S10.E06: If The Shoe Fits

[Danielg342]

Oh and I need to make a correction Tvbythenumbers is calling this a series low. To be fair though CM was still Wednesday night's highest rated drama.And depending on the finale ratings it could also be Wednesday night's most watched show period.

Just looking over the numbers on Wikipedia (which uses TVbytheNumbers as a source) and “Gabby”, with 9.42, is the current season low, and the preliminary numbers for “If The Shoe Fits” would rank it as the second lowest.

Still, even if CM is the most watched show that night, the fact that the numbers are treading downward must be cause for concern (though maybe not alarm).

[missmycat]

Just looking over the numbers on Wikipedia (which uses TVbytheNumbers as a source) and “Gabby”, with 9.42, is the current season low, and the preliminary numbers for “If The Shoe Fits” would rank it as the second lowest.

Still, even if CM is the most watched show that night, the fact that the numbers are treading downward must be cause for concern (though maybe not alarm).

Daniel what they are referring to is CM's demo rather than it's over all viewership. I too am concerned about CM's numbers trending downward, but again to be fair it is not the only show on CBS whose numbers appear to be trending downward.The fact is CM is still one of the highest rated dramas on CBS

[SSAHotchner]

I, too, was pleasantly surprised it wasn't all about JJ. But I have to say the thing about the unsub stealing the dresses wasn't the only thing that was unclear for me. Okay, so she was abused by her father, but she fantasizes that men are Prince Charmings? The whole thing didn't make sense at all. They're reaching to come up with different story lines. Still overall, there were things I liked about the episode: lots of Reid, good Rossi, Hotch got to say more than "wheels up in 30."  Many of my CM friends despise Kate Callahan, but I haven't seen anything that's bothered me yet...other than her hair, and that is getting better. And she really wasn't dismissive of Reid at the Round Table. She was admitting that she had no idea what he was talking about. I think the biggest problem is that they don't have enough writers that really understand police procedure and crime. They need someone with police or crime experience to come up with more realistic stories. Jim Clemente isn't doing his job. This wasn't an episode that I would look forward to watching again, except for the Reid and Rossi parts, but I didn't hate it. Sad, isn't it, when "I didn't hate it" is actually a good review for CM.

[Mari]

Hi, Mari. Sorry they've made you feel this way. Who or what is your reason for watching, or used to be?

Replying in the "Then and Now" thread--that seems to be the general discussion thread?

[missmycat]

Well the finale ratings have CM remaining the same in the demo. It did however adjust upwards in overall viewership to 9.78(million viewers)

I also need to make another correction I should have said CM was on par to becoming Wednesday night's second most watched show.The first being the CMA Awards.

[Knittzu]

Returning to this after giving it some thought...

 

I think the reason I found Reid calling JJ "Jennifer" so jarring was that the last time (and as far as I can recall, the ONLY time) he's done that was when he was angry at her. So him using her full name to indicate care and concern hit the wrong button for me -- instead of communicating that the scene was a special friendship-moment between them, it transported me back to them fighting on the street over her lies, her refusing to back off and give him space, etc.

[zannej]

Aha! She did remind me of Jennie Garth!! I wonder if she's related to her in any way.

 

I agree that the background for her didn't seem to justify her actions. It didn't explain why she went to some woman's grave and pretended it was her father's. It didn't explain why she thought men could be like prince charming in the fairy tales (although I'm guessing it was out of desperation to just want a man to not treat her as a sexual object). It doesn't explain how she was able to make it in to college- or even afford college if they asserted she was "poor", but she had a house (although maybe that was left to her-- did they say it was her mother's?)

 

The going from killing a guy who came on too strong to targeting specific men and luring them in to a trap and tying them up didn't make sense. There was no bondage element in Cinderella (unless you count the evil queen chaining the prince up in her dungeon). There wasn't enough consistency between her childlike mind and the adult mind. It was like there was an on/of switch somehow.

 

A friend on another forum told me what the tag on the dress connection was. Pre-law guy said his dead buddy mentioned that she had a tag on her dress, but did not specify what kind. The team didn't ask. They just assumed it was a retail tag and started making other assumptions based on that. They went from one dress to assuming multiple dresses. Which is really not a good thing because maybe she bought a dress in a hurry and forgot to take the tag off. Or maybe she planned to return it later. Was the dead victim so dumb that he couldn't tell a retail tag from a dry cleaning tag and he didn't mention which kind? Why would he even mention it at all?

