Danielg342

“Sir, you haven't paid your parking ticket in nine months...Mr. Vargas would like to have a word with you...”

This one's supposed to reveal what's behind Lizzie's door. Oh please let it be a big tub of ice cream, oh please! As for Ressler...he develops a dangerous habit? Yawn...way to make it obvious, press release guy for the show. Does he really think we're going to believe he's developed an obsession into hugging teddy bears?

I've always interpreted his comment about aiming for his leg as a joke, because I'd find it hard to believe that a killshot right between the eyes was merely an accident. Possible, but not likely. He said in "Burn"- or the "Garcia goes to Texas episode"- that the Dowd shooting affected him, and that he felt really bad about it, like Garcia was in that episode. I'm not sure if he mentioned PTSD by name but I don't think there's another way to describe what he says happened in the aftermath.

Given Reid's admission that he suffered from PTSD after killing Philip Dowd- who was definitely not a baby- it's the latter.

I didn't buy Prank War I for the simple fact that it's unprofessional and, on the job, would likely lead to a stiff reprimand. What does it say to the public that, on the case, two FBI agents think it's appropriate to play practical jokes on each other? They sure don't look like they're taking their job seriously, which is the last thing I'd want if I need the police's help. Maybe if Reid did some sort of "April Fool's crime" where he concocts something entirely made up, gets a police department and a few actors to play along and dupes the team into thinking a real crime took place it could work. It could contain some "meta message" about the team taking things too seriously, or about critical thinking or some other kind of point Reid would like to make- but, that would require the writers to be clever, and I'm not sure they're capable of that. I don't know...an "April Fool's crime" might be fun, even if it too is unprofessional. At this stage, how else can the show think outside of the box? *shrugs*

I fear, watching this progress, that this is becoming James Spader's vanity project. It seems like week in, week out, Red seems to know *someone* or has some trick up his sleeve to counter whatever trouble might come his way, and he's able to brush it off without so much as batting an eye. I think of Berlin as a perfect example- here was a character built up in Season 1 as a credible threat, a man whose empire rivaled Red's. All through Season 1 we were kept in the dark about who or what Berlin was, giving the impression that he hung over Red like a cloud menacing him in the sky. Then, we meet him and what do we get? Some trite plot to kidnap Red's former wife in retaliation for Berlin's daughter chopped to pieces. All that buildup for a case that could have been resolved in a week? Then Red beats Berlin by simply taking his money- displaying an extreme lack of financial planning on Berlin's part (I think most smart investors don't leave all of their money in one place, just in case something happens to their investments or their bank)- and Berlin does nothing but wilt. Throughout the entire encounter, Berlin had no cards to play, was a step behind the entire time and caved way too easily- and he was supposed to be a threat to Red? Please. Then we get to the acting. Aside from many of Red's henchmen- Dembe, Mr. Vargas, the Cowboy Hat guy- and Alan Fitch (whom Red also neutered too easily), I can't think of any regular characters that can or have outshined Red, and very few of the other characters the show has created have been able to hold a candle to Red. Furthermore, Red seems to get all of the best lines and zingers, and he's the only one who ever sounds like he has a plan and anything resembling tactics- everyone else is just plain dumb. It's as if Spader- who is an executive producer on the show- is worried someone will outshine him, and it's dragging the show down. I get that Spader is the star. No question, and I want to keep it that way. However, Spader needs to realize that for Red to really have any credibility as a character, he needs to face some viable threats, not people who amount to little more than toy soldiers. What's the fun if week in, week out, Red handles everything with such ease? It's patently unrealistic, and, frankly it's just boring. I want to see someone rise above a challenge, because then you appreciate their talents more because they've actually earned the victory. If all the character does is squash his enemies like bugs, the victories are hollow and are ultimately meaningless. In short, Spader needs to learn that Red can still win the war- he just needs to lose a few battles along the way. Otherwise, he'll ruin what could have been one of TV's greatest characters.

I agree with quite a few of the things said here, and I'll add this: I do not understand Lizzie's motivations. I understood them- barely- in Season 1, since Lizzie and Red seemed to actually work together and work well together, but I just don't get Season 2. She said it herself in one episode- Red turns her life upside down and gives her no answers- and Red manipulates her and her team to do whatever he wants, yet Lizzie just allows it to continue, without any discernible benefit. So from that end, I don't understand why she doesn't just quit the FBI altogether and tell Red to bugger off. I would have, but I guess Lizzie is a sucker for punishment.

