S11.E06: Pariahville

[thewhiteowl]

When a woman is murdered in a small town in Florida inhabited entirely by sex offenders, the BAU faces a community full of suspects. Also, Lewis receives a career opportunity that may take her away from the BAU.

 

 

[secnarf]

Do towns actually exist in real life that are made up entirely of sex offenders? :S

 

And I hope this career opportunity works out for Dr Lewis!

[Danielg342]

This could be interesting, provided they resist the urge to make all the residents one-dimensionally evil (because they wouldn't be), although I know humanizing a sex offender will be hard.

I'm also hoping for some good Morgan scenes in this one. He'd definitely have a few feelings regarding this case.

Do towns actually exist in real life that are made up entirely of sex offenders? :S

There's a town in Florida, called “Pariahville” specifically built because its zoning laws prevent sex offenders from pretty much living, well, anywhere in the state, since there are almost no areas where someone isn't close to a school or place where minors hang out.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Danielg342

[normasm]

This could be interesting, provided they resist the urge to make all the residents one-dimensionally evil (because they wouldn't be), although I know humanizing a sex offender will be hard.

I'm also hoping for some good Morgan scenes in this one. He'd definitely have a few feelings regarding this case.

There's a town in Florida, called “Pariahville” specifically built because its zoning laws prevent sex offenders from pretty much living, well, anywhere in the state, since there are almost no areas where someone isn't close to a school or place where minors hang out.

 

I agree, they shouldn't make everyone evil. Sex offenders are all too human, and a few categories are woefully overpunished, IMO. An 18-year-old having consensual sex with a 16-year-old, while wrong and in need of intervention, should not have the rest of his/her life ruined, and certainly should not be bundled in with pedophiles and rapists.

[Danielg342]

I agree, they shouldn't make everyone evil. Sex offenders are all too human, and a few categories are woefully overpunished, IMO. An 18-year-old having consensual sex with a 16-year-old, while wrong and in need of intervention, should not have the rest of his/her life ruined, and certainly should not be bundled in with pedophiles and rapists.

 

At the Squamish Music Festival, near Vancouver, a teen decided to disrupt a live report of the festival by planting a kiss on the cheek of the reporter. This, of course, upset the reporter, who wrote an article about how upsetting the scenario was, especially considering it was in the middle of the "FHRITP" controversy. She filed a criminal complaint, for which it was only dropped after the teen came to his senses and apologized to the reporter for what he did.

 

Had the teen not apologized and did what a lot of other teens do- brag and perhaps feel the victim "couldn't take a joke"- there's a high probability that he gets charged, likely convicted (since there's evidence) and be slapped as a sex offender. Fortunately for him the laws in Canada are far less draconian than they are in the U.S., but it's still a legislative overreach. As the teen himself confirmed, it was nothing but an inappropriate joke- still not right but definitely not worthy of a "sex offender" tag, since there's no way that action is at all similar to a repeat sexual assaulter or a rapist.

 

All this does is show that our society throws reason out of the window when it comes to sexual crimes. We argue based on pure emotion and just don't think rationally. I think the whole "sex offender" designation is a joke in of itself entirely and should be scrapped- if someone is so dangerous that the public needs to be aware of their presence, then perhaps they should be in jail instead of being released into the public. Which shows the flip side of our strange views on sex crimes- some states woefully under-punish acts like rape, believing a "sex offender" designation is sufficient when it isn't.

 

Interestingly enough, Amnesty International has decried the use of the sex offender registry, since it strips the offenders of their right to live and reintegrate into society. It also invites vigilantism, since emotions run so high when sex offences are brought up that there's always someone that wants to "finish the job".

 

So...a lot of angles. I hope CM will at least explore a few.

[Danielg342]

This is a GQ article on real-life Pariahville, on the southeast corner of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida:

http://www.gq.com/story/sex-offender-community

[Saje]

The promo for this episode is so bad. "Killing cheerleaders! OH NOES!" 

 

Embarrassing.

[rapgodminho]

Don't we all?

[missmycat]

I am so tired of this bleeping overused constantly in our faces newbie,not even an official cast member yet and she is already getting her second story line that is just plain ridiculous. And yes I know it is her so called exit story line which we all know is a big joke since unfortunately it is more than likely she will be staying. I don't know maybe they have some sort of secret feedback that shows her bringing in more viewers. But I sure as heck don't see any evidence of it. I absolutely dread her becoming a regular member.

