JMO

Slept completely through it last night, but took Harry's advice to DVR it. I think you pretty much said it all, Normasm. Apart from the victim's point of view at the beginning of the episode, I didn't really notice the direction, which is a compliment, and makes it the best directed of Joe's episodes. I enjoy character-centric episodes that still actively involve and integrate the team, so I thought this was a good way to give more depth to the Tara Lewis character. It helped me like Tara more, and I thought AT did a great job. I agree with Normasm that the fake-sibling scenes were too long and dragged out, and I would have liked more of the team. But I also realize that JM and MGG were otherwise engaged, so there were limited options. I really enjoyed the actor who played Tara's father. Wasn't familiar with him, but wouldn't mind seeing him again. The Reid-Meter™moved about the amount expected, with points for appropriate use of his intelligence and continued good looks. That whole presentation by Garcia at the beginning was just bizarre and uncalled for. The same with the BDSM couple and their child. My recording pixilated right when Garcia was explaining why Desmond was familiar to her. Something about someone sending her a video? But why would anyone do that? Was there something I missed that made sense of that? There is a lot of room for exploring why Mr. Scratch chose Tara next, unless it was just an opportunistic thing (easy access to her brother). Also room for exploring why he was drawn to the 'prodigal son' aspect of her life story (which actually was totally off base for the biblical story, but that's another issue). I hope someone at CM is actually thinking about these things, and planning to incorporate them in subsequent episodes, because they lend themselves to the kind of intellectual exercise that has gained the show so many viewers in the past. In the end, the puzzle and the bizarre Rube Goldberg setup with the chair, the shotgun and the nails, evoked the Fisher King. Examined too closely, neither episode made sense, but they were both engaging enough to make me ignore that. So, are we really thinking Reid is gone as early as next week? Or does he disappear the episode after?

Yes, to all of this. Garcia was an interesting character before she lost her snark and her maturity. Then she became a caricature. And I would be much more impressed with her computer skills if she had to work at figuring out how to get information. It could even heighten the suspense of a case, if she had to struggle to find just the right algorithm. As it is too often written, her cyber sleuthing is just too improbable to be interesting.

I didn't have a problem with the witness protection idea so much as I had a problem with the reactions. I'm still hoping they'll find a way to do more later in the season, when they've had more time to adjust. It would be nice (and respectful of the fans) to see the characters on screen reflect the loss many (non-NHNW) fans feel. But I don't think we got that in Elliot's Pond.

I wasn't familiar with it either, Senin, until he gave the context. If you look at the scene in Elliot's Pond where they are watching the 'movie' the kids had made on a cell phone, they use a star figure to fade from one scene into the next. Hence, a 'star-fade'.

Smoker, while I can't agree with everything you said, I do think you hit on something I've noticed as well. The 'old team', those characters who have been with us for more than a year, have been 'off' almost all season. Not just the writing, although that's part of it. But the portrayals. I completely agree with you about MGG's ability to speak with his eyes, or his body language-----it's a huge part of what makes Reid such a deep character---yet that's been absent for much of this season, and never more obviously than in this episode. I'd blame it on the director and/or editor, as to what they chose to put on film, but..... Maybe he couldn't accomplish it, and direct, at the same time. I can't help but think that they were all still in the early stages of the no-Hotch era, still uncertain about what was happening, maybe not quite able to buy in to what was written. I do think they all knew exactly how their characters would have reacted, in character, and then were asked to play it out of character. So, maybe that was it, this episode. I hope so.

Went and looked at it, Droogie. I was surprised to see a negative comment about someone who wasn't even in the episode. Don't see what place it had in a review.

I agree with your whole post, Norm. Thanks for the reminder about the slo-mo scene. It harkened back to the 'real-time' scene at the end of Mosley Lane, among the most touching of the series---but, in Mosley Lane, we spent substantial time with the parents, and felt their angst. In this one, the parents were barely there, so it seemed oddly over-the-top to see the reunifications. I've also been wondering, for a few of this season's episodes, why the team was called in so early in the process. I'm thinking of the family seemingly killed by a hit man, and then, the case from last night. In Mosley Lane, JJ had to fight to convince the team to open the case, and there had only been eight years from the first abduction to the current one. She had to fight again for the missing teens in North Mammon. So why were they so readily called in on day one in this case, where the prior missings had occurred so long ago? For that matter, why were they called in at all?

