S12.E05: The Anti-Terrorism Squad

[thewhiteowl]

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The BAU investigates if bullying may be the link between two high school students who are the sole survivors after both of their families are killed.

[WendyCR72]

By the way, TV Line has reported that, along with NBC, CBS is pulling its new episodes tonight due to the World Series finale. So this is not airing tonight, after all.

[ReidFan]

wow, loved this one. Really really liked the crime reenactment scene with Reid/Prentiss/JJ in the victims'  home going through the scenario, that was really well done.

my only real quibble with this one was that it shoulda been Reid, not Prentiss, talking down the unsub. He's done it with a bullied person before, and it would just have made sense.

[NYGirl]

Things are bad when you end up feeling sorry for the unsub.  I like that we didn't know who it was from the beginning.  I like the crime scene re-enactment.  They used to always do it the first couple of seasons.

[CrimeFan12]

4 minutes ago, ReidFan said:

wow, loved this one. Really really liked the crime reenactment scene with Reid/Prentiss/JJ in the victims'  home going through the scenario, that was really well done.

my only real quibble with this one was that it shoulda been Reid, not Prentiss, talking down the unsub. He's done it with a bullied person before, and it would just have made sense.

That did cross my mind.  I remember him telling Morgan that he was tapped to a goal post (I think), but maybe with Gubler's prep for next week's episode he wasn't available for it.

[Droogie]

2 minutes ago, CrimeFan12 said:

That did cross my mind.  I remember him telling Morgan that he was tapped to a goal post (I think), but maybe with Gubler's prep for next week's episode he wasn't available for it.

That may well be true, but in any episode, they need to research canon to see if there is anything to tie into/play off of, in the execution of said episode.  Zimmerman could've at least said hey, I'm writing this episode about bullying; is there any special contribution anyone on the team might make on this subject?

[CrimeFan12]

1 minute ago, Droogie said:

That may well be true, but in any episode, they need to research canon to see if there is anything to tie into/play off of, in the execution of said episode.  Zimmerman could've at least said hey, I'm writing this episode about bullying; is there any special contribution anyone on the team might make on this subject?

That is also true, but we know how well the writers do with continuity and canon...lol.

[ReidFan]

Zimmerman didn't write this one, Droogie. Stephanie SanGupta did. But yeah, whoever it was shoulda looked into that. Although Elephant's Memory (bless Andrew Wilder for this one) was from 2008, long before Zimmerman--or SanGupta--was on staff

[Danielg342]

An anti-bullying episode and Reid only has two scenes? Who writes this crap?

OK...Joey Bragg was pretty convincing as the UnSub. He comes from a long line of former child actors CM has turned into UnSubs (like Wil Wheaton, Frankie Muniz and Jake Thomas), but he did make a mark. Credit to the costume guys for dressing him up during his bullying scene like Bragg is on Liv & Maddie...nice allusion.

Other than that...I'm not sure there was a cliche this episode didn't hit. It really just "went through the motions" without any real, deeper exploration of what was happening. Sure, we had some misdirects over who the UnSub was, and I appreciate that we didn't get the UnSub early...but this was really "paint by the numbers". There was nothing truly novel about the approach and the episode really lacked depth. The acting was nice (especially from Paget Brewster in the end) but the writing was rote.

This may have been one of those episodes where seeing the UnSub early might have had a benefit. This episode was all about a bullying victim repaying his victims in kind, so instead of a "mystery" we should have had the UnSub- or even the whole Anti-Terror Squad- telling their story. Yeah, kids getting back at their bullies isn't a novel story idea either, but it at least "humanizes" the story and allows for a deeper investment in it.

Which is better use of Joey Bragg, if you ask me.

Episode Grade: C-. Somewhat engaged but ultimately disappointed.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Not the worst episode, but there were a few flaws that dragged it down (IMPO).

