Racbec

I like AR, but I was really put off by his acting in this episode. Some of his facial expressions were over the top, and I didn’t find his emotional stuff believable. He had a lot to do since he basically carried this episode, but this was not his best work. And what is with AJC’s wide-eyed acting technique this season? Very distracting.

Boring and predictable. And the Garcia parts...neither the writing nor the acting justified the amount of time devoted to the B story.

I get that 18 year-old Garcia didn't want her brothers to blame her for their parents' deaths, but the CM writers clearly want us to believe that today's Garcia has evolved from her younger self--someone who does the right thing. But she still didn't tell her brother about the note.

This was soooo bad. Some random observations: So Garcia never shared the contents of the note with her brothers? What kind of person does that? I'm sure KV is a lovely person, but this episode highlighted her shortcomings as an actress. I really don't like it when Reid-type exposition is provided by characters who have no reason to know the things they are saying. And I also noticed that while it took three members of the team to do the computer work in this episode, they did manage to do it successfully and timely on regular old laptops. Maybe Garcia's super-computer and magical apps are over-rated.

Worse than what Reid did with Owen Savage, and Hotch really let Reid have it. Not a good episode, in my opinion. As soon as the wife threw the new phone in her bag, it was clear that the phone would be key.

Please help me understand--what's wrong with lying to a suspect during an interrogation? It's perfectly legal and even constitutional. Hotch was against lying to a victim's family/witness to get access, but that is an entirely different thing. Why do you object to lying to a suspect?

I like AR, but I was not impressed with his direction here. Granted, the script was awful, so he wasn't given a lot to work with. How much time passed between Barnes' big announcement about their futures and when we saw each of the team members in their new assignments?

This was an utterly ridiculous episode. Part of a poorly thought-out arc. I felt sorry for the actors. And the viewers. It insulted our intelligence and our loyalty to these characters.

Ugh. My first thought was, "Please don't give us an entire episode of that."

Who wrote this? I thought the dialog was distractingly clunky and overly dramatic. Rossi uttering the words, "This unsub will remain in the shadow of the night" had me rolling my eyes. I felt bad for the actors. And us. I hated ninjaJJ for several seasons, partly due to how she was written and partly due to how she was portrayed. She's been toned down for the past couple of seasons, and I've found her tolerable. The end of this episode does not bode well. I hope they resist their urges to make her an all-knowing super ninja again. Could we possibly have one episode where Garcia turns to the team and says, "Sorry, I've got nothing. I guess you guys are going to just need to use your profiling skills to solve this one"?

I thought the storytelling here was very amateurish. The whole "same scene from different characters' perspectives" thing has been done so much better elsewhere. I was way too aware of the clunky direction to be able to enjoy the story itself. Did JM direct this? I agree with others that the actress playing the unsub was good.

Is MGG filming Zoe right now? Anyone heard of any behind the scenes shenanigans?

I just watched MGG's movie, "Hot Air." Did anyone else stream it live tonight? It was really good! A very charming movie, and he was fantastic in it.

Just read that the North American rights to MGG's movie 68 Kill just got picked up.

Well said, normasm.

This is my first post since all of this happened. First I needed to process the events and then I was, frankly, put off by so many of the comments here. No offense intended. I'm also a little put off by seeing some of the strongest opinions coming from posters I've never seen on these threads before. Welcome, I guess. I feel like I am in mourning, because this will so alter the show I have hung in with all these years. As part of the grieving process, like many other posters, I am trying to understand what led to this and why it happened like it did. It is very frustrating, however, to see so much speculation taken as fact in others' posts. In my opinion, Thomas is a fantastic actor and Virgil is not a good writer or producer. I don't see how I can have an opinion about what happened between them, other than it seems to be agreed that Thomas kicked Virgil. The articles published so far are full of speculation and spin. Even when they do not expressly quote anonymous sources or reference one side or the other, remember that they are getting their info from very biased sources that have agendas here. Take that article from, I think it was Variety. The reporter didn't go out and do a big investigation. That negative info about Thomas was given to them by the network/producers. The same can be said for the articles referring to people close to Thomas. We all need to be better consumers of information. (Sorry for the sermon.) I will also note that Thomas was not an employee at will. Most of us are employees at will and can be fired for any reason except those that are legally not allowed (like race or gender). If I kicked a fellow employee, I would likely be fired. However, none of us know the contents of Thomas' contract. It is wise for him to talk to his lawyers to determine whether his termination was in compliance with his contract and applicable law. I would like to hope that TPTB will handle Hotch's absence well, but that is unlikely. I have continued to watch this show, through terrible writing and poor production choices, because of Reid, primarily, and also because of Hotch. I am willing to wait and see how they proceed. At this point, all I can say is that if JJ is promoted, I won't be able to stomach the show any more, not even for Reid. Sorry if this comes off as preachy. Not my intention.

I thought the point was that she was talking to each one in way that is the opposite of how they are typically spoken to--so, disrespectfully for Hotch, like she is the boss for JJ and like he is an idiot for Reid. No?

What I heard JJ say in that scene with Rossi was, in effect, "Your ex-wife wasn't right to keep your daughter from you, but, come on, you would have made a lousy dad since you clearly would have put your career ahead of your child. So anyone can understand why she did it." Who says things like that?

Perhaps this explains why MGG takes such a personal role in casting his episodes. He doesn't just rely on this casting director.

Meh. I thought the writing was poor. After several weeks of mature Reid, I was disappointed with his response in the threesome scene. I hope we get grown-up Reid for the remainder of the season. It was nice to see Emily, something I hope they do again next season if the show is renewed, but as stated by many here, she couldn't fix this one.

I had trouble following the plot in a few places, and there were several times I thought, "Wow, that would have been great if Shemar were a better actor." That said, this episode was better than the last one. I liked KV's parts of the script (first and fourth acts, I believe) more than the middle parts, and MGG did a great job as director. I won't miss Morgan much, but I will hate it if they bring in a young muscle-bound guy to replace him next season.

That was a hot mess. Joe is a lovely person, but they need to stop letting him direct. I can't decide whether he did a worse job in this one or in Till Death Do Us Part earlier in the season. So many WTF moments. The whole opening sequence was just. not. good. The music/sound effects were horrible and amateurish. The blocking, the shot selection, the casting...I just think that Joe should stick to acting. The actress who played the LEO must have gone to the same acting class that Shemar and AJ have attended. Lesson #1: To be a serious actor, speak in a monotone and lose all facial expression.

My biggest problem with this episode was one that has been mentioned by several others. I couldn't get over Danny Glover playing Morgan's dad. Glover was good, but it bothered me throughout the show. Why would his subconscious picture him as an old man? I assume Glover was available and it just was too much for TPTB to pass up.

I enjoyed one of my favorite episodes last night--Compulsion. One of the episodes that made me connect with this show.

Well said, SweetTooth.