Season 9 Episodes Talk

[radishcake]

 

Two murder victims are found in a West Virginia backwoods community. The investigation reveals that the homicides may be linked to a long-simmering feud between two families.

Original Airdate: April 2, 2014

[Wilowy]

Written by Breen Frazier

Directed by Matthew Gray Gubler

[normasm]

The Canadian preview makes this look like (cue the dueling banjos) goin' down South whar all them rednecks are inbreedin' and shootin' each other! To which, as a Southerner, I say, "oy vey!" Maybe there'll be a twist in the plot that will redeem what this seems to be, but i'll believe it when i see it. *sigh*

[ForeverAlone]

Attention all Matthew fans. This is either a massive boon we've been wanting for years, or it's the best and cruelest April Fools Day joke ever. :) :) :) 

matthew gray gubler ‏@GUBLERNATION  17m
hey cinema lovers, tomorrow i'm doing a live video chat about the 7th CM episode I just directed called Blood Relations. send ?s to #AskMGG

Edited April 1, 2014 by ForeverAlone

[Wilowy]

Oh god, I've been here all morning and didn't check twitter yet - THANK you!

[Wilowy]

Well, they weren't moonshiners or meth heads, they were bio-fuel engineers! I loved that twist on the stereotype!

The incest thing was gross, but they showed how the whole community turned out against that in the end. The entire community.

Some of the West Virginian people are upset with the presentation, but I have to say, not a fan of gingerly toe-stepping around a faction of the populace because they 'might' get offended by a proven trope. They are just as susceptible to being the subject of a story as anyone. Or should be.

In making the families opposite of the stereotype, they actually subverted it.

Malachi was portrayed as ignorant, judging by the 'lesbian' comment to JJ, but a lot of people in every community around the world are like that. Why should WV denizens be exempt from being cast in shade? They did make it a point to show that all the citizens were not like that.

Controversy aside, I liked the ep for these reasons:

I loved how 'talky' this one was. I was okay with the excess of UnSub because it took a while to get the whole story.

THEY didn't even have a profile!! When was the last time that happened, did it EVER happen before?

Yay, JJ 1.0! Nice to see you!

Hotch was back to being Hotch.

Barbeau chewed a little scenery but she was fierce!

Matthew's mastery of camera work gets more and more evident. How he hid that stabbing from us with the tree branch was great.

It was too dark (as in the inherent absence of light) for me through a lot of it.

The actor playing Malachi was phenomenal.

I got shades of Friday the 13th and other horror movies as I was watching.

So Morgan wasn't around a lot.

Jeanne was wonderful... I really felt her fear.

I wasn't 'scared' while watching, just interested and creeped out.

What did y'all think? 

[zannej]

It's a mixed bag for me. I'm not a fan of them going black and white to show scenes in the past. I noticed there was even a bit of grainy film texture to evoke an old feel. While that may work in some things, I didn't feel like it worked for Criminal Minds. Plus it was only the 60s. I would expect that for older film, not the 60s. I did like the transition from black and white to color with the very red car.

I did like that the business was biofuel and that the family members were using cellphones. Some of the characters reminded me a tad of people I've met around here but the accents weren't quite the same.

The actor playing Malachi was very good. I also thought the woman playing his sister was good as well (I can't remember the name). I do wish they had stayed away from the incest theme. I also thought the accents were a bit strong and maybe a bit too hokey.

There were some nice visuals and I didn't notice the music so I think the music was done well enough to do its job and not interfere. 

There was pretty much no profiling though. We saw far too much of the unsub and I think we saw him too soon. Was it just me, or did they have his face in darkness at first and then slowly brought it to light so that it was visible? I couldn't tell if the obscuring of his face was deliberate or just my tv. No real explanation for his motive that I can recall. Was it the death of the adopted mother that triggered things? How/when did she die?

Loved the bit where Blake got knocked into the lake and was freaking out. I think that is probably the most emotion I've seen from Jeanne since the show started. Matthew knew how to get that from her. I also liked that she was visibly shaken afterward.

Now, maybe it is because I am still annoyed with JJ so I could be biased, but I wish it had not been JJ who asked her if she was ok afterward. I felt like Jeanne was bringing it and JJ was not really empathizing. It was more like she was patronizing her or something. There was just some disconnect. Something was lacking.

