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S10.E15: Scream


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Yeah, for some reason they hack it to pieces in the spring. There'll only be 3 in March: the 4th, 11th and 25th. That'll bring us up to  10.18. Then I guess April will have the 10.19 episode that's the spinoff thingy.

  • Love 1
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Ok, so the lead in lasted too long. For a moment I was hoping we weren't going to see the unsub's face but we did before the opening credits. Way too much torture porn.
Nurses and school teachers are people who could disappear for days without being noticed? What? I call bullshit.
The psychological evaluation was contradictory and just didn't ring true. He wants to protect them, but he hurts them?
Again, JJ had the key insights and then participated in the takedown. And of course Kate had to be the one to shoot the guy. Where were the rest of the team? Why didn't JJ call out to them? Why was JJ down there by herself? They should have been searching in pairs and the minute she was attacked she should have called out to the team. Oh, but wait, she's Superwoman and doesn't need to call for help because that would make her weak. *sigh*
The boy recorded his mother's murder and nobody ever once noticed he was carrying the casette player and listened to it? Bullshit. Oh wait, they noticed he was carrying it, but nobody bothered to listen to it even though the cop had told him to try to record the abuse. I still say Bullshit. They would have taken it and either made copies or put the original tape in evidence.
He listens to this thing all the time yet he conveniently had the tape out of the player during the fire.

The unsub is meticulous about washing just about everything except the apron-- which looks like it lets blood through. Why didn't he have a line of aprons like he did shirts? Also, blood turns brown after awhile, so it would not stay red. it just looked fake.
I like Kate's husband, but Meg seems like a total brat. If the "hot guy" didn't show up because of a "babysitter" that should be a red flag. It's annoying me that this girl is so stupid. Plus, she's not that great of an actress.
The male cast took a backseat to the girls this week. I'm ok with Kate getting some screentime since she's a new addition and has barely been used, but Hotch was woefully underused.

I did like how Reid went toward the map, but he didn't get to contribute too much.
I did like that they brought the old cop in and I thought there were some good actors.
I liked the little smirk from Morgan when Reid mentioned chess tournaments as a place where singles could meet.

I thought the actor playing the unsub did a good job with what he was given, but I don't think his character was really all that fleshed out or believable from the writing front.

I liked the music he was listening to at the beginning though.
This episode was just mediocre.

  • Love 6
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I liked this one until the end. I would have ended it differently. When did they stop talking the UNSUBS down or am I just misremembering? Anyway I would have had him hand tape to the cop he liked and then have them arrest him. Something like that but then the writers probs wanted to show one of Kate's three guns.

Oh speaking of....Kate's niece is an idiot and really don't care at all about the storyline.

  • Love 3
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Ok, so the lead in lasted too long. For a moment I was hoping we weren't going to see the unsub's face but we did before the opening credits. Way too much torture porn.

Nurses and school teachers are people who could disappear for days without being noticed? What? I call bullshit.

The psychological evaluation was contradictory and just didn't ring true. He wants to protect them, but he hurts them?

Again, JJ had the key insights and then participated in the takedown. And of course Kate had to be the one to shoot the guy. Where were the rest of the team? Why didn't JJ call out to them? Why was JJ down there by herself? They should have been searching in pairs and the minute she was attacked she should have called out to the team. Oh, but wait, she's Superwoman and doesn't need to call for help because that would make her weak. *sigh*

The boy recorded his mother's murder and nobody ever once noticed he was carrying the casette player and listened to it? Bullshit. Oh wait, they noticed he was carrying it, but nobody bothered to listen to it even though the cop had told him to try to record the abuse. I still say Bullshit. They would have taken it and either made copies or put the original tape in evidence.

He listens to this thing all the time yet he conveniently had the tape out of the player during the fire.

The unsub is meticulous about washing just about everything except the apron-- which looks like it lets blood through. Why didn't he have a line of aprons like he did shirts? Also, blood turns brown after awhile, so it would not stay red. it just looked fake.

I like Kate's husband, but Meg seems like a total brat. If the "hot guy" didn't show up because of a "babysitter" that should be a red flag. It's annoying me that this girl is so stupid. Plus, she's not that great of an actress.

The male cast took a backseat to the girls this week. I'm ok with Kate getting some screentime since she's a new addition and has barely been used, but Hotch was woefully underused.

I did like how Reid went toward the map, but he didn't get to contribute too much.

I did like that they brought the old cop in and I thought there were some good actors.

