S11.E02: The Witness

[thewhiteowl]

When a Los Angeles bus is attacked with sarin gas, the BAU must act quickly to find the suspect before a larger-scale incident occurs.

 

 I have no info on the writer or director at this time. If anyone else does, please post it.

[Old Dog]

Written by Sharon Lee Watson. Directed by John Terlesky. Should be a good one - SLW is one of the few writers who really understands the team and the profiling.

[zannej]

thewhiteowl, if you want to see the lists of episode with writers and directors: http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Season_Eleven

[Danielg342]

I suspect a reference to the Tokyo subway attack from 1995, and I wonder if these guys will spray it. The Tokyo guys just punctured a bag and left it, which minimized the damage (fortunately).

[Bookish Jen]

I saw a commercial for this yesterday. Hmm, might be interesting. And they threw me a bone by showing a snippet of Spencer and all of his shaggy-haired glory.

[ForeverAlone]

Here are some sneak peeks for this episode.

 

http://criminalmindsroundtable.blogspot.com/2015/10/criminal-minds-season-11-1102-witness.html

 

http://www.tvguide.com/news/exclusive-criminal-minds-sneak-peek-tim-kang/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBYs8VPEF6c

Edited October 6, 2015 by ForeverAlone

[normasm]

From all the Spencerness in this promo, I'm getting a bit excited. But the other promos had Dr. Lewis with Hotch alone, then with Rossi alone, so there will be a lot of her. Totally unnecessary.

 

Have they explained that she will replace JJ until JJ comes back, or is she supposed to be a temporary replacement for Callahan?

[Droogie]

Maybe they'll explain it this episode. And I LOVE your jawline profile picture. Ohmigosh. Delish.

I'm getting excited too. Hoping I won't be let down. I think I need Reid domination to take away the sting of the past few seasons, but I'll take equal focus on everyone and call it a win. Also hoping we're not subjected to prank wars.

[normasm]

I need Reid domination to take away the sting of the past few seasons, but I'll take equal focus on everyone and call it a win. 

Yes ma'am

[missmycat]

From all the Spencerness in this promo, I'm getting a bit excited. But the other promos had Dr. Lewis with Hotch alone, then with Rossi alone, so there will be a lot of her. Totally unnecessary.

 

Have they explained that she will replace JJ until JJ comes back, or is she supposed to be a temporary replacement for Callahan?

Originally she was suppose to be gone when AJ came back from maternity leave, but who knows what actually will end up happening.

[ForeverAlone]

Hotch SHOULD have been interviewing for Kate's permanent replacement, but we the viewers know that Aisha is only being brought in as a temporary fill in for AJ's maternity leave. So I imagine the writers must have some sort of way to end this arc. At least when Jordan was brought in, her role on the team was always just a fill in for JJ's maternity leave. But you would think Tara was hired for a permanent replacement. So it will be interesting to see how her employment on the team becomes temporary.

[secnarf]

I'm not letting myself get excited after last weeks letdown. When I go to play the preview it tells me the video is unavailable, is this happening to anyone else?

Yep, I can't play the YouTube video either. I just assumed it was because I'm in Canada, but maybe not!

[ForeverAlone]

I was definitely not feeling this episode. The show has done interesting, densely plotted storylines about terrorism in the past filled with rich profiling, but this is not one of them. I think it was way too convoluted, and it hung on way too many lucky chances. First off, WAY too much guest star. I figured/hoped that Charlie, who we see in the cold open, was not the real unsub. And no he wasn't. But probably about half of the episode was focused on him. And when you saw how the story played out from the first sarin attack, it just didn't ring true to me, from a psychological perspective. I mean, supposedly Mitchell, the unsub, planted the sarin timer on the bus, because his brother's girlfriend rode the bus, and he was trying to win his brother back to his terrorist cause. But okay, why not just kill the woman outright if that was the real goal? Sure, he wanted to test out the sarin before a larger attack, but when did he plant the timer? And how could he have guaranteed it would have gone off when the woman was riding the bus? Yeah, it did (if she had been on the bus, which she wasn't), but we never got an answer how the release was controlled, because the device was basically  like an automatic fish food feeder. And then Mitchell just happened to witness Charlie killing his brother (since his brother was sleeping with Charlie's wife) and decided to make him a patsy for a larger attack? Yeah, okay, whatever. Like I said, not feeling it. To make it even worse for me, the guest stars had WAY too much screentime, and not enough for the main cast. I personally thought there was hardly any profiling. It was more like a straightforward cop investigation. 