-  How the hell does an episode that not only focuses on the case surrounding a young UnSub who suffered & retaliated because of HS bullies, and Reid did both beginning and end quotes, but he was totally absent for most of the actual episode??  Are you *bleep*ing serious?  I like Emily a lot, but the talking down of Kyle totally belonged to Reid because of actual past experiences.  Kyle was tied to a hoop, laughed at and left all night - Reid was tied to a goalpost, laughed at and left all night.  Seriously, though, where was Reid for most of the 'teamwork' discussions?  Did he continually get lost within the maze that was the local police station??

-  If you aren't going to turn it into a romance, then please just stop with all the cutesy Garcia/Alvez stuff Show - or at least dial it way back.  Buying lots of gifts for his dog, and tripping over words to explain the actions?  Then trying to make decisions for him.  Really, its just more of an annoyance of a time-filler than anything else.

Edited November 10, 2016 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[Danielg342]

3 minutes ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

I like Emily a lot, but the talking down of Kyle totally belonged to Reid because of actual past experiences.  Kyle was tied to a hoop, laughed at and left all night - Reid was tied to a goalpost, laughed at and left all night.

Yeah...Reid's experience with Alexa Lisbon should have meant he would have spoken to the UnSub. I remember talking with my brother and we both kind of "pulled" for the UnSub to shoot his friend, just for "something different" (I mean, seriously, why do so many UnSubs, who have no qualms about killing someone and are reckless about their own lives, be so willing to get arrested? Wouldn't one of them think "I'd rather die in a blaze of glory than spend the rest of my life rotting in prison (or going on death row, which defeats the purpose of giving in to the arrest)"?). I also think now it could have "saved" the episode for the team bringing in the wrong person to talk to the UnSub (kind of like when Reid screwed up in "3rd Life").

3 minutes ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

If you aren't going to turn it into a romance, then please just stop with all the cutesy Garcia/Alvez stuff Show - or at least dial it way back.

I enjoy their scenes because I think they've got great chemistry, but I can see where you're coming from. I think a show with those two would work well, because they're a better "brawn + brain" combo than Morgan/Garcia really were.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

5 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I enjoy their scenes because I think they've got great chemistry, but I can see where you're coming from. I think a show with those two would work well, because they're a better "brawn + brain" combo than Morgan/Garcia really were.

I'm not sure if its because of the great chemistry or not, but while I realize they are just trying to portray it as them both trying hard to find a 'common ground' with each other as teammates and/or friends, its coming off as hinting more at an UST, especially on Garcia's side of it.

Again, just my view and opinion, but I think the whole thing between Garcia & Alvez could use a little less flair if the writers are not going for more than just the usual relationship the BAU team members share between themselves.

Edited November 10, 2016 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[zannej]

I know that Matthew directed the episode after this, but you would think they could have scheduled the filming in such a way that they had scenes for Reid that made sense. He seemed to really be thinking and "present" in the opening scenes and then he just inexplicably disappeared from the police station. If they said he was out doing legwork or *something* it would have made more sense.

I can get the unsub having motivation to kill or hurt the people who bullied him, but murdering their family members just didn't seem right. They initially profiled it as someone experienced and organized. So, how the hell was a kid like that able to pull it off so smoothly on his first try? Did he practice techniques for sneaking in and shooting in video games? Had he been to the victim's homes before? How did he know just where to go?

Did they ever explain where or how the boy obtained a silencer? For that matter, did they say how he got the gun? I mean, I could believe that he stole or borrowed a gun belonging to an uncle, aunt, grandparent, or parent or something. But not a silencer.

I did like the part where Prentiss, Reid, and JJ talked through what happened, but I did wonder why they assumed that the mother screamed. She might not have had time to scream and I don't remember them mentioning the neighbors hearing any screams.

Am I the only person who thought it didn't seem right for a puddle of pee to come out from under the closet door? Wouldn't it have been mostly absorbed by his pants? Why did they assume that the unsub saw the puddle? For all they know, he could have peed after the unsub left or at least the puddle might not have been visible right away (although, I still don't buy that there would have been a puddle to begin with).

I feel like this plot was already done before and done better with "Elephant's Memory". At least Owen had more of an explanation for his actions. With this kid, it isn't clear why he targeted the first two kids before going after the kid who threw the ball at his face. Speaking of which, how was he able to overpower that kid? Did he use the gun?