I'm the one who mentioned subtlety...I didn't mean it as a positive. I took the word at its face value, meaning there's something faint you can see although you really have to look to find it. It can be a good trait, but here, it's not. I actually agree a lot with what you're saying. I'm just of the opinion that I think there are a lot of great stories this show could tell if it bothered to actually tell them instead of simply dropping hints all the time. I think this ties into what you're saying, because at this point, it seems like the show is dropping hints of storylines all over the place because it can't decide on the storylines they want to go with, so they're hoping that by starting all these mysteries they'll eventually find one that sticks, with the hope that we won't notice the onces that don't. Problem is, we do.

Decided to make this a seperate post because I think it merits special attention. So I looked this disease up...okay, I looked it up on Wiki, but, come on...I'm not in school anymore :p. Anyhow, Morgellons is a pretty recent phenomenon, coined by a woman by the name of Mary Leitao who thought her two-year-old son was suffering from a skin condition caused by "fibers" irritating the skin, mimicing a bug infestation. She went to numerous doctors, but none found anything wrong with her son, despite her repeated assertions (and, as it turns out, the assertions of her husband, Edward), with those same doctors saying- surprise, surprise- that she was delusional. Predictably, this wasn't enough, so Leitao founds the "Morgellons Research Foundation" just so she can continue finding whatever she could find to feed her delusions...and it worked. Eventually, the MRF turned into a large Internet support group where thousands got together, shared stories and basically self-diagnosed themselves, with everyone just feeding their own delusions. It got so prevalent that even singer Joni Mitchell claimed she had the disease. Because of its prevalence, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) looked into it, as did the Mayo Clinic, and neither found any proof that the disease existed anywhere except in the patients' heads. The MRF didn't give up hope, and now its research is being conducted by Oklahoma State University. I do believe the episode tried to provide lip service to the idea that it's merely a delusion, but I really don't think it went far enough. The disease is a textbook example of the perils of the Internet, where all kinds of falsehoods and delusions run rampant because it's easier to find people who will agree with you, no matter how crazy you actually are. The people with Morgellons didn't care that there wasn't a doctor who believed them- they found someone else who had the disease, and that was enough. If nothing else, the experience should be a textbook reason why we need to teach critical thinking in our schools. Of course, that's another debate, and one that's not for this forum. What I do think is that this episode could have been framed a lot better. I'm thinking this could have been like "Minimal Loss" where there's a cult of Morgellons followers who all got together to raise awareness of their condition. Maybe the cult takes CDC guys hostage and douses them in bugs before releasing them back into the world, just to convince them that their disease exists. Then the BAU comes in to rescue the next CDC guy who's targetted, and talks to a more benevolent Morgellons support group to better understand the cult. Then you can have the standoff, the dramatic rescue and the happy plane ride back home. Or, this could be a "kidnapping" where the blonde girl goes missing because she ran off with Abrahams' character and the team has to find her, eventually enlisting their Morgellons buddies to help facilitate their release. Not only could it allow you to deconstruct Morgellons, you can also throw in Stockholm Syndrome, and make that a wrench in the plans. In other words...this didn't gave to be "torture porn" and we didn't need to have the first two victims. This could have been crafted a lot better.

