SSAHotchner

Broken Mirror The Instincts P911 Penelope Unknown Subject

I have always loved Prentiss. The only thing I couldn't stand was the stupid spy arc in season 6, but I blame the writers for that. Watching some season 3 on ION TV right now and I just love, love, love Prentiss. She can do so much with a line. But at least the writing in season 3 was good.

Notice how the promo pics leave Hotch out even though he's supposed to be in this episode. Makes me sad.

I'll have to look for that if they show the kitchen tonight. I'm not as grossed out about cookies being left out but anything wet or smelly....ick. Actually I'm surprised they didn't have a live-in servant.

Not to mention that there were FBI guys involved with this program as well.

I understand what you're saying and I, too, couldn't decipher any what was said on that garbled phone tape, but the things that have always stood out to me were: 1. The phony ransom note. The wording was ridiculous and laughable. And no real kidnapper would write a note of that length IN THE HOME with materials found there. If kidnapping were the real crime, and if a note were going to be left, a real kidnapper would have come prepared with a note with the instructions for ransom. The note always seemed to be a cover for the real crime of murder. 2. The pineapple. The stomach contents revealed that she had eaten the pineapple shortly before she was killed. Only family members' finger prints were on the bowl and spoon which were left on the counter. If an intruder came into the house wearing glove and fed her the pineapple why were Patsy and Burke's finger prints on the bowl and spoon? Do they seem like a family that would leave food on the counter when they went to bed? 3. The finding of the body. Why wasn't the house searched completely until the authorities said they were going to do a complete search of the house? When they say they're going to do a search, all of a sudden John Ramsey makes a beeline to the place where her body is and then instead of calling police down to the crime scene carries the body upstairs. It's all very fishy. Last night's episode brought up another fact I hadn't heard before and that was that the actual cause of death was the blow to the head, and all that strangulation stuff was just a cover. I also believe that had a stranger/intruder killed her, he would have not gone to any of the lengths that appear to be just cover up at the scene like the ransom note and the garrote. So while I'll admit that there are plenty of times the police get it wrong, I don't think that either the police, the FBI or the Scotland Yard chick are wrong here. Sometimes kids are abducted from their homes and killed by strangers or non-family members. But there is too much evidence, manufactured by the family, in this house for police to buy that that is what happened here. My guess is that it's either the brother, which they seem to be hinting at by saying even a child his age could inflict the fatal blow, or the mom lost it for just a moment and the family tried to cover a moment of rage with a phony kidnapping/murder story. I can well imagine that the brother had a hard time in a household where the mother's focus was 100% on appearances and living out her pageant dreams through her daughter. You have this gorgeous little angel of a girl and an older brother who doesn't seem to get much of either parent's attention and is quite awkward to boot. I can easily see him resenting his sister. I hope that if it was him, that resentment was all that was there. Some of the programs on this murder have speculated that Jon Benet's bed wetting could well be a symptom of sexual abuse. I hope it won't be true. Being killed was bad enough. I hope she didn't go through any other trauma.

I think Floyd is my favorite unsub.

I liked Whitney, too, and thought she was pretty. To me, she resembled Zoe Saldana.

Rossi's hair has been every shade of grey and also black. It's weird because there's no rhyme or reason to it except to assume he dyes it because he didn't start out dark and gradually get grayer. I don't know who decides these things, if it's Joe or the hair folks at CM, but no matter what color his hair is, his face is always orange. I gave up on the makeup folks at CM years ago.

Yes, I'd like to add my welcome. You will love it here.

Just saw Elle's last episodes on ION TV today. Funny how I still will tune in to see the early episodes even when I have seasons 1-7 on DVD, but I rarely watch any episode beyond season 5 on DVD or when they air on the various cable channels.

You've really put a lot of thought into this, Mislav, but I would say that seasons 8 & 9 were awful as well and contained torture porn and really bizarre plots/murderers. Season 8: The Silencer (sewing their mouths shut), The God Complex (amputating their legs and sewing them on another person), The Lesson (the live marionettes). There was barely an episode that season that I liked. Season 9: The season of bizarre plots: the praying mantis nonsense in the first two episodes, Rabid (come on, rabies?), To Bear Witness, The Black Queen (totally contradicts almost everything we knew about Garcia), Route 66 (could have been a great followup on Hotch's loss of Haley at the hands of The Reaper, but Virgil turned it into a Beth love fest), 200 (do we even need to state all that is wrong with this episode?) Even so, there were more episodes that I thought were good or okay this season than in season 8. I agree with what you said about season 6. In season 7, I was so glad to have the rightful team back again until I realized where they were going with the characters. But there were a handful of episodes that season that I really enjoyed. As for season 10, there's barely an episode from that season I remember except for Mr. Scratch. To me, that was the only good episode. Season 11, the only episode I liked was Entropy.

