S13.E01: Wheels Up

[ReidFan]

yep. pretty sure he did. it's funny, he had an odd look on his face just before he let go too. like he knew alvez was gonna end up in some kind of hot water over it.

[MMC]

2 hours ago, normasm said:

I rewatched, and i really want to say how well I liked Walker's wife (Monica, is it?) in both her scenes, especially the first one, viewing his body. Well-written and superbly acted. I really wish she could find a place on the show, instead of replacing her husband with another agent.

Also, I really think Luke has a special place in his heart for Reid. Just saying, he always gravitates to him when he's around. And vice versa. Maybe he is a replacement for Morgan after all.

Do you think she might like older men. Maybe Rossi could dump his ex and start dating Monica. This would take place of course after she has grieved Stephen's death for a period of time.

[ReidFan]

sometime around the middle of season 14 :)  

[Colorado David]

Loved Prentiss disarming Reid with the "i need someone real' line to keep him from going after Scratch. She really cares about Reid, that was totally a move to keep him protected and abs worked.

[MMC]

38 minutes ago, ReidFan said:

sometime around the middle of season 14 :)  

That sounds reasonable. Because by then I am expecting for Reid himself to have been in a relationship for a while. *Come on show, damn it all, enough is enough. How much longer are you going to keep him pining for Maeve instead of allowing him to move on and find someone else*

[MMC]

5 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

Loved Prentiss disarming Reid with the "i need someone real' line to keep him from going after Scratch. She really cares about Reid, that was totally a move to keep him protected and abs worked.

As did I. It was so much more effective than her lecturing him about not being in the right state of mind and then ordering him to stand down. Because who knows what Reid's reaction might have been. My guess would been that Emily knew. Which is why she did what she did.

[Colorado David]

and it felt pretty dam genuine. everyone is so protective of Reid, love that about the show. for being brilliant, he seems like the 'child' (no disprespect) of the team. well him and penelope.

[Hotchgirl18]

17 minutes ago, MMC said:

As did I. It was so much more effective than her lecturing him about not being in the right state of mind and then ordering him to stand down. Because who knows what Reid's reaction might have been. My guess would been that Emily knew. Which is why she did what she did.

Heck, even Reid knew he was in a bad state of mind. He knew if he saw Scratch, he would kill him. 

[MMC]

22 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

and it felt pretty dam genuine. everyone is so protective of Reid, love that about the show. for being brilliant, he seems like the 'child' (no disprespect) of the team. well him and penelope.

When he was a lot younger many in the fandom referred to Reid as the baby of the team. And while I too love it when they are protective of him I am also hoping with all that Reid has gone thru these last several months we will witness a more grown up Reid. Now when I say that I don't mean to imply that I felt Reid has been rather immature all this time. But he did have an innocence about him that gave him his child like quality. And I just don't see how the time Reid spent being unjustly incarcerated would not have had an effect on that so called innocence of his. Which of course was probably already fragile to begin with even before his unjust incarceration.

Edited September 28, 2017 by MMC

[Hotchgirl18]

Stupid way for Scratch to die. Glad he's dead, but Reid should've killed him.

[normasm]

2 hours ago, threebluestars said:

Did it look to anyone else like Scratch let go and didn't just fall?

Yeah, 3, it did look like he made a decision, looking at Alvez. He didn't want to be dependent on another's kindness, or whatever? Finally knew he was beaten? 

Edited September 28, 2017 by normasm
Goofed the quote

[UncleChuck]

Kind of funny that Scratch, the big bad who had bamboozled the BAU many times with highly elaborate schemes where every detail was planned and executed with precision--the evil genius who was always two steps ahead, allowed himself to get boxed in to where he met his end.  Pure hubris, I suppose.  Scratch was so certain that the mere mortals of the BAU would never find him that he did not have an exit planned in the event of catastrophic fail.  Falling off of that ledge was the perfect ending to his reign of terror because at the end, he proved to be just an ordinary criminal who could not think of everything--he certainly did not think very far ahead when he tried to escape down a broken fire escape that did not extend to the ground.

[secnarf]

15 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

I am so very glad the Scratch deal is done and over, but really, seriously now... this super-villain you've built up for a few seasons dies by his fingers slipping off the edge of a building?  Its not funny, but I'm still laughing.  That hardest to catch criminal (to date) meets his maker because his fingers and hands ran out of strength to hold him up.  I just, *giggling still*

 

3 hours ago, threebluestars said:

Did it look to anyone else like Scratch let go and didn't just fall?