I'm not sure where to start, so maybe I'll go with what bugged me the most. (Whether or not you take that as a pun is up to you...anyhow...) People whine that procedurals like CM like to treat women as pawns, since a good many of them have absolutely no agency to the story other than as a victim. Well, the first two victims in this story had absolutely no agency in the story except as victims, and, I'm sorry, I got no respect for that. Those scenes could have easily been re-written to occur off-screen (but then I guess we wouldn't have had the torture porn! *sigh*), and I have no idea why Breen Frazier decided to make the first two victims men other than "we need to victimize some men". I get that misogyny on television is an issue, but this is ridiculous. Hey, procedurals- when you have a victim, be it male or female, make them characters, don't make them simply pawns. Otherwise it sounds like you're trivializing human life, and there's no place for that. I'll give Morgan credit for showing the support group leader pictures of the victims and arguing that they matter, but that doesn't do nearly enough. Reid...I'm of the opinion that the show doesn't use him nearly as well as they should. Tonight I think was a perfect example. Sure, we got quite a bit of exposition from him- but it sounded like Frazier was pulling things from his rear end and sticking them in Reid's mouth, as if it makes everything credible. No, Breen, that's not how it works. Stuff needs to be organic and none of that was organic (especially when you get the information on Morgellons wrong, but I'll get to that). Furthermore, outside of Hotch profiling the support group leader, I don't think anyone on the team really made any insights other than Reid...which makes me wonder why they were even there. Too much UnSub with no reason to show him...sure, Jon Abrahams (Meet The Parents) did a wonderful turn, but his scenes were largely pointless. Methinks if we had less UnSub, we might have had a more cohesive case...one that didn't require the team to pull things out of their behinds to solve. ...and that really bugs me...

I do grant that, but what gets me is the choice of the seafaring nations. There were better choices for that time period- the Venetians, the Genoese, the Mongols (who were actually accused of spreading the real Plague), maybe even the Papacy or the English- than the Byzantines and the Ottomans. At least they had fleets and the resources to sail to North America, not to mention easier access. The Ottomans were operating in the Balkans, and for their fleet to get to North America they'd have to navigate through the entire Mediterranean, complete with nothing but hostile ports (where they're available). I just can't see it happening. This underlines the show's real problem- the fact that the writers like throwing mystery after mystery, keep everything subtle and resolve very little. This was fun in Season 1, but now I just want them to get to the point!

Not sure if you're being serious with your post, but assuming you are, the Byzantines did use Swedes as Imperial guards, though that too was in the 10th and 11th centuries. Byzantium was also close with the Russian state, which was just starting to gain its legs in the 14th century. However, the Russians- and by extension much of northern Europe- were still recovering from the Mongol invasions (thought to be the real source of the Plague) so I'm not sure anyone really had the resources to go to North America. Plus I think everyone in Europe was more worried about the Ottomans than trans-Atlantic journeys, ones no Ottoman would likely have done. No one really thought of making that journey anyway until Constantinople- the Byzantine capital- fell in 1453.

Maybe, though there's no guarantee it'll follow the comics. We might also not get a story about “Feds” coming in, although that's unlikely since every procedural that doesn't have the FBI already has an episode where they come in. What we might get is some vague undefined “federal agency” or some such that implies the FBI but doesn't exactly say they're the FBI, kind of like how Gotham's police department mirrors New York's.

Since TV gives us characters like Sheldon and Reid, with their superhuman, nigh implausible intelligence and comprehension, I can buy that the Batkid is that smart too. We're not talking about some normal kid here- it's Bruce Wayne. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that Wayne really doesn't know what he's doing without realizing it. Just because he's pouring over files doesn't mean he comprehends them, and his exchange with Molly Mathis suggests to me that maybe he doesn't understand the difference between the roles of "middle management" and the board of directors. The only way we'll know is how future episodes- and Alfred- treat Wayne's search of information. ETA- Subtle thing: when Fish responded to Nikolai by essentially saying "in my country, things work differently than they did in yours", Fish didn't say that "we live in the United States of America" or even simply "America", she said "we live in Gotham." Makes me wonder if we're going to get some Simpsons-esque puzzle about where in the world Gotham actually is.

That was pretty funny. Telling of the episode too- other than Fish and Lizzie, the women of the show just weren't there tonight, either absent (Kean, Montoya) or having a token appearance (Kyle, Essen).

Dembe and Mr. Vargas raising a baby would sound like an awesome sitcom.

