S10.E10: Amelia Porter

[formerlyfreedom]

When the BAU is called to Salt Lake City Utah to investigate a triple homicide, the search for a connection among the victims could lead them to a fugitive who could have ties to the UnSub.

 

 

[Danielg342]

I predict another omnivore and yet another case where I'll have a hard time understanding why the BAU is there in the first place. Makes me wonder why anyone bothers paying police officers in the CM world when it seems like the team can handle everything just fine.

[normasm]

I predict this episode has as much to do with Amelia Porter as "Hanley Waters" had to do with Hanley Waters.

[normasm]

I'll have to watch again to get the nuance, but the unsub/victim thing was interesting. The Rossi/Hotch stuff, not so much.

[SSAHotchner]

I felt ripped off that I sat through the whole case and then they didn't really wrap it up. There was no explanation. Maybe there had been something written but they cut it to show Hotch & Rossi at the bar? At least Reid was at the take down. I kind of wish he had shot the guy.

[zannej]

Too much unsub. JJ was acting like she was in charge again-- doing the talking instead of Hotch and then announcing what she was going to do as if she were the boss and he was the subordinate.

 

I'll have to gather my thoughts some more, but I just fell off my porch a few minutes ago. 

[threebluestars]

I couldn't see a damn thing in those car scenes, they were SO DARK. I've noticed this a lot lately with any night scenes - is someone trying to save money on the budget by not using any lights?? It's ridiculous and unwatchable.

[Old Dog]

It was far too unsub heavy for sure but Sharon Lee Watson does write the team well and there was a good spread of time for each team member. For an unsub based episode I was intrigued throughout as to his motives and why he was fixated on the girl but I also spotted early on that Amelia Porter was not the real unsub in the original crime and he was the dominant back then. The really jarring thing for me was when Reid asked Garcia to find details for 40 something women who had moved to the area in the last 5 years and she pulled up full details and the address they needed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. However, I was interested enough to watch the whole thing without fast forwarding, JJ didn't annoy me except she had the immaculate eagle wings hair throughout so obviously had her stylist with her again and Reid looked breathtaking so I can hold that thought over the winter break.

The Hotch/Rossi bookends? Meh. Glad to see the end of superflat Beth but Hotch was definitely OOC for someone who had allegedly been in love with her. After all the crap they fed us in the awful Route 66 he seemed completely unaffected that she had swanned off to HongKong. I think that he is the type who feels deeply in relationships and we saw that with how he was about Haley but here he just tossed his relationship with Beth aside carelessly. Not very Hotchlike. But I guess Messer has to give him a new love interest quicksmart as that seems her top priority.

[alexvillage]

I really don't mind seeing the unsub at the beginning of the episode but as I tried to watch tis yesterday I had to stop because it was like watching a show where the unsub's story is the main plot and the BAU is like any other law enforcement in a movie, a supporting role

[idiotwaltz]

 

After all the crap they fed us in the awful Route 66 he seemed completely unaffected that she had swanned off to HongKong.

 

I have yet to watch the episode, but I gotta say --- wtf, they shipped her off to Hong Kong? Doesn't that place have enough problems already?

[Danielg342]

I have yet to watch the episode, but I gotta say --- wtf, they shipped her off to Hong Kong? Doesn't that place have enough problems already?

Ditto. I still have to watch it too, but I agree- Hong Kong is a quagmire. Plus, if Hotch wasn't going to let a three hour train ride get between him and Beth, why would a trans-Pacific voyage? I'd say it's a sign that things aren't right and there's more to explore but this isn't that well written a show, so I won't expect anything.

[idiotwaltz]

Watched it. Yawn. 

 

I don't watch this show for Reid, but even I cringed when they gave him the stupidest, most pointless line ever: "The Northwest Territories are difficult to get to and therefore easy for the UNSUB to hide." Not only do the writers not know how to write for him, they've decided that genius = spouting random facts. Sorry, but spouting a blatantly obvious fact does not work in this formula. (To be fair, I've lived in Canada, so I know all the territories and provinces - perhaps this bit about the Northwest Territories would be a little-known fact to Americans?)

 

Seriously though, it was almost as bad as Seaver's "They all have the initials L.R.!!!" 

 

The Rossi and Hotch scenes at the beginning and end made me cringe, but I'd still rather see them than JJ. 