 

I admit that it was odd that Kate mentioned the victims were her type, but I didn't think it was meant to be callous. I think it was her way of coping. A lot of cops and LEOs make insensitive remarks because it is part of the compartmentalizing and dealing with the day-to-day grind and not letting the deaths affect them too much. On one hand, they should care, but if they care too much it can start to be a problem.

 

I sort of think it would be interesting to hear what happened to this unsub. I wonder what happened when it came time to cuff her. Did she realize Reid tricked her and start shouting at him? Did he apologize to her and talk to her nicely or did he just drop the nice act and walk away as soon as she was cuffed? If it was the former, did she still think he was her prince charming? Does she want to see him again? Does she write him letters saying she misses him? I could see Morgan teasing Reid about that and starting to call him "Prince Charming" and telling him how JJ told him how smoothly he handled the girl. I wonder if Reid felt any guilt over that deception or if he just approached it intellectually and let it go.

 

I still don't remember Reid calling JJ "Jennifer" in this one. When did he do that?

[ForeverAlone]

He called her Jennifer at the start of their fairy tale conversation. He used her full name when he was asking her how she was and if she wanted to talk to him. I admit I found him calling her Jennifer a bit jarring as well and for the same reason. The only other time I recall him calling her that is in Proof when him calling her by full name was to distance himself from her and show his anger toward her. But then I was a bit surprised to hear Reid call Penelope by her first name in Burn. :)

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I was going to avoid the board this episode because five minutes in and I could take an educated guess that a majority of the people here were going to hate the episode; heavy JJ episode and all that.    Masochist though and wanted to see if I was right.  I am.

 

Did want to make a few non related JJ comments because I don't want to start anything and in all honesty don't really care much about the sister storyline.   It seemed a little weird to me and I am not  sure what they were trying to say about truth and illusion. It doesn't really matter though.  JJ's kid.  JJ's rules.  

 

Now to other things:  

 

I did like the main storyline.  I do like it when a woman is the unsub so pluses for me on that.  And it was an interesting female unsub at that.  

 

I am warming up to Kate.  I liked her in this episode and how she tricked the dude into talking during the interrogation.

 

I liked the ending with Reid and how he played prince charming.  That was nice as well.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[threebluestars]

I miss JJ the media liaison. She had such a different person with the team then, and it served her character well. Now she's just a writer's Mary Sue.

[Kelda Feegle]

Thank you!  That kept bugging me.  I couldn't figure out who she reminded me of.  She even sounded like her and had the same mannerisms.

For me I kept thinking that the unsub was the same actress as one of the living dolls in the Frakes ep - "The Uncanny Valley", had to imdb it to be sure.

[Knittzu]

I wonder what happened when it came time to cuff her. Did she realize Reid tricked her and start shouting at him? Did he apologize to her and talk to her nicely or did he just drop the nice act and walk away as soon as she was cuffed? If it was the former, did she still think he was her prince charming? Does she want to see him again? Does she write him letters saying she misses him? I could see Morgan teasing Reid about that and starting to call him "Prince Charming" and telling him how JJ told him how smoothly he handled the girl. I wonder if Reid felt any guilt over that deception or if he just approached it intellectually and let it go.

 

 

All of this is more interesting to me than anything that's happened in the past few seasons. Why can't I be watching THIS show? 

[Droogie]

Watched it again. Can I be a ridiculous, fawning, gushing Spencer Reid fan for a minute? If this would be better in the Reid forum, by all means move it, but I am still contemplating the Cinderella moment.

It could possibly be fanwanking (I'm not above it), but the way his hands lingered on her feet, and the way he closed his eyes when he kissed her hand, all spoke to me of the gentleness that is Reid. As if he wanted her Cinderella fantasy to be true for one brief moment, because in spite of all she had done, she was still a little girl who'd had her innocence torn away by the one she trusted most... I really, really loved that scene.

I get tired of having Unsubs for whom we are supposed to feel pity, but in spite of some flaws, I did love this particular takedown.

[normasm]

Droogie, good observation. I think "the way he closed his eyes when he kissed her hand" also spoke to me of Maeve, and Reid's wish that he could have had a happily ever after with her.

