S01.E10: Silent Night

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Knowing that the “Junkyard Killer” was in cahoots with his father, Malcolm goes against the FBI’s wishes and continues to investigate. His findings reconnect him with a disgruntled ex-detective who was once heavily involved in the search for “The Surgeon,” delivering them both into danger. Meanwhile, the holidays are anything but jolly for the Whitly family, when an epic blowout with Ainsley leads Jessica to take matters into her own hands. Also, Colette Swanson (guest star Meagan Good), the steadfast FBI detective who’s now in charge of the case, seems to have a personal vendetta against Malcolm.

Airing Monday, December 2, 2019.

 

[Ohwell]

Gah!  Meagan Good and those eyebrows are scary as hell!

[Lady Calypso]

You see, THIS is finally the episode that has gotten me invested. Having the case be directly connected to the Whitly family stuff actually worked out well this episode and made it stronger.

Ok, starting with the downpoints. That FBI woman, AKA Malcolm's nemesis, is grating above all hell. Not to mention the actress was very much over the top at points, even more so than Bellamy Young has been with some of her choices. I do not know why she hates Malcolm, nor do I care. All I want is for her to go far, far away. 

Ainsley is getting more frustrating to watch. I guess I realize that I'd be fine with a show just with Jessica and Malcolm. I could do without Ainsley and Martin (who I didn't even miss in this finale).

I was surprised when Malcolm was surprised about the John/Paul connection, but maybe I just thought it was extremely obvious from the start that Paul would be involved. Though Michael Raymond-James is a TAD too young to be portraying a 20-year serial killer in the making. Obviously, MJR was supposed to portray Paul/John probably in his mid 20s when he first met Malcolm, but they could have, at least, tried to de-age MRJ instead of making him look like he's 40 in 1999. 

What a cliffhanger. Malcolm gets kidnapped. I wonder what John Watkins has planned with him. 

Also, I guess somehow, they skipped right into Christmas? When in the world was there a time jump because we know not much time has passed between episodes 9 and 10 (no way Jessica would have stayed away from Malcolm for a couple of weeks to confront him) so that took me out of the episode a bit.

[Chaos Theory]

This show has taken a weird turn.

i did really like that Jessica did do as Ainsley did and made the narrative her own and turned the story back to the victims instead of being on Martin and therefore on Ainsley.

Of course Malcolm tracks down the Junkyard Killers childhood home while the FBI is still probably trying to discredit Malcolm and possibly pin the murders on him because FBI lady really doesn’t like him.   But Granny really is a piece of work.  
 

Family is everything 

But things have taken a turn.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I was surprised when Malcolm was surprised about the John/Paul connection, but maybe I just thought it was extremely obvious from the start that Paul would be involved. 

I thought Malcolm figured that John was Paul, he just no longer expected to find him in the house once the grandmother served them dinner.

That was some last meal the ex-cop had.

[Lily H]

Am I the only one who really, really wanted Malcolm to just smash the old lady's face in when she was screeching for her killer grandson to come back and finish the job?

Great episode, looking forward to January 20!

[flyingdi]

It took me ages to figure out the cop was Sean Pertwee. Why do I owe expecting someone Malcolm knows to be more involved in the killings ie Jessica or Lou Diamond Phillips?

[sigmaforce86]

8 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Ok, starting with the downpoints. That FBI woman, AKA Malcolm's nemesis, is grating above all hell. Not to mention the actress was very much over the top at points, even more so than Bellamy Young has been with some of her choices. I do not know why she hates Malcolm, nor do I care. All I want is for her to go far, far away. 

She is exactly the sort of character I hate but not because I'm supposed to hate the character.  It's not really new or innovative to use the "misunderstood cop/agent/soldier has a person/division/superior who hates him so they don't listen to anything he says and treat him badly at every turn to their own detriment" as a plot device.  In fact to me it's pretty old, over used and, at this point, boring.  But throw in a someone who either is written as or the actress portrays her as; so completely over the top she should perhaps be wearing a top hat, black cape and maniacally twisting a thin mustache and it moves from character to caricature.   Please show...either tune her down or, better, limit her to just a few episodes then she gets her comeuppance and is gone never to return.

Of course they also bring in someone I like and apparently kill him off immediately - I'd love to find out that Shannon survived after all; then maybe he can pop up now and then to help Malcolm out.  