Edited December 11, 2014 by idiotwaltz

[Droogie]

I'm going to be generous. I liked this episode. And I like Seaon 10 so far much better than Season 9. Reid is my favorite and I will just have to take what I can get. The BTS pics I've seen lately show happy, smiling people and I appreciate that that is still the case after working together 10 years.

Loved Reid in this. It was just so nice to actually see him. Did he kick in the door of the house? I kind of think so -- I've watched that scene several times and I know he shouted, "FBI!" But then I think he actually kicked the door and then Rossi went in first.

I thought Kate was good in the takedown scene.

I didn't miss Morgan, Garcia and JJ. I'm tired of them. I like them but we all know how they've dominated our small screen and it's nice to see the others shine.

Not near enough Hotch. He looked so nice in casual clothes. I don't care about his bookends with Rossi either. I like them both, and I tend to want relationships for everyone on the team *coughReid!cough* but I prefer it tie in with a case. Wish the babes they were scoping out were closer to their age.

Wish I could find stuff on the interwebs like Garcia. Wow. And she has too many gee-gaws in her office.

But -- I'll take it.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Droogie

[zannej]

I wonder if the thing about women in their 40s could have been pulled from Census data....

[Danielg342]

So...Yellowknife. The capital of the Northwest Territories. A city of approximately 20,000 people, located on the northern shore of the Great Slave Lake, which is visible from the air. It's a mining town, first inhabited because of gold but now it's one of the centres of Canada's diamond trade. It's also, believe it or not, a tourist destination, mainly among Japanese tourists. It actually does have a summer- in fact, it has a yearly beach volleyball tournament where competitors have gone on to compete in national championships- and is one of the prime locations of Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

 

What does this mean? Well it ain't the Sin City or the Big Apple, but Yellowknife has plenty going for it.

 

To get to Yellowknife, you can fly, or, if you're the adventurous type (or have a severe case of vertigo), you can drive there via Northwest Territories Highway 3 (of which Yellowknife is the end of the road), which connects southward at NT Highway 1 which connects southward with Alberta Highway 2 that will take you to Edmonton, and then on to Calgary. You can then take Alberta Highway 3 to Lethbridge, which takes you to Alberta Highway 15 which eventually turns into Interstate 15 that leads to Salt Lake City.

 

Meaning that if Sharon Lee Watson had bothered to look things up on Wiki for all of about five seconds she would realize the "difficult to get to area" where Porter escaped to where she could "sleep with the moose and bears" is really an established city with a vibrant culture that is no harder to get to than San Diego.

 

I'm sorry, I hate to get snarky about this but this really irritated me. I've never been to Yellowknife (it's on my bucket list, though), but as a Canadian it bugs me when writers continue to fall back on frankly inaccurate stereotypes instead of bothering to do simple research; all, it seemed, to generate a few laughs (what else was that line about "sleeping with moose and bears" supposed to be about?). Granted, I probably know more about Yellowknife than 99.999% of the world does (and likely most of Canada), but much of what I spouted I found in about five minutes of Googling, something I wish writers would do so they'd stop looking like loons. This is 2014, not 1974- ignorance, especially when you're making it one of the points about a focal character, is just not acceptable.

 

I think the City of Yellowknife deserves an apology from SLW.

 

Now, does this mean SLW could have used other cities to plant Amelia Porter in? Well, why not places like Grise Fjord, or Southampton Island, or Cat Lake, Ontario, places you actually need to fly to in order to get to them? Or why not Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world, at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island? Again, a quick look on Google Maps is all that would have taken.

[normasm]

Thanks for the info, Daniel, and yes, I totally get your irritation with inaccuracies.

 

The term is snakebit, not snakebitten. As in, "that restaurant location is snakebit, everything closes within 3 months." "That man is snakebit when it comes to marriage."

 

I liked the episode OK, except for the unsub's hair (as zannej pointed out), and the too muchness of him, and the cringe-worthy Hotch/Rossi bookends.

 

I actually loved Reid with his hair in his mouth. Man is sexy. I loved that the whole team was present when the unsub wasn't hogging the story. 

[zannej]

I've come to accept that the show just has fictional geography. LOL. Also, it would be the job of whoever they hire to do the research to make sure that stuff is accurate and then tell the writer-- although Sharon does sometimes consult people herself to try to get info. I think when it comes to geography, the show just takes great liberties.