I started watching tonight and the first thing I thought was “Gotham sure wouldn't be complete without an appearance by The Incredible Hulk!” A Hulk who apparently didn't get enough...ahem...attention from his mother as a baby, if you know what I mean... At least Gordon and Bullock react with the right level of “what in the world are we dealing with?”...this show is cheesy and they're not afraid to admit it, I love it. Really dug Bullock here and how much of a tough wisecracker he is. He was on fire tonight. Only thing I didn't particularly enjoy was him being the target of the villain's wrath...they seem to go to this well quite a bit. Maybe it'll be a bit of characterization for him, in that he talks tough but isn't, although I'm not sure what to think of that...would seem a bit “predictable” wouldn't it? Loved Mackenzie Leigh- or “Lizzie”- in this. She seems so sweet and precious, perfect for someone who's a hidden threat. Of course, watching it, and seeing how much of a gentleman Carmine Falcone is and I hope- though I know it'll be faint- that Lizzie doesn't double-cross Falcone and they cross Fish together instead. Having said that...in the ultimate struggle of Falcone vs. Maroni, I think Falcone would win. He just seems more composed, more in control. Maroni...seems like he's too much on edge and is easily swayed...Oswald Cobblepot played him like a violin and Maroni never noticed...but I guess we'll see. Overall...pretty good tonight.

I was ready to give up on this show...this episode was so rote, so mundane...then I saw Red confront The Front and I was reminded about why I keep coming back, plus those ending montages...they were great, touching even. Gave me hope that maybe we'll resolve this "Red's daughter" crap the show has been feeding us... ...okay, likely not...but I did let out a nice big "awww" seeing Samar Navabi grab Aram's hand...they might actually be cute together. ...by the way, I'm making it a thing to always refer to Samar Navabi as "Samar Navabi"...not just "Samar" or "Navabi", only 'cause this show liked to pound into my head what her whole name is. So she is always "Samar Navabi". The case...I don't know if I should bother talking about it. It was just one giant cliche- I mean, how many other times have we seen the story of "guy creates deadly plague, unleashes it out into the world?" Come on...been there, done that. The thing about them being enviornmentalists has been done to death too. I also think The Front planned this thing pretty poorly if the FBI was able to stop the spread as quickly as it did (especially given how stupid the FBI is in this world). I did enjoy the twist that the two lovebirds had injected themselves with a cure, although looking back I should have seen that coming a mile away. Hey, maybe that cuts me out for the FBI! Oh, and I really enjoyed that one of the travellers was going to Toronto...be still my broken heart, there's an American TV show that knows my country exists! *sniff* Not only that, but Sniper Dude is a hockey fan!...Jon, you're killing me here. Probably the thing that irks me the most was the nod to the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars of the 14th century. I might have missed part of the explanation, but I wouldn't find it plausible that the Byzantines and Ottomans would agree to bury this strain of the Plague...the Ottomans were kicking European butt at the time (including Byzantium's) so if the Europeans came across something that could destroy their hated enemies...they wouldn't hesitate to unleash it. Sure, some European communities would likely get caught in the crossfire but this was *the Ottomans*, who, as Muslims, were the sworn enemies of Christendom...a few lost Christian communities wouldn't trouble people...in fact, people were so fervent that they might allow themselves to die for the cause anyway. Oh, and the silly idea that the strain would find its way to North America? Neither the Byzantines or Ottomans had a fleet capable of travelling that far- no one did, really. I suppose I should say "nice try" but once again it sounds like someone "pulled something cool" from the history books and barely understood it. I have a history degree...this kind of stuff really bugs me. Ultimately it's really just a quibble...the real issue is that the show is stuck wanting to do two storylines, with one "central mystery" and the "Case Of The Week", and it's really not working. The writers are just too subtle and deliver too few payoffs for the mystery element to really work, and the Cases seem more of an afterthought than anything really planned out. I miss how it was last year when each episode essentially was just the Case of the Week, with the mystery elements tying into them. Personally, I don't care if it may not be realistic- at least it gave the stories a sense of cohesion. This season is just way too discombobulated. ...but hey, Lizzie's door is going to be unlocked next week! Who here hopes it one big tub of ice cream? I do. *big toothy grin*

Why am I predicting more torture porn? Why? Just when I thought we were turning things around...

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3997466/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_ttfc_3 ^ According to this, based on the pictures the actor is Eyal Podell and the character is Charlie Hosswell. I agree, I liked the character too, although I felt he could have made a wonderful UnSub (see “my version of the episode” post- he's “White Shirt Guy”).