[ForeverAlone]

I can't see fan demand being behind keeping Aisha. I mean, I like Aisha and her character, but I have not seen some overwhelming demand for her to stay. Plus, she comes back in episode eight, and that started filming before the first episode even aired. So no, the plan all along was to bring her back and probably keep her on the show. Now WHY they even went the route of recurring character in the first place is a bit odd, if they always wanted to make her a series regular.

Edited November 4, 2015 by ForeverAlone

[ReidFan]

If Reid's leaving, so am I :-( *starts waterworks*

[missmycat]

Maybe they felt like two new characters was too much so they have her replace JJ and then when JJ comes back, she replaces Kate's old position. The start of this season would have been a great time for the team to get a media liaison back but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: Another character is leaving this season so there might be a chance! They will probably just get another profiler though, or no one. If we do get a new one I'm predicting a white man because Tara is filling the non-white person quota if Morgan leaves. If Reid leaves I'm predicting (and by predicting, I mean hoping) that we get a young character like season 1 Reid with similar skill sets.

If that happens than as far as I am concerned they could bring in Bozo the clown because I will no longer be watching this trainwreck of a show anyways

[ReidFan]

wow, I am SO happy to see I'm not the only one in that mindset. It was Revelations that finally broke my resistance to watching this show in the first place (me, kicking and screaming nope, no way! don't like gruesome stuff!..my son, home for reading week at university, said, oh you gotta watch this one, it's soooo good. well okay.... that was last February.) I watch *because* of Reid, despite the fact that I   1. usually don't like police/crime shows much 2. really hate the gore/gruesome stuff 3. find the writing awful at times. I persevere *because* of Matthew Gray Gubler's performance. And it looks like I ain't the only one! yay! :D

[normasm]

Reid exits = CM jumps the shark

Not that I think TPTB are quite that stupid, but these days, I just don't know

[Droogie]

Reid exits = CM jumps the shark

Not that I think TPTB are quite that stupid, but these days, I just don't know

I'd be immediately gone. There'd be skid marks.

[ForeverAlone]

All right, this is my initial impression, because to give the best review, I need to rewatch it. Mainly because I don't see how they got from the behavioral evidence they saw from the victims to the profile they gave. Obviously they were way off on the age of the unsub, but I have no idea why they picked 35-40 as the age range for this unsub. Basically I don't think they got anything right about the profile, except that he was not part of the Glencourt Village community. They are usually not this off on the profile, but again, I didn't see any reason they would have drawn the profile they did, and why they choose to deliver it at that time. Too often, the profile just seems to be some sort of perfunctory formula that has no bearing on the rest of the case. But that profile was utterly useless in catching the unsub. They only got lucky catching him when they did, because of the happenstance that Riley's dude friend was a quintessential Nice Guy who abandoned her by the side of the road when she wasn't interested in him. And of course Matt came up on Riley to give her a ride. I called that she was going to be the Final Girl early in the episode, just because there was so much focus on her. I never really understood why Matt killed the first two victims, only because Riley was his real target, and he seemed to already have experience in that area. Why the need to work up to Riley? Yeah, okay, we would not have had a show otherwise, but it still made me wonder.

 

I have said on more than one occasion that I like Tara, and I do. But damn, did she get a hero's edit tonight. I mean, from the start, we were lead to believe that this was Tara's exit episode (since the initial pitch for Aisha's hiring is that she was brought in to cover AJ's maternity leave). So we saw a retread of the JJ exit story, where Tara's skills are just so needed, that another team needed her. Then we get the entire episode that was basically all about her. Granted, I like her soft touch, empathetic interviews, particularly in contrast to the loud yelling we sometimes see toward suspects in cop shows (including this one on occasion). It's just that there was so much of her. AND she got the hero shot off in the end, which was a touch risky, because Matt had only just removed the knife from Riley's throat. Only to find out in the end that Hotch made special arrangements so she can work on the project AND consult with the BAU. So obviously the intention from the beginning was to keep Tara around (which makes sense if another cast member is leaving, so we will temporarily have six profilers- though Matthew is likely missing episodes nine and 10- until one of them leaves and we will be back down to five).

 

I can't say I hated this episode, and liked some of the interviews and what little we saw of the main cast that was NOT Tara. But I think the writer needs to go back and polish up his storytelling skills, because I did not see any connection between the victims and behavioral evidence, the profile delivered, and the profile of the actual unsub.