That was a good episode though and a really good way to go into the holiday break.

[Chaos Theory]

Just when Malcolm found a friend he can be obsessive compulsive with.

Malcolm isn’t allowed any nice things.  

[tennisgurl]

Poor Malcolm, what a shitty Christmas. He is kicked off the case by a supervisor who hates him for no apparent reason, the girl he likes wont call him back, his new buddy he can obsess with is probably dead, he is getting memories that not only was dad a creepy serial killer but he also brought other creepy serial killers around, is having even worse mental issues than usual, and has now been kidnapped by said creepy serial killer. Oh, and he missed Christmas dinner, which you know would be really good if Jessica was putting it on. Poor guy just clearly didnt have enough traumatic experiences in his life. 

Really good intense episode, this show is finally crossing from "pretty good with potential" to "this is actually really good and its using some of that potential" and this was certainly a good way to leave us for the mid-season finale. 

I hope that new FBI lady either tones it way down or leaves, because I cant stand her, and not in the way that I think I am supposed to hate her. Like, what the hell was that "oh sure, blame a woman for a mans crime!!" opening, like what the fuck lady, he just said the guy was raised by a single mom, he didnt say anything about her abilities as a parent (and as this was apparently a really good guy, she was probably a good parent) and Malcolm was trying to say that he didnt think the guy was a killer, your just wasting time to be an asshole. Its like what an idiot thinks that a feminist is like, or even worse, a "strong female character" type. And of course her response to finding out that they have a lead on an infamous serial killer is to be pissed that Malcolm is working on HER case. Take it down a few levels lady. 

I liked Jessica trying to turn the narrative back to focusing on the victims. Jessica is controlling and way too intense, but I think that she basically means well. Interesting that we haven't seen Martin in awhile, I think its a good thing to limit his appearances so we dont get burned out on him. Should be interesting seeing his reaction to Malcolm being kidnapped by his murder protege. Yeah, it sucks when someone you love is targeted by a serial killer, huh Martin?

The bit where Malcolm pointed the gun at his head at the crime scene and everyone, especially Gil, freaked out was funny and kind of sad. I also liked Shannon by the end, and I hope that he somehow survives. You know, its normally not a nice thing to punch an old blind lady, but I think we can make an exception here...

Edited December 4, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Chaos Theory]

I don’t find Ainsley as annoying as some of you do.   
 

Think of it this way.   Martin has been the only family member to show the least interest in her job or anything she does.   Jessica has been so focused on “Poor Malcolm” that Ainsley has probably been neglected for the majority of her life.   Jessica can’t even bother to pretend to care about her job.   Add to that Ainsley plays like someone who missed out on being a daddy’s girl.   I think she is blind to how dangerous Martin is because she sees all the things they could have been to each other not realizing that he was never that person.   Malcolm has Jessica.   Who does Ainsley have?    

Edited December 3, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[saber5055]

My first "What?" was the one cop saying he was missing his wife's Kringle. Is he from Racine, Wisconsin or what? Yeah, there are recipes out there to make Kringles, but the only ones I know about you buy in Wisconsin. Specifically, Racine. End of Kringle story.

My second "What?" was Jessica putting out a call to find the girl in the box. Wouldn't she be sort of decomposed by now, like into dust, after 20 years?

I couldn't figure the ages of these people. If blind grandma is 60, her son would be 40 and grandson 20, and grandson was serial killing 20 years ago? Things just don't add up. Maybe this is a hand wave thing.

I didn't have a clue why blind grandma served up dinner for her two visitors, but I got a kick out of the one guy chowing down. Hey, take it where you can get it. I also very much appreciated her correcting Malcolm's "Can I use your bathroom." I just hate bad grammar, and it's everywhere on tv shows these days. So, that was a big plus one for grams.

Malcolm's pal gets his throat cut and Malcolm doesn't bother to call 911? Instead, he takes off outside to look for the perp? Some friend.

Finally, a big LOL at that FBI woman being named Swanson, for a reason that only I can appreciate.

[vibeology]

I'm supposed to believe that any news channel would air an exclusive interview with a famous serial killer on Christmas Eve? It's not exactly a big ratings night. I'm guessing the story wasn't actually very good.

[Samwise979]

Holy crap that was a good episode. Creepy af. 