I liked the little smirk from Morgan when Reid mentioned chess tournaments as a place where singles could meet.

I thought the actor playing the unsub did a good job with what he was given, but I don't think his character was really all that fleshed out or believable from the writing front.

I liked the music he was listening to at the beginning though.

This episode was just mediocre.

Yes, Zannej, bullshit seems to sum up this episode for all the reasons you mentioned. Some of these writers keep churning out the same crap over and over. Do we really believe that any one of these agents would approach an unsub ALONE? And of course it had to be JJ. The thing was so full of holes it was ridiculous. If it weren't for the episodes the past two weeks, this one would be enough to put me over the edge of not wanting to watch ever again. But whoever said Reid was yummy, you're right. ;)

 

This may not be the right place to include this, but my husband and I have been watching Ed Bernero's show Crossing Lines on Netflix. There are some similarities to CM, but at least the writing is good, and so is the casting and the acting.

  • Love 3
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I am kinda sorta surprised people hated this epusode. 50/50 anyway. JJ did something heroic which means people on this board will hate this episode out of spite but Reid had an insanely cute moment on the plane so.....

The UNSUB was interesting and like I said above. I just didn't like the way it ended. I thought it would have been better if he was able to give his fake tape to the cop he liked.

Edited by Chaos Theory
  • Love 1
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I am kinda sorta surprised people hated this epusode. 50/50 anyway. JJ did something heroic which means people on this board will hate this episode out of spite but Reid had an insanely cute moment on the plane so.....

The UNSUB was interesting and like I said above. I just didn't like the way it ended. I thought it would have been better if he was able to give his fake tape to the cop he liked.

What did JJ do that was heroic apart from walk into a dark cellar without backup? I didn't hate this episode out of spite but because once again it was the unsub show, the plot was full of holes, half the team disappeared again and the sub story with Kate and Meg is already boring me. Actually the unsub reminded me so much of the one in The Big Wheel except that that episode was so much tighter in plot and accomplished in the writing. Kim Harrison is just not up to the mark for me which is why I hated this episode. After the good episodes in the previous two weeks this was such a let down.

  • Love 4
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What did JJ do that was heroic apart from walk into a dark cellar without backup? I didn't hate this episode out of spite but because once again it was the unsub show, the plot was full of holes, half the team disappeared again and the sub story with Kate and Meg is already boring me. Actually the unsub reminded me so much of the one in The Big Wheel except that that episode was so much tighter in plot and accomplished in the writing. Kim Harrison is just not up to the mark for me which is why I hated this episode. After the good episodes in the previous two weeks this was such a let down.

Maybe heroic is the wrong word. Actiony is a better one. And personaly I didn't like last weeks episode (that was the dead Gideon one right). I tend to skip blocks of episodes this show is no longer on season pass with me and hasn't been since Paget Brewster left so I tend to lose track so sorry about word choice still didn't hate ep.

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This was so boring. The show is back to its "usual", with all the holes that zannej pointed out in full force.

 

I don't mind them focusing on Kate, she needs some focus, but it left no time for anyone else but JJ, because JJ is a mom! and being a mom! makes these two sooooooo special! Honestly, Reid should have come up with the conclusion that they waited a whole scene for Kate to conclude, because no one can write a genius, or even someone of normal intelligence who has a bit of life experience… it takes a mom! to figure it out (15 minutes after we have…)

 

Reid looked fine for the few scenes they dangled him in front of us, but was Rossi even there? Morgan? Even Garcia didn't know what to check without the simplest assist this time.

 

The unsub from the beginning, and a poorly drawn one at that. I enjoyed Chris Callahan OK, but, yeah, that brat! I can't begin to care about these stupid children… and Kate shooting the guy in the back at the end, excessive force. Bleeechhhhh.

 

It's not that I had any hope that the trend of Nelson's Sparrow and Hero Worship (balanced character attention while focusing on one for the most part) would continue, but damn! This was one of two episodes in February sweeps! Lousy timing, folks.

  • Love 6
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The UnSub was just too -- something. Not just that he had an inordinate amount of screen time (where's McCatry??) but he was just so overwrought with no follow-through. I wasn't scared of him; I found him ridiculous and beyond annoying. Such a caricature of an obsessive-compulsive, and I never got why. I still can't figure out why he kept bashing his head against that nightstand. It made me want to, though.

