S11.E03: Til Death Do US Part

[normasm]

As I said in one of my comments on another forum, Karen's writing lacks subtlety. She banged us over the head with her points and shoved every last unsub thing in our face. And she still was a bit off about things.

 

Precisely. I felt 15 minutes in, "Hey, this is paint-by-numbers for procedurals!"

[Mom x 3]

Just to clarify, I never did think Ryan would have been in on it...I see his role in the murders being that Nicole hallucinated that Ryan was helping her out, much like how Dana did in the real episode.

 

LOL...when I said I didn't think he could have done it, I didn't mean that Ryan couldn't have been in on it.  I meant that I didn't think the actor was good enough to pull off the scenario you proposed.  I apologize for being unclear. 

[SSAHotchner]

Okay, so I had to rewatch the episode to do my word count and I discovered it's actually an amazing episode if you going into thinking it's some kind of comedy and Reid is actually high as a kite. It actually makes more sense that way. That's how much the character has changed since the early seasons, he's getting older but he just acts younger.

The cheesy starting with the guest star. It's hilarious. 

Hotch's hair...is it gelled down?

The conversation between Hotch, Morgan and Garcia that recaps everything about the hitman plot. 

Garcia calling her hands 'Freakishly beautiful" and 'doll-like' when her hands are literally the opposite. 

The thing the homeless man says, 

"Trees are lazy. Cold is monkey ears and toes. Bitcoin." What??? That's how the writers think crazy homeless men talk? No aliens, conspiracys?

No Tara in the opening sequence. 

Tara specifically saying she's not victim shaming and then they cut to Reid for a few seconds just looking sideways at her? What? You couldn't keep the camera on her? We needed to see his reaction for that?

Morgan says: Listen, Reid thinks that our unsub may have a mental illness. 

Excellent deduction Reid.

When the ME says 'I'll say" and when Rossi says 'Oh, we will'. It's just terrible delivery but it's so funny. 

The unsubs scrapbook. 

LOL

The terrible zoom in on the unsub at 27:40. How can anyone take that seriously?

The fact that everything on the unsubs wedding registry has to do with food. The screenshot is poor but she wants

-Blender

-Coffee Maker

-Coffee Grinder

-Expresser Maker

-Juice

-Hand Mixer

-Rice Cooker

-Panium Press (?)

-Ice cream maker

-Knife Sharpener

-Skillets

-Sauces

-Saucepan

-Broder Pan

-Casserole Dish

-Muffin tin

-Cooling Rack.

Also the fact that there's a pizza box on her bed before Reid gives his PCOS PSA and says that the disease causes obesity. You can also see a takeout box in the background.

 

Hilarious! Almost makes me want to go back and watch it again. 

[Keekski]

All I was thinking during the episode was how terrible it was and what a field day you guys would be having with it. The acting was the worst ever. The. Worst.

[Bookish Jen]

I LOL'd over the scrapbook the unsub made, too. It looks like something a tween would do, but it would feature pictures of her and Harry Styles from One Direction. This scene really infantilized the unsub, and of course, the wedding registry of a fat girl would feature nothing but cooking items. Eesh. Speaking of fat girls, I thought this article was interesting:

http://www.rolereboot.org/life/details/2015-10-what-it-means-to-be-the-fat-girl/

 

The acting was weak and the writing was atrocious. Daniel, you brought up a great point; I also wonder where CM gets it writers. There are so many talented screenwriters out there just waiting for their big break. It would really benefit CM to seek these people out.

 

But then again, I shouldn't be surprised at CM's subpar writing for the past few years. Writing is a skill that has been devalued over the past few years. And when it comes to TV/Movies, I think reality TV has something to do with it.

 

And of course, it isn't just writing for TV and movies that has faltered over the past few years. Go to any book store or the library. Sure, great books are still being released, but so is a lot of junk. And though I'm all for a DIY culture and keep a blog myself, I do think self-publishing and blogging has something to do this. Now, any idiot with a computer and access to BlogSpot or Wordpress fancies him or herself a writer.

 

Oh, and as someone who has written professionally (copywriter, journalist, research writer), I don't even want to get into the shithole that is business writing.

 

 

[SSAHotchner]

Well, I "watched" it again with my sis today. That means she was watching and I was on my computer, half paying attention. It's just too atrocious for words. But at least now I can remove it from my DVR. It was beneath every actor on the team to have to say the lines written for them, and again, I'm appalled at Joe's directing, and everything about Garcia irritates the living daylights out of me. So pretty much the same as my initial opinion. 

[zannej]

Qwerty wins for turning this into a comedy episode! LOL.

As for the wedding registry stuff-- I don't have a problem with most of the stuff being food related and a lot of couples want to have their own cooking things. But then, I'm fat so I like food-- although I hate cooking. LOL.

