets Jay-Mo out just before the place explodes. Hotch finds out about Tracy from Jay-Mo, as Kaman pulls up to a house. Tracy was Jay-Mo's daughter, and the woman Kamen cleaned up for. Garcia gives them an address of Tracy's aunt and uncle, also in Detroit. Kaman enters the house and binds the couple and dumps gasoline on them. He wants Tracy's location, and they tell him she's in medical school in Ohio. He begins to scream at them, calling them liars, and threaten to throw a match on them. Hotch and Garner get to the house first and tell everyone else to hold their position. Much closer on Kaman’s trail now, the rest of the police squad surround Tracy’s house while Kaman is inside for his final confrontation. Since the house has been doused in gasoline, though, the police cannot fire a single shot without risking the lives of Tracy and her family. Hotch walks into the house, and sees Kamen holding a gun to Tracy, demanding to know why she left him at the time he needed her the most. Suddenly, a little boy runs into the room, up to Tracy, asking, "Mommy, can I have a story?" When Kamen sees this, he looks at Tracy and asks real slow, "Is. That. My. Son." Tracy starts to sob, and says that after he was in the hospital, she found out she was pregnant. And she didn't know if he was going to live or die, or if he'd even want the baby. So she ran away. Hotch breaks in, and tells Kamen that if he puts the lighter down, he could still see his son. Kamen bends down, hugs the little boy, and then turns to Hotchner, hands out.

The episode comes to and end with Hotch and Jack at their house, Hotch yelling to jack that they have to get going. Jack comes out in this cute little suit, with a lopsided, terribly done tie on his neck. Hotch sees him and laughs. "What are you?" He asks. "I'm you, daddy. I'm a real hero." Hotch smiles, and then the credits roll.

Ok, this episode was adorable! I love any episode that shows the epitome of Reid's dorkiness, as this one did-I mean, does anyone love Halloween more than him????? And the actual unsub was pretty awesome. I mean, the whole reason was because he himself had been so terribly burned. Awesome. And of course, nothing can beat such a cute ending, although I must say, at the beginning, I was like, OMG, I bet Jack is gonna be someone on the team-probably Hotch. I love being right. All in all, Homerun, Criminal Minds Crew!

Happy Halloween, all!

 

[Graysongurl]

Time For A RECAP!!! Let's Go!

'Middle Men"

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

We start off in a cornfield. A half-dressed girl (hooker? stripper?) is running through the rows of corn, gasping for breath, and crying. A truck is following very close behind her. Some men are in the truck, catcalling to her, telling the girl that they know she can run faster, and the truck keeps revving up, like it wants to tailgate her or something. Finally, the girl takes an abrupt swerve to the left, too sharp for the truck to follow. The engine dies, and i counted 3 men getting off, all with flashlights, trying to find their missing victim. She keeps creeping through the cornfield, away from two of the guys, and backs right into the third. After the other two men, wearing scarecrow masks over their faces, arrive to the victim, they look at who I assume is their leader, and he tells them, "I'll finish with her.' One of the other unsubs responds, 'We'll be home when you're done." And they walk away.

Cut back to the BAU. My main girl Garcia walks into the conference room, carrying what is obviously several ipads, although I didn't see a logo. She starts to hand them out to the group, saying that she officially bought "these babies" to help them keep up with one another, and update their case files as they go along. She is saying something about it being like having the entire BAU case history on hand at all times, when Reid (so freakin' adorably!) says, slightly panicked, 'Wait, does this mean that we won't be using pencil and paper anymore?" To which Garcia responds, "Fear not, doctor of the Dark Ages"and hands him a file and pen. She puts away the iPad she purchased for Reid, and Hotch says, 'You know our budget is tight. Where did you get the money for these?" To which Garcia says, "I did a thing." In response to the look Hotch gives her, she says, 'Let's not talk about it now." LOL. Anyway, Garcia and Hotch run down the case. The girls are all abducted on Fridays and killed on Sundays, and the team knows there are at least two men involved, given the DNA samples under the victim’s fingernails. however, the skin is a match to no one in APHIS. The women were also brutally beaten and raped, but the team deduces that the men must have worn a condom, because there was no, erm, testicular DNA found upon examination of the bodies. The team says that this must mean that at least one of the men has a record. Off they go to Indiana.

On the plane, the team discusses what the women have in common. Al three women worked as strippers, all were abducted on Friday nights, and all three don't appeared to have been drugged when taked. Reid questions if maybe they went willingly. Hotch expresses his doubts as this: strippers are probably too careful to be so stupid. A fourth girl, Stephanie Wilson, was abducted the previous night, and our team has less than two days to save her, the fact being that these women are generally found dead within a week. But he doesn't totally omit the idea. Hotch doles out assignments to his team, and the plane lands.

Upon landing in Indiana, Hotch meets with the local cop in charge of the case, Captain Salters. Salters is upset that someone leaked details of the case to the media, thinking that the added attention will spook the UnSubs. He’s right: in a bar across town, UnSubs Chris and Scott (suprised they told us the names so immediately) see news of their murders on the screen. Until that moment, they had apparently believed that they had been “merely” abducting and raping the women, and that their leader, Michael, had drugged and released the girls without killing them. The two of them leave the bar together, and go to wherever it is that they take the kidnapped strippers. Inside is another man, zipping up his pants, and when he looks up to see Chris and Scott there, he looks puzzled. Chris yells at him that "the f*****g FEDS are here" and that they "didn't know that they were being KILLED" Michael says shut up, and that he never said he wouldn't kill them; just that he'd take care of it. When the other two start to protest, Michael says that the "cops ain't got nothing" and if they're so worried, he'll "take care of it ". They all look at Stephanie.