The niece B-plot. Just... no. Besides not being the greatest actress, I'm not buying that she could be that stupid. OK, she's 13, a rebellious age. Couple that with some orphan angst, and I could more likely see her sneaking off to some party and being careless and someone slipping something in her drink -- that, I might believe. But having her fall for the online predator spiel is not convincing. And don't the girls think it's one guy? What are they planning to do, share him?

JJ and her roundhouse kicks just made me laugh. As soon as I saw her go into the "stance," my eyes were rolling so hard I got vertigo. So stupid. And once again, she's rogue. Why would the idiot go into that basement by herself? And she kicked in the door to enter the house. Have they had her do that previously? I don't buy that she would be able to do that.

Almost zero Reid, Hotch and Rossi. I expected it, so I wasn't exactly disappointed. And the line about picking up women at chess tournaments? Really? He's a profiler with 10 + years of experience -- he had to be joking. I would've liked that bit better if he had smirked a little after saying it. He did have good points to add when they were brainstorming, but there wasn't nearly enough team and profiling.

He did look fine, though. Yikes. So did Morgan (who didn't annoy me once --yay!) in that purple shirt. And Morgan doesn't usually do it for me.

I like Kate. People are griping a little about her makeup -- wonder if it is supposed to be a little unsubtle because she's just not polished yet, coming to the BAU from doing undercover stuff... Regardless, JLH is a lovely woman, I think.

I don't know how KH still has a job, honestly. Does she have dirt on someone or something? Could I do better? I started to say no, but frankly, maybe. And I wasn't digging the direction on this one, either.

This isn't an episode I'll watch again. If someone can point out some redeeming qualities to me, though, I'm all ears.

Edited by Droogie
  • Love 6
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This was so boring. The show is back to its "usual", with all the holes that zannej pointed out in full force.

I don't mind them focusing on Kate, she needs some focus, but it left no time for anyone else but JJ, because JJ is a mom! and being a mom! makes these two sooooooo special! Honestly, Reid should have come up with the conclusion that they waited a whole scene for Kate to conclude, because no one can write a genius, or even someone of normal intelligence who has a bit of life experience… it takes a mom! to figure it out (15 minutes after we have…)

Oh good grief, I know! Is it me, or is AJC's delivery sometimes sheepish, as though she knows that so many people are just sick to death of JJ? Or is that just her acting?

The unsub from the beginning, and a poorly drawn one at that. I enjoyed Chris Callahan OK, but, yeah, that brat! I can't begin to care about these stupid children… and Kate shooting the guy in the back at the end, excessive force. Bleeechhhhh.

Me too. I cannot stand these kids. Are there at least better child actors, for crying out loud? I am just gritting my teeth during their scenes, because all I see is that they take away time from people I actually care about watching.

It's not that I had any hope that the trend of Nelson's Sparrow and Hero Worship (balanced character attention while focusing on one for the most part) would continue, but damn! This was one of two episodes in February sweeps! Lousy timing, folks.

Yep. They should've put this drivel before Nelson's Sparrow. Edited by Droogie
  • Love 4
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I will say that the episode was visually interesting and (other than the child actresses in the bookends) I thought the acting was good. I didn't quite get why the unsub was OCD. I mean, it was interesting in one way, but then there was no explanation of why.

 

And I don't know how much say Kim has in what goes on with the B plot involving Kate's niece, but you would think that there would be a general rule that Kate has to let her guardians meet any friends she is going to hang out with before she goes to hang out with them, just as a precaution. Especially with Kate's job, this kid should understand how dangerous things can be. I guess it galls me because I was never the typical teen and I didn't do the stereotypical teen stuff that they show on TV. So I just can't relate to it at all. Granted, I know there are teens who do stupid things like that, but I would like to see some more examples of intelligent teens who don't do stupid things like that. Plus, I just don't buy that this kid would be THAT stupid.

 

I didn't hate this episode, I just felt the writing was weak. The B-plot didn't connect with the main plot at all. The team members were practically an afterthought in the unsub story.

 

I'm not big on seeing the family members and such of the team all the time, but I really like Kate's husband and I liked how he dropped in at the mall and did so in a polite way-- although Meg was a total brat. Did they say what the husband does for a job? 

  • Love 4
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Last nights 3 CBS shows to me seemed to handle cases from each others areas. The Mentalist had a serial killer. That is Criminal Minds territory. Criminal Minds had 2 kinds of stalking, The battered womens guy and the online "Senior" stalker. Send it to Stalker. Stalker had a cult, right up Patrick Jane's Alley.

