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S10.E15: Scream


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I noticed she addresses the issue regarding the lack of certain characters in the episode. Now it'd probably be a lot easier for me to accept her reasoning if it wasn't happening with so many of the episodes and with the same cast members. It's funny to me that AJC never seems to have any of those issues.She must practically live on the damn set with as much screen time as she gets.

Edited by missmycat
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Hey, all my ire is directed at the writers except for the bit that is directed at Erica as show runner and CBS for their bonehead decisions. I know the director can't hide the unsub when the script calls for him/her to be executing business. At least this particular director is aware of the viewers' displeasure. But the writers who are aware of it seem only to be angry about it rather than wanting to actually write better scripts, i.e. arguing with folks on Twitter.

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I hardly go to Twitter anymore, either, Normasm, but I do remember reading stuff about them responding to complaints about certain episodes. Even Jim Clemente defended some of the horrible stuff, like 200. I lost all respect for him then. He's just trying to hang onto his cushy Hollywood job. He can't possibly believe that anyone like JJ would be over in the Middle East hunting terrorists. I'll have to go back to some other forums and see if I can find specifics. Dunkle, I think, was one who kept canceling his Twitter and then coming back after he cooled down. Hey, if you can't take the heat....

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I finally had some time to watch this episode (It's been a while since I decided it was more worthy to have a good night of sleep than watching CM late on Wednesday night, and then wasting more time being angry at things I cannot change)
I found it terribly boring. In fact, after ten minutes I just decided to start all over again, and count the scenes at the same time than watching (which includes stopping and taking notes on times and characters many, many times) so I wouldn't have to watch this again.
I couldn't care less about Kate's niece. She is a terrible stereotype of what an adolescent really is. I work with teens, and most of them are not that stupid. Of course, there are exceptions, but Kate's niece is the depiction of what people have in mind when fearing the social media, and I guess that's why they wrote her being so dumb.

I know some fans enjoyed the joke about Reid’s line (“Maybe he hunts his victims at places where singles hang out. You know, bars, night clubs, chess tournaments).
I, didn’t.
I don’t like the implications that just because you are single, (so, to be clear, not a mom, but also not having an affair with someone else) you are a loser. So you get smirks. And I though we were over the “make fun of Reid” role. Apparently, they are not done yet. And I still do not get why what Reid said was worthy of all those “you are weird” looks from his colleagues.

I still hate Garcia, so nothing new here. Again, her magic computer has Access to data that was unlikely uploaded ever, but still she did a help request, so I guess it was a nod to all the fans that are fed up of cases solved by a laptop. It was solved by the laptop anyway, but She asked for assistance, so we all should be glad (that, for the record, was sarcasm) One of her lines was “I feel like I don't deserve to talk to you”. Yeah, you don’t.

I read some comments regarding the virtual disappearance of the male cast, and I must say I didn't feel it. They were there (mind you, not being particularly useful), but I think the final ten minutes or so, filled with JJ and Kate, that they erased anything we saw earlier. I said this, and I'll say it again: I was bored. Really bored. I actually wanted the unsub to finally kill that annoying woman at once just to stop those endless scenes.
But what really ruined the episode was that last section.

I absolutely hated the JJ action scene.
First of all: Kate says “JJ and I will take the house”, and then Morgan says “We’ll grab the others and go to the shelter”. Yeah, right. Not only the teams are obviously uneven in numbers and capacities, but also all the males are going to the shelter, which is the least likely place for the unsub to be at that time of the night (and obviously not the right place to keep a woman kidnapped there). I think that if they don’t have a good explanation for their decisions, they just shouldn’t explain them, at all. Specially not like that.
Then, One FBI SUV followed by two police vehicles on one scene (I guess using the GPS is better than following the locals to a local address), and then two patrols parking, and one SUV parking later, and then just one detective and two trained FBI agents screwing the protocols while entering a possible dangerous locations.
The entire fight scene just plain enraged me. I am fed up of those scenes about JJ hitting men. And what about the “Scream for me” unsub line, followed by the “You wish” cocky answer of the resident superwoman. The only good think is that she got kicked in the ass.  I wished the unsub would have hit JJ on the head, so at least she would shut up for once.