[Droogie]

Droogie, good observation. I think "the way he closed his eyes when he kissed her hand" also spoke to me of Maeve, and Reid's wish that he could have had a happily ever after with her.

Normasm, I think I love you. ;-)

[normasm]

Th' feeling is moochull, dahlink

[vibeology]

I don't know that I ever felt that JJ was really "empathetic" even in the earlier seasons, but I do think she had sympathy for people. I think maybe losing her sister made it hard for her to get close to people and she would show sympathy and emotions, but didn't actually feel empathy per se. And whatever issues she had with her mother may have made it hard for her to empathize until she really thought about it.

 

As someone who was a fan of early seasons JJ, I agree that she wasn't the most empathetic person out there. It was one of the most interesting things about JJ, she was able to be respectful and take the work seriously, but she was almost always detached emotionally from the things she witnessed. Add to that the sense that she understood how other people perceived her looks (all-American sweetheart) and it was clear that she had a veneer of caring that allowed victims, family members the others in the public to connect with her while she never really connected with them. Its why the few times JJ did connect to a case like in North Mammon or Birthright stand out as unusual and why, unlike Garcia, she was able to vet cases without complaint about the content.

 

I liked that she was savvy and she knew how to use her looks to make people react in a certain way. I liked that she could be professional and distant while never being off-putting or to the other extreme flippant about the job. I thought it made her an interesting person and when we learned about her sister, it fit the character. 

 

The problem now is that instead of JJ being someone who fakes empathy and relies on other people connecting the dots, she just is the most empathetic person ever. And she's the best fighter. And she cares. I want characters to change and grow, but its just a much less interesting character than where we started. 

 

All that being said, I did mostly like her here and liked the episode. I agree with other posters who say her kid her rules and had no problem with her not being ready to talk about her sister to her child. Henry is still very young and people always think they have more time to get ready for those big conversations so being caught off-guard and lashing out at her mom was very understandable. 

[normasm]

Vibeology, it's interesting your take on JJ from way back. You see her as detached and doing her job. Although I came late to the show, as I back-watched, I thought of her as a very self-protective person. Someone who wouldn't let anyone too close. That was borne out when Will showed up as a retro-fitted love interest. She wouldn't have acknowledged him as a lover if he hadn't kinda swamped her. As long as she was in control, it was OK, but when Will started demanding to be seen or else, yeah, not comfortable.

Anyway, at the risk of needing to move this over to the JJ thread, I agree the character has dissipated in her ability to interest me because she seems completely self- centered, except when it comes to her kid.

[Keekski]

For me I kept thinking that the unsub was the same actress as one of the living dolls in the Frakes ep - "The Uncanny Valley", had to imdb it to be sure.

 

Yes!!!! I totally thought it was the girl from the doll episode. Is it? 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Yes!!!! I totally thought it was the girl from the doll episode. Is it? 

 

It is not. I checked IMDB, and the actress who played Claire is Abbie Cobb, who has mostly TV credits to her name. So its just a really strong resemblance, its not the same person.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Cobalt Stargazer

[Watermelon]

I liked how Reid did sort of the buzzkill about the fairy tales by telling her the real endings (I previously ruined things for some of my friends by telling them the same things). Like, the Little Mermaid didn't get the prince. She actually had her tongue cut out, he fell for another woman, and the mermaid turned to foam in the sea. But other than just telling facts, he had a point and he explained it to her.

Oh, if only The Little Mermaid really ended like that.  I fucking hate Ariel.

 

 

ANYWAY, so about the dry cleaner's son who was too stupid to live. Did they ever call an ambulance for him?

[normasm]

No, JJ just stood over him and healed him.

[SSAHotchner]

No, JJ just stood over him and healed him.

I'm sure my husband could hear me laughing out loud at this while upstairs working in his office with music on. :)

[Droogie]

No, JJ just stood over him and healed him.

ROFL. I just died.

[zannej]

She didn't even have to go over to him. She didn't make a move to go toward him to check on him from what I could see. It's like "sorry you got hit in the head by psycho Cinderella, dude.. time to go for donuts".

 

Btw, psycho cinderella is not as entertaining as "Sepia Cinderella". Now that was an entertaining movie, but then I like old films.