Meanwhile, Prentiss and Reid investigate the strip club while Rossi and Morgan check out the spot where the last body was found (Reid in a strip club. Is anyone else grinning?) Reid is asking about the Friday night that the girls were abducted. The manager says something about it being Sexy Hospital Fantasy Night, where all of the girls dress up in short nurse outfits, and lap dances are half-price. Reid seems to have an idea about how the unsubs are choosing their victims, and asks to see the cameras. When he looks at the footage, Reid notices two men who come in together, sit down in adjoining stalls, and summon two strippers. He also notices that they seem to be using sign language to communicate with someone not in view of the cameras. Prentiss wants to know why they would get lap dances in booths where they couldn’t see each other. In the cornfield, Morgan and Rossi figure out why. There has to be a third unsub. That’s why they were confident the girl wouldn’t escape the field, and why it didn’t matter if the unsubs getting a lap dance could see each other. The third unsub could see them both. This how Reid deduces that the three unsubs are "a pack", which is a special type of trio, apparently.

Meanwhile, Hotch is talking to the lead investigator of the stripper case. The sherrif is saying something to the point of 'the strippers deserved what they got" although not in those words. Hotch gives him the feared LOOK, and tells the sherrif that if he's prejudiced, perhaps he should sit this investigation out. The man says he is "serious, in charge, and NOT sitting this case out", to which Hotch replies. "My authority can outserious you "serious" any day of the week. I'm in charge." And he walks off to another conference room to talk to the parapalegic father of Stephanie. He's sitting there with a two year old blonde child, whom he introduces as Stephanie's daughter. Hotch reassures the father that they are doing everything they can to find his daughter. The man seems unconvinced.

Back to our disturbing threesome, the house is empty, save for Stephanie. As she's lying there, asleep, one of the unsubs walks in, carrying a McDonald's bag. He walks over Stephanie, and squats next to her. She starts shuffeling away from him, and he tries to get her to calm down. She says, "You're going to kill me, aren't you." Lacking the heart to be honest, the unsub says, "No." "Then why won't you let me go? Please! I have a daughter at home, and I just want to see her-" At this point, the victim is overcome with tears, and the other unsub tell he he'll take off the blindfold if she'll stop crying. She sniffle and nods. When the unsub looks into her eyes, he tells her softly, "I'm going to do everything I can to get you home to your daughter." "You know, you shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Says Michael, who walked in silently at some point. 'Whoops, this must have slipped off." He says sarcastically, picking up the blindfold and re-wrapping it around her face. He looks at the first unsub, who we now know to be Scott, and says, "Get In The Car. NOW." Scott shoots Stephanie a last look, and leaves.

Now, at long last, we get to see the BAU giving the team the profile. They have downed it to this; It's three unsubs, all men, and they also have reason to believe that they are college students. Reid explains how a "pack" works. First and foremost is the alpha. This one is the oldest, almost certainly out of college, and has probable done this before. He's in charge, and everyone in the pack does what he says. Then, there's the leutenant: this one is in college. He came from an abusive home, and has no self esteem This means he was very vulnerable, and it was very easy for the alpha to manipulate. Reid also notes that the leutenant is fiercely loyal to the alpha. Last of all is the new recriut. He will be the youngest, and is going to be the first to crumble. When he does so, the alpha will kill him off. After Reid is through explaining this, the team also notes that right now, the group is crumbeling, and that the chances of finding Stephanie could, at this point, go either way.

FOR ANYONE WHO COULDN'T KEEP UP: MICHAEL IS THE LEADER, CHRIS IS THE LEUTENANT, AND SCOTT IS THE NEW RECRUIT.

UNSUB FLASH. Now it's the previous night. Chris and Scott are standing in a cornfield. Scott is telling Chris that he doesn't trust Michael, and Chris is saying that it's too bad. He says that they have to dump their truck, and Michael will be picking them up shortly. When Michael shows up, so does trouble. As Scott walks towards him, Michael punches him in the face, and while Scott is on the ground, he leans down and tells him that betrayers are out of the group. ANd that there's only one way out of the group. At this, he hands Chrisa bat. Chris tries to protest, saying that Scott learned his lesson, but Michael is having none of it. He tells Chris to DO IT. And Chris does.

The body is discovered the next morning by a detasseling machine. When the blood spurts up onto the vehicle window, the farmer freaks out and calls the cops. Upon arriving at the crime scene, Reid looks at Morgan, and tells him that this confirms what they thought; the group is falling apart.

Back at the station, Garcia gives Hotch some disturbing news. Sheriff Salters has a son by the name of Chris(OOHH!!!!) who has been in the hospital numerous times for "accidents". He was also arrested for an attempted rape. Hotch marches into the sheriff's office, and demands to know why he hid something so critical from the FBI's investigations. Salters asks if Hotch has a son. When Hotch says yes, the sheriff says, "Wouldn't you do anything for him." Hotch says nothing for a moment. And then he says that if the sheriff won't help them, it will be a lot worse if and when he finds out that his son is one of the unsubs.