[Droogie]

As my idol, Yvette Nicole Brown of The Walking Dead fandom does, I am taking notes as I watch.

Cool opening music. I missed more bc I was typing "cool opening music."

Of course, opening scene with Lewis, and she gets plum assignment offer.

I hate Garcia. GOSH. I hope that's it for her this episode.

I hate Lewis. She makes points. Reid spouts factoids. She doesn't need to advise these people, who have a ton of experience with vicious criminals, what to think. Just no.

Reid's less uncomfortable talking abut sex here than he normally is. This might be as close as I ever get to saying "Reid" and "sex" in the same sentence,

Hotch does not need Lewis's advice.

Has there been a morgue scene in every ep this season? Is that normal?

Joe Mantegna overacts. I'm sorry to have to say it.

Let me say here that Reid is very, very pretty.

What happened to Reid with Morgan? Does Lewis get to interrogate every UnSub this season? Oh wait, she's probably placeholding for JJ.

I couldn't care less about the cop and his kids.

Wait. They're delivering the profile? What's the profile? What'd I miss? Reid is pretty.

Of course Lewis has offers. Reid has an IQ higher than Einstein, but Lewis has offers. And she's done this job for five minutes but she loves it. Of course. Wow. I'm kinda sick of Rossi's platitudes.

Who wrote this shit again?

I'm only half an hour in!

Reid should be fired. He isn't needed. They have Lewis now.

Petulant teen in revealing shirt mad about missing a party. I can't imagine the UnSub would strike her! No foreshadowing here.

Dude who parks car and makes moves on girl looks literally ten years old. Hilarious.

Dude who picks her up looks 12.

Second? Third? Interrogation with Lewis. Bored now.

Reid jawline = good directing.

Confession: I have no idea what's happening. I'm just watching for Reid.

Dozed off. Lost my train of thought. Lewis shoots UnSub. Seriously? Lewis and Morgan have a moment. Morgan spouts platitudes. Makes everything ok. Lewis has epiphany I think.

Hotch makes deal with Lewis? I can't even stand it. Lewis obv has Hotch's balls in her pocket.

Sneak peek of next week's ep is more 50 shades? This hasn't been done?

Edited November 5, 2015 by Droogie

[Saje]

I was so distracted by the loud background (no, it was actually foreground) music tonight that I couldn't hardly focus. My friend kept saying "Why are the kids talking like they're from a 90s Disney show? 

 

I thought it was ok. I'm giving the newly hired writer some slack. He's been with the show a while. Not a favorite, but didn't hate it.

[Danielg342]

I knew right away that the UnSub wouldn't be one of the sex offenders. I also knew, right away, that the Sheriff's kids were going to be targets, especially Riley. I laughed when they gave the profile and laughed some more when they clearly got it wrong (especially because there was a "blink and you'd miss it" cut where the UnSub killing Victoria Taylor was quite clearly a younger adult), although I did appreciate the misdirect with Adam Jenkins being around. I also eye-rolled when Hotch seemed to pull the age of the UnSub out of thin air- there was no reason to suspect a younger UnSub. I thought they laid it on a little thick about how "human" the sex offenders were, and I was disappointed that Morgan's own disdain for sex offenders didn't come out more.

 

Yet...despite all that...I loved it.

 

Maybe it was the directing, because we had a nice, gloomy pall cast upon what was otherwise a nice day, evoking the kind of dark uncertainty that cases like this cloud a once vibrant community. Maybe too it was the writing, because, despite all the missteps with the profile and the overindulgence of the "sex offenders are human" narrative- as well as the obvious "final target" and "middle victim" formulaic writing- Erik Stiller still managed to bring out the human element to the story, allowing me to evoke sympathy for people whom sympathy is hard to come by. The acting was also spot-on, as it needed to be- in order for the human to be brought out of the "worst of the worst", we needed the actors to capture their human side, and they did.

 

Perhaps, most importantly, this was an episode where "the sum of its parts" really made the episode. It tells me that Stiller still has room to grow, and that he's got more than a few winners inside of him.

 

I thought Tara Lewis was really on-point tonight. Aisha Tyler was a tad robotic at times, but her warmth did shine through as well as her conviction that the sex offenders were still human beings and not "scum of the earth", and that was necessary to drive the episode. I also thought, in particular, the Reverend delivered too, especially with his fears coming out that the murders could ruin his project. The Sheriff too wasn't over the top, just a concerned LEO trying to raise his family and do his job, and it was a joy seeing him try to wrestle with his familial instincts and his work obligations. He didn't brute that Riley broke his rule and left the station (as she didn't understand it was for her own protection) and I felt for the guy knowing he had to restrain himself from going inside the house after Morgan because a guy like him knows that emotions and takedowns don't typically mesh well. I also thought the kids were entertaining, from the go-getter Danny to the perfect, by-the-book teen Riley.