 

About the only thing I did like for this episode, was Reid and Tara. They had two really nice conversations at the beginning and end of the episode. It was nice to see two intellectuals connecting, and I hope to see their friendship deepen. They are capable of interesting, intellectual conversation, and Tara seems genuinely interested in what he has to say, and she is not going to snark on his interests or ideas. 

Edited October 8, 2015 by ForeverAlone

[iscoffy]

So the brothers had fish at their polygamist compound, which they left alone enough to have that kind of feeder?

 

I'm so used to Tim Kang being the stone-faced Kimball Cho on the Mentalist that I had a hard time with the emoting and the hair.  When he was being interrogated by Aisha Taylor, the bad wig/hair situation was overwhelming.

 

So did they just never call anyone to deal with the sarin in the parking garage?  Sure, it was in the car, but that was a lot of sarin.

 

I don't know, this wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great, either.

Edited October 8, 2015 by iscoffy

[Old Dog]

There was far, far too much on the Tim Kang character and although the suspense built up a little at the end I did feel the tension fell short. There were some really nice scenes with Reid and Tara and Rossi and it is still nice to have a break from JJ being in every scene. I did like the idea of the murder of the wife's lover being used as a cover for the terrorist attack but I think SLW just missed the boat in bringing out the terror and suspense. Could do better. I wish they would stop casting relatively well known names who then are the focus of the episodes. The focus should always be the team.

[MCatry]

I liked the Reid and Tara conversations, until he bought up practical joking at the end. I hated the episode with the practical jokes (that part of it anyway).

I hated that part too. The whole practical joke issue was poorly conceived and horribly executed in that episode, but unfortunately some people think it was funny, including the writers and the showrunner. Hence, they keep that idea rolling. I still don't see it, and I still think that it shows the immaturity of the writers. I only hope that's the last time we hear about practical jokes in this show, ever.

And I can't help but feel like those Tara scenes were with Reid because if Reid likes the character it seems the fans will like her more. 

I'm happy Reid has someone to talk to though, I wonder how many episodes until she makes a joke or does something Reid fans don't like.

Well, the character Reid has been used to introduce the female newbies since Seaver, and last year they also tried to glue it to JJ in her most relevant episodes. I think it's safe to assume they are doing this 'nice chats' in purpose.

If they learnt their previous three lessons, they will avoid that traditional insulting joke. But their records are not good.

For me this episode felt slow and rather boring, mostly because the huge amount of time wasted on the guest cast.

I wonder when the CM producers would get that most fans watch the show for the cast, and not for the guest stars.

[JMO]

When I read the preview summary about the sarin attack in LA, I got excited, because I thought it would offer so many opportunities for good storytelling. But I don't think that's what we got.

 

What I might have liked to see:
Hotch caught in the dilemma of how much information to release---does telling the truth to the media risk a mass panic, or does it save lives from more potential planned attacks on mass transit? It was touched on in 'Amplification', and it should have been a factor here. This wasn't some people mysteriously dying in a few hospitals, that could be kept quiet. It was a bus accident with many witnesses. The press would have been all over it.