I know they wanted to give us a red herring, but I think the counselor seemed a bit too cliche and didn't seem very realistic to me. I just don't think someone like that guy would have made it as a school counselor. He saw one of the kids get tripped and did nothing? He's an adult with at least some position of authority. He should could have and should have said something to the kid who did the tripping.

Then Kyle (not sure why I remember the name) kidnapping his friends at gunpoint also didn't really make sense. How did he know where they were to begin with? Again, it just felt too contrived.

I can see that others also felt that Reid should have been the one to talk him down and I agree. There was just no explanation as to why Reid wasn't there and he really should have been.

I did think the acting was pretty good for the most part and I liked that the friend who was driving realized something was off with Kyle and that he wanted to call the police.

I think that Kirsten and Adam have good chemistry as friends, but I don't understand why they are persisting with this weirdness with Garcia buying gifts for Roxy and just the awkward interactions. It just doesn't seem to make sense. That awkwardness should be gone by now.

Did they even mention Hotch at all?

This one wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Still, not too bad for a first writing endeavor. But the plot and profiling need some work.

[JMO]

Only watched the last bit of it last night, gave it a second chance today.  Not my favorite, by a long shot.

Things that were okay:

• Throwback re-creation of the crime scene
• Continued exposition of Luke’s background woven into the episode
• Allusion to Rossi’s first days with the team, a la, ‘It can be hard to get used to’ (profiling as a team sport)
• The fact that Rossi kept the newbie close to him.
• The evolution of the profile, though I didn’t know why it took them so long

Not so okay

• The actual delivery of the profile, with people speaking in order, and the clunky camera work was just weird.  I missed Hotch.
• I can understand why the 911 operator would send the police to the victim’s house when he couldn’t answer her question.  But I have absolutely no idea why the BAU got involved.  It could have been any kind of DV or home invasion call.
• Garcia can find a list of bullies?!
• Disappearing Reid.  For me, the episode barely moved the meter, not for quantity, nor quality, nor visual effect.
• The very obvious failure to mine Reid’s history.  The actual bullying event was so similar to the one Reid disclosed to Morgan that it felt like the writer did not realize that her inspiration had actually come from an episode of the series she was writing.  Someone should have told her.
• I still like Luke.  But the Alvez/Garcia dynamic can take a hike.

Edited November 10, 2016 by JMO

[normasm]

One thing that irks me: This episode is the Anti-Terror Squad. The kids call it that in the episode. Yet, it recorded twice on my DVR, once as "Anti-Terror Squad" and, simultaneously, as "The Anti-Terrorism Squad."

Huh-whuh?!

[normasm]

10 minutes ago, JMO said:

Only watched the last bit of it last night, gave it a second chance today.  Not my favorite, by a long shot.

Things that were okay:

• Throwback re-creation of the crime scene
• Continued exposition of Luke’s background woven into the episode
• Allusion to Rossi’s first days with the team, a la, ‘It can be hard to get used to’ (profiling as a team sport)
• The fact that Rossi kept the newbie close to him.
• The evolution of the profile, though I didn’t know why it took them so long

Not so okay

• The actual delivery of the profile, with people speaking in order, and the clunky camera work was just weird.  I missed Hotch.
• I can understand why the 911 operator would send the police to the victim’s house when he couldn’t answer her question.  But I have absolutely no idea why the BAU got involved.  It could have been any kind of DV or home invasion call.
• Garcia can find a list of bullies?!
• Disappearing Reid.  For me, the episode barely moved the meter, not for quantity, nor quality, nor visual effect.
• The very obvious failure to mine Reid’s history.  The actual bullying event was so similar to the one Reid disclosed to Morgan that it felt like the writer did not realize that her inspiration had actually come from an episode of the series she was writing.  Someone should have told her.
• I still like Luke.  But the Alvez/Garcia dynamic can take a hike.

Just ditto everything you said, JMO! Not a bad first effort by the writer, but, I would hope she could see your criticisms and take them to heart.