[normasm]

Sharon's not perfect. On one of her episodes, I think they actually said scleroderma is a skin rash that can "clear up." It ain't even close to that. Since she is a medical doctor, if she didn't know this she should have looked it up [HERSELF] to make sure this was correct. Instead the "angle" of making a real autoimmune (and frequently life-threatening) disorder into a psychosomatic delusion was unconscionable.

[Danielg342]

About the story itself...I felt the Yellowknife stuff needed its own post, because it was especially irritating.

 

What exactly did I just watch? That made absolutely no sense whatsoever...the guy just seemed to pop whomever glanced at him the wrong way, and for what? Because his uncle, who seems to be equally unstable, picked up his knife and tried to kill him? Oh, and I get that Porter's lackey is a pretty scary dude, but he's not especially big, and he had absolutely no control over his nephew and niece...why didn't they just decide to try to make a run for it? Same thing with the niece in the woods...sure, he's got a gun, but you're in the woods and standing a good three or four feet away from him, with your legs having all of their faculties. Just gun it and make the guy try to shoot you through the bush. It's not like he was out in the open and could have a clear shot, and even if he did, he's not a trained gunslinger so he'd have awful aim (though I grant that may not cross the niece's mind). Then we see the lackey shoot the lady who tried to help him, perhaps out of a fear that she'd recognize him later, but then when the hikers come by and suspect they know the niece...he just lets them walk? Seriously? That's not being unpredictable, that's being stupid.

 

Then we get to Porter herself...she knows she's a wanted fugitive. First of all, I call "BS" on her being able to cross the border into Canada, because our border police are not idiots and don't let convicted criminals cross (as far as I know, she didn't have an alias when she crossed into Canada). The Mexican border, where Mexican officials don't even bother to check your ID (and I have crossed the border into Mexico, so I know this happens) would be different. Of course, not only all of this, Amelia Porter is so stupid that she doesn't just return to the US, but she returns to the exact same house she had lived in before. I get that she had an alias at this point (although if she really was "sleeping with the moose and bears" I wonder where she found a document forger), but she'd have to go grocery shopping or go to work or something where people in the community would see her...and she'd be outed pretty quickly. I'd make a point that perhaps she wanted to be captured, but that would imply this is a well-written show, and it's not.

 

There are a few questions I have to raise here:

 

-First, why did Porter decide to leave the wilderness? There was no explanation given, and for a fugitive, I have to wonder why she'd even risk going back to a city...if she stayed in the woods, she would have been much harder to find. I also think she had enough time to get to Russia, who wouldn't extradite her at all. The distance from Salt Lake City to the Chukotsky District, right across from the Bering Strait from Alaska, is 6222 km. To get to Magadan, which is the easternmost terminus of Russia's highway network, it's 8184 km. If we say that she does 4 km in an hour and walks for 12 hours each day (or 48km/day), to get across the Strait it's 129 days and to get to Magadan, that's 170 days. Just for kicks, if she wanted to hoof it all the way to Moscow, that's 384 days...so, easily doable, especially if, as the show painted her out to be, she's this "super survivalist".

 

-Second of all, why did Porter decide to go back to Utah? If, as I presume, she got bored of the survivalist lifestyle and decided she wanted to live in an urban area again, why not stay in Canada? It's not like we don't have cities. Plus, as Whitey Bulger knew, you have to cut off all ties from your previous life...so moving back into a house you once lived in made no sense.

 

-Third of all- why did she decide to move back now? Because SLW decided it was most convenient for her? If this were the earlier seasons, where Edward Allen Bernero understood every story has a million different moving parts, there could have been a nice angle about how Porter wanted to get out of hiding to warn the authorities about her lackey, with the lackey doing something that pushes her into action. Instead, we've got Erica "I like it when things blow up!" Messer, so when Porter decides to move back to Utah, it's only because to make it easier for SLW.

 

*sigh*

 

Now for my predictions:

-I was right that the killer was an omnivore, although the only on-screen "pawn"-type victim was a woman, the one who stopped her car. Furthermore, the episode centred around having a dominant male having power over two females who were practically helpless (females who were also saved by a male, Reid). So it's almost a complete reverse of the "politically correct" cases we've seen so far this season, but it's not quite there and it still doesn't remove the sour taste in my mouth that the previous cases left in me. At least, though, the victims actually had a plot purpose for a change.

 

-I was also right- and much more bang on about this one- that this would be another case where I wondered why the BAU is there in the first place. I can't really recall any actual profiling being done, and most of the clues- and the leads- were provided by the local detective. This could have very easily been solved by rudimentary police and forensic work (they even had his shoeprints), so why the BAU was brought in is a mystery. At least SLW didn't have the team feed Garcia clues and she puts in all in her digital blender and out pops the solution.

