S16.E05: Oedipus Wrecks

[Danielg342]

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The BAU takes on a case involving young DC socialites

[Danielg342]

Penelope Garcia may be an expert on computers and computer networks. So too may be Tyler Green.

The writers of this show have apparently never used a computer beyond typing on a keyboard and swirling around a mouse.

Do I need to remind these writers, "that's not how computer data works!"?

First, anything deleted can be recovered. From a story around my neck of the woods, the people who filmed the cell phone video of Rob Ford smoking crack thought they deleted the video from their phone, but Toronto Police managed to recover the video.

If TPS can do that, so too can Garcia.

Sure, there are ways to permanently delete data but it would require more time and sophistication than what was presented on screen. Elias Voit can't just press a button on his phone and the data is all gone.

Even if I were to buy that Voit could do that, it leaves an even bigger question:

Why did he keep the data in the first place?

You'd think a guy as smart as him would know better than to leave information lying around that he doesn't need. He's supposed to be a sophisticated killer who knows how to be one step ahead of our heroes, but, yet, he does stuff like that?

It just seems like more proof that the writers are just making things up as they go along, because the only way Voit seems to know to stay ahead of the heroes is if he knows where the story is going.

Like the bomb in the storage container.

The only way that bomb goes off is if Voit knows its compromised. Remember, Tara opened one at the very beginning of the first episode and it didn't go kabluey after she did so, and neither did the other storage lockers that the team found across the country.

Yet, I have no idea how Voit knew that the FBI agents were inside the previously unknown locker at the very moment he set the explosive off.

Unless he read the script.

Don't tell me that Benjamin Reeves led JJ and Luke there- that's still an inordinate amount of luck that Reeves and Voit somehow timed the detonation to the exact moment JJ and Luke would breach the compound.

Worse, if the Atlanta FBI Field Office knew about it, why didn't they uncover it first?

This show...

Then there was that ridiculous point where the Senator got involved because...of course she would meddle in the investigation! Then get killed because of it!

With the Deputy Director stupid enough to let it happen!

This show...

What's worse is that on top of falling for the trope of Cassandra's Prophecy, the show also continued its rather long running cliche of every criminal having a family problem of some kind.

Because Erica Messer's Criminal Minds has never heard of a criminal that simply has money problems, or a bad job, or even an unrequited love.

Nor do her criminals behave the way actual serial killers do, by first starting with people they know before they branch out to those they don't.

No, every freaking criminal has to have "practice" victims that will eventually allow them to summon the courage to go after the victim they're really after, like their mother, sister, father, ex-spouse, etc., with the team only needing to figure out this final victim to figure out the killer, as if the lives that were killed before the final victim gets saved meant nothing.

This show...

OK, I'll backtrack a bit. At least in this episode one of the "practice" victims was someone dear to the Deputy Director and thus she actually meant something, but only as a way to keep the Deputy Director in line.

Plus the first victim, Jessica, was key in getting Reeves arrested, so not all the victims outside of Reeves' mom were meaningless. Just most of them.

I do also have to throw shade at the idea Reeves can say "I was just having a talk with Jessica" and that's enough to keep him from staying arrested. Jessica would definitely tell the FBI they weren't just having a talk, and if that parking garage had a camera, they sure would see Reeves pointing a gun to Jessica and getting into her car with her.

Does this show edit their scripts?

Oh, this...I think you know where I'm going with that.

It's a shame because this episode was actually decently entertaining, if somewhat unremarkable, episode before the nonsensical third act. The acting, overall, was great. Green, Garcia and Rossi worked well together.

...and the Deputy Director actually came off as a human for a change.

Plus, hooray (I guess) for Will having a thyroid problem that's treatable. Underwhelming but a better choice than him having cancer.

He just now has a different worry, because who knows if JJ and Luke will come out of that bunker alive. If I was a betting man I'd say the odds are in both agents' favour but this isn't on the network anymore, so the odds are a little lower now.

Not by much, but still lower.

We'll see come January.

[Colorado David]

well said. any yeah they do seem to be family fixated more this season so far, don't they. i like the non-family problem ones.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Aunt Zelda Spellman as Senator Martha Reeves!

Emily’s hardcore fans are going crazy in love with Mommy Prentiss scene. 😆

JJ and Will have promised to change and tell each other stuffs. Then this explosion happened. Will their communication issues worsen and their relationship become a casualty?

The rigged bunker, is that where Elias keeps Moose? Why JJ and Luke went into the bunker without backup?

The cliffhanger isn’t that effective since these 2 main characters most probably will not get killed. Expect superficial wounds. JJ already got injured last season, are they gonna hurt her again?

Hey show, please do not make Tyler Green the next love interest for Penelope. Every handsome hunk on this show doesn’t need to have a crush on her. 🙄

[jmonique]

I sincerely don't understand this thing where Penelope acts like a brat to Luke, and now the imprisoned dude. 

[Danielg342]

10 hours ago, Colorado David said:

well said.