I interpreted the scene as Scratch intentionally letting go. To me it looked like a conscious, coordinated decision to let go of the edge, as opposed to accidentally slipping despite all efforts to hold on.

[Willowy]

I don't see that at all. It looked to me like he couldn't hang on any more. If he deliberately let go, why would he beg Luke to save him?

I admit to being underwhelmed and sort of let down by his death. After all the suffering he's caused for the team, I expected him to like spill his own chemicals on himself and burst into flame or something... I don't know... just expected something more intense than falling off the side of a building. And it didn't even look that high up, and he fell on the dirt ground, not cement.

Elfman makes some odd acting choices, to me. He's oddly stilted in one scene, completely menacing and believable in the next.

[ReidFan]

i wasn't convinced watching it live.. but watching it again, he begs, and Luke's watching him. He begs again, and it looks like Luke's holstering his gun, but it's just out of view so you can't really tell..then the shot is of Bodhi's face. He says 'please' once more, but this weird maniacal smile comes across his face (sorta like the one he gave Hotch at the end of Mr. Scratch the episode) and he pulls his hands away.

Edited September 28, 2017 by ReidFan

[normasm]

Yep, Riff, that's it.

[Fashionista7]

3 hours ago, Hotchgirl18 said:

Stupid way for Scratch to die. Glad he's dead, but Reid should've killed him.

Would have made the episode absolutely complete, but if I were Alvez (or even Reid) at that moment, I would have crouched down and said...with a smile, "Enjoy hell, Scratch" before pushing him to his death, avenging ALL the hell and back he put the team, Hotch and Jack through and especially Walker's death.

[Willowy]

So I lobbed it over to Breen since he wrote the episode and I guess we'll find out the actual answer soon...

[CrimeFan12]

Interesting.  I thought he let go on purpose and Luke was content to let him drop, but he holstered his gun in preparation of helping.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

4 hours ago, secnarf said:

 

I interpreted the scene as Scratch intentionally letting go. To me it looked like a conscious, coordinated decision to let go of the edge, as opposed to accidentally slipping despite all efforts to hold on.

That's what I thought I saw, too, but for what reason?  Why would he choose suicide vs capture??

.............. unless.  Nah.  God, I hope not.   (the writers threw us a fake out and he's still out there somewhere)

[Willowy]

I had a similar thought. Could he have engineered a mass hallucination in order to make his escape? Far-fetched but... scopolamine in the air vents? Ugh, I have no idea... but I would not like to see him continue. I hope they're done with him.

[Hotchgirl18]

If he pulled a fast one, and he's still not DEAD, I'm gonna jump in the tv and off him myself. 

[athelyna]

I was worried that Scratch would escape or that the whole chase would turn out to be a hallucination, but when they showed everyone gathered around his dead body on the ground I figured it was real.

I'm on the side of really liking Scratch's death.  Yes, it's anticlimatic in some ways, but I think he would have liked a big dramatic shootout or forcing one of the good guys to kill him in a questionable way.  Falling off the edge of building because he got cornered and made a dumb move seems like exactly the type of death he deserved.  After everything Reid went through last season, I think having him kill Scratch, even if it was pretty clear cut self defense, would have been harsh.  Reid seems like someone who hates the idea of killing anyone, even if they "deserve it" and he clearly seemed troubled at the fact he knew if he saw Scratch he would kill him, even if Scratch didn't fight back, and I think for Reid's future mental health he doesn't want to have anymore deaths on his conscience.  Plus, personally I don't really want to see the team being investigated for killing Scratch because if any of them actually shot him I feel like we would be stuck with a plot about their stories being questioned and the higher-ups accusing them of killing Scratch in cold blood as revenge.

I don't remember the last couple episodes very well, but isn't this just a short time after Reid was released?  I thought it didn't become PTSD/PTSS until a person was having symptoms for at least a few months after a traumatic event.

I wonder if Matt Simmons is going to be the "new Morgan" since they had him and Garcia spending most of the episode together.

[Willowy]

I think they may "split" Morgan between Luke and Matt. Penelope already is fond of and affectionate with Matt because of their previous work together on BB, and Luke seems to be protective and brotherly with Reid, which is fine with me. Anybody who is nice to Reid is way cool in my book.

Or, one could see it as two completely non-Morgan characters, just filling a niche and creating their own versions. I'm not committed to either version, both sound fine to me. :)

[ReidGirl]

Finally got to watch this and I enjoyed it a lot. 