I have to say that I'm also annoyed by the contrast of Blake being so shaken after her experience but JJ was out drinking at a bar shortly after being tortured-- including being waterboarded. I felt like there was supposed to be some moment of JJ showing vulnerability there but it didn't work for me. I wish it had been Reid asking her instead. I've found that Jeanne and AJ just don't always have very good chemistry and don't bring out the best in each other performance-wise. When Jeanne first joined, the line delivery from her and AJ when they interacted was always somewhat off to me. It was not "real". That has improved, but I still don't feel like they really "click". 

Blake shaking reminded me of JJ back in "Revelations" all shaky after the dogs charged at her. I wish we'd seen JJ more like that back in "200".

I do realize that Matthew was busy so he couldn't be in it as much. I have to say that I did have some quibbles about some of his line delivery. It was too "I'm telling a ghost story" or a little too upbeat instead of serious. I think Matthew was having so much fun he couldn't contain himself. Those were brief moments though.

We didn't have prolonged torture scenes and there was some suspense.

I really never was clear on exactly what was supposed to be wrong with the unsub's appearance. I've seen people who look like him (and even worse) around here. 

I think there was some lost potential with this episode but the acting was mostly solid. Thomas was bringing it and while he had the typical Hotch sternness, there was some emotion. You could see a softness and empathy in his eyes.

I did also like how the local law enforcement were all "nah, lets not file charges" because that is so familiar. That's pretty much the way things are around here-- even when the crimes are more serious. It's not always a good thing of course. 

I do wish we would have seen just what Malachi said to the locals when they gathered around to ask WTF was going on.

The part where it showed the couple entering the house at the end left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt it made things drag on too long. It took too long to get to the point of the unsub grabbing the guy, but there were some nice misdirects with making it seem like something happened before it did. It just felt almost tacked on and lasted a bit too long though. It was very reminiscent of "to be continued" horror stories.

I guess the BAU never saw the episode of MythBusters where they showed how water slows bullets. 

There were some things I really enjoyed in this one but also some moments that left me nonplussed. Overall I would say it was OK. It had some plot problems, but it could have been worse.

[threebluestars]

This is only the second episode I can remember where the unsub got away at the end (the other being the child killer/molester on the Appalachian trail). Am I forgetting any others?

Also, all the horror movie feel in it was great considering Tobin Bell's run in the Saw franchise lol.

Edited April 3, 2014 by threebluestars

[Old Dog]

I liked it. It had a really great horror movie atmosphere - right in MGG's wheelhouse. I did flinch several times and thought the implied horror was so effective. Of course there were flaws in the story and I thought the ending at the lake was off. Would they really have all crept round the lake singly? And why did both Hotch and Reid stay at the station? And would they all have fired so manicly into the lake? But I could overlook that as I did enjoy the atmosphere. And wasn't Blake good in this where she showed her reaction? I really felt her hysteria as she clambered out of the water and later when she broke down with JJ. Such a contrast to Robocop JJ in 200. And the unsub got away! Such a rare thing - I can only think of Frank in No Way Out and the chappie in the woods who took the little boy to his cave.

A good episode - someone give Matthew a feature length horror movie to direct!

[ForeverAlone]

I like my Criminal Minds episodes weird and freaky and ones that remind me of a horror movie. I would have to say that delivered on that idea. I can certainly see why Matthew was so excited about directing this episode, because he likes his episodes dark, creepy and off the wall. I guess CBS finally greenlit Breen's idea, because he had mentioned in the past this idea was something CBS balked at, and both Matthew and Breen alluded to wanting to do something very out there for Criminal Minds and hoped that CBS would go along with it.

This was definitely a different sort of storytelling, and the profiling was much more fluid than we  have seen in episodes past. There was no BAU briefing the local law enforcement on a profile. Instead the profile constantly evolved as they got more information. It was interesting to see the team explore different ideas. This episode blended both very gothic horror (remniscent of X Files "Home") and a more straight forward family feud. I will admit that the main plot point is something I first imagined once I heard about this episode, but the way it was employed left me guessing. It was interesting to see the team work through the very thick mess that was both families' histories. I liked that the show subverted the expectation by not having the families cooking meth, but rather very profitable biofuel. I think the variety of guest stars were put to good use, and the unsub was deeply creepy, both in look, but also manner.