 

An actual discussion of how home-grown terrorists become so. The whole idea of a pair of brothers who'd been part of a cult, and then aspired to terrorism, was thrown out there in, seemingly, thirty seconds of verbal exposition. To me, that's lazy storytelling. This could have been great material for Rossi, with his several past experiences dealing with cults (I know they were standoffs, but he had to understand cult behavior in order to negotiate), for Reid with his extensive knowledge of various cults (because you know he went there after Minimal Loss), and even for Tara, with her knowledge of forensic psychology. Instead, we got 45 minutes of a hapless red herring. The BAU's immediate focus on him was a terrible case of premature closure. They didn't do the very thing they're brought in to do, at the beginning of this case.

 

Real tension in the final part of the episode. We could have had real danger to the agents in the building, searching for the source of their attack, trying to use a profile to predict where the sarin might have been placed. Instead, we had a car driven into a garage with open sides, and a bunch of FBI agents staring into a box of fish feeders. I appreciated Hotch's desire to have the garage evacuated and sealed, but since the entrance and sides were open, I wondered how they would accomplish it, even if they'd had more than five minutes. I did enjoy Hotch coming up behind the unsub, but would have found it more tense if we'd seen a little more of the search.

 

So much missed opportunity, and I suspect there is plenty of blame to go around---writing, directing, editing.

 

The only positives for me were the bookended scenes of Reid with Tara, and even those were tainted. I did like that he was on my screen quite a bit in this episode, so technically it passed the Reid-meter----but the rest of the story was so bad that I probably won't watch it again anyway. And I'm with the rest of you who don't want to see the prank war return. But I did like the homage to the friendship between Reid and Morgan, and it did feel like a more adult one than in the past.

 

As to the bookends being tainted-----I am about to be very shallow here, but it's something that I find so off-putting that I can't ignore it. I don't like Tara---and part of the reason is that I find her appearance so very odd. I wasn't familiar with the actress, so I watched that episode of The Talk that Shemar was on. She's actually very attractive. But, on CM, the hair and makeup, the lack of facial expression, really the nearly total lack of facial movement at all-----they combine to make her feel synthetic. I can't relate to her at all. And, even if I could, I would have appreciated her having more of a learning curve before assimilating so fully into the team.

 

And now, for the really unpopular opinion: I miss JJ. I miss a feminine touch to the team, and Tara doesn't bring it. I don't know that it's necessary to the function of the team, except, perhaps, with certain witnesses----but I miss it.

Edited October 8, 2015 by JMO

[normasm]

JMO, it's like you are living inside my head (kinda creepy, eh?). I feel exactly the same about: this episode's lack of a profiling story of the terrorist; the huge waste of time on the guest-herring (or "un-schlub", as zannej reminded me); the lack of tension and danger; the up-and-in-command attitude of the newbie, and my lack of ability to relate to her; the homage to Reid and Morgan's friendship; even the missing of JJ. The only thing you didn't mention that was awful was Garcia's whole... being Garcia-ness!

 

I know they are putting Reid front and center to help smooth the way while Tara is new and JJ is absent, and I love it that he so far has not been made to look stupid, but I just get this feeling that as soon as JJ is back, the opposite will again be the norm. Reid goes to the library and disappears. We'll see, but I do hope next week is better than this week.

Edited October 8, 2015 by normasm

[threebluestars]

So far the first two episodes have felt very ... beige, to borrow from the episode. Not good, not bad, just there. I don't know. Something is missing - and NOT Superhuman JJ. Regular JJ I like just fine. I still miss her as media liaison. 

[Guesswht]

A special someone is missing from CM. It's not the same without her.

[Bookish Jen]

So far the first two episodes have felt very ... beige, to borrow from the episode. Not good, not bad, just there. I don't know. Something is missing - and NOT Superhuman JJ. Regular JJ I like just fine. I still miss her as media liaison. 

Good point. This episode was very beige, just kind of "there" for me. I didn't hate it with the intensity of a thousand suns. And it didn't make me burst my buttons with glee.