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Oh God I had forgotten about the "Scream for me" line. It sounded like the final "gotcha!" line in an Arnold Schwarzenegger film. The unsub may as well have been blown up by a bazooka round shot by Kate as she slyly says "You're fired." I think I'm just gonna forget about this episode. The past two have been good and the next one sounds promising so hopefully this is just a speed bump in a run of solid episodes.

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And I though we were over the “make fun of Reid” role. Apparently, they are not done yet. And I still do not get why what Reid said was worthy of all those “you are weird” looks from his colleagues.

I didn't see them making fun of him. My friends and I react the same way if one of us is making a strange remarks about something.

But I agree with you about Garcias magic box .. they could make it a bit less convenient sometimes.

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Yawn! I mean, the very first thing we see is the unsub. Again, the audience should not know more than the team. If we can produce our own profile from what we see on screen, what is the point of the team doing their job? So he targeted women who lacked self confidence in the first, but then moved on to an actual domestic abuse victim? I never really understood how he managed to know enough about the first two victims when it doesn't sound like they were victims of domestic abuse. At it became rather repetitive to see the unsub listening to his cassette more than once. We frankly didn't need to see so much unsub. The team's words should have painted a good enough picture. But most of all, I never got a good handle on why the unsub was doing what he was doing. I mean yeah okday, he was killing women simply to get a new recording of his parents' death? When he was supposed to be dedicated to helping women overcome abuse? But he was listening to something on the cassette. So what was it, if that tape was supposed to have been damaged? It just seemed weird that he would blame his mother for his distress, since he witnessed his father killing her, and he would be trying to hold on to his mother's memory by trying to recreate her screams. The actual case just seemed to not be well thought out in terms of motivation and the psychological state of the unsub. Or at least I didn't think it was.

 

It was a nice bit of profiling on Kate's part that determined that Peter changed his name to Folknmore. But once again, I was tired of JJ being the person who has to take down the unsub, or at least get into a physical fight with the unsub. It gets old after a while. 

 

I did like to see Kate and Chris. They seemed like a normal, happily married couple.I also liked Chris mentioning Kate's guns. That is a nice gender role reversal, because it is usually the father threatening a daughter's boyfriend with HIS guns and not his wife's guns. And if this whole Meg thing is leading toward the season finale, this will be horribly telegraphed. I mean, like we see it coming from a mile away. Meg just seems like a stupid teen. I get that teens sometimes do stupid things, but you would like to think that kids of cops would be a bit smarter, particularly a federal agent who dealt with crimes against children. The Internet has been around for more than 20 years, and kids in theory are supposed to be savvier about the risks. At least it would be nice if the writers wrote Meg in a way that didn't make it so easy for the unsubs who are going to kidnap her, and would display some actual suspicion and self preservation. I mean, she thinks some actual senior boy would want to meet her and her friend? Come the hell on. Even if that was the case, that alone should set off alarm bells. This just seems like lazy storytelling. 

 

Is Reid actually looking for love at chess tournaments (or hoping to), or was that supposed to be a Reid joke? Reid does have a sly sense of humor at times, so it would have been nice to see him say that with more of a sarcastic tone. But maybe this joke was more in the same vein as his "evil twin, and eviller twin" statement. 

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I always thought it would have made for a better story for Meg if the person she was meeting was actually the boy she believes she was messaging, only for the boy to turn out to be the kidnapper or a ruse for the kidnapper or a "kidnapper in training" or something. Sure, it'd still be somewhat rote, but at least it's a bit of a twist of the usual "online predator" story in that, this time, the predator is actually the one communicating with the target instead of posing as someone else to "fool" the target.

I also thought the chess tournament joke was a nod to Gideon, with Reid saying that as a way to preserve his memory for some reason.