I thought Matthew did a very good job directing this episode. I like the visual choices he made, and to me, they felt different than his previous directorial efforts. He brought his trademark visual creepy quirkiness to this episode, but it didn't feel derivative of other visual choices in previous episodes. Matthew is very capable of creating new worlds, and this time he did it different times over. The flashbacks were different than present day, which were different than the unsub scenes. The flashback scenes looked like an old timey horror movie, and the unsub scenes were definitely gothic horror to me. And to complete the horror movie trope, we now have another unsub that survived its encounter with the BAU. I doubt he will turn up again, but it is still a shudder-inducing to realize he is out there in the world. I can only imagine what he would do next.

For the most part (which I address below), I thought the team was well represented in this episode. Yeah, there was a lot of guest stars, but I didn't feel it was that out of balance like we have seen in other episodes. Hotch was definitely the team leader in this case, and to me, he felt like the more competent, leader Hotch of seasons past. Alex had plenty to do in this episode, and Penelope was helpful, on point and professional. I do like the character when she is toned down into an actual person.

Some of the things I didn't like really came down to Breen's storytelling choices. The main one was the very weird and distinctive lack of Reid in this episode. It felt very glaring. I don't think you can chalk it up to the fact that Matthew was directing this episode. Reid has been very prominent in some of the other episodes he's directed. Hell, Reid even got to deliver a baby in his previous directorial effort. So it was very bizarre to see Reid disappear for long stretches of the episode. He very pointedly did not go on the raid with the rest of the team and was left back at the station. Why I wonder? And I personally would have preferred the last scene between Alex and JJ to be between Alex and Reid. I love the Alex and Reid friendship, and I love it when Reid gets a chance to show his gentle, empathetic side. We've seen it more than once with regards to JJ, but I wanted to see him shower Alex with mother hen goodness. Not only would it have been nice to see, it would have made sense since they really are close to each other. I will say that what little we did see of Reid was very nice, but there just wasn't enough of him.

No, it wasn't a traditional Criminal Minds episodes. But when I like the story, I will go along with it. And since I do like it when they veer off into these horror movie worlds, I was pleased with this episode.

[ForeverAlone]

As for those complaining about West Virginia stereotypes, where would they have preferred this episode be set? Every place has its stereotypes. Georgia, especially the backwoods, is associated with the creepy man rapists from Deliverance. Florida is considered a hotbed of crazy fuckery. So much so that you just have to say "Florida" and people will give you knowing nods. 

[Wilowy]

 

And to complete the horror movie trope, we now have another unsub that survived its encounter with the BAU. I doubt he will turn up again, but it is still a shudder-inducing to realize he is out there in the world. I can only imagine what he would do next.

Well... Jeanne's contract IS up. ;)

[zannej]

Its not so much the West Virginia stereotype so much as a redneck hick assbackward stereotype. I know stuff like that happens. I know some very redneck assbackwards hicks. I guess the general thought, at least on my end, is that it gets old and I like to see a different take that is not a stereotype. I do think Breen made an effort toward that at least. I think that people are probably annoyed that there is the trope of isolated redneck = incest. Again, I know Breen made an effort to show that it was NOT the norm. It was just one of those things where I personally felt that I wish he hadn't gone there and that he'd come up with something else instead.

I also wish that it had been Reid who confronted Blake at the end. He already has a rapport with her and I think it would have come off as more sincere and he can empathize better than JJ. 

Edited April 3, 2014 by zannej

[IndependentMind]

I have not seen this episode yet but I read a review somewhere that it's about in-breeding? 

Gosh, the last episode I saw about in-breeding was on The X-Files and omg, it creeped me out and I could never forget that episode. It grossed me out that i could not help but want to puke.

[90PercentGravity]

It's not "Home" level of inbreeding, which was over multiple generations and the fucked up offspring was fully intentional, but it was still pretty icky.

I hated this episode. Just way too OTT. When Hotch was interviewing Sissy, it looked like Thomas Gibson was fighting to keep from laughing.

Edited April 3, 2014 by 90PercentGravity

[IndependentMind]

Well, I guess I didn't miss much then. I can just delete it from my DVR.

[Lebanna]

I liked it, but then I actually enjoyed the previously mentioned X-Files episode 'Home' as well. I don't know what that says about me.