Hi Alfred 🙋

Bye Alfred 🙍

[Trini]

18 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Of course they also bring in someone I like and apparently kill him off immediately - I'd love to find out that Shannon survived after all; then maybe he can pop up now and then to help Malcolm out.  

"Oh okay, this guy is actually helpful and interesting; I wonder if he -- and he's dead." :(

And Eve is gone too, it seems? I didn't think she and Malcolm would be long term, but I wonder if we'll see her again.

I know if everyone called for backup every time, there wouldn't be a plot half the time, but how many times has Malcolm been caught like this in just the first 10 episodes of the show??

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, Trini said:

I know if everyone called for backup every time, there wouldn't be a plot half the time, but how many times has Malcolm been caught like this in just the first 10 episodes of the show??

That's why I don't understand why The Police don't have a find my phone app for Malcolm. The Police should have used it after Malcolm's first phone call outside of "Blind Granny's House", but I guess there wouldn't be any story.

I can understand why Meagan Good hates Malcolm, they both have the same job, so they must get compared to each other a lot. Not to even consider being Black and female in the Toxic Masculinity FBI environment. It is bad enough that every Profiler is saying that the male suspect's problems always stem from "mother issues". Meagan does the job she was assigned, while Malcolm goes the extra mile doing high-risk, crazy (not part of his job description) stunts that eventually pays off big time. I wonder if everybody at the FBI was asking for Malcolm to be their "Profiler" and not Meagan.

[HeShallBMySquishy]

1 minute ago, HeShallBMySquishy said:

You see, THIS is finally the episode that has gotten me invested. Having the case be directly connected to the Whitly family stuff actually worked out well this episode and made it stronger.

But with regards, I can finally install Eve as future points / let alone drug money:

vibeology

I'm supposed to believe that any news channel would air an exclusive interview with a famous serial killer on Christmas Eve? It's not exactly a big ratings night. I'm guessing the story wasn't actually very good.

Holy crap that was a good episode. Creepy af. Hi Alfred 🙋. Bye Alfred 🙍

[CoyoteBlue]

7 hours ago, Trini said:

I know if everyone called for backup every time, there wouldn't be a plot half the time, but how many times has Malcolm been caught like this in just the first 10 episodes of the show??

After last time with "No, I want to hear you say it out loud. Call." "...Call" "For" "For" "Backup" "Backup...but!" I would have thought Gil would have tattooed it on Malcolm's hand so whenever he looks at his watch, he'd see it.

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I can understand why Meagan Good hates Malcolm, they both have the same job, so they must get compared to each other a lot. Not to even consider being Black and female in the Toxic Masculinity FBI environment. It is bad enough that every Profiler is saying that the male suspect's problems always stem from "mother issues". Meagan does the job she was assigned, while Malcolm goes the extra mile doing high-risk, crazy (not part of his job description) stunts that eventually pays off big time. I wonder if everybody at the FBI was asking for Malcolm to be their "Profiler" and not Meagan.

I think the issue with this is that it's quite clear that there's some sort of personal reason that Colette hates Malcolm. He reacted visibly when she told his team that they barely worked together. So either they slept together or they were in a relationship before Malcolm ruined things, or they were mortal enemies when working together because he was better than her and took risks that maybe got her in trouble too. Or some other reason why she absolutely hates his guts, because it's not just a typical "they were competitors against each other." 

She's not man-hating, but she definitely holds something against Malcolm for a reason. Now, Malcolm isn't a very stand-up guy. He's had a lot of issues and we see why someone may not like him. But coupled with the bad acting, and it doesn't endear me to Colette at ALL.

[saber5055]

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

She's not man-hating, but she definitely holds something against Malcolm for a reason.

Maybe he tried to stab her to death after floor sex.

[UnknownK]

Malcolm is very smart and lets you know it by dismissing your ideas if he thinks they are wrong (but does provide reasons).

I think somewhere in the past there was a big blowup over competing profiles of a specific serial killer case and Malcolm won out over the FBI chick and she never forgot it,

For a guy who gets thrills solving serial killer cases I would think the first thing he would have done after figuring out who the killer is is to phone Gil and tell him (especially when the 2 cases are related). And I would be shocked if Gil didn't put a tracker in Malcolm's phone after he wandered off the last time and almost got killed.

As for the evil Granny that called her son after she figured out what the two cops were up to I would have shot her in the face after the other cop got knifed and then just burned down the garage and waited for the serial killer to squeal or come and and shoot him as well. Some people you don't mess around with.