Thanks. :)

10 hours ago, Colorado David said:

yeah they do seem to be family fixated more this season so far, don't they. i like the non-family problem ones.

It's a multi-season problem, actually. I can't remember the last time an Erica Messer-helmed story of Criminal Minds didn't follow the pattern I mentioned- I mean, she even resolved the Ian Doyle story by having him go on a quest for his son. Perhaps The Replicator, since I can't recall him having any motivations for his crimes other than "Alex Blake took my spot in the BAU" and maybe a handful of others (especially early in Messer's run), but certainly since at least S10 that's been her format for every single episode.

10 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Aunt Zelda Spellman as Senator Martha Reeves!

Emily’s hardcore fans are going crazy in love with Mommy Prentiss scene. 😆

I thought the Senator looked familiar. Beth Broderick did very well in this episode.

So too did Paget Brewster in that scene. "You've been a very bad boy, haven't you?" Ulp...uh, yes, yes I have...

8 hours ago, jmonique said:

I sincerely don't understand this thing where Penelope acts like a brat to Luke, and now the imprisoned dude. 

That's how Penelope Garcia acts towards just about everyone for the past ten or eleven seasons. The writers- and maybe even Kirsten Vangsness herself- may think that her being childish makes her "cute" but I only find it annoying. She was especially galling in this episode, in particular that "no, no, no" exhortation she had with Rossi and Prentiss near the beginning.

I miss the earlier Garcia that messed with Reid's head by making him think he entered a haunted house in "The Boogeyman" or the Garcia who openly taunted someone who was uncooperative by hacking her computer and rubbing it in her face that she now had control of her computer. That was an interesting character.

This petulant, whiny woman is something else entirely.

[rtms77]

15 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Why JJ and Luke went into the bunker without backup?

This! That whole scene was sooo unbelievable. There is no way they would go in the middle of the night, with no backup. It’s not like they had a tip of people being in the bunker. There was no urgency. It was just a plot hole of stupidity and bad writing.

As for Will, I’m think he lied about not having cancer. It was too neat. 
 

4 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

That's how Penelope Garcia acts towards just about everyone for the past ten or eleven seasons. The writers- and maybe even Kirsten Vangsness herself- may think that her being childish makes her "cute" but I only find it annoying. She was especially galling in this episode, in particular that "no, no, no" exhortation she had with Rossi and Prentiss near the beginning.

I can not stand the character or the actress. Anyone else would have been fired or let go for that behaviour. 

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, rtms77 said:

This! That whole scene was sooo unbelievable. There is no way they would go in the middle of the night, with no backup. It’s not like they had a tip of people being in the bunker. There was no urgency. It was just a plot hole of stupidity and bad writing.

Further to the point, the Atlanta FBI Field Office knew of the bunker and were closer to it. There was no reason why the BAU had to be the first on the scene.

You'd also think that, after having experiences with Scratch, The Replicator, The Reaper, Adrian Bale and so on that the team might have a bit more of a "spidey sense" regarding walking into ambushes. Especially knowing how sophisticated Sicarius has been to this point.

[Annber03]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:51 AM, SnazzyDaisy said:

Aunt Zelda Spellman as Senator Martha Reeves!

Emily’s hardcore fans are going crazy in love with Mommy Prentiss scene. 😆

I saw Beth Broderick's name in the credits and was like, "Oh, I know that name, how do I know that name?" And then I saw her and was like, "Zelda!" LOL. I wish her character hadn't been killed off, I would've liked to see what else they could've done with her. It was fun to see Broderick playing someone a little darker and creepier. 

LOL, yes, lots of comments about that scene with Emily indeed :D. I did like that scene, she's always been so good at knowing how to mess with narcissistic creeps, so it was fun to see her get to do that here again, too. And I continue to like her whole back and forth with Bailey - I actually went, "Ooooh...." when she invoked Claire's name to see whether or not he'd agree to drop the charges against Benjamin. The whole thing with Claire affecting Bailey like this is an interesting little wrinkle, and now he's seen the brutal murder of a senator and was with the team at the end when everything went down with JJ and Luke, I feel like that's going to flip a switch in him in terms of how he interacts with the team going forward. And I am all for seeing how that plays out.

I agree, though, that JJ and Luke should've been a lot more on pins and needles about entering that space at the end. JJ especially - this is Georgia, JJ. You remember what happened the last time you went with a teammate to investigate a scene at a creepy property in Georgia, don't you? 

 

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Hey show, please do not make Tyler Green the next love interest for Penelope. Every handsome hunk on this show doesn’t need to have a crush on her.

There are some people out there who do seem to be shipping them. I don't, personally, but I can see why some might. I do like their interaction, though, myself. 

On 12/17/2022 at 1:11 AM, rtms77 said:

As for Will, I’m think he lied about not having cancer. It was too neat. 

Same. This storyline's not over yet, I don't think. 

[millennium]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I saw Beth Broderick's name in the credits and was like, "Oh, I know that name, how do I know that name?" And then I saw her and was like, "Zelda!"