 

Oh, and speaking of human moments- that moment where Tara realized she had her first kill, with Morgan having to tell her, "you had to do what you had to do"...that was golden. I wrote a similar scene a few years back in a fanfic of mine, and it played out almost exactly the same way. So kudos to you, Stiller.

 

Other notes:

 

-Appreciated that Garcia's computer didn't have a straightforward search for the UnSub, and that the team had to profile a bit to get the proper searches. Garcia's computer can be effective, the show just has to use it right.

-Sarcastic Rossi made a return- I loved that "I'll kick your ass" line when the interviewee wouldn't stop going on about his shoes.

-Enjoyed seeing the "I'm the UnSub" scenes we got here- it's a real treat when they "show" the profile and how it works instead of just explaining it. Really drives home that these are cases that happen in real life, not on a sheet of paper.

-Really felt for Randy Nelson when he was forced to admit he was a pedophile. You had to wonder how many others hid things from the Reverend, and his fear that his secret would doom his life was palpable (and wonderfully played by Kurt Scholler). A tad manipulative by Morgan and Lewis, but he wasn't giving them anything before then so it was the right move.

 

All in all...really wonderful tonight.

[UncleChuck]

 

I am so tired of this bleeping overused constantly in our faces newbie,not even an official cast member yet and she is already getting her second story line that is just plain ridiculous.

When TPTB cast a new character they have two choices--hire a relatively unknown or low-profile actor, or bring in someone already known from previous exposure in movies, tv etc.

Obviously showrunners love to bring in an actor with an existing fan base but the problem is that BEFORE any signatures appear on any contract, the actor and his agents have already negotiated for the number of shows that will feature that actor, and often the percentage of scenes/lines that will be given that actor.  The writers and director then have to figure out how to fulfill that contract.  Audience reaction has little to do with it.  So Aisha may eventually end up back on the show, or be given "Regular" status, but her exposure in these past 6 episodes was likely cut "in stone" before she even showed up for work the first day.

 

However, once the initial contract has expired TPTB have the option of writing that character out of the show or expanding/reducing their participation.  Thus, actors hired for a 3-5 show arc often "catch on" and end up as series regulars and others disappear. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by UncleChuck

[Guesswht]

I'm sure Aisha is going to leave sooner or later. She didn't sign up for the overwhelming, undeserved, soul-crushing hate messages she has to deal with every day.

Hopefully things will get better when AJ comes back, but i don't think that will happen. JJ fans are NOT hating on her, it's something else....

[ReidFan]

Well, I really liked some of the camera angles and shot choices Felix Alcala (sp?) made. Instead of the 'everyone's sitting around the round table throwing out their ideas/theories/thoughts...long shot, show them all, medium shot of the speaker, close up of the speaker next time usual kind of stuff..... (and I noticed this because of course, when Reid is on screen, he's the only one I see anyway, even if there are six other beings in the shot) director had the camera *follow* Reid as he walked along behind the table to his seat, as he spoke about the crime/unsub (blah blah, I wasn't really listening, I was LOOKING) and it was nice to see movement rather than a static shot of talking heads.. Then again, instead of a plain close up of Tara and Derek each as they spoke, the camera taped the scene from *behind* Reid, so the side of his face and HIS JAWLINE were in the shot of um, er, Tara? Derek? whoever! who cares! There was a bit of a focus pull moving focus from his head to Tara? Derek? whoever!  Again later, when Rossi was giving Tara the pep talk, the camera was like the third person (the audience!) in the conversation, as though it (so, I) was a participant as well. I thought that was really effective .

 

Overall, too much was telegraphed though. Knew the unsub was not gonna be a resident, knew the cop's daughter was gonna be the Damsel in Distress of the week. Oh, and I didn't like that Reid and Morgan were partnered up initially here but when takedown time came, Tara went with Morgan. WTF?! Oh I know, they needed to have Tara do the shooting, but still....grrrrrr..... 

 

and as usual, just not enough Reid for my liking...........