I loved the following moments/things -

1. Ass Clowns comment, snarky Rossi 

2. Luke’s protectiveness towards Reid. I actully like Luke a lot more now :)

3. Emily keeping Reid back in the warehouse and then getting out of there with him.

4. Damn right wheels up

5. Matt seems to fit in the team very well

6. No Luke Garcia cringeworthy moments

7. How they handled Walker’s death

7. Last but not least, good quality Reid moments (like throwing a book, blaming himself)

 

Things I did not enjoy as much

1. Emily’s torture scenes were a bit too long.

2. The way Scratch died, I would have preferred somebody shooting him.

3. Emily’s acting sometimes.

All in all it was a solid episode and lots of things were handled nicely. Well done Breen!!!

[normasm]

7 hours ago, athelyna said:

I was worried that Scratch would escape or that the whole chase would turn out to be a hallucination, but when they showed everyone gathered around his dead body on the ground I figured it was real.

I'm on the side of really liking Scratch's death.  Yes, it's anticlimatic in some ways, but I think he would have liked a big dramatic shootout or forcing one of the good guys to kill him in a questionable way.  Falling off the edge of building because he got cornered and made a dumb move seems like exactly the type of death he deserved.  After everything Reid went through last season, I think having him kill Scratch, even if it was pretty clear cut self defense, would have been harsh.  Reid seems like someone who hates the idea of killing anyone, even if they "deserve it" and he clearly seemed troubled at the fact he knew if he saw Scratch he would kill him, even if Scratch didn't fight back, and I think for Reid's future mental health he doesn't want to have anymore deaths on his conscience.  Plus, personally I don't really want to see the team being investigated for killing Scratch because if any of them actually shot him I feel like we would be stuck with a plot about their stories being questioned and the higher-ups accusing them of killing Scratch in cold blood as revenge.

I don't remember the last couple episodes very well, but isn't this just a short time after Reid was released?  I thought it didn't become PTSD/PTSS until a person was having symptoms for at least a few months after a traumatic event.

I wonder if Matt Simmons is going to be the "new Morgan" since they had him and Garcia spending most of the episode together.

Yes, it's mere hours after Reid got back and took his mom home. And, yes, you aren't actually diagnosed with PTSD until months of continual symptoms have passed.

[JMO]

13 minutes ago, normasm said:

Yes, it's mere hours after Reid got back and took his mom home. And, yes, you aren't actually diagnosed with PTSD until months of continual symptoms have passed.

Yes, I believe the minimum time period of symptom duration is one month.  Before that, it is an acute stress response or disorder.  

[majormama]

I'm shocked they killed off Steven Walker. Not because I have a strong attachment to him, but because almost every season finale has put one or more team member in mortal danger, and they always end up surviving--Elle stabbed, Hotch stabbed, Reid shot, black SUVs blowing up, etc. The closest they've come to killing a team member was Erin Strauss, who wasn't exactly *on* the team, and Gideon, who had left the team long before. And Emily, of course, who was just faking her death. After so many fake outs, I didn't think they'd ever really do it, so these cliff hangers have long ago lost their dramatic tension for me. Guess I'll have to start worrying again. </sarcasm>

[Aethera]

I too thought Emily telling Reid she needed him was an excellent move on her part. I'm sure it was true, but also meant he had to stay with her instead of running off after Scratch and then us having to endure a storyline about him being under investigation over his part in Scratch's death, or something. Hopefully, we never have to hear about Scratch again.

[senin]

A very small comment about something I just realised : when Reid gets frustrated with his brain going too slowly, he throws A BOOK to the window!! The man who loves books so much!! 

I watched the episode really late last night, and I didn't pay attention to this detail. I guess I need to rewatch. But now I'm watching the sneak peeks and spoilers (I try not to do it before the episode airs, I find them too "spoilery") and when García said "you threw a book..." I thought "no way, Reid would never do that to a book." 

[smoker]

Sorry for any grammar mistake, I don't write much in English lately.

 It's refreshing read your comment OldDog, I thought the same. The acting was the scariest thing in the whole episode. They were so bad they made AJ Cook and Josh Stewart award deserving.

Not only PB was over cooked, MGG and JM were horrible too. I mean they are competent actors, even through bad writing they have delivered good performances and save us of real crappy scenes. EM's creative style is a poison. Watching MGG trying to look like some renegade was embarrashing. And I am not saying this for no reason, there are Hotch embarrashing moments too (Amelia Porter, I am looking at you), but I like to think I still can see a difference between acting and making faces. At least JM and TG tried to sell that crap with some dignity.