First of all, I want to say that I don't like that promo pic. It's weird for me that they are such different sizes. And it breaks my heart to not see Hotch. If they want to feature an actor prominently, do it by giving them screen time and not a promo pic. I love Paget and I think it makes sense to have Prentiss as the unit chief. That said, I just cannot watch without Hotch. Smoker, you and I are of the same mind on this. As for JJ, loved her as the media liaison and was thrilled when they brought her back. But, by the end of season 7, I grew to not care for her based on what they've done to her character. I didn't mind that they made her a profiler, although I preferred her role as the media liaison, but when they started to make her super JJ, it turned me off, especially when in so many episodes she was given so much to do and others were barely given anything. There could be all kinds of reasons for this, but it just bothered me. I don't mind when a cast member gets an episode or two that centers on them, but by season 8 it had become the JJ/Morgan Show. And I also mind when they have JJ take over. Hotch was the unit chief and he should have been the one to decide how to proceed, when to give the profile, what to discuss with the local LEOs, etc. Let me add that I don't like it when any character does this, not just JJ, lest I be accused of being "a hater." I agree wholeheartedly with JMO about the missed opportunities on CM. Every season I think it's going to be the last one, so I've given up hope of them ever getting some decent writers or returning to the original premise of the show. And now, without Hotch, I won't be watching.

My favorite Clint Howard appearance is in Seinfeld when he's arrested for trying to steal a car and Jerry and George are in the back seat of the police car. Hard to believe this guy was the adorable, tow-headed child eager to share his peanut butter sandwich on the old Andy Griffith show.

Wow, no one has a comment yet? Okay, here's mine. I DVR'd the show and fast forwarded through all the crap. Didn't listen to a single judge's comment. Fast forwarded through dances I didn't feel like watching again. I know it's tough to let kids know they didn't make it in this "we're all winners" generation, but I thought the kids handled it pretty well. I was so disappointed that Emma was the first to go. She really was my favorite, and I know none of the others could have done her style at all. So much energy, cute, enthusiastic spirit, loads of talent. Very disappointed. Sorry to see Tate go next. She was amazingly talented and a nice kid. So down to the 2 guys and I really thought JT would win. I didn't care for him at all, but there was so much hype about how cute he is. People felt he would win because he'd get the cuteness vote. I actually thought he was more likely to get the pity vote. He's so tiny and not at all the best dancer, so folks will want to give him a chance figuring he would be less likely to make it on his own, unlike some of the other contestants who were genuinely talented and well-trained. After all, I sat through many seasons of American Idol where less talented singers would win because voters just wanted to give them a chance. Kida, was okay. Some of his routines I enjoyed, but not all. In fact, this season in particular, if I didn't care for the music, if the music didn't grab me, I would fast forward through the dance. The dances that really entertained me were the ones where the choreography and the music blended perfectly. Anyway, I was pleased that Kida won over JT, but I would have preferred either Tate or Emma to have been the winner. That said, I hope he uses the prize wisely and really makes a life for himself. If he wants to keep dancing, I hope he gets training in lots of styles to make him more marketable, more well-rounded. While I hope they don't do the kid thing again, at least not for several years, I thought the kids were all nice kids, hard workers, eager to learn and loved to perform . I wish them all luck.