[normasm]

You know, I was thinking as I watched some of the (many) Tara scenes: this would be really good if it were the launch of a new show, a police procedural that riffed off the once-great Criminal Minds. Tara had a lot of interesting things to say, to bring to the table for the psychological underpinning of the community, and some interesting personal dilemmas. But this is the 11th season of Criminal Minds, a show with tons of history and canon characters who could be used every week to tell these stories. Why didn't they explore how Morgan felt, going into the sex offender community? Instead, they had Tara defending the entire community as good people juxtaposed with shots of adult white males leering at children on bicycles.

 

I liked the scene of Tara and Rossi talking about The Job, and how you have to make decisions carefully in order to do it well and stay safe yourself, but she also got a tender scene with Morgan at the end, and bookend scenes with Hotch about the demand for her perfection. This character, who was supposed to be recurring and is supposedly going away, has been turned into the biggest Mary Sue I've encountered on TV. She is incapable of making a mistake! I feel like Reid might as well disappear in the last third of the episode, because his skills simply aren't needed. Go read a book, Spencer.

 

The writers of this show do not use the characters any more to tell the stories they are supposed to tell. Every week now, for the last 3 or 4 seasons, the writers have written for the guest stars, primarily the unsubs, because they either won't or can't write the rich characters they have properly. When they try, often they write OOC crap that retcons the whole 11 seasons. Next week they seem to be having Reid passionately sweeping JJ off her feet into his formerly shy and introverted arms. He's also going to disappear to who-knows-where for 2 episodes in the near future, and I can't help but think he's just going to go see Mom, and come back with a tan.

 

Where are the stories? Where are the profiles? Where are the characters we know and love? Why do I care anymore?

Edited November 5, 2015 by normasm

[paigow]

Maybe Hotch Jr. will join BAU.... he should be high school age by now...

[Calamity Jane]

You know, I was thinking as I watched some of the (many) Tara scenes: this would be really good if it were the launch of a new show, a police procedural that riffed off the once-great Criminal Minds. Tara had a lot of interesting things to say, to bring to the table for the psychological underpinning of the community, and some interesting personal dilemmas. But this is the 11th season of Criminal Minds, a show with tons of history and canon characters who could be used every week to tell these stories. Why didn't they explore how Morgan felt, going into the sex offender community? Instead, they had Tara defending the entire community as good people juxtaposed with shots of adult white males leering at children on bicycles.

 

I liked the scene of Tara and Rossi talking about The Job, and how you have to make decisions carefully in order to do it well and stay safe yourself, but she also got a tender scene with Morgan at the end, and bookend scenes with Hotch about the demand for her perfection. This character, who was supposed to be recurring and is supposedly going away, has been turned into the biggest Mary Sue I've encountered on TV. She is incapable of making a mistake! I feel like Reid might as well disappear in the last third of the episode, because his skills simply aren't needed. Go read a book, Spencer.

 

The writers of this show do not use the characters any more to tell the stories they are supposed to tell. Every week now, for the last 3 or 4 seasons, the writers have written for the guest stars, primarily the unsubs, because they either won't or can't write the rich characters they have properly. When they try, often they write OOC crap that retcons the whole 11 seasons. Next week they seem to be having Reid passionately sweeping JJ off her feet into his formerly shy and introverted arms. He's also going to disappear to who-knows-where for 2 episodes in the near future, and I can't help but think he's just going to go see Mom, and come back with a tan.

 

Where are the stories? Where are the profiles? Where are the characters we know and love? Why do I care anymore?

Indeed to all the above, especially the last line.  I'm watching out of force of habit at this point.  If I weren't retired with the luxury of extra leisure time, I would delete it from my DVR.  Makes me sad because it was a very good show. 

[missmycat]

This show is in serious trouble 1.4 and once again less than 8 million viewers. In fact last week low rated Five-0 got a million more viewers than CM did. And while a 1.4 would be great for Friday shows like Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0 for CM it is a terrible rating. If this doesn't say to those nitwits run run CBS/CM that fans Do not want to see the Tara Lewis show.  Than I don't know what the hell well.

[normasm]

Could it be, MMC, that JJ fans are waiting until she comes back next week? She has a lot of fans, and they may want to make it known that she is missed. I know that if Matthew was going to for sure be absent for 7 episodes, I wouldn't watch those episodes and i'd take it off my DVR. It depends on what's going on and what hints they give whether i watch the 2 he's supposedly absent from. 