The episode: The kids were all pretty good. Nice ‘Stand By Me’ vibe from the present-day set of them. Grown-up male half of the missing twins looked like Gollum. Also borrowed from the '10 Cloverfield Lane' plot. Very much enjoyed having the local cop front and center as much as he was. Was this the first time Reid and Luke were paired up? I would have liked to hear something that indicated Reid was reminiscing on Morgan during their ‘first time’. Might have been hard to accomplish in the episode where Hotch disappears, seemingly forever. I wonder if MGG used to make movies like the kids did on their cell phones, when he was younger. Hotch: Tara was in on the ‘Hotch-is-on-special-assignment’ conspiracy?! Really? If Hotch could send in a resignation, and have a conversation with the director, he could at least have sent personal messages to the others. Reid recovered a lot more quickly than expected. It was only seconds before he came out with, “This’ll be good, right?” Given their history together, I would have expected the notion of Hotch being gone to take emotional precedence over Emily becoming unit chief. Garcia / Rossi exchange---just no. The exchange I would have welcomed would have been the conversation Reid and JJ had just before encouraging Emily to take the job. I would so much rather have heard their conflict between the pain of losing Hotch and their pleasure at the prospect of having Emily back permanently, to hearing Garcia gushing at Rossi. I also think it would have been appropriate for JJ, Reid and Emily to have discussed it all together. Didn’t mind the idea of the toast, as an encouragement to Emily. But the content….see below. Witness protection leaves the door open for other things. It’s just my guess, but, once upon a time, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Hotch make another appearance down the road. Some ongoing circumstances probably make that a moot issue now. So, another possibility is that he might still be killed off. If it would mean an opportunity to do better by the character than they did last night, I would be okay with it. No matter what TPTB think of TG, or certain fans, there are a lot of us who would like to see the character properly honored. Didn’t happen in this episode. The writing: I realized, during the episode, that it’s not the ‘we are a family’ business that I dislike about EM’s writing. It’s the concreteness. In the past, the writing was cerebral, marked by restraint, and irony. You could sense their emotions, and the relationships between and among the characters, because of the spaces in between. That required investment by the audience, whose personal responses actually had a role in creating whatever sense of relationship was there. But now, especially with EM, there’s no need for an audience, no need for taking things in and interpreting them. We have the ‘and now, here’s the audience representative (Garcia) having your reaction for you’ and ‘now it’s time to be sentimental’ (Garcia/Rossi) and ‘now it’s time to remember we’re really a family’ (because Rossi says so, in so many words). It’s just so extraordinarily concrete and clunky. I cannot imagine it is remotely interesting for the actors to play. Performed nicely on the Reid-meter, for time and appearance, points off for all of the missed opportunities with content.

Nicely done, ReidFan. I haven't been able to settle down enough to write all week. But this episode definitely called for a response, and I'm glad you made one.

This is from October. It was an interesting read. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker

Saw that. That's their story, and they're sticking to it. Right.

Was there any follow up on Reid going or not going to see Diana? At the end of the last episode, Reid wasn't going to go, for reasons that were entirely unclear to me. but Rossi told him to go anyway. No mention this episode?

Only watched the last bit of it last night, gave it a second chance today. Not my favorite, by a long shot. Things that were okay: Throwback re-creation of the crime scene Continued exposition of Luke’s background woven into the episode Allusion to Rossi’s first days with the team, a la, ‘It can be hard to get used to’ (profiling as a team sport) The fact that Rossi kept the newbie close to him. The evolution of the profile, though I didn’t know why it took them so long Not so okay The actual delivery of the profile, with people speaking in order, and the clunky camera work was just weird. I missed Hotch. I can understand why the 911 operator would send the police to the victim’s house when he couldn’t answer her question. But I have absolutely no idea why the BAU got involved. It could have been any kind of DV or home invasion call. Garcia can find a list of bullies?! Disappearing Reid. For me, the episode barely moved the meter, not for quantity, nor quality, nor visual effect. The very obvious failure to mine Reid’s history. The actual bullying event was so similar to the one Reid disclosed to Morgan that it felt like the writer did not realize that her inspiration had actually come from an episode of the series she was writing. Someone should have told her. I still like Luke. But the Alvez/Garcia dynamic can take a hike.

Just a heads-up, for those who record. My DVR wasn't planning on recording this coming week's (11/9) episode, because it thinks it recorded it last week. Both last week's and this week's episodes were in there as 'Anti-Terrorism Squad' (sort of----came up as Elliot's Pond in the final step, but still wasn't marked for recording). I had to set it manually. I plan to check again later in the week and hope things have been sorted out, because otherwise I think this problem will perpetuate itself.

Norm and Booky----we already know, from your posts, that you can write. So there's the basic requirement. Now you just need to get busy! Myself----I've always known I could write non-fiction, because a long academic career taught me that. But I'm a fussy writer, and I thought I would drive myself crazy writing for 'fun', just because I would never be satisfied that I'd found the right word or phrase. Well, I was right about that, but it turns out there's adequate reward in storytelling to make up for it. It was a plot idea that got me going, just as it sounds like is happening to you, Booky. My first ever effort at fiction, outside of the classroom, was a story where Reid has the chance to find out if he carries the gene for schizophrenia. Once the idea of it popped into my head, I just had to know what he would do. I kept hoping the show would portray it (I'd recently discovered CM, and had five seasons to catch up on), or that I would find it in someone else's fan fiction. No such luck. So I started writing, just to find out how he would react. I still don't know what possessed me to put it out there for public consumption. I'm a little surprised that it happened. But I did it , and a few people enjoyed the story, and then another 'what-if' came to mind, and then...... you get it. That's a long way to say that I have confidence that you can do it. And, if you aren't convinced, you can always just write something and put it out there to see how it's received. No one will know who wrote it but you, unless you decide to tell us. Which I hope you will do.