[ReidFan]

I really liked the reenactment scene (even if some of their suppositions came from thin air), a nice throwback to how it used to be done. Harry called it 'ghosting'. I wonder if writer SanGupta was familiar with it from her previous writing experiences? Didn't she previously write for some other procedural too? (asking cause I'm not familiar with others, or her)

[amensisterfriend]

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The actual delivery of the profile, with people speaking in order, and the clunky camera work was just weird.  I missed Hotch.

Bless you for pointing this out! This aspect of the show has either gotten even more cringe-inducing than before or (more likely?!)  other aspects of the show are no longer compelling enough  to compensate for its awfulness. The profile reading scenes are just so bad that I honestly end up feeling vicarious embarrassment for the actors. People just don't speak and present information like that! Ever!!! Those scenes always come off like an awkwardly scripted elementary school play, with each team member dutifully delivering one horribly written line each before allowing the next team member to do the same. 

Ideally, the profile should be presented primarily by just one person IMO, maybe with others occasionally chiming in to add relevant details. Since the show long ago gave up the illusion that the team members fill remotely different roles within the team or bring different specialties and skillsets to the job, it's not like there's an obvious way to decide who delivers the profile that week (ie, in the old days, it would have made sense for Elle to take the lead on a profile that involved a sexual predator, Morgan to deliver most of the profile of a bomber or 'obsessional' crimes, and so on) . Even so, I'd prefer it so much if they could alternate who takes the lead every week, leading to a far smoother, more coherent and natural sounding profile delivery than forcing each character to unnaturally complete the thought of whichever team member happens to be standing next to them. The problem is that this team is way too big for what it is, and too few (almost none!) of them have distinctive personalities or roles within the team or even anything at all to do in most episodes that isn't already being done by the other team members, so blurting out their one line during the profile session is often the only way that certain team members contribute at all to a given episode. Yet another reason that I wish this team were smaller :) 

I give this episode a B-/C+ overall. I have a feeling that back when my expectations of CM were higher, I would have less generously given it a C-/D :)

Edited November 10, 2016 by amensisterfriend

[zannej]

I admit that I've learned to ignore the team taking turns delivering the profile because it is something that was part of the show in the beginning. I would have to watch again, but something else bothered me about the actual profile itself but I can't remember anymore.

[threebluestars]

I miss having local law enforcement involved. In early seasons every visit somewhere had a local contact who was involved in the story. Now they just show up, line up to present their portion of the profile, catch the guy and leave. I liked the local interaction a lot, but it's so empty of that now.

And the entire time I was watching the "talk the bully down" scene I was like "the internet is going to go crazy that Reid is not doing this" lol. It bothered me that he just vanished as well.

Garcia/Alvez I just don't understand. Their scenes are so weird. What is Garcia's problem?

I do like having Emily back and I find I'm not missing Hotch at all, which is interesting.

[dkb]

Did I miss something from last episode or this one; did they mention where Tara was?

[secnarf]

13 hours ago, zannej said:

Did they even mention Hotch at all?

I was wondering this as well. I didn't notice anything but I often miss the one-off throwaway lines. Since there has been no move to replace him as team leader, I don't think they have made any progress on that storyline.

2 minutes ago, arieswriting said:

I do like having Emily back and I find I'm not missing Hotch at all, which is interesting.

I agree, and I am a bit surprised also.

1 minute ago, dkb said:

Did I miss something from last episode or this one; did they mention where Tara was?

I didn't notice she wasn't there :(

Episode was okay. Nice change of pace, but not super compelling, and I agree it was a bad episode for Reid to be MIA for.

[JMO]

Was there any follow up on Reid going or not going to see Diana?  At the end of the last episode, Reid wasn't going to go, for reasons that were entirely unclear to me. but Rossi told him to go anyway.  No mention this episode?

[zannej]

I totally forgot about Tara! And I actually like her.

[Willowy]

I don't recall any mention of Tara, dang it. No Hotch mention can be excused because they don't have to keep reiterating that he's working elsewhere every ep.

BUT... not having Reid do that takedown was THE most egregious error I've seen them make in ages. Seriously, show? Did you think we wouldn't catch that? If there was some reasoning behind it or they came out with some plot device they may have gotten a pass. But to just "*boop*, let's drop Prentiss in there"? WAT?