 

As for the team- quite a lot of Reid. In fact, I think he was pretty much the only team member who actually seemed to provide any actual clues or do any actual work. Callahan might as well have not been there, Morgan had, maybe a few lines, Hotch did a lot of standing around and ordering, and JJ- yes, JJ- had very little to do, outside of the press conference. The only factors here were Reid, Garcia and Rossi (though this was to a much lesser extent), really.

 

I'd say this would be a triumph for Reid since we got so much of him and he was front and centre...if this was a vintage Reid performance. Credit, full credit, to Matthew Gray Gubler for giving the role life, because the only thing Reid did was do little more than recite the ingredients of a milk carton. Aside from some random (incorrect) facts, would anyone have noticed if it were Morgan, or Rossi, or Hotch spouting much of Reid's lines? I don't think so.

 

Lastly...the one part I did enjoy was Rossi and Hotch out for a night on the town. They just looked so relaxed and looked like they were having so much fun...the two of them are quite the charmers. In fact, I think I'd like to see Rossi and Hotch club hopping again some time, and not have Hotch settle down so quickly. I think it'd be a nice quirk for Hotch to learn- he's always had someone so to see him date and actually live the bachelor life would be a new angle. Besides, he might actually enjoy something that isn't so rigid. I wished this had come in Season Six or something and not now, but better late than never.

 

(Of course, one of these days we need to see Morgan and Reid do the same thing because that would be fun...but I digress)

 

Overall...one huge F. I don't think SLW even tried for this one, and it goes down as one of CM's all-time worst episodes...if not the worst.

[Calamity Jane]

Sharon's not perfect. On one of her episodes, I think they actually said scleroderma is a skin rash that can "clear up." It ain't even close to that. Since she is a medical doctor, if she didn't know this she should have looked it up [HERSELF] to make sure this was correct. Instead the "angle" of making a real autoimmune (and frequently life-threatening) disorder into a psychosomatic delusion was unconscionable.

I remember that, and knowing someone who is dying of the disorder, I was gobsmacked at how it was dismissed.  

[ForeverAlone]

That was season eight, "The Good Earth", and it was written by Bruce. I remember a lot of angry complaints on different sites complaining about the complete misrepresentation of scleroderma. Even though Sharon didn't write it, she should have seen the script and been knowledgeable enough to make any corrections. But there are many things the show misrepresents in their scripts.

[normasm]

So sorry about your friend, Jane. That's a hard way to go. I hope s/he is surrounded with loved ones.

FA, I stand corrected on Good Earth being SLW's episode. But, yeah, I expect more feedback from the real world of medicine on any episode when you have a doctor on board who puts her name under the title Producer.

[Knittzu]

That was so boring I don't even have much to say except that I laughed when Rossi suggested Hotch try Internet-dating. Dude, don't you watch this show?? Internet interactions = DEATH. Might as well suggest he go jogging after midnight in the nude while stoned. 

[Droogie]

So...Yellowknife. The capital of the Northwest Territories. A city of approximately 20,000 people, located on the northern shore of the Great Slave Lake, which is visible from the air. It's a mining town, first inhabited because of gold but now it's one of the centres of Canada's diamond trade. It's also, believe it or not, a tourist destination, mainly among Japanese tourists. It actually does have a summer- in fact, it has a yearly beach volleyball tournament where competitors have gone on to compete in national championships- and is one of the prime locations of Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

What does this mean? Well it ain't the Sin City or the Big Apple, but Yellowknife has plenty going for it.

To get to Yellowknife, you can fly, or, if you're the adventurous type (or have a severe case of vertigo), you can drive there via Northwest Territories Highway 3 (of which Yellowknife is the end of the road), which connects southward at NT Highway 1 which connects southward with Alberta Highway 2 that will take you to Edmonton, and then on to Calgary. You can then take Alberta Highway 3 to Lethbridge, which takes you to Alberta Highway 15 which eventually turns into Interstate 15 that leads to Salt Lake City.

Meaning that if Sharon Lee Watson had bothered to look things up on Wiki for all of about five seconds she would realize the "difficult to get to area" where Porter escaped to where she could "sleep with the moose and bears" is really an established city with a vibrant culture that is no harder to get to than San Diego.