I guess the sheriff gave in and helped them, because they are soon pulling into an old cabin house that the sheriff once used as a place for his wife or something. Just as they pull in, Michael and Chris are running out the door with Stephanie in tow. As soon as they see the police, they stop, and hold their guns to Stephanie's face. They say they want to negotiate. Emily walks out of the car. She says that she only wants to talk. To which Michael replies something like, "Why should we talk when you should just use your fine a** to be getting us out of here?" Emily shoots him a disgusted look, and at that moment, Sheriff Salters interrupts. "Son, please, drop the gun. If you come quietly, I can cut you some sort of deal. Please" Chris says, "no, Dad. You don't get to be the hero this time." And as he lifts the gun to his head, Salters shoots him-in the arm. As Chris falls, the Sheriff says, "I had to do it, son. I had to."

The episode ends with Hotch entering the sheriff's office. He's bent over an old picture of his baby son. When asked about what he should do now, Hotch gives Salters a short speech on parenthood. He tells him that his son is going to need him now more than ever before, and that how he treats his son now could change the whole relationship.


OK, I totally loved this episode. It's SO awesome when they come up with completely new plotlines-not that I wouldn't watch them anyway if they were old ones. I really liked Scott, so when he was killed, I was like, "OMG WTF!!!???" But it was still amazing. And it was totally
HAH-lerious when Reid was all worried about the BAU going "paperless" Doctor of the Dark Ages,. . . I'll have to remember that one. A 10 again, Criminal Minds! Whoot Whoot!

 

[Graysongurl]

Ok, so I'm early this week. I figure I might as well get one thing out of the way before I start on the boatload of homework I have to do. Here. We. Go.

"Reflection of Desire"

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

So, this week's episode started very odd. First, it was my main girl Garcia, apparently in a black wig, talking to herself in the mirror while she applies makeup to herself.
Then, flash to a man, putting on an old projector. It's an obviously old film, black and white, making this very annoying flickering sound while it plays. "That can be you, he says, looking at someone off camera.Then, suddenly, we can see the woman he was talking to before. She looks like a 50's movie star-bedroom eyes, red lips, and in a classic Marilyn Monroe dress. The man keeps telling her to smile, as he takes pictures. They're head shots, trying to show all the various emotions. In all of them, she looks scared and ready to cry.
Flash back to Garcia. She is applying some extremely dark lipstick(not un-Garcia like) and is still talking, saying something about death, and love, how both are one, each is everything.
Another flash to our man. He's now reading a script with the girl. She's bound to a chair, and he keeps yelling at her to emote in "the scene", and telling her if she doesn't try, she'll never live to be famous. At this, the girl breaks down into tears. Then, an older woman appears off screen, telling him that "she can't do it. She's worthless." The man nods, and then he tells the girl that they're going to go out for awhile.
Last time to Garcia. She appears to be rotating in her seat. She looks at a man sitting across from her, and then stands up. She takes his hand and. . bows? OMG, they were on stage performing. Garcia was in a play. COOLZ!
Last flash (whiplash, anyone?) to the creepy man from before. He's sitting in this really old Mustang, and the girl is beside him. She flutters her eyelashes, and wakes up, groggy. Immediately, the man pulls a small plastic bag over her head. After a moment, she suffocates, and the man pulls the bag off of her head. Then, he lifts the knife to her lips. . .

At the BAU, the entire team is already in the meeting room. As Garcia hands Reid his file (still made me smile there), Hotch sees a pamphlet that was momentarily hidden underneath the paper, and asks, 'Is that from your play?" Garcia shoots him a look of death, as the rest of the team stares at her. Hotch coughs uncomfortably before going into details of the new case. Apparently, the woman was reported missing one day, a headshot of her was sent to the newspaper the next day, and her body was found on the third. She was discovered in an alley by what appeared to be a homeless man, with ligature marks on her face, and her lips removed. Hotch is more concerned about the picture and letter being release to the media than he is about the lips. He tells them that "this one is going to be hard. We're being watched." Then, wheels up.

We go immediately to the crime scene in Washington, D.C. Morgan and Emily go out to the crime scene. While they're there, Emily notices a homeless man sleeping underneath a sheet in the corner of the alley. Remembering how the body was discovered by a homeless man, she gestures to Morgan, and they walk over and wake the poor hobo up. He starts cursing at them, and Morgan has to threaten to arrest him before the man will settle down any. Morgan tells him that they just want to ask him a few questions. The man obliges, and when asked where he was the previous night, answers that he was "right here, in m'home." After a weird look around, Emily asks him if any other "men" were there. The man becomes agitated, and says he "woudda noticed another damn-" Morgan interrupts him, and points to something on the wall behind where the man was sleeping. It appears to be four lines of some very old poem. Morgan loos at Emily, and she looks right back.

At the station, Hotch runs into Garcia, who is acting very terse towards him. perhaps his slippage of the lippage. . .? He grabs her arm, and says that he "just wanted to apologize to her." He mentions that he had no idea that her 'thing' was supposed to be a secret. (I'm guessing that this was that thing she was talking about earlier, that she did to raise money for the iPads.) Down below, we finally get to see Reid and Rossi, monitoring the autopsy. The woman is saying that she's never seen anything like this, with the lips being removed. As she's pointing out the odd looking suffocation marks on the victim's throat, Reid is looking into her throat, and notices a piece of paper stuck in there. He pulls out the blood soaked wad, saying that blood and saliva have mostly deteriorated the paper. As he unfolds it, he makes out a few words, written in what he describes as a "very old Courrier style font". A quick phone call to Morgan later, and Reid makes the discovery that the legible words on the paper are identical to the ones written in lipstick on the wall in the crime scene ally.