Walker's widow almost make it, but the fainting was horribly choreographed.

The torture plot turned Lauren into a masterpiece.

They are one man down and still overcrowded.

The unnatural last scene, everybody dressed up straight from the funeral to the briefing room and everything else... there are no words, there are no words.... wheels up? Are you kidding me, Ms. Messer? That was a slap in the face for everyone who complained about writers giving that line to Prentiss, "knowing" Barry Bring he is probably in a deep LOL state.

 Things didn't make me puke: Garcia's shoes, no heels. Declan/Jack statement. Foy Vance “burden” (funeral’s song). Hotch and Jack are left alone.

Final thoughts: aside of acting decay, I think their main problem is the writing, as always. Mr. Scratch and Hotch's storylines could have been better written, keeping the same plot and amount of time they have used, but well done, paying attention to details and keeping some of the characters, you know... in character.

Edited October 1, 2017 by smoker

[katisha]

Just watched this episode and like many of you, I'm glad to see the back of Scratch.

Random points:

• Can we keep Traci Thoms aka Mrs SSA Walker around in some capacity?  I've been a fan of hers ever since Cold Case.  And I agree with whoever said early in the thread that at least the Stephen Walker character was given a decent and meaningful sign-off.
• I would also like to keep Matt around for the eye candy factor.  Wowza.
• Plot point - did the doctor character ever actually exist or was he part of Scratch's mind control/suggestion?
• Great to Reid back with the team and out of prison garb.

Edited September 30, 2017 by katisha

[ReidFan]

pretty sure the doctor was part of the delusion....

[Aethera]

Yes, based on what they were saying Scratch would attempt on Emily during the Explainer part, the doctor was part of the delusion. He wouldn't be necessary if she wasn't injured the way he'd made her believe that she was.

[normasm]

Yes, and after Emily realized she was basically OK and got back under the covers, the "doctor" came back, and the illusion melted and she saw Scratch saying, "I'll go get him."

[Danielg342]

7 hours ago, katisha said:

I would also like to keep Matt around for the eye candy factor.  Wowza.

You'll be glad to know that Matt Simmons is a regular character now. Which I think is good for the show- he was the only one I liked on "Beyond Borders".

[Willowy]

Here's my review if anyone would like to read it:

http://criminalmindsfans.com/review-for-criminal-minds-season-13-premiere-wheels-up/

[brighterthanthesun]

Ok, loved this episode and think it got a lot of things right - it hit all of the right emotional notes. Reid's PTSS was played just right (MGG is so fantastic), and they wrapped up all of the things that needed to be taken care of this episode so we can move forward into a fresh season.

Plot-wise, there are a few holes, as there sometimes is for them to get everything to fit together the way they want it to play out. But here's what I noticed...

So, Emily and Stephen somehow deduced that Scratch was in Honduras to procure B-CAP. The B-CAP text they manufactured led the team to find the only local place that uses that drug. There they found Scratch's technology base, and then figured out a nearby warehouse was his most likely location (based off radio frequencies, somehow).

My question is... if Emily and Stephen had deduced the part about him using B-CAP, why didn't they follow up and look into that church? It was the only local place using the drug, according to Garcia. They probably could have found Scratch much earlier by following that lead. They could have staked the place out, since Scratch must have been visiting it on a fairly regular basis.

Also, if all those people in the church are using B-CAP, why did Scratch need to go all the way to Honduras to find it and bring it back to DC in the first place? It was already there, and he didn't seem to have any trouble integrating himself with that church group, well enough even that they didn't mind him putting a giant computer in their place of worship.

And why, after finding out that Scratch is able to hack their phones and read their messages, did they continue to communicate this way? If Scratch had been monitoring their phones he could have known they were coming, because Garcia texted out the warehouse location. Or the address sent by Garcia could have easily been another trap. I guess I'm willing to believe that maybe Garcia was able to do something to their phones to block Scratch from getting in again.

I also was a little annoyed that they didn't even try to explain Morgan's absence, since we know he was in town and supposed to visit Reid when this all went down. Maybe since Morgan said he was going to bring Reid breakfast, and it was still night for this whole episode, Morgan was going to give Reid a few hours to rest and go see him in the actual morning. I can just imagine Morgan rolling up to Reid's place, expecting to find Reid still reeling from prison and his mom's kidnapping only to find out that all this other stuff had happened overnight as well.