I mean, it was all utterly ridiculous, but I love shlock-horror movies, so this just seemed like a bit of fun. Not everything can be deep and meaningful. And I really loved that they actually gave Blake something to do. They really need to flesh her character out more in little ways like this. The actress did some nice work in that scene.

[missmycat]

I don't know why but for some reason all this complaining about how this episode was stereotyping people from WV reminded me of this song"The Night The Lights went Out In Georgia" Many people in Georgia took offense to it and it was actually banned in that State.For those of us who are old enough to remember it was sung by Vickie Lawrence who was a regular on the Carol Burnett show.in fact Carol even presented Vicki with the gold record she had earned for the song on her television show.I quite liked the song myself and thought it was a bit silly that it got banned in Georgia 

Edited April 4, 2014 by missmycat

[Wilowy]

Y'all have no idea what I went through on fb last night, defending that ep on the Criminal Minds facebook page. 

Sometimes I wish I was Stephen Fry.

[IndependentMind]

I always believe in democracy. There will be people who will love the episode and there will be those who will hate it. It is just a matter of respecting people's opinions.

I know a website who won't let anything negative be said about the show and when they do, you get a warning or she will have your account cancelled. Its why I love TWOP, you are allowed to be honest and criticize the show as long as you don't get personal. And don't send a personal email calling a person an inappropriate name. Somebody did that to me and even with a changed name, I know its her.

I will try to watch this episode.

I do find Matthew's episodes weird and creepy. But artistic. But I am not a fan of his style even thought I dearly adore Matthew.

I have a question. is JJ Reid's echo? In the roundatable, Reid said said the way the unsub was able to tie the victim speaks of physicality. Then JJ gives her input but with a sarcastic smile and says "physicality@ again. Really?

Edited April 4, 2014 by IndependentMind

[Wilowy]

There are different types of sites all over the web. I think the best try to keep a good balance and don't just cater to kiss-asses or, conversely, horribly negative people who just want to argue about every single post and disrupt the discussion on the boards. 

I'm really glad we don't have heavily strident rules here, but still maintain ORDER.

Back to the episode:

What does everyone think was the best/worst moment of this one? 

[zannej]

IndependentMind, I do think there were some good bits in the episode and it is worth watching. I will have to watch it again. It's one that I'm actually looking forward to watching again.

For some reason the mention of ORDER made me think of Jack Nicholson. :P

I guess people really do perceive things very differently. I never once had an impression that Thomas was anywhere near laughing when he was interviewing Sissy. I wonder if her name was an homage to Sissy Spacek (I don't know how her last name is supposed to be pronounced but my father always called her Sissy Space-Sick).

Oy, Facebook debates. Those tend to devolve quickly. There is almost always someone who doesn't get it and who just wants to be the monkey flinging poo at others. Or some people who take things far too seriously and don't recognize jokes. I've started to get in to some debates there, but at a certain point I figure its not worth the aggravation and I go on my merry way and look at funny pictures from George Takei. 

Back to the episode, the incest part wasn't done in such a horrible way. It was basically two confused teens that were isolated and loved each other but they were brother and sister. Small towns and rural areas with nothing much to do can be boring and bored teens with little to no education on sex can end up making bad decisions. The teen pregnancy rate out here was (and still is) very high. Girls were getting knocked up at 12. So the brother and sister hooking up was not so unbelievable-- its just the whole thing with the weird woman that took the baby that I thought was odd. What was the woman's motivation? Who was she? What exactly happened to her? Obviously she was dead, but how did she die? There were so many loose ends. The good part was I didn't have the urge to just turn the tv off and I stayed awake. I actually dozed off watching some of the previous episodes this season and some I had to force myself to watch even though I was seriously thinking of checking DIY and HGTV for renovation programs instead-- because watching paint dry would have been better. JK. :P

Edited April 4, 2014 by Willowy
Double post.

[Wilowy]

 

What exactly happened to her? Obviously she was dead, but how did she die?

She died of cancer.

[IndependentMind]

I watched it. It is not your usual CM episode. It looks more like "American Horror Story" I don't watch that show but yfriend told me about the show. I think Matthew would do really well directing on that show.

The best part for me was Blake in the water.

And yeah I didn't hear "baby girl" or "mama".