I'm sorry, I hate to get snarky about this but this really irritated me. I've never been to Yellowknife (it's on my bucket list, though), but as a Canadian it bugs me when writers continue to fall back on frankly inaccurate stereotypes instead of bothering to do simple research; all, it seemed, to generate a few laughs (what else was that line about "sleeping with moose and bears" supposed to be about?). Granted, I probably know more about Yellowknife than 99.999% of the world does (and likely most of Canada), but much of what I spouted I found in about five minutes of Googling, something I wish writers would do so they'd stop looking like loons. This is 2014, not 1974- ignorance, especially when you're making it one of the points about a focal character, is just not acceptable.

I think the City of Yellowknife deserves an apology from SLW.

Now, does this mean SLW could have used other cities to plant Amelia Porter in? Well, why not places like Grise Fjord, or Southampton Island, or Cat Lake, Ontario, places you actually need to fly to in order to get to them? Or why not Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world, at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island? Again, a quick look on Google Maps is all that would have taken.

I get what you are saying here and see your point. You taught me something i did not know, and I appreciate it. I took it all at face value since I know absolutely nothing about the area. Along a similar vein, I felt similarly annoyed about Blood Relations. I'm a born-and-raised West Virginian, and I am weary of the stereotypes. I know they exist for a reason, but I've lived in other states and have seen some pretty Deliverance-esque sorts in lots of places. And I currently live near Wheeling and go there often. Wheeling is actually a charming, rather cosmopolitan little town. The accents were all wrong also. They simply do not sound like that up here (and I like a good West Virginia twang -- I have a pretty distinctive one myself). Folks from Wheeling generally have an Upper Ohio Valley/Pittsburgh accent (Pittsburgh is about 40 minutes east). Heck, just for accuracy's sake and stereotypes aside, they could have situated that episode in any number of places in West Virginia south of the two panhandles and been spot-on (accent-wise, anyway).

So while not exactly the same, I do understand and agree that it is mad frustrating when people don't do their homework.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Droogie

[zannej]

Even though SLW is listed as a producer, I don't know how much say she gets in the dialog details of episodes written by other writers. It's entirely possible she has no say at all, or that she gets overruled. I get the impression that some of the producers don't really care about things being factually accurate and are more interested in drama, shock value, and big explosions or action scenes.

 

Honestly, the unsub in this didn't come off as menacing enough to really be so intimidating. I don't remember enough about the Amelia Porter character. I know they suspected she ran to Canada, but what if she didn't? What if she just made people think she ran there? I pretty much wasn't invested in the episode enough to care. It was meh to me.

[Calamity Jane]

This show feels so done to me, I'm not sure I'll bother watching episodes until they re-run them during the summer TV dry season.  There is just no energy left in any of the characters, not even the newest one.  Very sad when a show stays on too long (also looking at you, Big Bang).  Lately I'm enjoying Chicago PD far more than this tired bunch of retread or nonsense plots.  Criminal Minds just  makes me, well, sad. 

[normasm]

Even though SLW is listed as a producer, I don't know how much say she gets in the dialog details of episodes written by other writers. It's entirely possible she has no say at all, or that she gets overruled. I get the impression that some of the producers don't really care about things being factually accurate and are more interested in drama, shock value, and big explosions or action scenes.

 

 

 

Zannej, I'm not exactly sure, but I think all the writers take turns executive producing the episodes they don't write, and i think when they break the stories early in the year, they all weigh in on plot points, etc.

 

That's not to say that particular egregious goof went past her desk, but if I were the researcher and I was told to find an illness that fits such and such criteria, and i had a medical doctor on staff, you better believe I would ask her in addition to doing a thorough search for info before I would turn over any synopses or scenarios that could work with the illness.

 

Just as it's important to get it right with the profiling, the law, the psychology, and just the human emotions involved, the medicine can't be allowed to be pie-in-the-sky or downright insultingly wrong in its depiction. (BTW, I'm not blessing you out zannej, just kvetching)

[zannej]

heh. No problem, normasm. You have valid points.

[Knittzu]

This show feels so done to me, I'm not sure I'll bother watching episodes until they re-run them during the summer TV dry season.  There is just no energy left in any of the characters, not even the newest one.

 

 

Sadly, I agree. Episode after episode, it all just feels so flat. I can point to specific things like the lack of writing for Reid or JJ being inexplicably made the lead character -- but underlying it all is just the hum-drum work-a-day churnin'-out-another-ep feel that the show has now.