I like Aisha, but nothing about Lewis has really interested me. I think the recent/current writers have a hard time introducing a new team member. I liked Prentiss. I liked Rossi. I liked Jordan Todd, even though she was a temporary replacement. But once they started with Seaver, it was downhill. They brought in a character that long time viewers were savvy enough to know would never in a million years be a part of the BAU, and it was even worse because they also announced they were getting rid of two characters that a lot of viewers loved at the same time. When Prentiss left the 2nd time, I was not at all optimistic about Jeanne Tripplehorn. I had only seen her in a few films and I wasn't wowed by her in them. They tried in her first episode to prove her worth by having her figure some stuff out and giving her linguistic skills, which we all knew Reid already had. Then they backed off and hardly gave her anything to do. It took a while for her to grow on me, and I began to appreciate that she wanted her character to be different from any of the other female agents that had been there before. So while I appreciated her laid back ways and I loved her support and encouragement of Reid and that she seemed to be the only one around who was capable of treating him as an adult, her laid back personality and the lack of material the writers were giving her made her feel boring to a lot of viewers. But I was sad when she left. I admire her for sticking it out amidst the fan criticism and the lack of good writing for her character. She never once bad mouthed the show or anyone involved and they certainly didn't treat her well. Not the cast, but the writers, show runner, producers, etc. I gave JLH the benefit of the doubt, especially since so many folks on various forums seemed destined to hate her before we even got a chance to meet the character. I did not dislike her character. I did not care for the niece, but that's another story. I didn't blame her for leaving either, even if she hadn't been pregnant, because she got a lot of hateful comments. Who needs that? So, along comes Tara Lewis and they give her a slightly different background and some helpful skills, but again in her first episode they try to make her too perfect. Then the whole thing with the boyfriend who is unhappy about her work situation is just so trite. The horrible wig she sported for the first half of the season was really off-putting. Again, it takes some work to make Aisha Tyler look bad. Can't she be smart, qualified AND beautiful? She can have pretty hair and features and still dress business like and be efficient on the job...unlike Garcia who dresses like a combination teenager/hooker. Anyway, maybe my frustration at the poor writing for most of the season again just kept me from really warming up to the Lewis character. I felt her line delivery was sometimes unnatural. She didn't deliver the lines like a person who really knew what she was talking about would have. But I didn't dislike her. I'm just ambivalent. And I'm ambivalent about them bringing her back this season. Had she not returned, I wouldn't have been at all upset. I thought even before the whole Thomas Gibson/Virgil Williams event that this would be the last season for CM. I hope that the cast gets some decent material this season and that Aisha feels good about her choice to come back.

I think Thomas always does a good job with the actors. One thing I recall about one of the episodes he directed, though, was a shot with palm trees when they were supposed to have been in a midwest state. I was disappointed in him for allowing that to get in the shot. MGG's episodes are always visually very interesting but he has been given some scripts that were lemons.

Thomas directed a couple of episodes of Dharma and Greg, too, so it's not like he only tried on CM because Matthew had done it. If memory serves, he also didn't direct CM until his marriage was already kaput, which would allow him the luxury of prep time and such rather than worrying about getting home to TX. That's just my thought, though. Don't know what his reasons were for deciding to direct. Could have just been to refresh those talents knowing that at any time CM could call it quits.

I also like Jimmy Poppadocolis.

I have to say I thought the orange, yellow, etc. dress on Kelli was horrible. And it does matter what she wears because she's like the brand ambassador for DCC. She picks apart every inch of every feature on the TCCs so she should also pay some attention to her own look since she is also on camera. That said I do think they're making an effort to give more constructive critiques and more encouragement. I also like that they're putting the names under the TCCs when they feature them dancing. It's much more helpful for the viewers. I love Madeline. I thought Auto Amy looked great but she clearly wasn't picking up the dance quickly. One thing that made it worse for her and some of the others was that they had such confused or panicked looks on their faces when they messed up. I know it's got to be hard to keep smiling when you're totally lost, but the ones that kept their energy going and kept their smiles did look so much better so that you didn't focus as much on their mistakes.

Yeah, I feel the same way. Love the man, but directing is not his forte.

Kitty should tell her to eat a sandwich like she did with Colby.

I agree with this. Political questions phrased in a way to determine your political leanings should be taboo. The ladies absolutely should know who's currently in office and who's running for president in an election year, but lay off "what do you think about" someone's platform. They should not have to worry about getting selected as a cheerleader based on their political preference. I thought Kat's dress was adorable and looked great on her. I agree that cutouts are inappropriate for business functions, but I thought the way she was spoken to was particularly nasty. But the little they showed of her dancing confirmed that she looked weak next to the rest of her group. I love Madeline's new look and I thought Auto Amy looked great and handled herself well. I don't get the Yuko love at this point. It's sure nice to have a new episode to watch instead of the same 3 or 4 seasons over and over again on CMT.

Yes, he has beautiful hands. But, for me, Rabid was a silly, unbelievable plot, like many of the episodes from the past 5 or 6 seasons. Ooh, that first scene is one of my all-time favorite Criminal Minds scenes. Great humor from Reid, Elle and Hotch.

The best thing about To Hell/and Back was Hotch's final soliloquy.