  • Love 1
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Ugh, fuck JJ and her ninja fighting skills - I'm so sick of seeing the unsub come after her so we get to see all these awesome fighting skills. And then turning on the "I recognize that concerned mother" routine. Someone just chuck her out of that plane. I miss JJ the media liaison SO MUCH.

 

Hear that show?? I hate this JJ monster you've created. I HATE HER.

  • Love 4
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Anyone noticed that when JJ's hair is bound back that she gets all ninja? (I'm not sure if thats completly correct but in the last 2 eps her hais was open and she didn't got any fighting, forever people was bound back if I recall right ...)

The episode was ok though .. they had a lot of profiling but I didn't liked that Hotch and Reid went MIA occasionally.

  • Love 2
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I understand JJ has been a ninja in the past but she wasn't in this episode. I mean, she got her ass kicked by a guy of below average build. Granted this brings up the issue of continuity cause apparently she can kick a big CIA agent's ass after being tortured but can't handle a fairly thin guy when she's at full strength. I think the idea may have been to walk back the "JJ as a ninja" idea but the best way to do that would be to just not write her in fight scenes. I suppose that would be far too logical and bland.

 

On the matter of KH's continued employment, I wonder if it has anything to do with her relationship with Rick Dunkle. Dunkle and Messer seem like best buds so KH is in a pretty good spot, which is unfortunate cause she seems to be the clear weak link in the writers room. On the bright side the press release for the next episode sounds interesting and Virgil Williams is a step up from KH, as is everyone else.

  • Love 5
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So, a re-watch still yields Reid's lovely visage as the bright spot in this episode.  I think his hair finally got so heavy that it fell in closer to his face, making it look almost like he'd combed it.  Can't wait for the new 'do in upcoming episodes.

 

Other thoughts, in random order:

 

Speaking of hair, re: the JJ ponytail:  she seems to always pull it back when she's going to a potential confrontation, so it won't get in her way.  No particular conferral of ninja powers there.

 

I did like Kate's husband.  He seemed so 'normal'. Clueless, maybe, but normal.  No, parents, it is not okay for your 13 year old daughter to go to the mall with her friend at night.  Not unless you are right behind them, the whole way.  As far as that storyline goes, I could potentially be interested if the niece and her friend were kidnapped and trafficked, leading to the Beyond Borders episode.  But a lot of those meet-ups happen at airports, not the mall. 

 

I liked the relationship between Kate and Chris.  It looked comfortable, and familiar, and held more chemistry than that of JJ/Will.  Still think it's odd that they adopted Meg as an infant, yet aren't 'Mom' and 'Dad' to her.  Maybe she recently found out about the adoption and is rebelling?

 

Honey, salt water, ginger and tea----it took 187 IQ points to figure out they were for a sore throat?  Doesn't every grandmother in the world know that?

 

I thought JJ's rear end took more of a beating than did her head. I was surprised she was able to sit down on the plane.

 

I don't know how she was able to interpret Kate's 'worried mom' face from Kate's 'I just shot somebody in the back' face.

 

Please, anyone who thinks they learned anything about domestic violence from this episode----no, you didn't. It's important, and scary, and a lot more prevalent than many think.  But this episode was, in no way, a public service message about it. 

 

When I saw the plot summary, about the unsub collecting screams, all I could think of was Mike Wazowski.

 

Re: the placement of the episode.  My logic may not hold, but it seems like the following episode would pay the price for a sub-par one.  As in, 'I didn't like it, so I'm not tuning in again next week'.  If so, it doesn't cost them anything during sweeps, because there are no more episodes in February.  It may have cost them in viewership mid-episode, but I think most of us stay tuned, waiting anxiously, for the story to improve. 

  • Love 5
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Honey, salt water, ginger and tea----it took 187 IQ points to figure out they were for a sore throat?  Doesn't every grandmother in the world know that?

 

I thought JJ's rear end took more of a beating than did her head. I was surprised she was able to sit down on the plane.

 

Please, anyone who thinks they learned anything about domestic violence from this episode----no, you didn't. It's important, and scary, and a lot more prevalent than many think.  But this episode was, in no way, a public service message about it. 

 

When I saw the plot summary, about the unsub collecting screams, all I could think of was Mike Wazowski.

 

Re: the placement of the episode.  My logic may not hold, but it seems like the following episode would pay the price for a sub-par one.  As in, 'I didn't like it, so I'm not tuning in again next week'.  If so, it doesn't cost them anything during sweeps, because there are no more episodes in February.  It may have cost them in viewership mid-episode, but I think most of us stay tuned, waiting anxiously, for the story to improve. 

