S14.E09: Broken Wing

[Danielg342]

Press Release:

Quote

A professor from Lewis’ past tips off the BAU to an alarming number of overdose deaths of patients who just completed rehab

Director: Aisha Tyler

Writer: Jim Clemente

From: https://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/shows/criminal-minds/releases/view?id=51363

[Annber03]

Good episode overall. I like learning more about Tara, and everything with her trying to reconcile the issues she and Daryl experienced was interesting. I also liked the talk between Tara and Mary, how they could both be honest about their respective fears and questions and sympathize with each other's feelings. And the fakeout with Smith, and the confrontational back and forth between him, Luke, and Matt, was good, too. I liked that they highlighted how there are people out there who take advantage of those who want to get clean. 

I do wish they could've done something equally as unpredictable in how they revealed and took down the unsub, instead of the usual "hold hostage/talk down" thing at the end. I feel like his motivation was kinda crammed in towards the end-they set up a sympathetic backstory of him losing somebody he cared about, but I feel it would've had more punch had we gotten a few more hints or clues related to it as the case went on or something. 

I also think it would've made a lot more sense for Tara to actually be there to talk Douglas down, instead of relaying her message through Emily, but in a way, it's also kind of fitting that Emily did it, because she too knows what it's like to see somebody she cares about struggle with drugs. She had to deal with that with her friend Matthew when she was younger. It might've been nice if she and Tara had had a heart-to-heart about their respective experiences with this issue, and Emily had come up with her own speech to both talk Douglas down and perhaps give Tara some comfort and reassurance in the process as well.

[The Wild Sow]

Robert Smith?  DOCTOR Robert Smith??!  Was his middle name "Holbrook"?  Damn, show, was that supposed to be a shoutout to people in (legitimate) recovery, or a kick in the teeth?

[K42]

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

 

I swear, waiting for a Spencer Reid episode is like waiting for Britney Spears to return to her former glory.

Edited December 6, 2018 by K42

[normasm]

Except that you know Spencer will eventually return; Britney? not so much =)

[Danielg342]

This episode gets points because Aisha Tyler is just so good at emotion and vulnerability. She just might be the best at it on the cast save for Matthew Gray Gubler.

It also gets points because Scott William Winters (from HBO's Oz and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) really nailed his role as Robert Smith.

That...and that was a sick clothesline by Matt on Smith. Drew McIntyre would be proud.

That's it, really.

As per usual this episode went in many different places without actually going anywhere because the writers just had to have their fifty feints and their red herrings and people behaving in nonsensical ways.

Oh, and Garcia's magical computer strikes again. Do the other agents do any work?

I could also mention the usual plot holes- like why the BAU (or the local police, who could have solved this case) didn't look at the last number Bonnie called. I also have to throw shade at the "undetectable drug" because such a drug does not exist.

(...and if these so-called "research drugs" did exist, do you think Mr. Fly-By-Nurse UnSub would really have access to it?)

None of that gets to the heart of the real issue of the episode, and that's me pining for the days when CM kept things simple.

You know, the days of "he's killing women because they remind him of his scorned lover"?

Not...whatever "this" is.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Danielg342

[mythoughtis]

10 hours ago, K42 said:

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

WHERE IS SPENCER?

 

I swear, waiting for a Spencer Reid episode is like waiting for Britney Spears to return to her former glory.

 

Spencer is on sabbatical teaching. I like Reid... but the actor chooses to work part-time. The  powers that be don’t seem interested in ‘encouraging’ him to put in a full schedule.  The other cast members don’t seem to mind picking up the slack.  A Spencer-less episode is the fault of MGG, no one else.

ETA: Garcia has been proven to be unable to keep a secret. You can’t tell me that character hasn’t at least googled Tara to find out things about her. There is no way she wouldn’t have known Tara was divorced. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by mythoughtis

[Mislav]

11 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Spencer is on sabbatical teaching. I like Reid... but the actor chooses to work part-time. The  powers that be don’t seem interested in ‘encouraging’ him to put in a full schedule.  The other cast members don’t seem to mind picking up the slack.  A Spencer-less episode is the fault of MGG, no one else.

ETA: Garcia has been proven to be unable to keep a secret. You can’t tell me that character hasn’t at least googled Tara to find out things about her. There is no way she wouldn’t have known Tara was divorced. 

