S10.E13: Nelson's Sparrow

[RollTheHardSix]

I didn't think it was an arc or a Reid-centric story either as it came together, it was just that I thought it would be at the very beginning because they were setting up the early scenes as if it were a Reid centric story.

I had no idea that it was about Gideon (went in unspoiled) and I just assumed because of the way they kept showing Reid and then the team standing in the cabin with their fake sad faces (I didn't buy their acting). I almost turned off right there.

Obviously, I didn't turn it off and I didn't think they were too heavy on the Reid stuff overall. Rossi had a major part in the episode, also because of Young Rossi. I just automatically jumped to the conclusion - OMG - terrible personal arc coming right up as they were setting up the story in the early scenes. Too many bad experiences in the last seasons I guess...

[webruce]

I liked how they treated Jason Gideon. They had all lost touch with him over the years. Which is right since we hardly ever heard his name spoken over the last few years. I hope that he contacted the team after Haley's murder, after Reid's kidnapping and his gf being murdered, and JJ's ordeal over seas. Maybe other times too. I hated to see him killed off, but with the actor not wanting anything to do with the show it worked in this episode. I just hope we hear about him from time to time. The flashbacks were good, but I do understand why they couldn't have used actual flashbacks of the actor. But I liked Ben Savage(Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World) to play a younger Gideon. I didn't until I looked it up match this young David Stephen Rossi to the one on "Anonymous". I see he also was on once before as YDR. I think at times they both had the mannerisms and speech down well.

The early days were interesting. The BAU originally called the "Behavioral Science Unit." And Gideon and Dave think up "Profiling", and other names they use in the current day. We had a decent amount of profiling in current day. The sticks in a circle that turned out to be a nest the Un-sub made at first surprised me that others didn't figure it out first. But then with us knowing it was a bird related story(and seeing the previews on tv) made it easier to figure out. So I see why local law enforcement and Kate didn't see it. The team(Reid), figured out that all the victims radiated from around that store,"Joe's Market" in town. He, they find out worked there. Then they figure that Gideon had sat in the "Pie Village"cafe watching for suspects. And possibly baiting the Un-sub. Unless like they said, he stuck out. But back in the day, both Rossi and Gideon sat there too. But as stated above if Gideon suspected Mallick then he didn't seem well prepared to catch or stop him. But as we see Mallick could probably sneak up on people like he did that bird he killed for Josie. Also we see Mallick's history that his father Gordy was not there for him and he was raised by his Aunt Gertrude. So did that mean he spent a lot of time alone and with his birds. So he kept Mary Ellen Barnett for 37 years? She the one that Gideon kept the picture of. Was Sarah the one Gideon loved?? So Stephen Gideon and Joy Struther's are the same age? Young David and Jason said they had kids around same time. But I didn't think Dave knew about Joy, until lately?

I see that Garcia(Kirsten Vangsness) was a writer along with Erica Messer. She did a decent job. Maybe why she stayed back at Jason's cabin. I was pleasantly surprised they left JJ back to guard and assist her. I figured she would go and investigate and have a no name Officer or Reid be with Garcia. I liked her story. To bad she didn't work on the JJ PTSD problem. She did good with Reid this week. But maybe JJ and Garcia could have talked about her problem at Gideon's cabin this week.

The Gideon/Rossi story about the sleigh riding into the cemetery was funny. Both said the other did it. Rossi and Hotch talking old times was good too. Poor Reid had tears. But rest were close.

Liked Morgan and Rossi consoling Reid.

I was surprised that Gideon shooting at the Un-sub that he didn't connect. But the shot to the bird picture was a great clue. I knew right off when Josie Behdart came upon Donnie Mallick in the wheel chair by the pay phone that she was in trouble. That scene is nice and bad in a way. It is nice to show people to be cautious, but it could leave a person with a disability that no one wants to help. Maybe just call 911 and let the Officer help him? But that is better then getting kidnapped and having your legs pulled out of the sockets. That scene(s) were disturbing. The dog seemed to want to help Josie in the basement. Also the worms scene showed that Mallick was (no pun intended) Coo Coo. Well maybe a little pun, lol. But at end when Rossi had the drop on Mallick, I thought it strange that Dave put away his weapon. He could have been dead. But he gave Mallick the chance that he probably didn't give to Gideon. Then David shoots him dead. Overall Garcia did a good job of writing. Very few mistakes in my book. Would love to see some more early BAU scenes. But they can't be all David.