[thewhiteowl]

 I found it enjoyable. I usually don't like the ones with so much unsub but  I was interested in this one and it had a good twist. I liked the Hotch and Rossi scenes.

[Danielg342]

Since my Yellowknife post has been getting quite a few hits, I thought I'd share this picture from one of Yellowknife's beach volleyball seasons, from "Aboriginal Day" on June 27, 2013:

 

 

Yup, it sure is nothing but "moose and bears" up there...

 

*sigh*

Edited December 16, 2014 by Danielg342

[ForeverAlone]

I finally got to see this episode, and I have mixed feelings about this episode. 

 

I like the idea behind this episode, but didn't particularly like the execution (a common refrain from me this season). I personally didn't think it was chock full of team. It seemed like the same little amount of team we get in unsub-dominated episodes, which I mean to say, not nearly enough. I thought there was WAY too much unsub. I honestly don't get it with this show. I watch a fair amount of crime dramas, and I can't think of any other where the unsub is practically the star of the show. Sure I have seen plenty of scenery-chewing guest stars (L&O: SVU I'm looking at you), but those scenes were always with the main cast. In every other show, the whole point is watching the main cast figure out who did it, and in the case of this show, why. I don't like to know more than the team. I want to see the story unfold through their eyes and experiences. I watch this show, because I like the team and want to see them do their work. There is no reason that the show couldn't have the team profile the crime, and if necessary, show us flashback scenes that support their conclusions, but not before. So while I like Sharon's writing for the most part, I can't really get behind the way she wrote the crime. It was very convoluted, and honestly, I am not even sure what is the real truth about Benton and Amelia, because I can see it going either way, but honestly, I don't even care. 

 

I am still trying to figure out what Benton's actual plan was. Was his whole plan to go home, abduct Rebecca, and take her to the cabin for some rape and murder? If so, why not just abduct Rebecca when she was alone in some capacity? Is he that impulsive? Did he really want go home to try and reconnect with his father? I can't imagine he'd be that deluded in thinking he would be welcome with open arms. And if Rebecca was his target all along, why take along her brother? I mean, he seemed to have no regard for Andy. I mean, it was pretty obvious that Benton didn't just kill when he was cornered, based on what he did to Miriam, and what he wanted to do to Rebecca. So why not just kill Andy and be done with it? 

 

Okay, so let's assume his entire endgame was to get to the cabin and rape and murder Rebecca with Amelia. He knew where the cabin was, because of what Amelia told him, but I guess he was assuming she would be there after 12 years? He knew she fled. Did he know she fled to Canada, or did he think she was at the cabin all this time? And why not rat her out about the cabin? And why did she return to Utah after all that time? And how the hell did she escape detection all that time? I mean, she wasn't that far from the place of the original crime. She didn't make any attempt to alter her appearance from what I could see. Was she some sort of subsistence farmer and never had to interact with society? I mean, yeah, she was a hardcore survivalist, but she would have to get supplies somehow. And if she was spotted in Canada, why the hell was she never spotted in Utah? Did she live at that cabin for the last four years and never interact with society? 

 

I just can't really get where Sharon was heading with this story, which is odd, because we saw more of the unsub than we did of the team, so you would think the audience would have a greater understanding of Benton's intentions than the team did. I am being harder on it than if I saw the same story emerge from the team's point of view, because if we only see the team's perspective, it would make sense why they only know so much. 

 

In any case, this episode wasn't an entire fail for me. 

 

1. I did like that Reid was able to tag along with Morgan and JJ. 

 

2. The scene at the hospital when Rebecca and Andy were reunited was heartfelt.

 

3. Even though Hotch and Rossi's bookend scenes had nothing to do with the case, and could be examples of the wrong way to do personal stories, I didn't have a problem with them. I chalk it up to the easy chemistry between Thomas and Joe. I can see them actually being friends, and their banter seemed authentic and not forced. Plus it wasn't cheesy sentimental or anything, because I hate those type of scenes. It wasn't about shoving the idea of "family" down my throat, but seeing two friends just being friends. I enjoyed the scene at the end with the ladies, and it was nice to see Hotch in a different mode, just being relaxed and friendly with a woman, with no expectations or anything. 

[Lillybee]

I guess Beth really didn't want to quit her other job as FLOTUS on Scandal to be with Hotch.