 

I wanted to know what happened to the dry cleaner's son. Would have been nice if they mentioned he had a concussion and said his father said he was a dumbass....

[zannej]

This banned ad for 'Killer Heels" made me think of this episode http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-sexy-violent-and-offensive-ads-that-have-been-banned-in-the-uk-2012-2#this-killer-heels-ad-by-the-newspaper-marketing-agency-a-group-set-up-by-major-national-newspapers-including-the-times-daily-telegraph-guardian-etcwas-banned-after-the-asa-received-81-complaints-in-2004-the-ad-was-deemed-to-be-offensive-sexist-and-condoning-violence-20

[Droogie]

Did anyone check outTwitter the night this episode aired? Gorgeous still of Reid kissing the UnSub's hand (who, btw, was great, I thought -- and lovely) and it said "Reid found his Cinderella." Seriously?!

[Danielg342]

Man that's just...criminal...

[normasm]

Droogie, am I understanding that the twitterverse actually thought this "cinderella" unsub was Reid's true love or something? Am I missing something here?

Edited November 15, 2014 by normasm

[ForeverAlone]

Not just plain old Twitterverse, but the official Criminal Minds Twitter account.

 

Criminal Minds @CrimMinds_CBS  ·  Nov 6
Reid meets his Cinderella. Watch the fairy tale ending w/ extras on CBS Sync #CriminalMinds http://ow.ly/DVUGC

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Did anyone check outTwitter the night this episode aired? Gorgeous still of Reid kissing the UnSub's hand (who, btw, was great, I thought -- and lovely) and it said "Reid found his Cinderella." Seriously?!

 

That sound ya'll just heard was my head making hard contact with my laptop desk. Ouch. Talk about insensitive.

[MCatry]

Me again, and my new method of 'watch' CM. In order to make it more interesting, just in case that I got bored as it seems to be the rule lately, I watch the episodes two or three days after the premiere, and at the same time took notes on my laptop about the amount of minutes and seconds each scene has, who is in it, and other details.

In this episode these are the results:

The winner is..... JJ, with 16 minutes and 43 seconds.

Second places goes for... unsubs and victims, with 15 minutes and 6 seconds.

And the third place goes for Reid, with 12 minutes and 27 seconds.

(For the record, Kate was fourth with 11 m and 25 secs, so thanks to the ridiculous Cinderella scene at lest Reid climbed to the third position)

Biggest loser this time was Garcia, with 6 minutes and 17 seconds

(But if you ask me, she was on 6 minutes too long)

That make me wonder about season nine now.

I really believed they had a lot less JJ this season, and that they toned her down a little bit.

[Paddy]

This comes quite bit late after the show has been aired, however it seems that our boy wonder's memory has failed him in this episode s10e06, the battle of St.Scholastica happened in the year 1354, some history book also have recored it as 1355, not 1335 as was said by Reid, sad

[ForeverAlone]

I think the writers screwed that up, and it's not like Matthew knows the real date or cares enough to verify it with a history book. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the show has had Reid state incorrect facts. Sort of like how he misstated the timeframe for administering the rabies vaccine in last year's "Rabid." Sort of like how Matthew mispronounced "Samhain" in season six "Devil's Night." We could probably find much wrong information if we looked for it in scripts.

Edited December 10, 2014 by ForeverAlone

[normasm]

They frequently have Reid state the iffy and/or downright wrong stuff the writers and researchers come up with, i guess because we're supposed to believe a genius. It drives me nuts. 

[Danielg342]

They frequently have Reid state the iffy and/or downright wrong stuff the writers and researchers come up with, i guess because we're supposed to believe a genius. It drives me nuts.

Agreed. It's like Reid is a mouthpiece for anything “cool but questionable” the writers come up with, when the character is so much more. Thus, I don't think too much of it when Reid makes a factual error, because it's really the writers- are provably not geniuses- who made the error. The real Reid (if he ever did exist) would not make that flub.

Another error to point out- “True Night”, where Reid tells Morgan that LA is 2265 miles (or thereabouts) from Washington, when it's really 2600 miles.

[Paddy]

Uhhh! Totally

[bettername2come]

Just re-watched this episode on Netflix. And I have to say, I kind of love that Reid knows he can pull off being Prince Charming.

 

And to all the people comparing the Unsub to Jennie Garth, my first thought was Bridgit Mendler.