Hoo boy, thanks for a few sorely needed chuckles, especially the part about JJ getting ass-whipped! 

 

And i'm so glad i'm not the only one who kept hearing Boo's voice saying, "Mikewasowski"!

 

BTW, I think Lockdown won't suffer as much as it might if it was shown next week, because we'll be wanting a new epi after 3 weeks!

  • Love 5
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I understand JJ has been a ninja in the past but she wasn't in this episode. I mean, she got her ass kicked by a guy of below average build. Granted this brings up the issue of continuity cause apparently she can kick a big CIA agent's ass after being tortured but can't handle a fairly thin guy when she's at full strength. I think the idea may have been to walk back the "JJ as a ninja" idea but the best way to do that would be to just not write her in fight scenes. I suppose that would be far too logical and bland.

 

On the matter of KH's continued employment, I wonder if it has anything to do with her relationship with Rick Dunkle. Dunkle and Messer seem like best buds so KH is in a pretty good spot, which is unfortunate cause she seems to be the clear weak link in the writers room. On the bright side the press release for the next episode sounds interesting and Virgil Williams is a step up from KH, as is everyone else.

Well let us not forget that these are the same people who brought us that beyond ridiculous episode "The Forever People". You know that episode that according to AJC herself was suppose to help us see JJ as less of a super woman and more of a human being. So what did they do to convince us. Well that had her coming upwith all the key insights and pretty much solving the case by herself. And of course she single handedly takes down the unsub and rescues the victim thus saving the day. And JJ did all this while suffering from something she told Reid was worse than PTSD and suffering from hallucinations. Meanwhile Reid is unable to concentrate and do his job properly because he is too damn worried about her. It just seems to me that when it comes to this character(JJ) all logic just seems to go out the window.

  • Love 5
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Not much I can really add here, since most of the good points have already been covered by others.

 

Just allow me to echo the sentiment that it was annoying to see JJ yet again on the takedown in some ridiculous hand-to-hand combat situation.  I'm so tired of that. I really preferred JJ before she was a profiler, and was just a regular person instead of some kind of wonder woman.

 

I like the Kate character, but it's too bad she's been given relatively little to do so far. Right now, I'm not invested in the storyline about her niece, and I'm not sure if that feeling will change.

 

I guess I'm just disappointed that once again, the episodes this season don't seem too great.

 

On a somewhat positive note though, it was fun to see the evil sensei from The Karate Kid in this episode! Other than that, I've got nothing.

  • Love 6
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Well let us not forget that these are the same people who brought us that beyond ridiculous episode "The Forever People". You know that episode that according to AJC herself was suppose to help us see JJ as less of a super woman and more of a human being. So what did they do to convince us. Well that had her coming upwith all the key insights and pretty much solving the case by herself. And of course she single handedly takes down the unsub and rescues the victim thus saving the day. And JJ did all this while suffering from something she told Reid was worse than PTSD and suffering from hallucinations. Meanwhile Reid is unable to concentrate and do his job properly because he is too damn worried about her. It just seems to me that when it comes to this character(JJ) all logic just seems to go out the window.

It's also just lazy storytelling. These writers either don't know how or just don't want to write profiling scenes, so instead they write action scenes, unsub scenes, or family bookend scenes to take up time. It's like the unholy trinity of Criminal Minds writing. I feel like this episode is one of the best/worst examples of it. It's as if some of the writers finish a draft and realize they still need 10 minutes of material so voila more unsub and unnecessary action. 

  • Love 7
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Just another thought about JJ's action scene... Yes she got kicked more than she "should" have and didn't cried for backup ... I hope that's another hint that she isn't ok. Also that Kate played the last words of the unsub before she shot him and than looked at JJ like "what the hell where you thinking?"

  • Love 3
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Just another thought about JJ's action scene... Yes she got kicked more than she "should" have and didn't cried for backup ... I hope that's another hint that she isn't ok. Also that Kate played the last words of the unsub before she shot him and than looked at JJ like "what the hell where you thinking?"

That's a really good thought, so the writers will probably go in another direction.