 

I did like seeing Tara bond with Reid in the opener and the closer of the show. It gave me a Emily/Alex vibe. Tara proved she can show a more fun side like Emily and is also cerebral like Alex. Reid needs people like that in the workplace. But Tara's hair? Yikes. Aisha's actual swingy bob is very professional. I don't know why she is made to wear that ugly wig.

 

As for the plot? It was all over the place, and too much focus on the co-stars. I need more focus on the actual case and the profiling and expertise they bring to the BAU. That's what got me hooked on CM in the first place.

 

And nope, didn't miss JJ at all. Well, not super JJ. I wish she was still media liaison and not a profiler.

 

Ahh, last week we got Spencer in a suit; this week we got him a sweater. Hmm, Spencer + Sweater=Swencer.

[Old Dog]

According to Aisha Tyler's Twitter, the hair was her idea.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Old Dog

[missmycat]

So far the first two episodes have felt very ... beige, to borrow from the episode. Not good, not bad, just there. I don't know. Something is missing - and NOT Superhuman JJ. Regular JJ I like just fine. I still miss her as media liaison. 

I too miss the original JJ. I can't stand this bleeping Mary Sue that has taken her place.Were it not for the blatant stupidity of CBS we'd still have her as well as Prentiss.And more importantly Ed Bernero would probably still be CM's show runner. And I doubt we'd be having the issues with the show we are having now.

[uppie]

I don't know how I feel about this episode. I mean, we had some good profiling, but we also had "Garcia's magical computer" in a lot of the scenes, too. I really hope the CM writers will catch on to our requests, like more profiling, instead of having more of that time contributed to the unsub. 

 

I also agree on the fact that there was way too much guest stars in this episode. When are they going to understand that we want more of the main cast? 

 

Honestly, CM has begun to spiral out of it's original format. I miss the old CM. Where they didn't show the Unsub's face until the very end, so it kept you at the edge of your seat. Also, with more profiling and the main cast. When they treated all of the main characters the same. 

 

But I also like the relationship building with Tara and Reid. I like that they both kind of latch onto eachother, they both have someone else to talk to. How do I feel about the Morgan and Reid prank wars? Honestly, the first episode they introduced the prank wars, I found it kind of amusing. It brought some good tension into the episode, but I also feel like it should not have been brought back up again. 

 

One prank war is enough. 

 

Overall, I didn't hate this episode, but I wasn't ecstatic about it either. I really hope this season gets better as it progresses. 

[missmycat]

The # 1 overall complaint seems to be that there was too much focus on the guest star. Some are even calling it "The Charlie Show". WTF made them think this guy was going to be able to draw in viewers if they focused exclusively on him at the expense of the team. It's not as if he had been able to draw in viewers for the "The Mentalist" after all it did get canceled mainly do to its poor ratings.Another complaint the lack of Hotch. It seems to me some of Charlie's screen time could have gone to Hotch. Also some people had issues with Dr. Tara Lewis which I completely understand. Although, I  really did like the bookends with her and Reid. 

[UncleChuck]

 

I know they are putting Reid front and center to help smooth the way while Tara is new and JJ is absent, and I love it that he so far has not been made to look stupid

I dunno.  He looks pretty stupid to me.  What rational human would go out in public with that uncombed owl's nest on his head and pretend to be a professional person.  And when he wears that gun on the front of his pants, I just think I'm watching some kiddy cartoon instead of a real show.

 

 

[Droogie]

Say whatever you wish about his hair, but his frontal appendix carry with his sidearm is a viable, albeit seldom used, way to carry a weapon. Lots of people in law enforcement will say it's not feasible for someone with any sort of "overhang," but Reid doesn't have that problem.

The # 1 overall complaint seems to be that there was too much focus on the guest star. Some are even calling it "The Charlie Show". WTF made them think this guy was going to be able to draw in viewers if they focused exclusively on him at the expense of the team. It's not as if he had been able to draw in viewers for the "The Mentalist" after all it did get canceled mainly do to its poor ratings.Another complaint the lack of Hotch. It seems to me some of Charlie's screen time could have gone to Hotch. Also some people had issues with Dr. Tara Lewis which I completely understand. Although, I really did like the bookends with her and Reid.