UNSUB FLASH! Now we see the unsub, sitting with an elderly woman at an old train station. The creepy man and ?his mom? are talking to a little girl, trying to teach her about the art of walking oh-so-gracefully. The little girl asks him if he wants to see her walk. The man smiles, and says he'd very much like that. When we finally see him again, you notice that the older woman who was sitting beside him is gone. The man is staring at the little girl, when suddenly a beautiful blonde 20something walks by. As she passes the man, he stares at her and murmurs, "Fantastic." As he's getting up to leave, the little girl walks back, and asks him if he thinks sh has talent. To which the unsub replies, "No. I think you're an ugly little girl with nothing to offer the world. " Out he walks.

The next day, a new girl-the "fantastic" one from the train station- is missing. Her name is Penny. The group heads off to the place she was last seen, in the train station. Apparently, her purse was found only 2 blocks away from there. The team deduces that she was spotted in the station, and taken shortly thereafter. This leads Reid to ask whether or not there are any cameras in the station. After viewing the footage, Reid notices a man, sitting alone on a wooden bench, talking to a little girl. When the video shows Penny walking by, the man stands up immediately, and follows her out. After subtracting the time from the moment the strange man entered the station to the minute e exited, Reis estimates that the man was there for nearly six hours. Unbelievable as it seems, they have the unsub.

Reid rejoins the group at the gate of the station. There, they discuss the possibilities. Based on the information they have so far, it seems that the man is an Era Unsub. He's stuck in a certain time period, which would explain why he dresses the girls the way he did, and why he takes black and white beauty shots. They call Hotch, and tell him he can go ahead and give the profile. They're going to stay and look for some more clues.'

UNSUB WATCH! The creepy man is sitting at a table, eating something. In walks that old woman agin, saying something about wanting to "read with him" and then says, "Baby, yo know I can't sleep unless you read the scene with me. . . ' The man is looking royally ticked, and says he'd rather not. The woman stats to yell at him, and says something about him being weak. Nothing like his father. As is guaranteed to happen with an insult like that, the man reacts. He stands up and screams at her, "I'M NOT WEAK!!!!" Then, he goes over to a closet, where we can see Penny, drugged, struggling to sit up. "She looks just like me," says the old woman, clearly flattered. "No, mom. She's going to be more famous than you ever were." At this, the man yanks up the girl, and drags he into another room.

Garcia is told that this man, the unsub, has a preference for bright, 50s era blonds. That's why they want her to give the profile on TV, in a press conference. Garcia is panicked about being in front of video cameras. Hotch brings up her theater group and the others hear. They make Garcia a blonde, and give her light foundation (50's) and uber dark lipstick.. She's going to read a script in front of the cameras, and if things get out of control, she has orders to read a special pre-written note towards the end. Morgan tells her to make the conference about Penny, not "the sick SOB who took her. Reporters keep asking about Kelly, but Garcia talks about Penny. Penny's father shows up at the conference, and Morgan tells him not to talk, but he doesn't listen. Instead, he turns to the cameras and says he has a message for the man who has his baby. Back to the unsub, he's doing the same thing to Penny he was with the previous victim; he's making her read some old lines with him-the same ones that were written on that script shoved in the girl's throat. But while they're talking, the unsub notices the news post, and it angers him. He slaps the girl across the face, hard enough to knock her out. A moment later, we see him carrying her out the door, into his car.

However, as the unsub is driving the car, he passes by a BAU car. See, Garcia got a hit off of the words found on the hobo's wall, and in the girl's throat. They're from an old movie, made in the-you guessed it!-50's, starring a one hit wonder of an actress. Apparently, she had to end her budding film career after that, due to an unplanned pregnancy. With that, Garcia got the name of the actress, and her son-Rhett-, and the current location.

Based on what they already knew, the team figured that the unsub would be panicked by the press conference, and might try to kill Penny early. So, they canvassed the neighborhood. And seeing some old, frustrated guy driving an oldsmobile with a sleeping girl in the front alerted Hotch and Rossi in their car. They follow the unsub, and immediately pull over when he does. They spooked Rhett, and he runs out of the car before he finishes strangling Penny. As he's running away, Rossi takes a shot, and hits him, but Rhett keeps running.

Moments later, the entire team pulls up at the man's house, and demands via megaphone that he surrender. The man walks out, carrying a corpse. It's his mom. I guess, to make up for his birth that ruined her career, Rhett tried to get dear old mummy on the camera one more time. As the men lean in to arrest him, Rhett kisses his mother on the lips-THE PREVIOUS VICTIM'S MISSING LIPS! OMG! He must have wanted to give his mom a proper kiss goodbye. Eww. . .

The show ends with Garcia finishing the monolouge she started in the beginning of the episode. She stands up, ad bows with a very handsome young man. They're finishing up the final performance of the oh so secret play. And right there in the front row is the BAU team, cheering her on. Aww. . . .

Ok, so I have to say that this episode is not going to go down as one of my most favorites ever, mostly just because it's too creepy. I mean, the whole lips thing had me weirded out. . . But it was still a good one. And I did love the part where I saw Reid wearing Coverse shoes in the BAU headquarters. I swear, he can pull off anything at work, get away with it, and look adorable while doing so. . . I'll give you a half a thumb up, Criminal Minds Cast&Crew!

 

[Graysongurl]

Early again! But do not start expecting it to become a regular thing. LOLz. RECAP!