Edited December 5, 2019 by UnknownK
type

[mertensia]

Kringle is the State Pastry of Wisconsin!   ...Not that I ever remember seeing it in Madison or Wausau.

Man, Malcolm should just not go anywhere without a full police escort.

I think that must be his mother, not granny. Or else they killed off the real John Watkins and he took his place because yeah. Real granny would be at least 80.

Edited December 4, 2019 by mertensia

[UnknownK]

I think it was his mother but she just looks like a comic book evil grandmother.

[Lily H]

On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 7:57 PM, saber5055 said:

I couldn't figure the ages of these people. If blind grandma is 60, her son would be 40 and grandson 20, and grandson was serial killing 20 years ago? Things just don't add up. Maybe this is a hand wave thing.

Blind granny looked at least 80 to me, so 80-60-40 would easily add up.

[saber5055]

14 minutes ago, Lily H said:

Blind granny looked at least 80 to me, so 80-60-40 would easily add up.

Still, that means that The Surgeon was hanging around committing murders with a 20-year-old dude, and let that guy take his son camping. Not that Malcolm had great parents, but that's all kinds of wrong. Not that there's anything right about this show!

[momo]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:52 AM, saber5055 said:

Maybe he tried to stab her to death after floor sex.

Maybe he said something about her eyebrows.

[CoyoteBlue]

17 hours ago, momo said:

Maybe he said something about her eyebrows.

Well, someone needed to.

[Simba122504]

On 12/3/2019 at 6:57 PM, saber5055 said:

My first "What?" was the one cop saying he was missing his wife's Kringle. Is he from Racine, Wisconsin or what? Yeah, there are recipes out there to make Kringles, but the only ones I know about you buy in Wisconsin. Specifically, Racine. End of Kringle story. 

I can buy Racine Kringle from a local Target and Aldi’s as a special buy but I live in Illinois which you know is near Wisconsin. They distribute in the Midwest. 

[Simba122504]

Something should have told them something was up when grandma served TV dinners. What grandma serves TV dinners on Xmas of all days? Hell, even my drunken grandma never serves TV dinners. Theres no way those would be the only pictures of him in the home. Why would saying the killer may have been raised by single mother trigger another profiler? This beef between Malcolm and  Meagan Good is already annoying even without a backstory yet. So far we haven’t seen him only blame women for men’s actions. His gift is to try to build a profile of the killer. Her character is already a female character we don’t need especially if they do something problematic like claim they had more than a professional relationship. Someone else is right. Ainsley is the ignored child. Both parents are obsessed with Malcolm. Maybe in her mind at least the job loves her. That’s cheesy but that could be what they’re going for. Nobody gives a damn about her, it’s all about precious Malcolm. The series has gotten better in these last batch of episodes. 

[saber5055]

11 hours ago, Simba122504 said:

I can buy Racine Kringle from a local Target and Aldi’s as a special buy but I live in Illinois which you know is near Wisconsin. They distribute in the Midwest. 

And I can buy them at groceries in Iowa and Illinois. But this show takes place in NYC, and most people around the country aren't familiar with kringles. I thought it a strange comment that completely took me out of the episode. I wondered why someone would be making a kringle if that person were not from Racine, Wisconsin and grew up with them. Note: Kringles were not available outside of Racine until a few years ago. My friends from Wisconsin would go there to buy them to bring to parties. and they were a treat one could get nowhere else. Back then.

[Morrigan2575]

On 12/3/2019 at 2:52 PM, tennisgurl said:

Jessica is controlling and way too intense, but I think that she basically means well.

My take on Jessica is that she's wrapped up in a lot of guilt because she lived with a Monster and had no idea. I think the controlling of the kids is to make sure she's never blindsided again. Plus, I think there's an extra level of control with Malcolm because she's afraid he will turn out to be like his father.  

That being said, I find it really interesting that Malcolm is more like Jessica (full of empathy and guilt) while Ainsley (who Jess and Malcolm think were spaced from Martin's influence due to age) is very much her father's daughter. She is very much a sociopath (IMO), incapable of empathy. If the show goes on long enough, I hope that "twist" gets explored.

They are really hitting the Gil/Jess shipper notes in the last 2 episodes. I also wonder if there was a momentary dalliance between the two, many years back? I know Gil was married and doesn't appear the cheating type. However, maybe attraction that they fought off due to his marriage?