That's my complaint as well. They spent all that time on him, and he wasn't even the UnSub? Such a gratuitous guest star placement, IMHO. Like others, I'd never seen the dude until last night. They could've used an unknown, had him onscreen for less than half the time, let the BAU actually profile onscreen. I resented the absence of Hotch and the overall neglect of my team. I was pleased with another week of Reid being a genius, at long last, but it was way, way too much Fake UnSub.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Droogie

[MCatry]

I do not miss JJ at all. Still, I wouldn't mind AJ Cook delivering most lines addressed to Garcia (the ones related to work, not her non-sense endless monologues).

I think Dr. Lewis's hair is really bad. Reid's hair is also normally bad. It is what it is. The whole hair department should be fired. No one is safe with them and their combs hoovering around.

Still, what really makes me avert my eyes are Garcia's outfits and her exaggerated makeup.

And I don't like the amount of unsub/victims time, but that's a rather old complaint.

Everything else is fine. I am even starting to like Morgan again. No member of the main cast is being neglected, and every single one of them seem focused on the job.

I can only hope this newly found balance won't be disrupted later in the season.

[SSAHotchner]

I hated that part too. The whole practical joke issue was poorly conceived and horribly executed in that episode, but unfortunately some people think it was funny, including the writers and the showrunner. Hence, they keep that idea rolling. I still don't see it, and I still think that it shows the immaturity of the writers. I only hope that's the last time we hear about practical jokes in this show, ever.

Well, the character Reid has been used to introduce the female newbies since Seaver, and last year they also tried to glue it to JJ in her most relevant episodes. I think it's safe to assume they are doing this 'nice chats' in purpose.

If they learnt their previous three lessons, they will avoid that traditional insulting joke. But their records are not good.

For me this episode felt slow and rather boring, mostly because the huge amount of time wasted on the guest cast.

I wonder when the CM producers would get that most fans watch the show for the cast, and not for the guest stars. 

That's what I want to know! And we don't just want contrived family moments. We want to see the team do what they do best - profiling. 

According to Aisha Tyler's Twitter, the hair was her idea.

Well, that lowers my opinion of her judgement. I can understand wanting to look less model-like and more intellectual, but what a hot mess. They could have just put some glasses on her. 

[iscoffy]

Well, that lowers my opinion of her judgement. I can understand wanting to look less model-like and more intellectual, but what a hot mess. They could have just put some glasses on her.

 

 

I am going to guess she asked for a short wig, not that she asked for that particular wig.  Hopefully.

[Danielg342]

"What do you know about synchronicity?"

"Well, it's my favourite Police album."

 

That was about the only good thing about this episode. That, and it was great to see Tim Khang have such a range of emotions...even if his "loony" came off a bit weird. I still would have preferred Kimball Cho, though.

 

What can I say about this episode? It was basically a mix of a cheesy, schmaltzy soap opera with I Know What You Did Last Summer, mixed with the cliche of "saved at the last minute". All mixed further with an entirely implausible sequence of events that makes you wonder how a criminal like that could exist. Sure, what happened to Charlie Senerak was entirely possible, but I'm sure there are cheaper, less resource-dependent and easier ways to get back at a former friend who left you to have an affair.

 

(Oh, with the added bonus that you just happened to see Senerak shoot his wife's paramour at the right moment...how much luck can this guy get?)

 

I suppose kudos to Sharon Lee Watson for trying to find some novel way of using a poison gas attack...but it's just too outlandish for me to take seriously. It was so convoluted, the episode twisted and turned and forgot where it went.

 

Okay, I'll give this guy this much- at least his sarin attack was sprayed into the air and time-released, so Watson gets extra kudos for doing the research. Unfortunately, it seems like she still can't research how to write a compelling episode.