“Into The Woods”

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

So, this week’s episode starts off with an arguing married couple fighting about getting lost on the trail that they’re walking. A little kid is walking behind them, rolling his eyes at the stupid argument. The couple stops, consults the map, and starts to point into one direction. A shadow passes behind them, unseen. Suddenly, the wife asks, “Where’s Cody?!?” As the couple begins to panic over their missing boy, he pops out from behind them, yelling, “BOO!” and both jump up. As the mother is yelling at Cody not to do stuff like that, the father notices a black bear gnawing on something in the ground. The father sees a coat, and, assuming the bear is eating a person, jabs the bear with a stick, and yells, waving his arms. Scared, the bear runs off, and the man runs over to the carcass. But it’s not a person-at least, not anymore. It’s a very old, very dirty, very small child’s skeleton. The woman begins to scream.

At the BAU, the group is sitting around the table, examining their iPads-except Reid, who is of course looking at a paper file. They’re discussing the little body recently dug up. Reid mentions that while the body is too disposed to identify if the child was sexually abused, the bruising on the bones indicates that it’s more than likely. Emily cuts in, saying that if this child was abducted by a *****, chances are slim that he’s the only one. Morgan cuts in, and ever the realistic one, says that if there are more, what are the odds that they’ll ever find them? Reid says that it’d be almost impossible, that the Appalachian Trail is spread over 14 states and is over 22,000 miles long. Everyone shares a look of hopelessness. Hotch says that likely or not, there must be other kids out there, and the least they can do is find the SOB (Whoa, language!). He says wheels up in an hour, and off they go.

Upon arriving at the trails, Reid takes off to the sheriff’s office to work on the geographical profile-without much success. I mean, come on, the trail is HUGE. Morgan and Emily go to check out the crime scene. And Rossi and Hotch go to speak with Joseph Laham, father of the victim, Daniel.

Hotch talks to Joseph, and asks him what he remembers about the night that Daniel went missing. Joseph tells him that his son had woken him up in the middle of the night, and told him he was going to the bathroom. “I should have gone with him.” the father sighs. Hotch then points out that Joseph went exploring in the area where Daniel was abducted every weekend up until March of the following year. “March is when our team says that Daniel was killed.” The man shoots Hotch a deadly look, and says that even if none of them believe him, even if they all think that he did it, he knows the truth. And that’s all that matters.

At the crime scene, Morgan and Emily are looking at the spot where the body was buried. Emily notices traces of plastic tarp in the small dent, and points out to Morgan that the body was taken care of, and protected from the elements. Morgan wonders aloud if it could have been because of remorse, but quickly vetoes the idea as unbefitting to this offender. Morgan then wonders how the unsub knew where the grave was. “The unsub took care to wrap the body so that he could visit it over and over again. Look at this place. Only an experienced hiker could even get to this area. So how’d he find it?” Emily points out that wild animals will mark trees in the highest spot that they can reach. This prompts Morgan to look up at the trees surrounding the burial site. After a moment, he points up to a misshapen X extremely high up in the nearest pine tree. “Looks like he used an ax.” says Emily. Derek and she look at each other and start to look at the other trees around the area. Pretty soon, Emily points out another X. And another. And another. Says Morgan, “There’s more bodies around here. . . “

UNSUB FLASH! That night, we go to a small family in the woods. It’s two parents, a 10-year-old son, and a younger daughter. It’s nighttime, and the little girl wakes up her brother to take her into the woods so she can do some “little girl” things. The boy-Robert-gets up reluctantly and walks her outside. At the edge of the campsite, the girl, Ana, says she needs more space so he won’t see. Rolling his eyes, Robert walks her in deeper, and lets her behind a bush so she can have some privacy. After a moment, Robert hears a snap, and a small scuffle. He runs around the bush to get his sister, and she’s just standing there, crying. “He said he’d kill mom and dad.” She whimpers. “Who?” asks Robert “Me.” Says a bushy man, stepping up behind Ana and holding a knife to her throat.

The next morning, the BAU has been alerted of the latest abduction. Thinking that it could be their unsub, they head out to the trail, and set up a search team. As they’re preparing to have a small conference with the volunteers, Hotch sees Joseph Laham there, and immediately walks up to him and asks what the hell he thinks he’s doing. To which Joseph says, “I know these woods as good as anyone. I can help.” Hotch tells him-rather rudely-to go back to the station. “Maybe you can help Reid.”
At that, Joseph leaves.

Now we bounce to Ana and Robert. Both are locked in a filthy jail cell, surrounded by old toys. Ana is crying to Robert, saying that she misses mommy. She’s also sobbing about how dark it is in the cell. Suddenly, the unsub walks up to the cell door, and tells Robert to “Come here.” When Robert looks uncertain, the man tells him that he’ll give his sister a flashlight if he comes over. Reluctantly, the boy obliges, stands up, and walks out of the cell. The unsub then locks it up again.

Back to the search parties, Emily and Morgan are giving the whole group a quick lesson on looking for the kids. Emily instructs the people to call out one name at a time, and leave a noticeable pause in between the names, so that they can have time to listen for the children’s responses. Off they go.

Back at the creepy cell, the unsub walks Robert back to his sister, holding a flashlight. He looks pale and scared-damaged. The man unlocks the cell, pushes Robert in, and relocks it. Then he walks away. When Ana tries to ask Robert what happened, he only says, ‘When that man comes back for me, run. Just run.” A single tear rolls down his face.

Now we go to Reid at the station, who is murmuring to himself and crossing out various things on a map spread before him. In walks Joseph. Reid already got a call from Hotch, and knows that Joseph can help. Reid questions him about where safe water would be for the unsub, and where might be warm enough for the unsub to stay for a long, cold time, as it appears that he is bunking down for the winter with the kids he abducts. Within an hour, they’ve narrowed it down to a 15-mile radius.

