Criminal Minds - Episode 09.02 "The Inspired" - Review "Dysfunctional Family"

So, after waiting one week, we got the conclusion of the evil twin storyline on Criminal Minds. In “The Inspired”, the storylines started in last week “The Inspiration” all came to an end : Hotch section chief candidacy, how the BAU missed the evil twin twist, why Wallace killed women, who the hell is Jesse (aka the evil twin)… It was a good episode, more focused on the psychology of the characters, less on the gory details (not much cannibalism except for the finger the neighbor ate but we did not see anything. Guess last week episode was too gross !). But what definitely made it a good episode is the cast ! Fred Koehler and Camryn Manheim are amazingly terrific !

Right in the opening, I got my question answered : why Garcia did not find out about the twin brother ? Because he was adopted ! Kinda weird, but Camryn Manheim made it possible. The interrogation scene with Thomas Gibson was really intense and strong, for me it’s was the best scene of the episode. I really like how she started as the regular mom to the psycho narcissist bitch. Here's a quick summary of her life : she was young and pregnant with twins, she decided to give one up because it was too hard to raise both (hmmm… okay. I really don’t understand that, it’s awful to separate brothers, even more twins). But she realized she picked the wrong child, despite of Wallace saying “I love you mommy”, he is a psycho. She set her plan in motion : convince Jesse to kill Wallace. Jesse kidnapped Wallace, but something happened she didn't plan : they bonded !

At first, the two brothers were distant and quite different. Jesse seemed normal and Wallace is one crazy dude ! Jesse acted very stupidly : he kidnapped his psycho brother, talked about getting Wallace treated in Canade, he drugged him and then left the room suddenly so Wallace can split the pill and he came back just to cut his ties and he went away again so Wallace could kill again ! Things turned interesting when the neighbor showed up. First, she met Wallace who was seeing his ex again but run back home before killing the innocent girl. But when she met with Jesse, we understand that the twins are very alike : they enjoy raping and killing women ! So, at the end, when the family meets at the church, Carla’s plan fails. Jesse wants to kill her, but Wallace wants to protect her mother... because he is crazy (she is clearly manipulative and scary). The BAU is on its way when a gunshot is fired : one twin is down !

Carla tried to make believe Jesse killed Wallace, but it was not a surprise when the father (whose only purpose was this scene) confirmed that Wallace is right in front of them, so he killed his brother. Wallace cries, Mother is upset and they both got arrested ! I like how the story ended, they are all miserable and for the twins, they are both evil but seeing their parents it’s quite understandable. The end was not surprising, it was a bit of a letdown but I totally did not see Jesse killing the other girl, it was a nice surprise. Also, I enjoyed Wallace’ speech about why he kills : he feels isolated and rejected from women, he totally lost control and killing them makes him believe he is control now. That was powerful and well written and acted. One of the reason I love this show !

Luckily, the writers did not make the Chief Section storyline continue ! Hotcher is no longer a candidate ! Why ? Because he is just too good at being BAU chief unit, they can not replace him ! It means no raise for Hotchner ! It’s kind of a weird strategy, letting a very competent person at his job just because you can’t replace him…. So, the new chief will be outside the box ! That’s interesting! Who do you think it will be ? I’d love Prentiss to get back to be Section Chief ! I guess, I’ll wait and see ! (The 200th is not far, I think it can be a great idea to introduce the new Chief)

Romain Ossust(aka Julian Denton) Writer