 

I will say that I think Tara Lewis was pretty likeable...I like how Aisha Tyler is playing someone who's relaxed and has a quiet confidence about themselves. She actually seems...human, unlike many other "tough but cold" female law enforcement officers on TV. Can't say too much about Natalie Colfax, who was just Agent Exposition, overshadowed in her own special guest spot by Delpanneaux Wills, who was Agent Darryl Young, who had at least a little bit of spark even though he too did nothing but provide random bits of information.

 

Overall...wouldn't say it was downright horrible. It was just a very big bore, and it really feels like the CM writers are just grasping at straws...if there are any straws left.

[MCatry]

Well, that lowers my opinion of her judgement. I can understand wanting to look less model-like and more intellectual, but what a hot mess. They could have just put some glasses on her.

And that's yet another stereotype I grew to hate. If you are smart, you must look bad. At least unkempt, and hopefully, unattractive. They used that idea with Reid in earlier seasons, (and sometimes it he newer ones) as if being smart equals ugly. Still, I prefer that to the opposite tv trope which makes smart women look as models working for an x-rated movie.

[Danielg342]

Still, I prefer that to the opposite tv trope which makes smart women look as models working for an x-rated movie.

 

Reminds me of an old This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Canada's The Daily Show) sketch where the news anchor was talking to someone who claimed to be talking with aliens. At one point, she asserted about Pamela Anderson, "those aren't her boobs- they're her brains!", with the anchor responding, "she must be very smart then."

 

For what it's worth, I didn't think Lewis looked that bad. She at least looks professional.

[MCatry]

Reminds me of an old This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Canada's The Daily Show) sketch where the news anchor was talking to someone who claimed to be talking with aliens. At one point, she asserted about Pamela Anderson, "those aren't her boobs- they're her brains!", with the anchor responding, "she must be very smart then."

 

For what it's worth, I didn't think Lewis looked that bad. She at least looks professional.

Me neither. Just bad. Not 'that bad'. Nevertheless, it's a pity that both the actress and the CM producers felt they had to camouflage her beauty in order to make her look intelligent.

She looked professional, and that was great, after three seasons of clowny outfits for Garcia and t-shirts alla Morgan for JJ. Finally someone who looks as an FBI elite agent.

[zannej]

I was going to watch this episode but my sister called a few minutes before it started so she could wish me a happy birthday. Talked for an hour and a half-- which was fine bc she doesn't call often.

 

I started to watch it online later but fell asleep. I'm still too tired to watch the rest of it. I'll have to re-watch the beginning and then watch it all the way through when I'm more awake.

[jaytee1812]

I liked this episode, the pacing was good and I liked them figuring out whether it was a personal or terrorist attack.

I didn't recognise the guest star, I doubt he was cast to bring on viewers. CBS constantly reuses actors, Marisol Nichols, who played the agent has been in NCIS, NCIS: LA and Cold Case.

I like Tara Lewis, she made Reid seem more socially capable in this episode which was nice.

One thing I wouldn't call Tara Lewis or Aisha Tyler is unfeminine, mostly because it's a stereotype black women find hurtful and untrue.

[uppie]

Honestly, what's all the fuss over Reid's hair? 

 

I'm pretty sure Matthew makes Reid's hair look unkept because he wants the sense that Reid has no style - or fashion. Sort of like a mad scientist effect, he's oblivious to fashion and/or hair styles. (?)

 

I'm not for sure, it might have been Matthew's idea or maybe Erica's or something. But I'm pretty sure that's why they make it look so unkept. 

 

I'd rather discuss the actual show topic instead of why people feel like Reid should or shouldn't have his hair the way it is. 

[thewhiteowl]

Posters can discuss whatever they want about the show and the characters and their looks, fashion and hair style or lack there of. It's allowed.

[torqy]

I was waiting for Marisol Nichols to order someone to "Set up a perimeter!!"