Edited February 2, 2015 by webruce

[JMO]

Re:  whether or not it was Reid-centric:

I'm not a big fan of centric-stories for any of the characters, including, surprisingly (for me), Reid.  But that's because I like to see the interactions among all of them, and I like those interactions to contain both historical and character-driven (i.e., personality) consistency.  I like to see the reactions of the members of the team to the cases, and I think it makes sense that pretty much every case would affect one or more of them in a personal way.  For that reason, I think it would make sense if we were to see more of one or two of the characters in an episode, without it having to be considered 'centric'.

 

That's what I liked about this episode.  It sounded like none of them had been in contact with Gideon since he'd left, so it made sense for them not to react in an overly emotional way.  Just as it made sense for Reid to grieve more readily, and deeply, because of who Gideon had been to him.  I'm not sure I bought the 'I think about him every day' thing, since we'd seen none of it for eight years...but it's Reid, so....maybe.  He certainly has the capacity to think about many things every day.

 

 

 

[normasm]

Webruce, the Rossi pregnancy was of James, his son who died the day he was born, and was his child with wife no. 1, Carolyn. But, yeah, it seems like Joy is at least 33 or so, and she's from the end of marriage #2. I think the retconning is too much for CM continuity, it just doesn't track. Sad trombone.

 

JJ was made to stay behind because Hotch didn't want her in the field - because of her PTSD. I thought that was well-handled, and i really liked both JJ and Garcia in this, especially the ice cream scene. They were both funny and poignant without being over-anything.

Edited February 2, 2015 by normasm

[MCatry]

I don't like centric episodes neither, at least the ones this team of writers have delivered throughout the years, mainly because instead of integrating the personal stuff into the case, it seems that they think about a soapy personal story first, and then they just design a case that more or less fit the personal story, without fully explaining and/or developing the unsub behaviour. I just brought this 'centric-episode' issue because the CBS company (through magazines, interviews and Messer) were saying that there would be a 'great emotional arc' for' Reid, along episodes 13 and 14, and that they couldn't say anything else without spoiling the story. And in the end, it was more like a Rossi story in which everyone else gravitated around. Don't get me wrong: I would say that this is the best episode I've seen in months (and possibly years), and I was glad that every single team had something meaningful to do, despite the minor incoherences of the case. But calling that a 'Reid arc' was, at the very least, an exaggeration.

[Lebanna]

I can definitely believe that Reid might be devastated by this. Grief hits in weird ways, and even when you haven't seen someone you were close to for the best part of a decade, you can still mourn for the person you knew when you knew them and be sad that all their plans never came true, and that their death happened the way it did, or that the world now has to miss out on an awesome human being. You can still love people, even when you don't see them.

Not getting all personal, but that rang very true for me.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Lebanna

[webruce]

It was pointed out above that JJ wasn't close to Gideon. Maybe since most of the time she isn't close to Spencer that she has problems being around people that are overly smart?  I have a niece that called my son names when they were younger, and my wife pointed out that she had troubles with his IQ being so much higher then her own. Maybe this is the same?  Maybe also Gideon being quirky is part of it?

Edited February 3, 2015 by webruce

[MCatry]

It was pointed out above that JJ wasn't close to Gideon. Maybe since most of the time she isn't close to Spencer that she has problems being around people that are overly smart?  I have a niece that called my son names when they were younger, and my wife pointed out that she had troubles with his IQ being so much higher then her own. Maybe this is the same?  Maybe also Gideon being quirky is part of it?

Well, Reid and Gideon had a longer story. Both Morgan and Reid were part of the BAU before the arrival of Garcia and JJ.