[Bookish Jen]

Qwerty wins for turning this into a comedy episode! LOL.

As for the wedding registry stuff-- I don't have a problem with most of the stuff being food related and a lot of couples want to have their own cooking things. But then, I'm fat so I like food-- although I hate cooking. LOL.

I like to cook and I love to bake. But when I saw the hand mixer on the registry I thought, "Girl, go for the gusto and register for a KitchenAid mixer." I would kill for one of those, but alas, they are way too expensive plus I just have way too limited cupboard and counter space in my wee kitchen.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Bookish Jen

[SSAHotchner]

I like to cook and I love to bake. But when I saw the hand mixer on the registry I thought, "Girl, go for the gusto and register for a KitchenAid mixer." I would kill for one of those, but alas, they are way too expensive plus I just have way too limited cupboard and counter space in my wee kitchen.

I have one. My husband got it for me for Christmas one year. Love it! I use it all the time.

Edited October 23, 2015 by SSAHotchner

[UncleChuck]

 

EM and Kirsten have turned Garcia into someone who never would have been hired by the FBI.

I would love to see a Halloween special episode where the regulars all showed up for a costume party...and Garcia comes in with FULL clown make-up--Multi-colored wig, face paint, red nose, garish costume and giant floppy shoes.  As she enters the other team members (dressed as pirates, nurses, cowboys, etc) greet her saying:  "Hi Penelope.   Where's your costume?"

[Bookish Jen]

I have one. My husband got it for me for Christmas one year. Love it! I use it all the time.

How awesome for you. Yes, I am a jealous hater. But as I mentioned I don't have much counter or cupboard space. However, I think I'm going to put hand mixer on my Christmas list.

 

And because we are on the topic of food, I'm going to make chocolate brownies with chocolate chips, frost them with some buttercream frosting, decorate them with orange and black sprinkles and bring them into work next week as a Halloween treat. Sound good?

 

I would love to see a Halloween special episode where the regulars all showed up for a costume party...and Garcia comes in with FULL clown make-up--Multi-colored wig, face paint, red nose, garish costume and giant floppy shoes.  As she enters the other team members (dressed as pirates, nurses, cowboys, etc) greet her saying:  "Hi Penelope.   Where's your costume?"

This must happen. Oh the powers that be at CM, please make this happen.

On-topic: Instead of making the unsub on this episode the stereotypical loser unattractive fat girl, why not make the unsubs a picture perfect couple who murder brides-to-be just for kicks because they are true psychopaths. And one of their victims can be a fat woman because believe it or not, fat women do get married. Imagine that?

Edited October 24, 2015 by Bookish Jen

[SSAHotchner]

Jen, I understand about the counter space, but I use my KitchenAid now for things I once used a hand mixer for or would stir with a spoon. I have arthritis in my hands and it just makes it so much easier. I have a coffee cake recipe from my grandmother. I'm the only one who makes it anymore, and the dough gets so hard to mix with a spoon, but I use the bread hook on the KitchenAid. 

 

Your brownies sound wonderful. Lucky co-workers!

 

Yes, fat girls get married. And girls like me, who were an okay size when they got married get fat. :) I wish CM would go back to "regular" killers and not try to come up with all sorts of weird reasons for people to kill and try to make the viewers pity them. Pity is reserved for the victims. No matter how sorry we might feel for someone, killing is a choice, and it's not the only choice. And I'm saying this after watching (for probably the millionth time) the excellent scene in The Godfather where they kill the heads of the 5 families while the baby is being Christened. As soon as it's over, I'm going back to my Hill Street Blues DVDs. An excellent cop show that for 7 seasons never disappointed and managed to give a huge cast of regulars significant parts in every episode. Those writers understood their characters. 

 

 

[Judois]

Just got around to watching this episode. Terrible,horrible,and no good.

I was thinking that maybe I was just personally offended because I'm obese and I take bupropion for depression. But,then I realized that it was really just badly written. I think I'm ready to take CM completely off my recording schedule. It's just been bad for too long. I'll miss you,Reid,but I follow him on Twitter so no big.

[Ceindreadh]

Wait, so clutter and mess are a sign of depression? So I'm not just a lazy slob who hates tidying!  wooo-hoo!!

(and yeah, that's about the only thing i got from this episode)

[missmycat]

Wait, so clutter and mess are a sign of depression? So I'm not just a lazy slob who hates tidying!  wooo-hoo!!

(and yeah, that's about the only thing i got from this episode)

To be fair though both depression and discouragement can have an effect on one's motivation. I have dealt with both on and off for years and there were times I didn't even feel like making a bed let alone the rest of my housework. 