Like I did with "The Wheels On The Bus..." on TWoP two years ago (can't believe it's been that long...) I figured I'd take a stab at how I would have written this episode. So here goes: -Plane still gets hijacked, crashing under mysterious circumstances (it always has to) -You get your rudimentary investigation, everything seems normal, but then one of the investigators, looking forlornly at that Tonka truck the kid had just played with, discovers a sheet of paper that had blown into the truck -The sheet contains some kind of weird message- done in code- that prompts the BAU to come in, since the investigator thinks some strange weirdo that only the BAU could understand wrote the message -Then, as if on cue, some group of Internet whackjobs chime in and claim responsibility for the crash. Cue the BAU bringing them in and interrogating them to get some answers -Despite some clear bravado from the whackjobs (and a fake answer to the code), the BAU concludes that the group is really just trying to cash in on the fame by claiming responsibility for something they didn't actually do -This forces the team to re-examine the message, with Reid (who else?) cracking the code, with the message being revealed to be a suicide note. They also notice that the guy in the white shirt who acted as the team's "point man" for the investigation seemed to know a little bit too much about how the plane "possibly" failed -So the team investigates White Shirt Guy and realizes he had a friend on that plane, so they bring in him in -WSG reveals himself to be a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, revealing that, like Callahan, he too lost someone close to him on 9/11. He brings up many of the conspiracy's explanations, such as structural concerns with the Twin Towers, coming to those conclusions after he studied 9/11 himself -Then, some of WSG's friends- the ones posing as Internet whackjobs- lose their jobs during the 2008 financial crisis, which WSG sees as a "second 9/11". It's here that he's inherently convinced that the government truly is trying to "gut" its own people -So WSG concots "the perfect hijacking" (involving remote controlling the planes) in retaliation and plans it for years, although he was a little skittish about launching it -Then WSG's best friend gets a terminal illness, galvanizing WSG into putting the plan in action so that his friend could "die in peace" and that the government could see that the people are capable of pushing back -The team realizes that for WSG's plan to work he actually needs to get caught, making them fear he's got control of another plane in airspace -WSG reveals that plane is "leverage" and if he's not let go, that plane will go down too -The team tells Garcia to override WSG's control of the plane, which throws her into a panic since she realizes it'll be an ardous task -The team then decides to go with WSG's plan, believing he's not bluffing. WSG returns the favour, and lands the plane safely -However, the team bluffed on their end of the bargain, seeking to "re-arrest" him after the landing. WSG, knowing this was a possibility, pulls out a detonator from his pocket and presses the button -...only that it does nothing, because Garcia overrid the controls, allowing him to be taken into custody -Perhaps the episode ends with Callahan herself reading clippings from 9/11, maybe even leaving it open-ended as to whether or not the conspiracy theorists were right after all

That was um...strange. My first overall gut reaction was "there's no way in the world something like this could actually happen" even though many of the episode's explanations did make sense. Still...everything was just...off. I can't put my finger on it but Sharon Lee Watson managed to make the completely explainable...unexplainable. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that before. First of all, I fail to see why the BAU got called in...this seemed like your rudimentary air crash. There were unusual circumstances, sure, but nothing I saw from the initial expositions that would suggest that would suggest needing BAU involvement. Sure there was a "white flash" (a flash, I will point out, that seemed unnecessary and was never explained), but that would only prompt the military to get involved. There also wasn't a whole lot of profiling involved- the clues were all mechanical (aside from the text to Kristina Morrow, but that should have come up through a routine background check on the passengers), and if the government investigators had done their jobs, they would have figured out some guy was remote controlling the plane on their own. Really, this entire episode just felt like your routine plane crash investigation with the BAU being mouthpieces. It was poorly done. That said, I liked Callahan in this one- Jennifer Love Hewitt hit the right note in between "sad" and "angsty"- and her bonding with Reid was a wonderful moment. It was a great callback to Maeve and a nice reference to his mother, and it seemed to ease Callahan in that she saw that the nice guy really did know what suffering is about. Of course, he could have realized all this without Maeve having to be killed, but I think we've crossed that bridge already. Also...while I'm sure there are those who will scream "misogyny" and deplore Criminal Minds for making the African-American military woman useless compared to Hotch when it came to the military whackjob but I believe it made total sense. It was a realistic moment where something like that could actually happen, and the show didn't imply that the character was useless, just that the whackjob didn't trust her. I do believe the military lady could have been used a bit more, but I wouldn't chalk it up to inherent misogyny. Furthermore, I thought the acting was top notch and made a lot of the horrible writing watchable. Good job, casting department. Overall, this was a "high concept" episode with a lot of potential that...was poorly thought through and ultimately failed on a number of levels. I don't think it was from a lack of effort, but I do think Watson was in way over her head...this should have been a case where she enlists some help, and maybe Erica Messer ought to have made this a later season effort so that Watson could have had more time to fine tune things. Kudos to her for thinking outside of the box and giving an honest effort, though.