And I love Matthew's hair.

[Old Dog]

Best bit was unquestionably Jeanne's stellar acting at the lake and after. A really believable reaction to a traumatic situation (I hope AJ was taking notes!!). Also great was the atmospheric direction - Matthew does this kind of thing beautifully. Also Woo Hoo! At one point Matthew had his deep black jacket on that makes him look edibly gorgeous (yes, I'm that shallow!  Great that we saw an unsub actually get away for once - so rare on CM but it happens a lot in real life. Hotch was great especially when he quoted from the bible.

Worst bits - TOO MUCH JJ! Reid should have comforted Blake after her ordeal. Garcia still bragging about her amazing self. And I am not sure about the bit at the station at the end with the families lined up outside waiting for answers. It seemed too staged to me.

[Wilowy]

 

Also great was the atmospheric direction - Matthew does this kind of thing beautifully. Also Woo Hoo! At one point Matthew had his deep black jacket on that makes him look edibly gorgeous (yes, I'm that shallow)!

Preach it!

[normasm]

Old Dog, I agree that Jeanne really brought it. The combination of the awful "200" and this episode with JT have made me officially accept and be glad of Blake, and not miss Prentiss any more. That bird has flown.

I also agree that it should have been Reid who took care of Blake, but they still have to poke us in the eye every damn episode that "JJ has been through worse, and look how sympathetic she is now, no more hard edge, isn't she wonderful?" *gag*

I hope that JT and MGG make up the cliffhanger, and that JJ has to be home to read that awful Baby Star to Henry...

[ForeverAlone]

Depending on the status of Jeanne and Matthew's contract negotiations, we very well could get a cliffhanger that puts them both in danger. If the finale is JJ centric my poor remote is getting thrown across the room in anger. 

And maybe it's because I am just extra sensitive to too much JJ these days, but I felt she wasn't that believable as empathetic. I wonder what Breen was really trying to get at with that scene. Why not pair Alex with Reid, or even Rossi? I mean, it's not like Alex and JJ have a long history of touching scenes. Sure Alex realized that JJ lost her sister to suicide last season, but I never got any sense of warmth or friendship between the two. So why pair them out for one of Alex's more emotional scenes when she really did need comfort? Is it both of them have had close brushes with death from immersion in water? If that was the case, you certainly didn't get that impression by watching that scene, because there was no hint that JJ was even thinking that. 

Edited April 4, 2014 by ForeverAlone

[zannej]

The sad thing was, I still got a "hard edge" sense from JJ. Its probably my bias though. I have just gotten sick of her. I need to go back and watch some of the older episodes to like her again.

Old Dog, I agree that the families all lined up outside was too contrived. They probably wouldn't have been able to occupy the same space without getting into arguments. And really, what would have happened was they would have called or gone by their homes to ask them about what was going on. Or they just would have speculated among themselves and then spread rumors. 

[Wilowy]

While I agree that Reid might have been the better person to talk to Blake after her ordeal, I had no problem with JJ doing it. Maybe she was the only one not busy at the time, and her and Blake had established a level of confidence before with the above-mentioned 'dead sister' scene. I actually got a 'JJ 1.0' vibe from her that was surprising, and pleasant. 

Blake and Reid have almost this 'clinical' affection for one another. They sort through things well together, but I don't see her feeling able to 'break down', even minutely, in front of him. Think about his "I'm okay..." in Magnum Opus, and her reply. "I know. It's just good to see you." Perfunctory and meaningful, but not exactly exuding warmth.

I think having JJ go to her, much like she would have done Emily given the same situation, was fitting.

[Old Dog]

I didn't see that exchange between Reid and Blake in Magnus Opus as clinical affection at all! I thought the way Reid said quietly "I'm fine" and she almost whispered that it was good to see him showed extreme closeness with each other. And maybe I am prejudiced about JJ but I felt no empathy from her for Blake whatsoever. I must go and watch it again but I did think that if anything could be called clinical if was JJ in that scene! Perceptions, perceptions!

Edited April 4, 2014 by Old Dog

[Wilowy]

It was only after JJ's second inquiry that Blake opened up to her. To me, JJ's compassion was evident, as she didn't let Blake get away with the 'hair like an old sock' remark, and dug a little deeper, eliciting that response. She also rubbed her arm and tried to reassure her that they'd killed the UnSub, while looking her straight in the eye, then put her arm around her as they started walking. It was like she was telegraphing empathy, like "I know what you're feeling girl, but don't worry okay?"