Also, the media liaison not always traveled with the team back in those days. Finally, Gideon sometimes was very rude to people that were not following his train of thoughts so I guess he was even worst with agents that were not 'profilers'.

Frankly, I don't think JJ is warm. She doesn't seem to be close to anyone, not even her own mother or Will. The dismissive way she treats Reid has also been directed to Garcia, in several occasions, and at least once to any other member of the team. It's just the way she is. I don't mind her being like that, but I do mind the lack of reaction of others. I would at least ask in private if someone keeps rolling his/her eyes to me when I talk.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Well. Well.

 

I put off watching this one, and then I had to sit back and process it before trying to post about it. I was never Gideon's biggest fan to begin with, and then he nearly got Elle killed through his careless egotism and never took responsibility for it. Still, I'm a little sad knowing that he's dead, and that he got taken out by some coward who had to pretend he was in a wheelchair to deceive his victims into thinking he was harmless. I predicted in another thread that Jason likely ended up eating his gun a few months after he left, but I didn't expect this.

 

Not surprisingly, I really liked Reid's reaction to the news. Whether or not I thought Gideon was a good mentor, Spencer did, and having to come to terms with losing whatever slim hope he might have had about seeing the man again must be like having to face that fact that his sperm donor is no good despite whatever good intentions he may have had. And I was glad that Morgan just told him not to put his walls up when he cried at the morgue. I enjoyed the scenes of Young Gideon and Young Rossi in the flashbacks, the guys who started it all as younger men when they had wives and families on the way. I couldn't place the actor who played the younger Dave, so I looked it up, and his name is Robert Dunne, who also portrayed Flashback!Rossi is two previous episodes, The Fallen and Anonymous.

 

Was this a Reid-centric episode? I'm not sure. Compared to the rest of this season, maybe it is, but in comparison to the past, not at all. I was glad to see JJ sidelined by Hotch, and whether that's because of her PTSD or not, I'm just glad that she wasn't the one at the morgue with Reid, likely rolling the eyes out of her head because he was being emotional. As MCatry said, IMO she isn't particularly warm, and I don't really have a problem with that....unless she's one on one with Spencer being either dismissive or patronizing or both. I even liked her scarfing ice cream with Garcia, which just shows that I'm relatively easy to please. When she's acting like an actual person instead of Super Tough Barbie, I don't mind her. They should have more of that.

 

I give this one a B Minus. The case was kind of weak, but there was some decent emotional stuff from the main cast. I actually bought that these people were friends if not 'family', and I'm less bothered by Rossi killing the UnSub than maybe I should be. All in all, Nelson's Sparrow was a pretty good episode.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Cobalt Stargazer

[normasm]

Well. Well.

 

I put off watching this one, and then I had to sit back and process it before trying to post about it. I was never Gideon's biggest fan to begin with, and then he nearly got Elle killed through his careless egotism and never took responsibility for it. Still, I'm a little sad knowing that he's dead, and that he got taken out by some coward who had to pretend he was in a wheelchair to deceive his victims into thinking he was harmless. I predicted in another thread that Jason likely ended up eating his gun a few months after he left, but I didn't expect this.

 

Not surprisingly, I really liked Reid's reaction to the news. Whether or not I thought Gideon was a good mentor, Spencer did, and having to come to terms with losing whatever slim hope he might have had about seeing the man again must be like having to face that fact that his sperm donor is no good despite whatever good intentions he may have had. And I was glad that Morgan just told him not to put his walls up when he cried at the morgue. I enjoyed the scenes of Young Gideon and Young Rossi in the flashbacks, the guys who started it all as younger men when they had wives and families on the way. I couldn't place the actor who played the younger Dave, so I looked it up, and his name is Robert Dunne, who also portrayed Flashback!Rossi is two previous episodes, The Fallen and Anonymous.