  • Love 3
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The UnSub, Peter Holden/Folkmore was meticulous in keeping his perfect 1960's home clean and in order. We did see his face to soon. But in his basement, he had bad wife (mom)surrogates tied up. He worked with them to say what his mom Karen Holden said to his dad Frank back when he was small. Retired Detective John Folkmore(Cagney& Lacey) gave him a Cassette Recorder to catch dad beating mom on it. Well he caught dad murdering mom and then shooting himself. That would definitely mess you up. If Police back then never got the cassette, maybe Peter had hid it? But his trigger this time seems to be that a small fire must have ruined the tape. We see that his recorder has been burned and melted some. So he needed to recreate the story from the old tape.

But Peter working in the "Angel Network for Battered Women" was a good thing so others didn't end up like mom. But his trigger must have been the ruining of the headbanging tape. It did take Garcia a bit to single him out. I was glad that Peter didn't harm Connor Thomas. But he got the green lollypop to keep him happy. Same as probably Peter was given as mom and dad argued.

I agree that JJ should not have been the only one in that basement to face Peter. With their team alone they have enough to have doubles. But Including SWAT and regular PD she should not have faced him alone in that room. I am glad it wasn't JJ that shot him too. Could go back to old days and have either Morgan challenge the big bad woman beater, or a not so smart officer gets knocked out by the UnSub and JJ has to take him down. But I had wished instead of Kate shooting him, that he was either talked down, tackled, or like old days, a warning shot was fired, and he stopped. Just don't shoot up through the floor. As stated earlier, him handing the old tape to the retired cop would have been great. Maybe the reason he sits and bangs his head on the dresser is what he did as a kid when his parents fought?

The part about Makayla Davis and Kate's niece, Megan Callahan telling Chris and Kate they are meeting 2 boys from Science lab in school to hang at the mall isn't quite what the description tells about the show. It said Kate shows concern when they make a date with a (Boy)Senior they met online. It is true, but Kate was concerned about a 13 year old going on a date with a boy she has not met,not a boy off the internet. The boys are supposed to be school mates as Meg tells. Chris though after Kate told him she was worried, then he decided to watch Meg and Makayla meet the boys at an outside seating area. To me 13 is to young to have a date unsupervised. The "Senior" showed up in his van and was mad because Chris stayed near. So his text to Meg made her upset with Chris. Makes her mad for her babysitter being near. She should figure out at the very least why the "Senior" has a reason for a parent to not see him? I know the girls are gaga over his buff picture, but come on. Didn't being with Aunt Kate teach you anything? The UnSub bumped into Chris, maybe that will be a future clue? But I worried he would hurt Chris and then kidnap the girls. Wonder how he was going to draw them to his van? "Um hi this kid asked me to tell you he is over in the parking lot waiting to meet you." Or," He is not feeling good and I am his father/uncle/friend, I will take you to his home to meet." In reality though wouldn't he cut his losses and track other girls, or like they will here, keep trying?

  • Love 2
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 JJ did something heroic which means people on this board will hate this episode out of spite but Reid had an insanely cute moment on the plane so.....

If I'm going to be honest, I'm at the point with JJ where she doesn't have to do anything action, ninja, or even particularly dumb for me to hate it.  JJ lost me quite a while ago.

 

She mostly just has to be the on-screen focus for more than 5-10 minutes of the episode.  That does it.  If she had 11 minutes of the episode, and she spent them reading out loud from Dr. Seuss's books while extra adorable puppies and unicorn foals frolicked around her feet, I would probably still hate it and want her to go away, and fast forward through those scenes.

 

But, we all like different things--and I'm glad you found something you liked about it.  :)

Edited by Mari
  • Love 5
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It's also just lazy storytelling. These writers either don't know how or just don't want to write profiling scenes, so instead they write action scenes, unsub scenes, or family bookend scenes to take up time. It's like the unholy trinity of Criminal Minds writing. I feel like this episode is one of the best/worst examples of it. It's as if some of the writers finish a draft and realize they still need 10 minutes of material so voila more unsub and unnecessary action. 

Yes!

  • Love 3
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The good: well, it wasn't "politically correct"- it's your average (good old?) CM episode where a guy is hunting women. Slightly different in that there weren't three victims- teaser, middle, and the final one (who is saved)- although the first victim kind of served as a teaser victim and a middle victim all in one, with the final girl being completely powerless against the UnSub. Oh, and so too was JJ, so it's almost like there were three victims in this episode after all. I suppose I could say Kate saving JJ is "politically correct" since it's a woman saving the day, but it's no different from past CM episodes (like "The Slave of Duty" or "Broken Mirror") where Emily Prentiss or Elle Greenaway saved the day, so I let that part go. The main takeaway was that this was, finally, a more "traditional" (for the lack of a better descriptor) CM episode where the crime narrative featured a man hunting women (and whose only victims were women), a narrative this season stayed away from way too much up to this point.