Also, is anyone else noticing how Paget drags Emily's words out, and over-enunciates everything now? Not thinking Emily had a stroke so what's the deal with that? It's not very "Prentiss-like".

[Danielg342]

How did I miss that Tara Lewis wasn't there?

I guess it goes to show how well the show has been at developing her character.

[QASteph]

The part that bugged me about giving the profile is that they wasted a ton of time describing what the unsub was not.  "Normally a family annihilator..."  Why?  They don't care what normal is.  They care about THIS CASE.  If you must, you may have a phrase or two at the start mentioning it's an unusual variation on a family annihilator but then get on with the relevant info.  Not what you would expect to see in other cases. The lesson on profiling can wait.

As has been pointed out - this was eerily similar to Reid's experience.  As in "get some new material" similar.  I feel like bullying these days is more around social media than physically tying someone to a flag pole.  All that aside, I don't even necessarily need Reid to be the one to talk the kid down even though he's shown an affinity for and a talent at that before. But there was no nod given that the situation was close to home for him. I'd love to chalk up his newfound abilities to keep emotionally in check to "the writers have allowed Reid to grow and mature over the years" except without even a hint that this is a topic that he has an interest in it just comes across as "the writers not only ignored the continuity fairy but they kidnapped, gagged, and locked her in a closet."

[autumnmountains]

I liked this episode, minus the ending where Reid should have been the one to talk the unsub down. What gets me is that according to cbs, the similarity was deliberate. They wanted people to flash back to Reid.

[JMO]

5 minutes ago, autumnmountains said:

I liked this episode, minus the ending where Reid should have been the one to talk the unsub down. What gets me is that according to cbs, the similarity was deliberate. They wanted people to flash back to Reid.

Saw that.  That's their story, and they're sticking to it.  Right.

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, autumnmountains said:

What gets me is that according to cbs, the similarity was deliberate. They wanted people to flash back to Reid.

Clunkily done. It would have been nice at least for a line of acknowledgement, where Rossi or Prentiss remarks, "now I know how Reid felt". I get logistics are logistics, but don't completely ignore that Reid would relate to that experience so much more than the rest of the team.

[ReidFan]

absolutely!! and like you said, it could have been alluded to so easily; although I'm not sure Rossi or Prentiss are aware of Reid's similar experience, that could've been easily dealt with as well, just by having Reid take one/both aside and saying " Can I tell you something" ... fade to black  ....(back in that scene in the office where they were putting it all together.) Then Rossi/Prentiss would definitely be aware and your 'Now I know how Reid felt' would fit in place perfectly and take the writers/producers off the hook for not having Reid do that scene.

argh! why can they not think of these things? Why do we always have to do it, after the fact?

[Bookish Jen]

3 minutes ago, ReidFan said:

absolutely!! and like you said, it could have been alluded to so easily; although I'm not sure Rossi or Prentiss are aware of Reid's similar experience, that could've been easily dealt with as well, just by having Reid take one/both aside and saying " Can I tell you something" ... fade to black  ....(back in that scene in the office where they were putting it all together.) Then Rossi/Prentiss would definitely be aware and your 'Now I know how Reid felt' would fit in place perfectly and take the writers/producers off the hook for not having Reid do that scene.

argh! why can they not think of these things? Why do we always have to do it, after the fact?

Because we're not on the CM staff. They need to hire us pronto to advise them of various character canon, past episodes, etc. 

I'll even bring snacks!!!

[Bookish Jen]

Okay, most of you have summed up my thoughts on this episode; and like many of you, color me unimpressed.

Yes,  most likely Matthew was busy preparing for directing "Elliott's Pond." However, somehow Spencer and his experiences with bullies, especially having an experience so similar to the unsub's should have come to play in this episode. ReidFan brought up a great idea that might not hone too much into Matthew's time when it comes to having Spencer being on screen to deliver the dialogue and give a way for Prentiss and Rossi to understand and empathize with him while talking down the unsub.