Does that mean the black cat is Salem?   He didn't have any lines.   Would LOVE to see him snark on Penelope Garcia.

[catherinejane]

I assumed that Will was going to die, with the goodbye at the lift and the doors slowly closing.

I also assumed it could be a trap - the son fed the agents the location of the trap so they expected the FBI to go in, and probably it just explodes if someone goes in and doesn't do XYZ withing 30 seconds (like home alarm systems)

surely FBI systems maybe record what appears on their compter screens when hacking a system that may kick them out - then they can play it back as evidence? i mean thats what a normal investigation team would do.

Is there one next week? or is it a break now?

[Danielg342]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:46 PM, Annber03 said:

Same. This storyline's not over yet, I don't think. 

I agree, though I don't think Will lied about not having cancer. Should JJ make it out of the bunker- as I expect- that will provide another point of tension in the story, as I suspect the writers will go with the beat, "are the dangers of JJ's job worth it? Especially now that she has a family?"

13 hours ago, millennium said:

Does that mean the black cat is Salem?   He didn't have any lines.   Would LOVE to see him snark on Penelope Garcia.

That would simultaneously be the weirdest, most jarring but most entertaining thing this show could do so I'm completely all in on it. Bonus if Salem messes with literally everyone's heads by only speaking when he is alone with Garcia.

Extra bonus points if Salem turns out to be associated with the dog with a blog.

12 hours ago, catherinejane said:

I also assumed it could be a trap - the son fed the agents the location of the trap so they expected the FBI to go in, and probably it just explodes if someone goes in and doesn't do XYZ withing 30 seconds (like home alarm systems)

Except none of the other bunkers were similarly rigged and, while the doors weren't exactly easy to find, they were in the view of the public. Since the BAU needed several hours to the bunker, the UnSub is risking that some wandering kids get to it first. Which doesn't necessarily hurt the UnSub anyway but it does mean that the team doesn't get to be in peril, which is what the writer wants.

Still, the bigger things for me aside from the UnSub needing an insanely long timer was:

1. The Atlanta FBI Field Office was closer than the BAU were, so why were they not the first ones at the bunker?
2. If Prentiss could figure out, in five seconds, that the whole thing was an ambush, how come JJ and Luke did not?

The writer contrived a lot of things to get the ending they wanted. It's not entirely impossible, but it strains believability.

12 hours ago, catherinejane said:

surely FBI systems maybe record what appears on their compter screens when hacking a system that may kick them out - then they can play it back as evidence? i mean thats what a normal investigation team would do.

I didn't think about that, but you are right, the FBI should have at least done something like that. Plus, Garcia- who should know something about this- could have downloaded all the information (heck, maybe even the server's entire contents) to the FBI's servers first before they looked at the data. If this information is so crucial to catching the UnSub, wouldn't you want to do all you could to secure at least some information?

Besides, if Garcia is an expert hacker, surely she could get into the UnSub's system without him knowing. Now, I grant that Garcia's skills are often unbelievably over the top, but CM's writers tend to fall into the trap of, "Garcia can do anything she wants unless the plot says she can't". We've seen her get into many different systems before without anyone knowing- why couldn't she escape detection here?

12 hours ago, catherinejane said:

Is there one next week? or is it a break now?

According to The Futon Critic, there will be no new episodes until January 12, but then there will be five straight weeks of episodes culminating in the finale on February 9.

[jabRI]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:16 PM, Danielg342 said:

Paget Brewster in that scene. "You've been a very bad boy, haven't you?" Ulp...uh, yes, yes I have...

And I LOOOVE how she talked about going grey was so liberating.  Looking at you, Garcia, who thinks a 40-something (?) woman dressing like a toddler works for her.

[roamyn]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:46 PM, Annber03 said:

There are some people out there who do seem to be shipping them. I don't, personally, but I can see why some might. I do like their interaction, though, myself. 

They better not make him a love interest for Garcia.  I liked her w/Kevin.  Too bad that didn’t work out.

Maybe Tyler Green can be the new computer analyst aft this is over and Garcia can go back to her baking and running forums.  I definitely like him more than her, at this point.

Why the hell would you go in a serial killer’s bunker without back up?!  This is the FBI they know better.  Maybe DD Bailey is right in wanting to disband the BAU.  

And JJ didn’t let Will know she was going into danger.  It better not cause a problem.  Can we please have a normal loving relationship last on this show?

[mythoughtis]

On 12/16/2022 at 11:36 AM, jmonique said:

I sincerely don't understand this thing where Penelope acts like a brat to Luke, and now the imprisoned dude. 

The behavior goes along with her clothing. Garcia is too old to dress like a high school girl.   I like the character but they need to make her an adult.  She’s been at FBI for at least 18 years ( 3 year time jump between this season and last).  The character is over 40. 

 

Speaking of last season -what happened to Prentiss’s  new relationship?   

JJ sue attempt to let Will know- but she didn’t want to do it via a voice mail.  I can understand that.  I bet he got the idea from her message.  She’s not the type to call just to say I love you.  

Edited March 6, 2023 by mythoughtis