 

I mean, it's not like the writers have been giving him much reason to stick around the entire season in the first place. And it's not like they have trouble basically reducing his character to a stand-in in the episodes that Matthew Gray Gubler is present in. In the first nine seasons, hardly any cast members (Gubler included) would miss out on an episode, let alone few of them, even if certain character didn't end up having much to do in particular episode(s). Other than the ones who chose to leave the show or were fired, of course (though some of them later returned, even if it that might not have been originally planned). That is also telling.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Mislav

[K42]

After watching this episode, I realized how little i care about Tara and how much I miss Hotch. Not just as a team leader. I honestly miss Thomas Gibson's presence on screen. And boy, does he have charisma and presence! 

[Hotchgirl18]

6 hours ago, K42 said:

After watching this episode, I realized how little i care about Tara and how much I miss Hotch. Not just as a team leader. I honestly miss Thomas Gibson's presence on screen. And boy, does he have charisma and presence! 

The team's a dumpster fire without him. 

[K42]

On 07/12/2018 at 9:52 PM, Hotchgirl18 said:

The team's a dumpster fire without him. 

I wouldn't say that per say. I feel like the team is more equal now. TG's presence sort of towered over the rest of the cast. He was obviously the team leader who everyone fell back on. 

Hotch's character and Thomas Gibson's presence commanded so much attention. He was unbelievably charismatic. In my opinion, no amount of acting and no amount of Spencer screen time will ever beat episode 100. And this is coming from someone who adores MGG and his beautiful underrated acting.

For some reason, I thought about a lot about TG during this episode. Maybe because I realized how little I cared about Tara and her storyline. She does nothing for me.

Edited December 11, 2018 by K42

[Danielg342]

11 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

I guess Garcia's magical computer couldn't figure that out. It's not like she does that sort of thing every week.

My guess is that the writers' room has a big sign that says "when the plot needs Garcia to find something, she does. Otherwise, she doesn't."

[K42]

7 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

 

It's interesting that this episode reminded a lot of people about TG, who it seemed had trouble fighting his own demons and is the reason why he's no longer on the show. I can only hope that since his dismissal, he's had a chance to take a good long look at himself and work on whatever issues he had.

It takes two to tango. Everybody pointed a finger at TG while Virgil Williams walked away like he was this sweet innocent cornflake when he clearly wasn't. Yes, TG has his issues but so does Virgil. He's a douche on Twitter and to people in general and no one calls him out on it. Not to mention how he also has an aggressive past and is into martial arts from what I understand. People don't just snap at other people because they feel like it.

I believe TG completely when he says Virgil came at him in a threatening manner. I think TG was absolutely picked on because he's the weakest link. His previous issues got exposed  and got him in trouble in public, and now every time he says or does something, everyone points a finger at him. Again, I'm not saying he's completely innocent in any way but his firing was ridiculous especially since none of the cast members really spoke up about what happened because they'd lose their jobs.

Anyway, Satan left the show. I don't see why TG couldn't come back. But then again, he's better off being away from the crapfest this show has become.

Edited December 9, 2018 by K42

[K42]

4 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

I understand that, which is why I made it a point to talk in general about his issues and not this incident in particular. If I look at the show Lethal Weapon, nobody really knew what was going on until one particular incident where everything blew up.

Hotch was a longstanding and popular character. I'm not against or for anybody. I have no dog in this race. I truly wish the man well. 

I like to look at all sides of every situation and try not to judge until I've heard the whole story.

But back on topic, I had to watch this episode on ON DEMAND, so my usual method of fast forwarding through the unsub stuff was curtailed, which made me extra cranky having to sit through an extremely, if not unsub-heavy, one-off guest stars-heavy episode.

I felt they did the best they could with literally having an entire arc in one episode in between solving a case that unnecessarily took way too many twists and turns, because they did minimal research and profiling before dragging people in.

Wait. Speaking of that. I don't think we got the one-line profile read, and so I have to at least give it one gold star for that. 

 

I didn't mean to sound brash. I just get ticked off every time I remember how they handled things with TG while Virgil Williams gets off free. Lately, I've been getting so annoyed by how they keep mentioning/hinting at him every other episode. I hate how they constantly use the line "Wheels Up in X" to rub it in Thomas Gibson and his fansbase's face. It's really disrespectful. They didn't do that after Elle, Gideon or Morgan left. So why Hotch? It's such a slap in the face to his fans. 

As for the recent episodes, I constantly feel like the episodes start out interesting and end in a bizarre manner. Something feels disconnected about the ending of each episode. I feel like they've been trying to make us sympathize with the killers by making it about personal loss, race etc.. and you end up feeling guilty about how the unsubs were treated.

Edited December 9, 2018 by K42

[Annber03]

3 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

though I hope the "Wheels up in ..." was more to appease the fans than rub their noses in it. Sort of like "continuing the tradition."