And yep, there's that pesky 'perceptions' thing again...

[mstaken]

And maybe I am prejudiced about JJ but I felt no empathy from her for Blake whatsoever.

Right there with you. I complain a lot about how dully written and poorly defined JJ is, but in this episode it wasn't that the writers forgot JJ's alleged role as "the Empathetic One"---just that AJ Cook comes across to me about as warm as the Arctic Circle. (Even in the best of times, I *always* felt that nearly every other team member exuded more genuine, natural warmth and empathy than JJ...hence my crackpot theory that she should have been written deliberately as the amusingly bitchy ice queen who projects a great public persona but has trouble connecting to the people she's allegedly close to, which IMO fits much better.) AJ Cook's natural, default onscreen persona is 'snotty, cold and condescending', at least to me, so scenes like when she has to be the one to 'comfort' Blake just fall embarrassingly flat for me. 

As for the rest of it, I kind of had to convince myself that a lot of it was intentionally campy and over the top in order to enjoy this one. The "I ain't reckon you northeast lesbians have found yerself God yet, ain't that right?!"-esque dialogue (which, sadly, is only a SLIGHT exaggeration) was seriously cringe-inducing until I told myself that it was a Deliverance-y satire, with the twist that many of the "rednecks" were vastly more savvy than first assumed. So I was at least engaged, even though for much of the episode it was in a 'can't look away from the train wreck' sort of way. But I'm already doubting I'll buy the S9 DVDs, and suffice it to say that this one didn't help to convince me otherwise! 

Edited April 4, 2014 by mstaken

[Lisin]

A series of targeted kidnappings near Memphis have the BAU searching for a commonality between the missing persons and a motive to lead to the UnSub. Meanwhile, Savannah vents her frustration to Morgan about the amount of traveling he does for his job.

[Wilowy]

Written by Ticona S. Joy

Directed by Rob Hardy

[RollTheHardSix]

Total cliché-fest. They were really piling them on and I'm not anywhere near that neck of the woods... but I marvelled at how very "creative" they were being. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel there, aye.

Though, speaking of clichés, as soon as I saw the location I started singing ... "Almost heaven... West Virginia... Blue Ridge Mountains..." *sing* That's about the extent of my knowledge about WV. That and this episode, of course. Not that great for tourism, I'd wager. 

What really bothered me - they were acting like that guy (incest-kid) was so horribly disfigured. He had big ears. Boo-effing-hoo. He had dark eye-makeup on.
That was about the extent of his "disfigurement".

He wasn't pretty, sure, but that was about it. Wearing some regular clothes would've improved his image considerably. If I ever have a kid, I hope it's pretty. I might leave it out in the woods otherwise...

He wasn't stupid either. He was perfectly coherent and capable of planning. It seemed like the main reason he was so messed up was because he was raised completely isolated out there in the wilderness. But even that didn't make sense, considering he wasn't scared to go into town and hunt the victims.


The storyline was a complete mess and I don't want to say it was racist, but it was definitely disrespectful.

[Wilowy]

His back was somewhat twisted and his hands were deformed. From what I could see of his facial structure, it wasn't 'the norm', either. His eye sockets were sunken line a skull. And weren't his ears pointed, or am I remembering that wrong?

[FormerMod-a1]

I remember him that way too.  And I thought that was a bit much for one generation of inbreeding, but I really don't know much about these things so I could be wrong.

[RollTheHardSix]

I thought his back was weird, too, but it was only because he was hunched forward half the time. Looked normal when he was standing up. Not to mention that some of the things he did, like lift that guy from the top of his trailer, would have required great physical strength.

He didn't look too well-fed. Then they put a bunch of dark eyeshadow around his eyes. We never saw him in a well-lit environment. His hands were a bit deformed, but not enough to bother him (apparently). 

He was allegedly this incest kid whose (minor) disabilities (deformed hands) didn't seem to impact his strength at all - I mean he twisted that guys neck around to the back of the head! And he was by no means stupid. He was clever and his speech was perfectly coherent.