When they showed 'Alfred' with his throat cut, I actually wondered if Mildred(?) did it knowing they were after her Johnny. I kind of like that idea. I hope the cops manage to get there in time but, I'm guessing he's a dead man.

I watch a lot of L&O and Criminal Minds so it was really funny to see this take on the BAU and NYC Cops. My first thought, Hotch would never allow such an unprofessional profiler on his team. My other thought was Van Buren would have played nice but, put bitchy cop lady in her place. Honestly, that lady was just so OTT she might as well have been twirling a mustache.

All in all a good MSF and, I look forward to the show's return in January

[Simba122504]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

And I can buy them at groceries in Iowa and Illinois. But this show takes place in NYC, and most people around the country aren't familiar with kringles. I thought it a strange comment that completely took me out of the episode. I wondered why someone would be making a kringle if that person were not from Racine, Wisconsin and grew up with them. Note: Kringles were not available outside of Racine until a few years ago. My friends from Wisconsin would go there to buy them to bring to parties. and they were a treat one could get nowhere else. Back then.

You noticed an error. I was born and raised in the South and that definitely wasn't available there. I didn't know about it until we moved here.  But like you said, PS takes place on the East coast, so either his wife or her/his parents are from Racine, Wisconsin or one parent is Danish?  You know Hollywood is always making errors. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Simba122504

[CoyoteBlue]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:56 PM, Simba122504 said:

But like you said, PS takes place on the East coast, so either his wife or her/his parents are from Racine, Wisconsin or one parent is Danish?  You know Hollywood is always making errors. 

Or there's this thing called the Internet (and Pinterest)? It sounds like she made the kringle, didn't buy it, so it doesn't matter how far away from WI she is as long as it sounded tasty and she downloaded a recipe.

[springbarb]

Yep. I live in Maryland and a friend recently mentioned always making Kringles for Christmas.

[Reiki]

I live in NYC and we get Kringles at Trader Joe’s from Racine Wisconsin.

[kelslamu]

On 12/4/2019 at 12:52 PM, saber5055 said:

Maybe he tried to stab her to death after floor sex.

I do believe a grudge could be held for something like that!   If that Granny had started climbing the walls and skittering across the ceiling, I wouldn't have been surprised.

[denise42]

I really miss this show, can't wait for it to come back on telly i have re-watched the episodes about 5 times already.

[Regalbegal]

4 hours ago, denise42 said:

I really miss this show, can't wait for it to come back on telly i have re-watched the episodes about 5 times already.

I finally caught up with the last few eps over the holidays, and was please that the show  continues to be on an upswing.  The cast is very strong, IMO, and elevates the sometimes clunky dialog, and I like that the show has a bit of a sick sense of humor.   Love the addition of Michael Raymond James (RIP Terriers), and they left things with a great cliffhanger this episode, looking forward to the next one. 

The new FBI agent is fine if a little superfluous (I don't know if the show really needs another foil/adversary for Bright?), but as others have pointed out her eyebrows are aggressively distracting.... 

[nodorothyparker]

So the witch from the FBI is trashing Malcolm right, left, and sideways for being "unconventional" and the first thing he does when he gets a chance is take off with a disgraced cop after the case he's been dumped from without cluing anyone to where he's going?  Yeah, I can't imagine where anyone gets the idea that maybe he's a leaky vessel to be putting much faith in.  Every cell phone has GPS. How does the NYPD not have access to that in a case like this?  Of course he ends up kidnapped because of this because of course he does.

Again, the Crime of the Week is a complete afterthought to more of the Surgeon/Junkyard Killer drama.  Blind Grandma is a complete whackadoo accessory, and Jessica is just walking in and out of the precinct anytime she feels like it with evidence she then waves around on TV.  Sure, why not?

Ainsley went completely unlikable not able to see anything past her "career."  Did you not notice the crowd of reporters at your mother's door?  Maybe you don't remember them from the first time around, but your mother and brother surely do and probably have some feelings about living through that again.  It seemed like whatever version of the interview she cut and pasted together aired at least a couple of days before Christmas.

As goofy and implausible as some of this, I'm still getting a tremendous kick out of this story, even if I wonder where they can possibly go from here when they inevitably wrap up the Junkyard Killer story.