[webruce]

Not sure why Ron and Karen Myerson and the Security Guard were killed at first. But poor Rebecca Farland, she was mistreated by Benton Farland all day. At least Andy Farland played along for awhile. Their father Oren Farland didn't want Benton around and told him to leave. He didn't like that and they fought Benton killed Oren. Andy tried to trick him and later he got shot. Luckily the Trooper get away with out being sacrificed for the traffic stop on the blown tail light. Andy crashing the car almost worked. Then he killed the female that was nice enough to stop and offer help. This all culminated in finding Amelia Porter in a cabin. Garcia found 2 women with little history, Jane Appleby and Natasha Banks. So the team splits to talk to both. Nice to have Reid,Rossi and Callahan go to the right address. Benton and Becca are there. Benton did the killings and he loved Amelia. The team tried to talk him out of it and he killed himself. Better that way then Becca or Amelia, or the BAU team. Nice for Becca and Andy to be together at end. Since the rest of the family are dead.

Rossi and Hotch at the Jazz club wasn't bad for me. I did like Beth, but she has moved away for her job. But along distance relationship should have worked for them. Hotch usually loves deep. So unless her and Hotch have a FWB visits he might as well move on. It must have been when he took Jack to Florida? Celina Destin and Audrey Hanson are a cute couple of ladies. They figured FBI right away. So must be Agents frequent the club. Rossi left Hotch and one alone, and they talked about going on a tour of Historic places, that was nice.

I liked the episode, it had a different feel. All to me had a good amount of screen time.

[Mislav]

I have actually really liked the episode, only due to the unsub. A really great actor and an interesting take on his pathology. His belief that he was "jinxed". It came off that all those violent acts were a way of his to deal with his inner pain and that he was regretting them despite enjoying them. That nobody really understood him and he had been met with nothing but pain, being unable to do anything right, find happiness, so he, himself, became cruel. Most of the unsubs are basically that but I have rarely ever felt it the way I have in this episode.

He sounded more sad than sadistic or hateful. And a pretty interesting pathology-rapist and proxy killer turned spree killer. Also, his murders were much more realistic than the ones we usually see on this show.

Of course, the ending scene was a pure contrast to his human side. I was left wondering, had he been honest the first time around in some way or just tried manipulating the hostages into following his orders?

The whole episode had a country song feel to it.

Other than that, the episode was pretty lame, especially Aaron/David subplot. I don't like that they have gotten rid of Beth, especially that way, although the actresss has left the show. And there was a serious lack of Reid. And not enough profiling but the unsub made up for it.

[missmycat]

Other than that, the episode was pretty lame, especially Aaron/David subplot. I don't like that they have gotten rid of Beth, especially that way, although the actresss has left the show. And there was a serious lack of Reid. And not enough profiling but the unsub made up for it.

I consider Sharon Lee Watson my favorite CM writer, but for that reason alone this is probably my least favorite episode of hers. I got to admit I wasn't too enamored with the plot either. I do feel at times Sharon is the one hope us Reid fans have in him getting any sort of decent screen time/focus. And I honestly do not know what I would do if Reid would suddenly start to get the shaft in her episodes as well. So I am hoping Amelia Porter was a one time deal.

[Mislav]

I've noticed that many posters don't think that Benton's plan made sense. I think that there are two explanations:

1) Benton tried to appeal to his father, but ended up murdering him in self defense. He snapped and, after abducting the kids, devised the plan to murder Rebecca with Amelia's help. He already knew how to find her, but only succumbed to his urges and made up the plan after murdering his father and abducting the kids out of necessity.

2) Benton had been planning to take Rebecca all along. He arrived home expecting to find his father and murder him in order to eliminate any possible threat and delay the disappearance being reported, then abduct the kids. But the father wasn't at home, the kids were. So he decided to wait for him: if he had left, the kids could have told their grandfather about him and he could have gotten in hot water. He tried to appeal to his father, gain his and the kid's confidence, so the murder and abduction would go smoothly later, but the father didn't react well, so Benton had no choice but to murder him, then abduct the kids. He kept Andy in order to gain Rebecca's trust until they were to reach the destination, make them both believe that he didn't want to hurt them, making it easier for him to control them. When Andy became too much of a danger (driving the car off the road), he tried to murder him, took Rebecca and followed through with an abduction plan. Maybe he was intentionally taunting the father in order to both eliminate him and gain the hostages' trust. (Of course, that doesn't explain why did he make Andy watch him murder the security guard.)