That was the only positive, and sad to think that "misogyny" was the episode's only bright spot. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a "misogynistic" episode because cases like that happen in real life, but we need to have a mixture- not too many and not too little. Some seasons had too many. This one had too little, with some (like "If The Shoe Fits...") that are totally unrealistic.

Enough of that rant. On to the rest of my thoughts:

(Okay I lied- there was one other, minor positive: Reid's statement that chess tournaments could be a place where singles hook up. That was a pretty funny line, and the team's confused silence upon hearing it was gold...and hey, maybe the kid's on to something.)

-Brian Poth played the UnSub, and he looked so much like Gotham's Dr. Crane that it was uncanny. Gotham's character was played by Julian Sands, so, no the actors weren't the same, but the two looked so much alike.

-Thought Poth's acting was pretty good, but that's about all I can say about his character. The storyline- heck, this entire episode- felt like one giant cliche. Oh, so he decided to turn to murdering domestic violence victims because his mother was a domestic violence victim? Okay...like I didn't see that before. Even the part where he wanted to harvest his victim's screams, while sounding novel, still came off as rather rote.

-Leads to a good question- if all he wanted was to harvest a scream, in the world of YouTube, why didn't he think of watching a few movies or something? It's certainly less risky (and less illegal) than kidnapping women to do it, don't you think?

-While I suppose I could appreciate the fact the kid wasn't killed, I still wonder why it didn't happen- it's leaving behind a witness. Which leads to the next misstep, which is why no one bothered to talk to the kid (the UnSub wasn't known at this stage). Also, in a sobering thought, I realized the kid saw his mother's kidnapping, which is likely going to turn this kid into a psycho killer like the death of the UnSub's mother did for this week's villain. Fun- well, I guess CM is making sure they've got villains for future episodes, I guess

-The profiling really didn't ring true, and it showed pretty bad. Usually I need to think about it before I start thinking maybe the profile CM came up with is pretty wonky, but this week I saw it right away. For example, I thought Kate and JJ came way too quickly to the conclusion that the slash across the throat was because he wanted to "silence his victims" (which turned out to be wrong anyway). I thought, quite naturally, that the UnSub slashed his victim's throats to ensure that they're dead, because a victim who was beaten to death might not always actually be beaten to death, so you'd need to shoot them or slash their throats just to make sure.

-Also felt that the profile was just a lot of leaps and guesses- there was just no rhyme or reason to them.

-Going back to the episode's penchant for hiring lookalikes, the lead Detective sure looked a lot like Lester Holt. I don't care that the character was really named Detective Davenport played by Tyee Tilghman, I like Holt better than the actual actor in this episode, so I'm naming the lead Detective Lester Holt...because I can

(Aside: anyone think the Brian Williams fiasco could make a great case? Especially if the event actually happened only that we find out it was all staged? Just throwing it out there)

-Getting back to Detective Holt, like a lot of Detectives on this show (and unlike the real Holt), he sure didn't know how to do his own job. Let's see: both victims checked in to domestic abuse shelters- maybe you want to start by seeing if one of the workers is the culprit?

-Speaking of not following your leads- the UnSub as a boy received a gift from a former police officer. That might be useful, Detective Holt, right?

-No one also seemed to mention that the UnSub wasn't technically a serial killer- he only had two victims, and not much of a cooling off period. So mark that as another point against Detective Holt.

-I will give Detective Holt this much, though- he did seem to be involved in the case and contributed, which is more than a lot of detectives lately. Most of the other detectives seem to be lazy, simply calling in the BAU in and then leaving to play checkers or something while the BAU does the actual work.

(Hey, wait a minute...that might actually be a great job...it's a job that looks good, pays well but requires you to do no more work than to make a phone call! So where can I apply to be a CM Detective?)