Back to the kids, the creepy unsub is back, telling the boy again to “come’re”, in a sicken way. As the boy gets up, he kicks the man abruptly in the knee. Then, yelling to his sister to run, Robert tackles the sicko. The girl takes a moment to get started, but once it finally hits her, she’s up running as fast as she can. Though the unsub tries to jump her, Ana makes it out of the cave. After running a long, long while, Ana bumps right into Emily. Emily immediately takes her to the base that they’ve set up.

Within moments, the entire search party is at the cave, searching for Robert and the unsub. But it looks as though they’ve left. At first, it seems that all hope is lost. The Hotch emerges from a back room in the cave, carrying a bag of crushed flowers and a gallon sized baggie of white pills. One quick call to my favorite genius ever, and the team finds out that their unsub is using the flowers and special medication for a very painful leg muscle deficiency. Basically, he won’t be able to walk far without it.

Meanwhile, our unsub is half-dragging Robert through an uncrowded city block, into an old, filthy hotel, all the while telling him that if he screams or makes a run for it, he’ll shoot him dead on the spot. Crying, Robert nods, and the unsub knocks on some door. Another man answers, and upon seeing the unsub, yells at him to leave right this instant. Something about our unsub “stealing my f*****g stash!”. Ignoring the yelling, the unsub tells the man that he needs more pill. Again, the man yells at him that he can’t afford to, that unless the unsub has cash, to go away. Smiling an evil smile, the unsub says, “I have something better than cash.” And yanks Robert into view. The man gives him an almost hungry look, and invites him in.

Once they’re in, the unsub tells Creepy ***** #2 that he wants 1,000 dollars in cash, and more pills, in exchange for an hour with the kid. CP#2 is very obliging, and hands over the stuff. The unsub exits, saying, “Be easy on him. I don’t want no bruises.” Our new sicko then starts to rub Robert’s leg, asking if he wants to watch a movie. Robert, knowing what he’s up to, screams, “GET OFF ME!!!!!!!” and kicks the guy. Losing his temper, the new creepo shoves Robert really hard into the radiator. Suddenly, all is quiet, and CP#2 must think that he killed Robert, because he starts to freak out.

Meanwhile, our BAU finally got a call from Garcia, saying that she was able to get someone as a suspect. Based on the number of prescription pills found in the bag, and Ana’s little testimonial that leads the group to think the unsub is a *****, she was able to cross reference and get a name. “Not only that, my lovelies, but I also happen to have a last known address after Icky got released from prison.” Armed with new information, the team rushes to the hotel where Robert was taken earlier. As soon as the man running the register sees the FBI vests, he says, “I don’t care who did it, just get them out of here.” After saying the unsub’s name, the team finds out that he left his home there years ago. “Does anyone here sell medication?” Morgan asks. The manager says that only one man ever did so, and gives them the room number. But when they arrive, the room is empty. Emily sees a shoe on the floor, and points it out, saying it’s Robert’s. They immediately set out to search the building.

Back to our favorite *****, the creep apparently thought that Robert was dead, and took him down to the dumpster to bury. But when Robert begins to stir, the man freak out, and tries to smother him. Robert places a very accurate kick to the family jewels, and runs off screaming, right into Morgan. Holding a gun to the sicko’s head, Morgan tells Robert that it’s going to be okay.

For the end of the episode, it turns out that our creepy unsub got away. Apparently, he saw the police cars outside of the hotel, and made a break for it. But at least Robert is okay, and it was still very joyful.

OK, so I’m never a big fan of creepy *****, but I have to say that the episodes with them in them are very interesting. And it’s pretty fascinating how the unsub got away-five bucks says he’ll appear again later in the season!-because, you know. The BAU always catches somebody. So, though a tad icky, I still enjoyed the episode. Well done, guys!

 

[Graysongurl]

Hey, people! So glad to finally get a new episode to write about! biggrin Here! We!! Go!!!!

“What Happens At Home . . .”

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

This week’s episode opens with a young blonde woman in a darkened room, typing on her laptop. She seems to be narrating that which she is typing as she’s typing it. The weeding band on her ring finger slips, and she quickly adjusts it. Suddenly, she looks up, as though she’s heard some sound. She stands up, and calls out, “Hello?” We hear a muffled bang as a response. Looking scared, the woman (stupidly) heads toward the apparent origin of the sound, reaching for something in her pocket. All of a sudden, a cable tie appears around her throat, and a dark figure shoves her to the floor. Gradually, the woman stops fighting, until her last breath leaves her body in a terrifying shudder.

Now we go to Agents Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi, sitting and observing a course run at an FBI training academy. They seem to be keen on a young woman who takes the lead. As her sergeant is yelling at the five trainees to figure out a way to carry their “incapacitated partner” (played by a crash mannequin) over the 20 ft. wall, the trainee that holds Hotch and Rossi’s interests seems to have an idea. She grabs some rope from her pack, ties the two plastic hands together, hoists it over her shoulders, and carries it over the walls as she climbs up. The sergeant, seeing this, immediately begins to shout praises at her, saying that “this private knows how to get it done!” while the other recruits look on in shame. As the young girl takes a drink, Hotch approaches her and asks, “Ashley Seaver?” At the girl’s nod, Hotch asks her to come with him.