 

Was this a Reid-centric episode? I'm not sure. Compared to the rest of this season, maybe it is, but in comparison to the past, not at all. I was glad to see JJ sidelined by Hotch, and whether that's because of her PTSD or not, I'm just glad that she wasn't the one at the morgue with Reid, likely rolling the eyes out of her head because he was being emotional. As MCatry said, IMO she isn't particularly warm, and I don't really have a problem with that....unless she's one on one with Spencer being either dismissive or patronizing or both. I even liked her scarfing ice cream with Garcia, which just shows that I'm relatively easy to please. When she's acting like an actual person instead of Super Tough Barbie, I don't mind her. They should have more of that.

 

I give this one a B Minus. The case was kind of weak, but there was some decent emotional stuff from the main cast. I actually bought that these people were friends if not 'family', and I'm less bothered by Rossi killing the UnSub than maybe I should be. All in all, Nelson's Sparrow was a pretty good episode.

 

Great review, CoStar. B minus was my grade, too. As for it being or not being Reid-centric? Not by my stars, but it was a team episode with a Reid patina, as if his mood was coating everything. I thought the emotionality of everyone, like you said, was well done. 

 

I really like the guy who plays young Rossi, even though he doesn't at all resemble him except for having black hair and brown eyes. He's an engaging actor. I didn't like young Gideon's mannerisms (the chewing the corner of the mouth, particularly). I don't remember Gideon chewing the corner of his mouth, I do remember him chewing on a toothpick in several episodes. But he got better as he went along.

 

I hope there's as much Reid Mood on #14 as there was here.

[missmycat]

This was the first episode in ages that I didn't feel as compelled to put JJ on mute. And in regards to the ice cream scene between her and Garcia, IMHO it did a much better job of showing JJ's humanity than that entire stupid PTSD episode. It was so nice to see her unsure and hesitant about it. You can tell she really wanted the ice cream but at the same time she was a bit conflicted about it.

She needed Garcia to reassure her that I'd perfectly alright to have the ice cream.

Edited February 3, 2015 by missmycat

[zannej]

Interesting that they had Reid talk about how even though Gideon had been gone, he knew he was still out there somewhere and that gave him comfort. Now, compare that to when they had that stupid pep talk from Prentiss trying to guilt-trip Reid by saying that oh, he lost a friend and was sad, but she lost all of her friends and she had an ulcer. Nevermind that she knew her friends were still out there.... I wonder if he just decided to not say anything to argue because he cared enough about her to not point that out.

[spinner33]

I finally got a chance to watch the episode.  I liked it, but am I the only one who thought this was written exactly like the series "Cold Case"?  All they needed to add was Reid or Rossi seeing Gideon at the end, and watching him fade into the background.   

 

There were things that I had problems with, not the least of which was the "weird for the sake of being weird" unsub.  He was so weird that you didn't take him seriously as a threat.   

 

All in all, I liked the episode, particularly the fact that the entire team is involved and it wasn't just one person showboating their way through every scene.  As other fans have pointed out, why can't the writers do this every week?  The quality of this episode compared to the subpar shit they've tossed against the wall in the last four years?  Phenomenal.   Matthew in particular knocked this one out of the park.   Sticking him in the background all the time is absolutely criminal.   

[needschocolate]

Took a while to watch this episode, but I noticed two things - 

 

-- JLH's character (forgot the name) said that she had signed up for a class taught by Gideon, but then he only gave 2 lectures.  I thought that was a jab at MP only staying with the show for 2 seasons (did the same thing with Chicago Hope).

 

-- Morgan and Hotch? (maybe Rossi?) referred to Reed as "kid" - I understand that he was pretty young when he started witht he BAU, but isn't he hovering around 30 now?  Seems odd to keep calling him the kid.  

[ForeverAlone]

Reid is 33 now. It's one thing to call him "kid" to his face like a term of endearment. I do consider it another thing to refer to him as "the kid" behind his back. TO ME, it's just another way the writers often infantilize Reid, rather than showing him as the capable, adult male he really is. 

[normasm]

I consider the Kid thing as affection.