Holy heck the team has been through a lot in a short amount of time! Glad they are getting some time to decompress and work through some of it. I hope we see the repercussions echoing throughout the front half of the season, especially with Reid and all he's been through.

Can't wait for next week. I have a feeling it's going to be a solid season!

[Annber03]

1 minute ago, brighterthanthesun said:

I also was a little annoyed that they didn't even try to explain Morgan's absence, since we know he was in town and supposed to visit Reid when this all went down. Maybe since Morgan said he was going to bring Reid breakfast, and it was still night for this whole episode, Morgan was going to give Reid a few hours to rest and go see him in the actual morning. I can just imagine Morgan rolling up to Reid's place, expecting to find Reid still reeling from prison and his mom's kidnapping only to find out that all this other stuff had happened overnight as well.

I thought about that, too, but I like your explanation. Makes a lot of sense to me. 

[normasm]

That's the explanation I asked for: Morgan is taking care of Diana while reid is on the case! ::snark::

[JMO]

Who knows if it was ever even in the script.  But, if it was, it was edited out, which brings me back to the idea that there was too much time spent with Emily and Scratch, to the detriment of other things.

By now TPTB know that fans want to see a logical progression of things, and that we will catch both obvious (like the fact that Morgan and Diana should still both have been in play for Reid) and more obscure things.  So I can't help but wonder if they don't mind 'missing' a few details, because it generates discussion.  

Still waiting to hear how the vehicles ended up in the positions they did.  Did Scratch move one of them, after hitting them with his truck?  He would have had to pull Rossi or Luke out of the driver's seat first.  

[Fashionista7]

VOTE FOR CRIMINAL MINDS: SCENE OF THE WEEK!!!

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Just now, Fashionista7 said:

VOTE FOR CRIMINAL MINDS: SCENE OF THE WEEK!!!

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[Fashionista7]

SPOILERTV'S QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

http://www.spoilertv.com/2017/10/quote-of-week-september-24th-2017.html#comment-form

[Annber03]

Continuing on with SpoilerTV links, here's my review of the episode for that site if anyone wishes to read it as well:

http://www.spoilertv.com/2017/10/criminal-minds-wheels-up-review-moving.html

[Danielg342]

On 01/10/2017 at 8:45 AM, JMO said:

So I can't help but wonder if they don't mind 'missing' a few details, because it generates discussion.

I don't mind when they do that because they want to have an incident that's "open-ended" or if they will revisit that missed point in the future.

Problem is, the stuff the writers miss tend to be points that are necessary to follow the narrative, or previous story elements that wind up contradicting something the writers have done in an episode (such as forgetting that Philip Dowd didn't intentionally kill anyone). That's not something I can so easily let go.

[ReidFan]

okay, there's two somethings I was left wondering about:

Why did Garcia (paraphrasing, cause I don't remember the exact quote) mention Scratch had 'framed Reid for murder in Mexico'. That was Cat via Lindsay, wasn't it? Wasn't it??

 

and the mole. Uh, wha' happened to said mole? How DID Wilkins/Lindsay/Cat get all that information? they gonna resolve that? (I'm just glad it didn't turn out to be Walker, they had me worried for a bit there)

[Willowy]

Yeah, the mole was pretty pivotal. I'm not willing to let that one go, either.

I think they could make it be Fiona (which is where I'm heading with my latest fic), or they could go with the prosecutor if they wanted to make it someone we don't care about. Or they could take the totally opposite tack and make it be the beloved but underused Anderson. That would make a lot of sense, but I do not think they'll go there.

[ReidFan]

I mean, the mole could be attributed just to the fact that Scratch was bugging them electronically. But there hasn't been any sort of indication that there was contact between Scratch and anyone in Cat's camp, the ones who used the information. They could go that direction, I suppose.

 

But this opens up another question. Based on the occurrences in Wheels Up, Prentiss and Walker had knowledge that Scratch had electronic surveillance on them. SO why wouldn't that have been dealt with sooner too.  Gaaah, the more I think about this stuff, the more new questions come up.

[Aethera]

I was absolutely expecting Mole discussion in the premiere, and then there was so much happening I totally forgot about it. Clearly, they did too. That's frustrating. Here's hoping we get more in the upcoming episodes...but with Scratch gone, I wonder whether they'll just move on.

[normasm]

The mole has to be in the FBI, Emily said so herself last season. That's why I always suspected (but didn't want it to be) Walker.