They would be my top suspects. What I'm less clear on is whether they indicated they wanted out, or TPTB think it's time for them to move on. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Matthew in something else, so long as there were no vampires, zombies or bathroom humor involved. I know, I'm picky.

I truly do not understand why they are adding someone else to this cast. I get replacing the Morgan role (because I don't want to listen to all of the complaints about JJ kicking down doors!) but I don't at all understand having both Tara Lewis and Emily Prentiss on the team, let alone bringing in a new new guy. The only thing that makes sense in my head is if TPTB think the concept still has life in it, and are (not so) slowly replacing the original cast. But the quality of the cases over the past few years makes me beg to differ with that assumption.

Post-ep, 12X04, 'Keeper'. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12208438/1/Interstice or https://archiveofourown.org/works/8402785

If there was a possibility that we could see Hotch again, and give him a proper, non-fatal, sendoff before the series ended, that would be my vote. But that would require some cooler heads than seem to be out there at the moment. So, if we are truly never to see Hotch again, then I would like him to go out as a hero, and not simply fade into the sunset. I feel as you do, Droogie, that I'd like the character to receive proper homage, and I'd like the members of the team to be allowed a proper time to grieve. I'd like there to be fallout from that grief and loss, as well. But this season is already plotted out, and who knows if we'll get another. It's not too late to change direction for upcoming episodes, but only if they are motivated to do so. My main reservation, however, is leaving such an important task in the hands of the current staff.

Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to mention that I, too, was surprised (and happy to be so) that the actual unsub was the brother. I just wish they hadn't gotten there in such a clunky way. Re: AJ. I don't think it's surgery. I can't think of anything she could have had surgery on. She's a beautiful woman in her late thirties, who no longer has the baby face she had when she arrived to the show twelve years ago (just like MGG). The pony tail was pulled back a little too severely, which made the thinness of her face more obvious. And I couldn't help but wonder if she'd been up all night with little Phoenix. But I think that's all it is.

Maybe it's semantics, and maybe it's only my interpretation of how people use the words. But I see pathology as something that happens to someone. I've gotten the sense--not from what Booky said, so much as from other conversations I've seen here---- that when the idea of someone being 'truly evil' is raised, it implies willfulness, apart from disordered thinking, on the part of that person, that someone is inherently filled with hate and seeks to destroy, with no root cause, identifiable or not. That's what I don't believe in. Not sure that helped at all.

While I agree that they do evil things, I think those things spring from pathology.

Yes, re: the severed limbs. They looked too healthy to me. Personally, I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'truly evil person' as set apart from those who are ill or who have been traumatized. I know it's a popular concept, and it would certainly make life less complex, because we could simply condemn those people and be done with it. But I don't think the entity exists, and I think we are stuck with the complexity.

The episode was fine, if not memorable. I liked it well enough, but there was something about it that felt clunky, the exposition too deliberate. I like it when the show makes me think, and demands my attention, neither of which things happened with this episode. I think that was a combination of the writing, the direction and the editing. I like Alvez more and more, but it was still strange to have a series of scenes featuring just Luke and Tara. They're just not quite yet 'team' to me. JJ was subdued, Emily looked troubled, or like she was hiding something. Matthew bordered on playing Reid as the lost little boy---which I think he should have outgrown, even where his mother is concerned----but he didn't quite go over that edge. I ardently hope he doesn't do so in future episodes. Rossi was good, Garcia appropriate, although the scenes she shared with Emily felt oddly forced on both sides. Love Roxy. But the main thing, the thing that was unavoidably obvious in this episode, was that THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS CAST!!!! I like an episode that features the entire team, but even with this many people (and a dog), there were too many scenes where one or another (chiefly JJ, this time) only had time to nod, or say 'yes'. I cringe to think what it will be like when the new new guy shows up. If we include Roxy--and it seems like we should----there will be nine regulars! I'm less nervous about losing Reid early now, because I realize Matthew had to be around for the shooting of episodes 5 through 7, because of his directing gig--and because he was in the promo. He hasn't always had less of a role in his directed episodes, or the ones before and after, but it's happened sometimes. Given that he'll be AWOL (absent without MY official leave), I hope we'll see enough of him to stave off withdrawal. This one scored as 'acceptable' on the Reid-meter.