[ForeverAlone]

I think it is affectionate when Morgan (and really only Morgan) calls him that to Reid's face. But to me, it takes on a different meaning when he's referred as that behind his back. It comes across like they don't view Reid as a man, but a child, who needs to be handled by kid gloves. I mean, Reid even said as much in "Valhalla" when he told Emily why he hasn't told any of the team about his headaches.

Edited February 13, 2015 by ForeverAlone

[Droogie]

Isn't it essentially only Morgan and Rossi who do it? If everyone did it, I would seethe about it a little, but I don't mind them. I never really get the impression that Hotch sees Reid that way. (And I really don't care what JJ thinks -- heh.) Kate has only known him as a 30-something man and she seems to see him as a peer.

[normasm]

Only Morgan and Rossi call him Kid. Hence the affection part.

[whitespace]

Rossi is nearly twice as old as Reid so I think it's ok if he calls him "kid" even behind his back. Morgan and Rossi always had a more personal relationship with Reid. Kate can't be much older than him I guess and she only knows him for a few month so Kid would be most inappropriate. Hotch is close with his Team but always maintains his leader distance and JJ calls him "Spence" so no worries there.

[amensisterfriend]

and there was profiling that didn't involve them all saying a line.

 

LOL---this is such a pet peeve of mine as well. I'm convinced it's an inevitable outgrowth of not better defining the members of this larger-than-it-has-to-be team or their specific areas of expertise/niches/roles. So instead of naturally having one or two characters who talk at greater length and with greater authority about a certain type of crime, topic or subset of the population that week while another team member just as naturally takes the lead for an entirely different type of case the next episode, all of these agents are depicted as equally knowledgeable about pretty much *everything*, with no differentiation in their strengths and skills. Each will just awkwardly go around and contribute a sentence so that the actors' agents can't complain their clients didn't speak that episode ;) 

 

If the team were smaller and better defined, this wouldn't be as much of an issue IMO. And, to be fair, I think this problem started back in S3 or so...but, like most aspects of the show, it's worse in later seasons! 

 

I agree with those who thought this episode was easily among the best ones of this season. I do wish they'd made Gideon's murderer a more compelling character and given us some suspense and mystery as to 'whodunit', but beggars can't be choosers :) 

[amensisterfriend]

Also agree that the line-by-line delivery started later, when they homogenized the team, and got worse as time went on. I think it's because the "profiling" at this point is so flimsy.

"He's a white male?"
"Are we ready for the profile?"

"He's a white male"
"At a menial labor job"
"and he wears pants"

"and shirts."

"He hates meatballs."

 

HA! 

 

It's a good thing that Garcia designed a super special computer program able to target all meatball-hating, pants-clad white males in the nation. And, after a couple of feeble quips, reminders of how wonderful she thinks she is and a few random keystrokes, she'll have narrowed the field to our one and only Unsub. And she'll know *exactly* where he is at that very moment. No profilers are actually needed on this team of profilers! 

 

[zannej]

Mmmm. Now I want meatballs.

 

anyone remember The Boogeyman episode where they comment that the killer hates creamed spinach and Reid says "Who doesn't?"

 

Just a little moment like that gave insight into the character-- and I liked how Gideon profiled that it was the kid who was the killer and the father was protecting him.

 

I agree that it doesn't seem right for this unsub to have been the one to take Gideon out. But then, in real life, sometimes something unexpected happens-- like Steve Irwin getting killed by a stingray. But Gideon's plan didn't make sense and it didn't make sense that he no longer had security at his cabin. I also don't know how anyone would have heard the gunshots and assumed it was a crime and not a bear sighting or a hunter shooting something to eat.