[jaytee1812]

This show is in serious trouble 1.4 and once again less than 8 million viewers. In fact last week low rated Five-0 got a million more viewers than CM did. And while a 1.4 would be great for Friday shows like Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0 for CM it is a terrible rating. If this doesn't say to those nitwits run run CBS/CM that fans Do not want to see the Tara Lewis show.  Than I don't know what the hell well.

Speak for yourself, I'd much rather watch The Tara Lewis Show than Criminal Minds, but I have to watch the dull white dudes to get her.

As soon as her stint is over Criminal Minds will have one less viewer, and I know I'm not alone.

[missmycat]

Could it be, MMC, that JJ fans are waiting until she comes back next week? She has a lot of fans, and they may want to make it known that she is missed. I know that if Matthew was going to for sure be absent for 7 episodes, I wouldn't watch those episodes and i'd take it off my DVR. It depends on what's going on and what hints they give whether i watch the 2 he's supposedly absent from. 

I could see it as being part of the reason for the decline but not the entire one. I am certain that the vast over focus on this bleeping newbie is also playing a part. Also I have a hard time believing that JJ's fan base is big enough to cause that much of a decline in the ratings on it's own.But again I do believe it is a factor along with the crappy writing(perhaps we were too quick to celebrate Janine's departure and Breen's promotion to head writer.) and the huge amount of focus on Lewis.

Edited November 5, 2015 by missmycat

[Droogie]

ITA, MMC. My guess is that precious few long-term CM fans have the patience to sit through constant Tara Lewis, when our own faves spend most of their time on the back burner in favor of the UnSub du jour.

I don't object to her presence, but time is running out. I want to see my team.

[Danielg342]

We haven't exactly had bellwether episodes either this season. Aside from this episode- of which I seem to be its only fan- I've thought this season's fare has been some of the worst the show has ever had. Now, that could very well be hyperbole given that they're fresh in my mind still, but I'm not sure I can blame Tara for the ratings drop-off.

For what it's worth, I don't think Tara Lewis has been all that bad. She hasn't been memorable, but I don't feel like she's dominated the show, aside from this episode where I think she actually was good once she was actually given something to do.

At the very least, she hasn't ruined it- what has are the problems that have plagued the show for years, like the show's penchant for cheap thrills in place of actual coherent writing and in-depth profiling. Perhaps the masses were slow to catch up to that, but now it appears they have.

We'll see what happens when JJ comes back.

[missmycat]

We haven't exactly had bellwether episodes either this season. Aside from this episode- of which I seem to be its only fan- I've thought this season's fare has been some of the worst the show has ever had. Now, that could very well be hyperbole given that they're fresh in my mind still, but I'm not sure I can blame Tara for the ratings drop-off.

For what it's worth, I don't think Tara Lewis has been all that bad. She hasn't been memorable, but I don't feel like she's dominated the show, aside from this episode where I think she actually was good once she was actually given something to do.

At the very least, she hasn't ruined it- what has are the problems that have plagued the show for years, like the show's penchant for cheap thrills in place of actual coherent writing and in-depth profiling. Perhaps the masses were slow to catch up to that, but now it appears they have.

We'll see what happens when JJ comes back.

I was willing to give her a chance until they began shoving her down our throats. I am not the only one who feels this way. She is not even an official cast member and yet despite the fact we are not even a third of a way through the season she has already gotten her second story line. So while I do agree that the crappy writing and even JJ's absence has played a part, I am certain the vast amount of focus on Lewis  at  the expense of the regular long time cast members is also a factor. You yourself even said that Morgan should've have been more of a factor in this episode since he had been sexually abused as a child, but hey I guess the writer was too damn busy focusing on that cop and those brats of his as well as Lewis to even bother to address the issue.

Edited November 5, 2015 by missmycat

[atir]

I was really annoyed by how many times Tara kept saying the inhabitants of Perv Town were good people. Granted, peepers & 17 or 18 year olds having sex isn't ~at all~ like pedos etc, but her mentioning all the good folks was a bit over the top.

[Droogie]

I was really annoyed by how many times Tara kept saying the inhabitants of Perv Town were good people. Granted, peepers & 17 or 18 year olds having sex isn't ~at all~ like pedos etc, but her mentioning all the good folks was a bit over the top.

Completely agree. It's one thing when an 18-yr-old man has sex with his 16-yr-old GF; entirely another when a grownup is molesting a child. Not even in the same zip code. I didn't get how Tara wasn't differentiating there.