What else bugged? The bullying seemed too old school; I would have liked to see social media used more when it comes to bullying in this modern age. Plus, the unsub killing family members rather than taking his rage out on the bullies directly just seemed ridiculous to me. I thought maybe the head unsub could rally the troops (fellow victims) to kill off their tormentors one by one and that brings in the BAU.

And Garcia is getting icky with her sucking up to Alvez by buying gifts for Roxy. Alvez must have the patience of a saint not to tell Garcia to knock it off. Compared to Garcia in the early seasons, today's Garcia is coming across like a creepy middle school girl with a crush on her favorite teacher. Gross!

[Nysha]

5 hours ago, Bookish Jen said:

And Garcia is getting icky with her sucking up to Alvez by buying gifts for Roxy. Alvez must have the patience of a saint not to tell Garcia to knock it off. Compared to Garcia in the early seasons, today's Garcia is coming across like a creepy middle school girl with a crush on her favorite teacher. Gross!

I wonder if the end game is to replicate Garcia & Morgan's relationship with Alvez. Not that it would ever be believable, but it does kind of explain the immature crush behavior.

[Willowy]

It's almost like they're trying to force us to think that. I dunno, to me, the Garcia/Morgan bond was really unique and if they're trying to replicate it with Luke? That's kind of soap opera. And kind of insulting. 

Gross.

[Danielg342]

I think Garcia and Alvez play off each other better than Garcia and Morgan did, but I don't see a romance at all. Morgan was more "big brother"-ish to her, while Alvez is more the "cool & collected" ying to Garcia's neurotic yang, mostly as a co-worker.

Having said that, I could never see Morgan and Garcia having a show together (I always reserved that for Morgan/Reid), but I think Garcia/Alvez would be a hit.

7 hours ago, Bookish Jen said:

Plus, the unsub killing family members rather than taking his rage out on the bullies directly just seemed ridiculous to me. I thought maybe the head unsub could rally the troops (fellow victims) to kill off their tormentors one by one and that brings in the BAU.

I think the Anti-Terror Squad all running around killing their bullies would have made for a far better episode. At least it would forced the school to come to grips with its poor response to bullying and highlight the many issues that come with school administrators and their handling of bullying.

Alas, depth and nuance just don't seem to exist on this show.

[senin]

I usually don't analyze too much the first time I watch an episode, partly because I have to pay a lot of attention to follow it (remember that English is not my first language). But this time a few things just came into my head :

• The reenactmen scene whith REid/JJ/ Prentiss immediately reminded me of the Morgan of the first seasons;he usually did that to try to "get himself into the unsub's shoes" (I heard this in one of the "making of" features about season 1). I usually don't miss him but this time...
• at the final scene in the basketball court I was constantly reminded of Elephant's Memory . The lines "They stripped me naked and tied me to a goalpost..." were playing in my head all the time. I really do think that Reid should have been there, though I liked the way Prentiss managed the situation. After all, she was with Reid when he confronted Owen unarmed and unprotected, so many seasons ago!! (Yes, one of my favourites, I think Icould recite most of the episode from memory) 
• Where was Lewis?? At least the last time she wasn't there someone mentioned her, but this time nothing at all. It made me realize that, as many of you have been saying, there are too many people on this team. And we are getting the new guy in a couple of weeks. 
• When Rossi was giving each person their tasks in the plane, I went into "missingHotch" mode. Not that I don't like Rossi, but... he is not Hotch. 

Having said all these things, I liked the episode, if we compare it to first seasons it won't look that good, but I thought it better than many of the last seasons. 

[CrimeFan12]

15 hours ago, senin said:

 

• Where was Lewis?? At least the last time she wasn't there someone mentioned her, but this time nothing at all. It made me realize that, as many of you have been saying, there are too many people on this team. And we are getting the new guy in a couple of weeks. 

You got to remember that Lewis isn't a full-time member of the team.  She's got that other job she was offered in 'Pariahville' and would come and help out when needed so that would explain why she isn't in every episode.  Plus this way might work better with Aisha's busy schedule.  I thought it worked fine last year and it is working fine this year.  The new guy may be the same way.  Being a regular of the show doesn't necessary mean you have to be in every episode.