They never really told us his reasoning. The character wasn't well written to me. It was a walking contradiction basically. Normally fed, clothed and raised, he probably would have just been regular kid who was hit with the stick of ugly. He wasn't the type who would have people run screaming. Way back when, in primary school, there was a girl in my class who was slightly disabled (physically and mentally). Not horribly, but noticably, kind of like him (only well fed, clothed etc). I didn't ask if her parents were brother and sister... never actually thought of that possibility at all. That type of thing can just happen. I didn't ask if they thought of leaving her in the woods, either. Obviously.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I thought there was a lot of wrong with that episode. And the more I think about it, the worse it gets...

Well, I do think I am overreacting in a way. But if they would just write a "good" episode without being exploitative and scraping the bottom of the barrel, wouldn't that be so much better...

The story wasn't even well explored. No real motives, no real insight. Though I'm not sure if I'm not actually glad, they didn't try that. Who knows what they would've come up with.

[90PercentGravity]

I thought he looked like Gollum. I kept expecting him to call Sissy his preciousessss.

[Wilowy]

It was supposed to be a spooky campfire story, that's what Matthew was going for and I think Breen played along pretty well. 

I don't think it was disrespectful in that it actually flipped the usual tropes. Biofuel was the family business, not meth or moonshine. Incest was the exception, not the norm, and was forcefully disapproved of by the community. The only stereotype they played upon was the 'family feud' thing, and that fell apart upon deconstruction.

We had three excellent quality episodes preceding this one, so I was okay with the camp. I've learned to pretty much roll with it when Matthew directs. 

[RollTheHardSix]

Yeah, it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way I guess. It's CM so I'm not about to write a letter of protest to CBS, I don't care that much. I never would anyway. I'm not that offended ;-)

Tbh, other than that stuff it was pretty boring to me. The previous episode was more interesting for me. We'll see what happens next week. Though I'm already tired of the Savannah/Morgan interaction just by reading the description on imdb...

[Wilowy]

Loved this part xD

http://i.imgur.com/hqwMJcf.jpg

[mstaken]

The good news is that the title amuses me. And since I'll be traveling to Memphis sometime in the next few months, I'm psyched to see an episode that's set there. Seeing Morgan and/or JJ singled out in the episode synopsis always elicits a slight groan from me, but maybe the Morgan subplot will exceed my comfortably low expectations! 

[Wilowy]

Well I know the Morcia shippers are loving this over on twitter. I personally don't 'ship' them (to me, that's a passionate craving for a certain couple to get together, not a mild 'Aw, wouldn't they be cute' feeling like I have towards them), but wouldn't mind it if they eventually did get together by show's end. Anyway, it does give the actual fans of the pairing hope whenever there's trouble brewing with Savannah. :)

[Lebanna]

While I doubt that Morgan and Savanah are really breaking up this episode and I'm not really a devoted shipper either, I do hope Garcia and Morgan get together eventually. But, I don't want it to happen until the last season because I really don't need to see the unnecessary drama of those two breaking up and getting back together etc. Boring. 

However, I wouldn't mind watching Morgan silently realising that he's totally devoted to Garcia while she's oblivious and busy with her actual current boyfriend. The optics of that could be pretty adorable.

[normasm]

It's always been abundantly clear to me that Morgan is not attracted to Garcia that way. I like that she has moved on to Kevin and Sam, and I think it would be totally false and gross if CM put them together. Don't mind if Morgan can't make it work with a driven career woman, that might actually make sense and mature the character.

I'm not nearly as interested in his love life as I am Reid's. They need to slowly get him involved with someone appropriate (at this point i cringe that they killed off Maeve cause they had some Chemistry)>

[Lebanna]

I think giving Reid another relationship needs to wait a year or so more. Otherwise it kind of looks a bit quick, for him, and undermines the tragedy a little. I totally agree on the whole Maeve thing being a waste, though. I thought they were cute together (or would have been if they'd actually, you know, been together).

[Wilowy]

As much as I ship he and JJ, I really liked Maeve and would have been fully on-board if she had stayed on. I saw something on tumblr the other day that broke my heart a little bit. 

[normasm]

Lebanna, I really don't think there is another couple of years. I know Shemar has said next year is definitely his last, and I think it may be for others. I believe if JM and TG didn't sign up past next year, 10 may be "it."