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You're all going to laugh at me, but I had my fingers crossed the last victim was going to stop being Ms. Low Self-Esteem and take that guy out.  She mutilated her hand slipping the twist tie. . .she located a serviceable weapon. . .  Oh, wait, then she crawled under a desk--no leverage there.  Smash the lightbulb and stand right by those stairs.  Batter up!  Even picking the closet, where he looked first, would have been better if you were holding a surprise Louisville Slugger in front of your face.

 

I know, I know, I'm asking a lot and it would ruin the traditional JJ save.  But it would have been very good for all the women who watch this show to see someone pull her shattered nerves together and do something she would never have imagined she was capable of.  Let's face it, the cavalry rarely arrives.

 

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Forgot to say:  I would have been fine with someone dragging MEG, kicking and screaming, right out of that mall.  Her father, the kidnapper, either way--as long as it meant wiping that obnoxious snotty superior teenage attitude look off her face.  She must be a better actress than you all think, because I loathe her.

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I was so gobsmacked by the tragic death of reporter Bob Simon, I nearly forgot I had watched this episode. As for the episode? Well, it was kind of meh to me. And it seemed to be over in a flash. Like Candall I wished the last victim would have fought back and escaped, but instead she hid under a desk. What a stupid move. I rolled my eyes so much on that one.

 

And though I think it's great that the ladies of the BAU can seriously kick butt, but I didn't enjoy the men of the BAU put on the backburner. What I like about CM is how the characters bring various knowledge, skills, and experience in taking down the unsubs. They work great together. I want this again.

 

I'm going to start calling JJ "Mommy Blogger" because she can't deliver her so-called wisdom without reminding everyone she is a mother.

 

And please save me from the fresh hell that is Meg. You would think a young girl having Kate as an aunt, a woman whose whole career is about taking out criminals (some who are pedophiles), would be a bit more clued-up about the dangers of meeting people you converse with on-line. While at the mall with her bestie, I half expected Chris Hansen from "Dateline" to come out and give those two a firm talking to.

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You're all going to laugh at me, but I had my fingers crossed the last victim was going to stop being Ms. Low Self-Esteem and take that guy out.  She mutilated her hand slipping the twist tie. . .she located a serviceable weapon. . .  Oh, wait, then she crawled under a desk--no leverage there.  Smash the lightbulb and stand right by those stairs.  Batter up!  Even picking the closet, where he looked first, would have been better if you were holding a surprise Louisville Slugger in front of your face.

 

I know, I know, I'm asking a lot and it would ruin the traditional JJ save.  But it would have been very good for all the women who watch this show to see someone pull her shattered nerves together and do something she would never have imagined she was capable of.  Let's face it, the cavalry rarely arrives.

 

I actually thought that she would do so ...

I read at some review to the episode, that the stunt scene was actually for Kate but since she's pregnant and the men were shoved to the background it got JJ's call (Don't know if thats entirely true, though). Would be great if they had the victim knocking the unsub out and Kate/JJ only gets the "are you ok?/Your save now"-hug resp. unsub cuffing. (Hey that actually would made sense you know? They would BOTH go down the cellar, JJ gets the victim support and Kate the arresting ... *sigh*)

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I wonder if the writers undergo periodic mental/emotional examinations - it takes a warped mind to come up with some of the stuff they come up with.  The unsub grows up in a house where his father abuses his mother until the day he kills her, and then himself. The unsub apparently got some sort of solace from listening to his mother's final screams. But his tape is destroyed in fire (first off, didn't he ever think of making a copy of it - those cassette tapes don't last forever, he was lucky to get 25 years).  So, rather than asking women to help him with a project (for instance, tell them you need it for background in a video of domestic abuse) by yelling certain phrases and screaming, he kidnaps women instead and abuses them to recreate what his mom when through in her final moments, even though his mother wasn't actually tied to a chair.  

 

Maybe he had tried asking nicely and felt the screaming wasn't real enough.  