We now go to a room in the BAU, where Aaron and Rossi are sitting with Ashley, looking very grave. Rossi turns to Ashley and tells her that he and his team have a case, and that they could use her help. Ashley blandly states, “So this isn’t because of my scores, then . . .” Hotch shakes his head. She then asks them what’s going on, and why they need her, to which Hotch explains that their new case involves an unsub (Um, duh?), and they have reason to believe that this unsub not only lives in the community where he’s killing, but he also almost certainly has children. At this, Ashley takes in a quick breath of air, sighs, and then says, “So this is because of my dad?” Hotch nods. Ashley says that if she’s going to help, she wants to become a temporary member of the team. Hotch reluctantly agrees, after a quick look to Rossi. Ashley starts to get up to leave, when Rossi steps up and tells Ashley that if she doesn’t feel comfortable assisting with the case, she doesn’t have to. Ashley turns, looks Rossi in the eyes, and says, “I do want to help, sir. I’d just rather that it was because of my excellent scores and not because my father was a serial killer.”

At last, we go to the briefing room, where Emily is presenting the new case to the team. The unsub, un-nicknamed, has apparently broken into the homes of three young women in New Mexico, and strangled them to death. There are never any fingerprints left at the scene, and nothing besides the women are disturbed in any way. And the killer is striking in three-day cycles. The real problem with the case: all of the killings are happening in a closed community, meaning that anyone who goes into the neighborhood has to sign themselves in and out-so as to avoid getting any riffraff inside. Thing is, no strangers have signed into the community since the killings began, meaning that the unsub is a resident. And there opens another problem: all of the residents of the community read the same, geographically. All of them own the same house, the same type of car, and every single household has children. From first impression, everyone who lives in the two-block community is equally a suspect. Disheartened by the lack of evidence and suspects, the team heads to the plane, obviously not looking forward to the new case.


As soon as the team lands in New Mexico, they are taken to Oak Tree Hills, the tiny closed community where the murders have been taking place. There, at the local police station, they are hastily introduced to Ashley. Hotch neglects to tell the team that her father was a serial killer. As Ashley is making her introduction, she looks at Hotch and asks him if he “told them the thing”. When Hotch replies that it wasn’t his “thing” to tell, Ashley gets the entire group’s attention, and tells them, “If we’re going to be working together, then we need to be honest. My father was Charles Beauchamp.” To which Reid asks, “The Redmond Ripper?” When Ashley nods, the entire team looks away. In what seems to be an attempt to divert from the awkward tension in the air, Hotch doles out assignments. Ashley is to stay with Reid, and work on a geographical profile. Morgan and Emily are to go to the latest victim’s family and figure out how the unsub got in. Rossi and Hotch are going with the local police chief, and try to profile the community.

As Reid is standing looking at the map, Ashley sidles up to him. “How did you know who my father was?” “Well,” Reid replies, “I have an eidetic memory, and I read a lot of case profiles.” Ashley doesn’t exactly respond to this. She turns to the 3-D map that Reid’s poring over, and asks him, “So, you like, know stuff about the murders?” Reid looks at her, but says nothing. “I just-I was only 10, and I don’t really remember anything about it. Or him. And no one will-will . . .” At this, Ashley turns away and sniffle, obviously trying not to cry. Reid looks at her with clear sadness, and turns back to the map when she excuses herself and leaves.

At the home of Lauren Jacobs-the latest victim-Emily talks to Drew, her husband, while Morgan goes to investigate the supposed point of entry. While Emily tries to wait in the same spot where Lauren last was when she died, Drew starts to ask her about the case. Emily tries to ward him off, saying that they have no suspects yet, but this only seems to upset Drew, prompting the question, “Why can he do this?” Emily can only say, “He’s been practicing this for a long time.” Drew breaks down just as Morgan enters. Morgan asks Drew if they always left their garage door unlocked, and Drew says that he and Lauren were always so careful to keep it locked, because they wanted to protect Heather-their daughter. Morgan thanks him, and takes Emily upstairs. In the upper hallway, Morgan tells Emily that all of the garages in the neighborhood have a 5-digit code using numbers 1 through 9, no 0’s. Emily responds that in that case, the unsub couldn’t just walk around typing in codes on a door opener until one opened, then just go inside and hope there was a young, vulnerable woman inside. “He’s planning this. And he must have a technical background!” says Emily. Armed with new information, they call Garcia.

Back to Reid, he is looking at the map when he gets a phone call from Garcia, telling him about the new info she just got from Morgan. Then, as Reid’s babbling on about the complexity of generating a code, Garcia asks, “So, what do you make of the new girl?” “I’m not really sure yet-“ Reid starts, but Garcia interrupts, “OH MY GOSH, you totally are digging this chick! You like her!” “I never said that!” Reid interjects in that high voice he uses when we know he’s lying.” “Awww, don’t lie to me, hon. Garcia out, loverboy.” Then she hangs up, Reid looking confused, amused, and scared.

Talking with the main chief of police, Rossi and Hotch are getting frustrated. All of the people in the neighborhood are very similar, and it’s proving most difficult to profile any of them. It’s only when Garcia calls them with the new information about their unsub that they get a new plan to lure him out.

When the entire team and Ashley regroup at the headquarters, they all discuss the new evidence. Based on what all of them found out, it’s a married white man, with at least of child (probably a daughter) who most likely dropped out of a college in which his major was electronics. And the unsub had probably also has had several assault or even rape charges against women. The team now wonders how they are supposed to present this profile without alerting the unsub that they’re on to him. It’s Ashley who comes up with an idea. “Throw a meeting at the church. Tell them it’s to pray for Lauren and the others.” The others think about it. Chances are, the unsub wouldn’t show up, and if he did, they could profile him from the back. All agree, and call for a prayer meeting later that night.