-While I appreciated the fact that JJ got her butt kicked in this episode (and literally- one of the swings of the UnSub's bat struck her rear. Not sure if that was, ahem, by design...), it still points to some rather inconsistent writing. How does JJ go from shaking off PTSD and kicking butt to suddenly losing all of her skills in a heartbeat? It reeks of the show trying to tell the fans "look, we finally put JJ in peril, so stop complaining!" instead of making the situation organic. Oh, and though I may find JJ's fight skills to be unbelievable, there's no way she could get her butt handed to her by the UnSub: he's not exactly the picture of fitness...but then, we wouldn't get to see Kate save the day...*groan*

-Finally, the Meg storyline...I thought from the start it was stupid, and this episode was of no help. On top of the already established faults of Meg's poor Internet skills and the cliche of the "boy not actually being a boy", there were other problems. Meg told her father that she was meeting someone at the mall...not meeting someone at night. No way I'd allow something like that, if I was a parent. Also, the "boy" bumped into Meg's father, so he had a chance to "deal" with him but didn't...why? I also wonder- like zannej did- what his plan was. You'd think he'd use the old "I'm the boy's uncle, let me take you to him" trick, or text the girls to meet him at some other point where the dad couldn't follow them (and maybe implore them to move quickly by playing some kind of "game" or something). I also think it's rather "convenient" that the father "just happened" to be in the same area as his daughter...I guess I could buy his stalking skills (uh oh, does this mean he'll be a criminal?), but unless it's a small mall, I'd imagine he could lose his kids pretty quickly.

-Anyway, there were just too many holes in the Meg story and ultimately it was an unsatisfying "cliffhanger". Nothing really happened, meaning we'll get another "lure" episode and go through this dance all over again, making this episode a waste of time. The writers really don't know how to "get to the point" do they?

Edited by Danielg342
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The UnSub, Peter Holden/Folkmore was meticulous in keeping his perfect 1960's home clean and in order.

Oh my - little Peter witnessed his parents' murder-suicide "25 years ago." Which was was 1989-1990, not "the 1960's!"

 

I was pretty busy staring in horror at that woefully undercooked bacon he had for breakfast!  Put something like that on my plate, I'd be tempted to smack someone too (but being a civilized person, er, Wild Sow, I'd throw it back in the pan and crisp it up properly!) <g>

 

Ha, would that be cannibalism in my case?

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Oh my - little Peter witnessed his parents' murder-suicide "25 years ago." Which was was 1989-1990, not "the 1960's!"

 

I was pretty busy staring in horror at that woefully undercooked bacon he had for breakfast!  Put something like that on my plate, I'd be tempted to smack someone too (but being a civilized person, er, Wild Sow, I'd throw it back in the pan and crisp it up properly!) <g>

 

Ha, would that be cannibalism in my case?

I was thinking that he had a twisted sense of perfect home life as back in the 1950-1960's range. Mom always at home cooking and cleaning. Dad working hard and comes home to everything right. Clean house, meal ready, mom ready for later. Instead of his child hood where mom couldn't do anything right it seemed to dad.

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Interesting interview with the director of the episode.  Reveals something about the overall process, as well as particulars to 'Scream'.  Her comments indicate that she's seen the feedback on line.  I felt kind of bad for her, because most of the negatives she seems to have read about were not things over which she had control.

 

http://criminalmindsfans.com/exclusive-10x15-director-hanelle-culpepper-talks-scream/

She may have read feedback, but let's face it, we did see the unsub right away. She didn't keep him hidden, as she said. Would that the writers would read the feedback as well.

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She may have read feedback, but let's face it, we did see the unsub right away. She didn't keep him hidden, as she said. Would that the writers would read the feedback as well.

 

I read it to mean that she waited as long as she could to show the unsub's face, since the story was already written that he would appear at the opening.  And I interpreted her comments about the upcoming 10X17 the same way---unsub-heavy, but she's made some kind of attempt to prolong the time before the he or she is visible.  For me, it's not enough, but I understand that her hands are tied.

 

I thought it was interesting (and encouraging) that she's obviously read feedback from more than the 'official' sites, as she would probably not have seen many complaints about the inequity of screen time between unsub/victim and the team.  And I join you in wishing the writers would do the same.  And that they would care.

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Generally speaking, when I am complaining about an episode, my ire is directed toward the writer. It takes something significant to make me pay special attention to the direction. Directors can only provide so much input since they have to direct the script they are given. Yeah they can ask questions and make recommendations, but if the writer doesn't want to change the script, their hands are tied.

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You are correct from what I know, FA. Granted my knowledge of the Hollywood end of this is strictly what I've read, but in the indy part of it, yeah, unless the writer and the director are the same person, the writer holds sway over the director. This is why i can forgive some of Matthew's director turns that might be a little "out there", as they were ultimately the writer's creation. On the flip side, when i like what Kirsten did with Erica Messer in Nelson's Sparrow, I have to give her/both writer's props.

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