And like others have mentioned, shouldn't Morgan have had some input, some reaction, to this case? Oh, but that might've cut into Lewis's screen time. Never mind that we are 11 SEASONS IN and we want to see our team, not waste precious minutes on a new character no one cares about.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Droogie

[ReidFan]

a-freakin'-men Droogie....... 

[iscoffy]

I think it's really a function of the writers not wanting to be bothered to look at (or think about) the "book" of canon.  Lewis is a new shiny character they can play with, and they don't have to worry about contradicting anything in the show's lengthy history.  I actually don't mind her and she amazingly does have a specialty, but I assume if the show lasts and she's still on it, she will become as blandly competent at everything as the rest of them soon enough.

 

I am finding it pretty hilarious when the team does the round table, spouts some random stuff in turn, and then Hotch inevitably declares, "We're ready to deliver the profile." Really?  I'm assuming the writers just don't want to bother to figure out actual profiling anymore, but it's so incredibly perfunctory now.   

 

Sadly, there was a lot of interesting stuff about the village and their leader's antics with tracking chips and contracts (which he's too good to have to use or sign himself), and who was and wasn't allowed to be in the village that just got ignored in favor of weird cheerleader stalking that wasn't really explained.  I was kind of hoping bland cop guy would have been the unsub to justify the amount of time we spent on him and his moppets, but no.

Edited November 5, 2015 by iscoffy

[missmycat]

The good news is CM adjusted up to a 1.5. However that is still a series low for the show. As someone elsewhere has pointed out the reason NCIS is still getting good ratings is because the writers did not make the mistake of taken the focus off of Gibbs and his team in favor of the so called guest stars. I honestly don't know who I'd want to kick in the ass more EM for taken the show in this direction or CBS for letting her do it.

Edited November 5, 2015 by missmycat

[secnarf]

I absolutely HATE when people say pedophilia is the same as homosexuality. As long as a homosexual relationship is consenting, nobody is being hurt by it. An adult having sex with or molesting a child is not consensual and does cause harm. Perhaps you cannot control whether or not you feel sexually attracted towards kids, but you can control your actions.
It's not okay for one person to rape or sexually assault another just because they're attracted to them, regardless of the age (or sexual orientation) of the involved parties.

Edited November 6, 2015 by secnarf

[iscoffy]

As stated by qwerty, the community seemed to exclude pedophiles, as the guy who remembered the logo on the car was terrified the leader of their community would find out his flasher antics were a cover for his pedophilia and kick him out (which made the scene of the leering men even more strange).  If they wanted to create a story about a person legitimately struggling with controlling pedophilia, rather than just hinting at it, that could be interesting (along the lines of Nathan Harris), but they obviously wanted to spend time with Super!Tara and bashing around cheerleaders instead.  Not that I would trust these writers to handle that in any sort of way worth watching, nor write anything close to "Sex, Birth, Death" anyway.

Edited November 6, 2015 by iscoffy

[Guesswht]

I don't feel that Tara is being shoved down my throat which is weird because JJ is my life and i should be bitter to see her getting along with the team. :p

I'm not bitter. Next week we (i mean JJ fans) will get to see a scene we've been waiting for 11 years: a Jotch hug!!! <3 Hotch never hugs anyone, JJ is a special person no matter what haters say. I can't wait to see how joyful the team is for her. What a beautiful thing it would've been to see JJ being pregnant after her heartbreaking miscarriage and PTSD storyline. It would've been Perfect. I watched a behind the scenes video today and i think AJ feels the same way which makes it even more heartbreaking, if that's possible.

 

My point is: i'm a JJ fan and i'm not hating Aisha / Tara. She's great, she's a new character and the only one female agent right now, of course she gets a lot to do. I don't think she has so much screen time anyway. Last year was a torture because of the new character, the show was all about her and you got bashed for having an opinion about it. This year the newbie gets less screen time and the pop opinion about her is that she's dominating the show. People are weird.

It's sure not Aisha's fault if she's dominating the show anyway. Being cruel to her is just wrong. It's really affecting her, she's talking about her haters with tears in her eyes on The Talk.

She was so excited to be on the show just a month ago. Not anymore

Edited November 6, 2015 by Guesswht

[Gbb]

People are actually sending hate messages to Aisha Tyler in real life?? That's messed up. I know there are vocal fan groups that like to vent when this one or that one doesn't get as much screen time as they'd like to get, but it never occurred to me someone would actually attack an actress for doing her job.