That's how I've always seen it. I really don't think there's any sort of snide intent behind continuing to use that phrase. I don't really know how many other ways one can find to say, "Hey, x minutes until we board the jet", after all. 

[Lalaland]

20 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

I'm actually okay with them concentrating on a team member and they're past and much less okay with the amount of unsub/unknown people in a support group I had to watch, just so I could get faked out. So many people shaking and screaming who I'll never see again.

It was good that Mary didn't come storming in to scream at Tara for "making" her husband upset and how sick he was, and it would be all her fault if he relapsed. 

It's interesting that this episode reminded a lot of people about TG, who it seemed had trouble fighting his own demons and is the reason why he's no longer on the show. I can only hope that since his dismissal, he's had a chance to take a good long look at himself and work on whatever issues he had.

 

I guess Garcia's magical computer couldn't figure that out. It's not like she does that sort of thing every week.

Its really really really is not why TG is no longer on the show but I guess if it makes people feel better and feel justified in their 'informed' opinions, painting him as some sort of  'problem', then go for it. 

As for episodes reminding people of TG/Hotch, yeah, I totally get it.  He is a massive loss to the show. In my opinion the show was beginning to go down hill from season 6 save for a handful of really good episodes.  In my view the main reason for this was the at times less than medicore writing. Had it not been for the strong and stable cast led by TG (despite what some would like folks to believe), then this show would have ended long ago. Even then it was obvious the actors were struggling with the dialogue, but they pulled it through.  That strong, stablising force is not there anymore and the very obvious cracks are way more visible.  I don't blame the current actors, I firmly blame the writers and showrunner. 

[K42]

2 hours ago, Lalaland said:

 In my view the main reason for this was the at times less than medicore writing. Had it not been for the strong and stable cast led by TG (despite what some would like folks to believe), then this show would have ended long ago. Even then it was obvious the actors were struggling with the dialogue, but they pulled it through.  That strong, stablising force is not there anymore and the very obvious cracks are way more visible.  I don't blame the current actors, I firmly blame the writers and showrunner. 

Every bit of this. 

[Danielg342]

7 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

They've lost the script where this is supposed to be about PROFILERS and not about a guy who used to own a dog, but his parents gave him away, and he never forgave his parents, so now he goes around killing families who look happy with a dog, and Garcia has to find out all people who gave away a dog with a shiny blue collar about twenty-five years ago, and lo and behold, there are only three, but two of them are dead, and one of them has been in and out of foster care all his life and wasn't nice to animals. 

That was so bad, the CM writers looked at it and thought, "that'd be a great idea for an episode!"

[Danielg342]

17 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

As for the unsubs, what I think it suffers from is that they don't do a good job of building up your empathy for the character. It's all so by-the-numbers, so that the end scene can involve one of the profilers "emotionally connecting" with the unsub to get them to put down the knife/gun/machete, as what happened in this episode.

I think you got it. I would agree that the best UnSubs in Messer's era are those who the team interacts with on a deeper level and ones whose story is actually explored as opposed to the awkward, "reveal a clue, UnSub reveals a part of themselves" format.

Messer's strengths, I think, are taking someone and examining their struggles, not writing a story with 100 redirects. I wonder if Messer had changed the format to make the episodes about interrogations if the show might have been better- at least then the show would have played more to her strengths.

[Aethera]

Folks, this thread is for discussing the episode Broken Wing, not for discussing the show generally or going back to the Thomas Gibson discussion. Thanks!

[Hotchgirl18]

On 12/7/2018 at 11:39 PM, K42 said:

I wouldn't say that per say. I feel like the team is more equal now. TG's presence sort of towered over the rest of the cast. He was obviously the team leader who everyone fell back on. 

Hotch's character and Thomas Gibson's presence commanded so much attention. He was unbelievably charismatic. In my opinion, no amount of acting and no amount of Spencer screen time will ever beat episode 100. And this is coming from someone who adores MGG and his beautiful underrated acting.

For some reason, I thought about a lot about TG during this episode. Maybe because I realized how little I cared about Tara and her storyline. She does nothing for me.

Yeah, and Prentiss is "Unit Chief" but the way she acts , you wouldn't know it. How about the BAU have NO unit chief? Lol. Hell, we could have Mary Poppins run the team and it wouldn't be and different. 

[katisha]

My favourite part of the episode was seeing Gale Harold from Queer As Folk not playing a douche for once in his career. Not only was Brian from QAF a douche, but I have seen him play a power crazy scientist douche on SVU and a racist douche on Grey's Anatomy. This character had a bad past but many good qualities too. Well done to Gale.