Later that night, the prayer meeting starts.

Meanwhile, Rachel Owens, a local community member, is in her kitchen, cooking dinner. As she’s taking out some pots, she hears a thump in the background. She looks up, and calls, “Jared?” But no one answers. She sees a note on her fridge, saying “GONE TO THE MEETING, GET THERE WHEN YOU CAN. –JARED” Shrugging aside her apparent fear, Rachel continues to clang around her cookware. Then, a dark shape sneaks up on her, and thrusts a rope over her head, and chokes her to death.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, the entire team is in the back of the church, watching how everyone in attendance is reacting. Only Ashley and Emily are in front. Ashley is explaining how their unsub might act in public. “He’ll be nice. Polite. Smart-just, normal. He’s probably very affectionate with his child, but not his wife. So he might not be holding her hand.” Emily watches Ashley, and asks her, oh-so-gently, if there’s anything more specific she can remember. Ashley looks around the church, and, seeing a tied up collie near the center rows inspires her to mention that the family won’t have a pet. Tears in her eyes, she explains that a serial killer wouldn’t be able to handle a pet. “He’d just keep killing them . . .” Emily grimaces at the thought, and then her and the team are called to the back.

“There’s been another killing.” Are Hotch’s first words when they arrive in the anteroom. “And there were only 93 of the community members here tonight. So that leaves 8 possible suspects, not including wives and children.” Reid asks if Hotch is sure the math is right. When Hotch answers that he very much does, Reid says that they were only given 97 suspect files. When they all look at the lieutenant, he raises his hand defensively and says that he didn’t give them the files of the three victim’s husbands or of himself. When Hotch asks the man why he would automatically eliminate those four as suspects, the lieutenant’s angry response is cut off by Rossi, saying that they’ll need those files, and then ordering Ashley and Emily to go sift through Lauren Jacobs’ computer, and see if their was anything on there to indicate that she thought her husband was sick in any way.

As Ashley and Emily are going through the computer, Emily gets a call from Garcia, and walks out of the room to take it. As soon as she’s alone, Temporary Agent Seaver grabs the laptop and Emily’s car keys.

We see where Seaver was heading when she knocks on Drew Jacobs’ door. He answers, and Ashley hands him the laptop. When she doesn’t take his polite hint to leave, he opens the door again. “Look, sir. I came down her to tell you . . . I know that what happened to your wife was-was-just horrible. And . . . I know that there’s no way to make it—better. But you have to know that the family of the man who murdered your wife-when they find out, they’re going to be ashamed, and shocked, and so, so, so sorry. But they’ll be too scared to tell you that. They think you’ll hate them. And I wanted to-wanted to-I wanted to ap-p-pologize for them. I’m sorry.” Drew looks so surprised, and he invites Ashley in.

Meanwhile, the team has just been alerted by Emily that Ashley and the laptop are gone. Hotch and Rossi are still pouring over the files, but Reid looks interested. “Where d’you think she went?” he asks. Just then, Hotch looks up, and says he thinks he might have found him. “It’s Drew Jacobs. He matches the profile, has several assaults and rapes,dropped out of college after three months, and majored in home electronics and mechanics.” “Oh my god. I think Seaver’s over there!” says Emily. When Hotch immediately places a call to Ashley’s phone, she does pick up, but he can tell something’s wrong.

“Ashley, where are you?”
“Why sir, I’m visiting the Jacobs’. I wanted to return their laptop.”
“Is he in there with you?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Can you escape?”
“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t do that just now.”

At this, Ashley hangs up, and Hotch tells the team he has Ashley, and they have to go.

Now we see at last what has become of Ashley. She’s being held against a wall, with Drew holding a gun to her head. He keeps asking, almost obsessively, “How do you know what the murderer’s family is like? HOW?” Ashley says, “I tell you. But please, take Heather away. She doesn’t need to see this.” Drew turns to look at his daughter, and says, “Heather, leave.” Heather begins to cry, and says, “Daddy, you don’t have to kill her. Please!” Drew, less calmly says, “Heather, leave! NOW!” Sobbing, Heather walks out. Drew turns to Ashley and says, “Now. How do you know?” Ashley turns her head as much as she cans, looks him in the eye, and says, “Because my father was just like you.” At this, the FBI bursts in, all saying for Drew to drop his weapon and turn around. “Do you hate him?” asks Drew of Ashley. “No.” Ashley responds. This seems to trigger something in the man, and he drops his gun and turns to face the police.

Later, on the plane, Hotch sits across from Ashley, and tells her if she ever wants to be a part of the team (WHAAAA?????) or even in the FBI at all, she can never, ever act like she did today. Ashley nods. When Hotch turns to leave, Ashley says, ‘You know, Drew was right. I don’t hate my father. I hate what he did. But not him. Never him.” Hotch pauses, and then walks off.


OK, so I can’t really call this episode a favorite of mine, but I can’t say I don’t like it, either. I just think that bringing in Ashley as a possible JJ replacement at all was a bad idea. Nothing and no one can replace her. But since they did bring her in, the least they could have done was spice up her story a little. I mean, I LOVE Reid, but I would have adored him and her getting together. Cute much? But I guess my overall view is, if Ashley’s going to hang around for awhile, then I want to see some flavor in her character, ‘cuz it’s way too vanilla right now. Adieu!