Barbara Kean irks me because the character is useless. I get that the show wants me to think she's a sweet, sensitive girl who's tough on the inside, but Kean does nothing more than brood over what Jim Gordon isn't telling her while making sultry poses that strongly suggests she wishes nothing more than for Jimmy to protect her. We don't see her outside of her apartment, where she could, presumably, try to figure out these things on her own and actually show us that her disbelief is real. Instead, they keep her in the apartment, make her wear Gordon's clothes and tell Erin Richards to do nothing but make sad but cooing looks to drive home the point that the character does nothing without Gordon. "Darnit Jim, can't you see I'm a Damsel in Distress? Why can't you SAVE me?" It's why I rolled my eyes at the scene at the police station, because I can already tell where the story is going. The show wants me to think she went there to show Gordon that she's no pushover, but given that the show has established that she has no agency without Jim, the strength rings hollow. Everything about her real life inner fortitude involves Jimmy, so the only way this story gets resolved is with Kean in extreme peril, because it'll serve to "teach Kean a lesson" about what happens when you stray from your protector. Gosh, the inherent underlying misogyny in all that is enough to make you sick. I might not have such a problem with the storyline if Kean actually went out and did things, even if she's in way over her head. At least that way we get a sense that she's more than just Gordon's arm candy. I'll grant that things are early and many things can still change, but the early returns are not so good.

That's what I think. Or, alternatively, he wants Liz to "channel" it, like Dexter's father did with his son. Probably needs something more to the theory because it begs the question "why Liz? She's not the only one like this" but I think after tonight it's the more plausible explanation...it's the only one with any real nuggets, at least.

Cobblepot! Man, Robin Lord Taylor is killing it...that dithering, shaky guy who looks like he'll come apart at the seams is smarter than he actually looks. It's brilliant, and Taylor makes it so real. I think he's quickly becoming my favourite character. I also thought that Hakeem Kae-Kazim was excellent as "Richard Gladwell"...even though I knew what was coming Kae-Kazim still sold the character the way it's supposed to be- unassuming until it's too late. Having said that...the eye-thing...a little too grotesque for me... Didn't like how Donal Logue had virtually nothing to do...Harvey Bullock lights up the screen whenever he's on it, and the lack of Bullock, especially with that big broode Jim Gordon stealing much of the show, was noticeable. Makenzie Leigh as Liza...I liked how she made several "WTF" looks and seemed to wonder just what it was she was signing up for...then to realize that, "hey a job's a job and I gotta do what I gotta do." There's your "team player". Gordon...well, I like Ben McKenzie, and I think Gordon's a pretty good character...but I think tonight he was brooding way too much. I get that the character is supposed to be serious, tough and angsty, but I think tonight highlighted that the character needs to be paired with someone who will inject some levity into the situation- like Oswald Cobblepot or Gordon or even Fish- because too much brooding really dragged down the episode, I feel. It also doesn't help that I just don't feel a thing between Gordon and Barbara Kean...I mean, Gordon keeps looking at her like she's a piece of trash yet she's his fiance? Hate to be shallow, but if I was going home to Erin Richards every night I'd have a wide smile on my face. Just saying. Oh, and I'm pretty much done with David Mazouz's over-emotive "Bat-Tween". I get it...the kid's depressed and he misses his parents. Enough already. He needs more scenes like last week where he fenced with Alfred (perhaps in a less dangerous part of the Manor) because it's getting tiring to see him down all the time. We need some growth here...I'm not saying that Bruce Wayne should forget about avenging his parents, but he should not let it "consume" him. Furthermore, the character needs to do more than just brood, especially if I'm going to see him every week. Overall...this was a pretty poor effort. Too angsty, too much melodrama, too much posturing, too little levity...come on now, I want to have some fun!