 

Maybe he kept such a tidy house because being clean (and cooking) must be incredibly important or his father wouldn't have beat his mother over it.

 

Maybe he hit his head against the wall because he was also beaten.  

 

Maybe, maybe, maybe....maybe I would understand his motives and actions better if they actually did some profiling beyond "he's a white male in his 30s"  

 

Heck, as soon as they pointed out that his name wasn't in Garcia's database and the same officer responded to the abuse calls, I thought, "he's changed his name to the officer's name" but Kate took a while to come to that conclusion and Reid seemed totally surprised by this theory.  

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Why would the idiot go into that basement by herself?

Because she learned that trick from watching Morgan for several years.  I figure she still has to go alone into a dark room and get attacked from behind 12 to 17 more times to catch up to him.

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I just wandered over to this forum for the first time today and had a couple of thoughts to add about this episode in response to some comments made here.  When I first saw the episode, I assumed that the banging his head against the nightstand was what he did as a child when his parents fought.  As for recording the screams, my impression was that he was looking for a 'perfect' recreation of that night.  So the women needed to say the exact words his mom said, and he needed the scream to sound exactly like hers.  He thought he had it and killed the first women, but then when he played it back, it wasn't quite right, so he needed another woman.  So I don't think it was just general screaming that he could have recorded from a movie but it was that 'exact' scream? 

 

I'm with those who found the storyline with Kate's teen-aged daughter unbelievable.  This child lives with a woman who works in law enforcement generally and now working with serial killers.  How does she not know and take seriously the dangers of the internet?  Even if she thought it would never happen to her, you'd still think a general sense of self-preservation would kick in somewhere, and she'd tell the kid to meet at school or something.  Did she really find nothing odd about this guy objecting to seeing her parent in the area?  If all you have in mind is an innocent coffee, you don't get bent out of shape if a parent is keeping a discreet eye out. 

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So the women needed to say the exact words his mom said, and he needed the scream to sound exactly like hers. He thought he had it and killed the first women, but then when he played it back, it wasn't quite right, so he needed another woman. So I don't think it was just general screaming that he could have recorded from a movie but it was that 'exact' scream?

I don't think there'd be much of a difference between a "movie scream" and a "random woman scream", since either category can produce an "authentic" scream. Perhaps he might have difficulties recording a movie on that recorder, but that's the only concession I would make. I would have liked it if the story at least explained that he had tried movies to no avail.

Secondly, though, he worked as a counsellor and wasn't at all a socially awkward guy. He might have known a few female friends he could have asked to help him out, or made a few female friends to do so. Since it's just a recording he was after, all he needed was great voicework- no need for the actual violence to occur.

I think, ultimately, for me there was a disconnect from "normal guy" to "killer"- he seemed like he went to extremes too quickly, when it was apparent he was smart enough to know alternatives.

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I re-watched this with my daughter, who was home from college and was jones-ing for some CM. I tried I to distract myself from being hyper-critical and just watch her watch it. She really liked it, and so did I actually, when I distanced myself from all I thought was wrong with it.

It did help, though, for me to mutter, "Shut up, JJ," under my breath every time she spoke...

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Maybe the killing had to happen for him to have a "perfect" recreation of that night?

Yeah, maybe, though she wasn't killed by a baseball bat- she was killed by a slash to her throat.

I realize mileage will vary, but I still think the writing missed a lot of important steps towards the buildup.

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Daniel - I can't argue with that since I obviously don't entirely understand what was going on either.  This was perhaps the least clear episode I have ever seen from them.  Really no understandable explanation for why he was doing what he was doing in the way he was doing it.  They're usually much better than that of letting us know what's going on in the unsub's twisted psychology.

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I've been writing culture and entertainment reviews for television, film, music and books since college so I tend to look at these things, including episodes of Criminal Minds with a sharply honed critical eye. I have to keep telling myself to stop being so "writerly" and just enjoy as a viewer.

 

But there are times, when Criminal Minds tests me.

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