[Droogie]

I do agree with you, qwerty. Someone with OCD whose compulsion is cleaning is going to have an exceptionally neat space, but depression generally goes hand-in-hand with that condition.

[needschocolate]

I think I will start calling this the "Public Service Announcement Episode" - not only do we learn that kids should play outside 60 minutes a day, but we learned all the symptoms of PCOS.  Except the only one the unsub had was that she was overweight, she didn't have acne or excess facial hair.  I really don't understand the point of bringing up PCOS, since it had nothing to do with finding the unsub.  

 

The scene where they give the profile always makes me shake my head because it rarely gives info that would actually help someone find the unsub.  What were the cops supposed to do, go up to every large woman and ask if she recently broke up with her boyfriend?

 

This time, the scene right before the profile giving scene made me shake my head too.  They are sure the unsub is a man who had been left at the alter, but someone says they think it might be a woman and suddenly Hotch says, "We need to give the profile."

 

 

And this episode was a PRIME example of Penelope and her magic computer. Seriously, they pulled the suspected unsub out of a freaking magic hat. We are supposed to believe that in the space of less than a minute she was able to pull up the sister's engagement and that she worked as a florist? Ok, yeah sure, whatever. Massive eyeroll here. Kind of like how Reid just assumed that the sisters were at some sort of greenhouse (and there they were- but where were Reid and Rossi?). Seriously, those sisters could have been anywhere.

 

Sure, Garcia's computer can instantly search every inch of social media for mention of a marriage proposal and can instantly like those results with people that work in the wedding industry, but it can't find the phone numbers for anyone.  

 

So PCOS doesn't make you crazy, but it might make you crazy?  What was the point of that interlude?  

 

If you have PCOS and you bite your nails, then you are crazy, because only crazy people bite their nails.  

 

Oh and I suppose it it perfectly okay with them the way Garcia will be blabbering on about something totally useless before getting to the point. It has always irritated the hell out of me how this team would frequently give Reid the side eye yet continues to give Garcia a pass for the most part. I thinks there is a bit of a double standard  going on  there.

 

This actually makes sense to me.  Both Ried's trivia and Garcia's blabbering can be seen as time wasters.  But calling Reid on it, will save time, while pointing it out to Garcia would not ---

 

If they give Reid the look, he will stop mentioning the bits of trivia and they can get back to work.  If they did the same to Garcia she would say, "Oh no, I am blabbering again, I am soooo sorry to waste your time this way.  I mean, I know you are all busy and there it a serial killer on the loose, so I shouldn't be talking this much.  Oh dear, you don't think that he has killed someone else in the time that I have been talking, do you? I don't think I could live with myself if someone died because of me.  Oh this is terrible, I need to look at pictures of puppies hugging kittens to get over this.  Hold on a second.... Okay, I found an adorable picture of a St. Bernard with his paws wrapped around a calico kitty.  Sigh....Whew....I feel better now.  I am sending all of you the puppy and kitty picture in case you are having a bad day. What am I saying? Of course you are having a bad day, you are trying to find a serial killer and, oh no, I am still wasting your time aren't I?  Okay, let me find the information again....There have been three murders in Boise, wait... make that 4 murders, another body was just discovered, oh....it was my fault too.  Oh, oh, oh, where did I put that picture? I need to see it right now. Could one of you send it back to me?......"

[MCatry]

Needschocolate:

 

Thank you for a good laugh! 

Your Garcia's impersonation is awesome!

[secnarf]

 

Spironolactone is a diuretic but has is now being used to reduce facial hair in women, but it takes several months to work.  So the unsub probably had facial hair at some point but if she wasn't taking her meds I don't know why she didn't have a beard. 

Spironolactone is not that dramatically effective at reducing facial hair, and it's unlikely the woman would have a full beard without it. Also, there are other hair removal methods that are more commonly used (waxing, creams, etc.).

The whole PCOS aspect to this storyline was unnecessary and poorly done imo, so I'm not really trying too hard to make sense out of it.

[ForeverAlone]

Either the writer didn't fully understand PCOS and just took a grab bag of symptoms. Or she just didn't want to go "there", even though they had no issue making the conventionally unattractive, fat girl be crazy and delusional and a killer. Another possibility (though I won't give them credit for it, since it was never specifically addressed) is that the unsub could have had laser hair removal, since that is pretty much the only way to really treat unwanted facial hair in any sort of permanent sense. 

[needschocolate]

I have a feeling that the writer or someone close to the writer has PCOS and she wanted to let everyone know the symptoms and how it can be treated - so, if there was someone watching that had PCOS symptoms, they would go to the doctor.  This was probably the first time that she could include this info and have it remotely apply to the case.