I'm a Hotch girl. He does it for me. But, as much as I might enjoy it for an episode or two, I don't want CM to become "The Hotch Show." I don't want it to be the Reid Show or the JJ show or the Morgan show either, as much as I like those characters. I want CM to be an ensemble show where the gang works together to figure out the bad guy and put him away. If one week Reid gets more screen time than Hotch or Morgan, that's fine with me. It pretty much evens out over time. I've had no real problem with any new profilers they've brought on except for the horrible Mary Sue still-in-training daughter of a serial killer from a few years back, but that's because she was, IMO, a badly written character. I have no problem at all with Lewis; I like what she brings to the group. It stuns me to hear Aisha Tyler is in tears over hate mail.

I enjoyed tonight's ep and the humanity they brought to the sex offender town story. I thought they made it very clear they were not talking about pedophiles at all. No one in the town could be a pedophile or a violent offender of any kind. I do think the story began to break down a bit when it came to the actual unsub. He was a garden variety sexual sadist. Other than that, I thought it was a good episode (using the post-season 4-5 scale anyway).

[thewhiteowl]

Use the "ignore" feature, folks. It's there for this reason. If you can't stop yourself from responding, you are part of the problem. Posts that quote a deleted post will also be deleted. PM me if you have a question.

[SSAHotchner]

Indeed to all the above, especially the last line.  I'm watching out of force of habit at this point.  If I weren't retired with the luxury of extra leisure time, I would delete it from my DVR.  Makes me sad because it was a very good show. 

Me, too, Calamity. It's a habit that's reinforced by my online friends who are still watching, but I keep wondering why I'm still watching. I wonder if it's just me, until I read comments here and on other forums from others who notice the decline in the writing and how the show barely resembles the original. 

 

I have to watch again to really formulate my thoughts on this one. I will say that I didn't hate it, but there was way too much Lewis for me. I just don't understand why most of the writers seem to write this way now where they heavily feature one character and ignore the others. The only thing I can think of, besides that they are horrible writers, is that the rest of the cast asked for more time off. 

 

Anyway, I think it was an interesting idea, but lacked the hand of someone familiar with profiling. What the heck is Jim Clemente doing these days? He certainly isn't earning his consultant fees. 

[secnarf]

Actually that's the same mindset the 'Pedophile is the same as homosexuality' people have. They can't control their feelings but as long as they're not acting on it there's not reason to shun them.

But this completely ignores the aspect of consent and acting in a way that hurts another person vs. acting on sexual attraction in a consensual way.

[needschocolate]

Hey, I am finally caught up with this season!  

 

This had to be one of the worst "It is time to give the profile" scenes in the history of the show. Someone says, "Maybe it isn't someone from the community" and Hotch immediately says that it is time give the profile.  Huh? They didn't have enough info to give the profile when they thought it was in Pervtown, but not that they realize it could be someone from outside, they have enough info? 

 

I was confused as to how they knew that the daughter and the unsub were at the sheriff's house. They didn't seem to have any reason to think he would take her there.  Then I realized that they didn't have any reason to think she was in trouble, did they? 

 

She snuck out of the police station to go to a party.  The only thing we heard about the party's location was that the daughter said it was in the opposite location from Pervtown.  We don't know how long she was gone, was it more than an hour or two? If she was late, it was more likely that she was still at the party having fun or finding herself in trouble, instead of her being taken by the guy who was parked in front of the first murder house.

 

They should have tried to figure out where the party was and check that house first (although, in reality, there probably wasn't a party just a ploy used by the horny teenage boy, but they wouldn't know that).  They could have had a scene where they track down horny teenage boy and then search the neighborhood, but I guess they used up too much time having men stare at children and giving us multiple interviews to prove how awesome Lewis it.  

 

Speaking of Lewis being awesome...Is she?  Maybe we are supposed to believe they handled cases other than the six we have seen, because I have seen nothing in these six to lead me to believe she is so great.  I have no problem with the character, and don't mind if she stays, or if she goes.  But is not like she has said or done anything to make me think that she was worth creating a special position for.  It is just sloppy writing to try to expect viewers believe a character is great by having other characters say she is great - they should offer some proof.  I mean, they had Garcia gushing over Lewis when she was being interviewed.  

 

I wonder how many sheriffs keep loaded guns in the bedroom closets when they have kids young enough that they can't stay home alone....

Edited November 10, 2015 by needschocolate

[normasm]

Choco, that last is a goooooood question....