[SSAHotchner]

Well, that's because we viewers are too dense to figure these things out. The current writers just get a speck of an idea and then, instead of trying to work out the details or come up with something better, they just try to make it work. I really thought the whole bird thing was stupid. Instead of really going over old episodes to determine Gideon's character, behavior, etc. they pick up on one thing - Gideon likes birds - and then try to write an episode around that. They totally ignored his intelligence and insight. Even though I grew to find Gideon annoying (partly because of Mandy's own behavior and comments), I can't deny that there was a difference in the profiling when he was there, and it was better. I'm thinking of Compulsion where he speaks to the student campus security guy for just a minute and then says, "Your girlfriend thinks you want to break up with her." The look on the kid's face was amazing. Gideon was dead on a la Sherlock Holmes. And he never would have gotten rid of his security system on that cabin. These writers weren't around in the Gideon days and a lot of the current viewers weren't either, so this kind of detail doesn't bother them, but it drives me nuts. I don't have any problem with them killing Gideon off, but I can't buy that it happened in the way they wrote it. 

[ForeverAlone]

Yeah, I fully expected Gideon to be dead in this episode, but I expected him to die of a heart attack or cancer. And I was fine with that, because such a death would have been poignant. But his murder by such a pathetic unsub was not something I could countenance. We never even got a full explanation for what was supposed to have happened, how the unsub was able to get the drop on Gideon and just how he was able to kill Gideon when I don't think the unsub got inside the cabin. Plus I don't exactly buy that Gideon's final act would have been to shoot a bird picture in the small hope the BAU would somehow get it. I also don't see Gideon baiting an unsub, but not clueing the BAU into what he was up to.

[SSAHotchner]

Yes, FA, I thought he would have contacted the BAU, too, to let them know he thought he'd spotted former unsub. But then of course, they'd have a tough time writing that without actually showing Gideon. Not that that couldn't be done, but the writers just don't seem to know how to get around such things. 

[Droogie]

Not that I don't think that the Gideon of old would never have let the UnSub have any sort of advantage, but... do I think he would've contacted the BAU with his suspicions? No. I don't. He left them, and he had his (admittedly tenuous) reasons. And, right or wrong, I think he would've insisted on pursuing his leads on his own. He had a certain arrogance. Maybe he thought he didn't need them any longer and wanted to prove it. Maybe I think he would've contacted them after he got the drop on the suspect. In my fanwank, up until he shot that bird pic, he thought he could do it alone.

[zannej]

Good point, Droogie. They did show that a few times in his career, Gideon underestimated the unsubs and made some critical mistakes-- Bale in "Won't Get Fooled Again" having fooled him the first time and killed multiple agents (but he learned from that mistake). He also underestimated Randal Garner and nearly got Elle killed as a result-- all because he was pissy about his cabin being violated. Then there was the time he got himself shot while taunting an unsub about having a small penis (IIRC, saying women called the guy "tiny Tim" or something). So he did put himself in danger and he was arrogant at times-- but I don't think he would have been stupid enough to get rid of his security system and let himself be so vulnerable. If they'd established that he'd been ill or something, it might be different.

[Danielg342]

Maybe it would have made more sense if the ME revealed that Gideon was developing dementia or Parkinson's or Alzheimer's or some other kind of neurological disease, because I'd buy that Gideon was stubborn enough to work through that. It'd also be very poignant for Reid as it would serve as a reminder to him to always cherish his brain- because he may never know when he'll lose it.

[normasm]

SSAH, I had hoped that Gideon had contacted them (at least Rossi, because Rossi would have remembered the case) and that's why they all ended up there, too late, because the guy had followed him back to the cabin. I imagined him contacting Rossi, then starting to write another letter to Reid to help him find this coo-coo bird, and then the guy came and incapacitated and kidnapped Gideon. My scenario unfolded that by the time they found Gideon, he was dead, but the mending of the relationship with Reid would have at least been started.

 

The way the writers did it, Gideon ignored Reid right up to and through the end, and he seemingly thought he could bring this guy in single-handed. He basically flipped the bird (pun intended) to everyone, especially Reid.

[ForeverAlone]

That's one of the reasons I can't consider the murder of Gideon in this way to be a "love letter to the fans." They had to basically destroy the Gideon character without giving a deeper context to any of his actions. I get that they would never have gotten Mandy to return for this episode, but they chose to write this particular story and I think there needed to be some story tightening if they were going to have Gideon murdered by a long lost unsub.

Edited March 23, 2015 by ForeverAlone