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Criminal Minds - Episode 9.08 - The Return - Review : 53699

Nov 16, 2013

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   In this week episode, titled “The Return” (I’m still trying to understand what it really means), our favorite BAU profilers went to Chicago to investigate a shooting in a dinner. Of course, it was not just a shooting, but one big evil plan they had to fight. And also, we got to spend some time with Derek outside of his work and we got to see him like this :


   So, Derek has a girlfriend and he just realized... Well, actually it was Penelope who made him realize, she is just like him. He woke up in the middle of the night to find out she is leaving for a work emergency, and he has to take care of the house and the dog. He just got Morganed as Garcia cleverly stated. So, they are the same, their jobs are more important because they are saving lives. Garcia seems to think it’s a good thing, but I’m not sure. How do they build a relationship if they are both obsessed by their works ? They don’t have time to make plans, build something together.
   Maybe it’s for the best, I don’t really see Derek in a relationship. Still, I hope his girlfriend will have a better fate than Reid’s last one. Derek has such a strong relationship with Garcia it’s hard to bring another girl in the mix. Garcia was funny when she was with Kevin, but Derek was funnier being a womanizer.


Let’s dig in the case of the week : in Chicago, a young man decided to shoot some people in a dinner. It was sad to see the nice waitress died, I was really starting to like her. The whole shooting first shown from outside and then from inside was terrifying. I like the fact that the unsub was killed on the scene, so we knew something bigger was at stake.
   The shooter turned out to be a missing boy, with no phone on him and who was abused. The BAU ruled out gang initiation because he was not driven by power nor money. It was so interesting to watch them think and profile what is going on. It’s always so perfect and fluid. I’d love being a profiler. When they realized from the video footage that it was the dinner shooting was a suicide missing and Gavin had a partner who happened to be a missing kid too, he committed a second attack : his car exploded in the middle of the street, near a police officer. I always love watching explosions on TV.


   Another unsub down ! Luckily, Reid has a epiphany (he had third this week, Blake one) : he understood the kids were not abused or tortured but trained, military style ! So, some guy kidnaps children to train them to attack Chicago. He had a second epiphany when he realized the target was Chicago PD. Ah, victimology, it’s always what matters ! It was a bit obvious when Daniel, another missing kid, looked at Reyes, the Chicago cop, when he got arrested after failing his attack. Something was definitely off.
   About Daniel, the scene where JJ brought his mother in the interrogation room was so hezart breaking. I admit I cried a little watching. It was so sad to be a mother reunites that way with her son. He is brainwashed and weird, but he almost cried when she was talking. It was really touching. I like that JJ was there watching it. She has a big heart and she must have thought about her son.
   Let’s go back to the case. Reid had his third epiphany of the episode : the five numbers that teenagers were repeating over and over : 53699 are actuallypolice officers immatriculation ! Garcia quickly found out they belonged to officer Gulino, an ex Chicago cop forced to step down after some rookie officer saw him beat up a suspect in the streets. Of course, the rookie cop turned out to be officer Reyes, the cop investigating with the BAU ! He is the target ! And a new unsub came to the police station, wearing a bomb vest ! 

   Human bomb alert ! Only Morgan, Blake and JJ were there, Reid, Hotch and Rossi were out looking for Gulino. Blake and JJ did a fine job, their strategy was to speak very coldly to the bomb girl. She was a bit destabilized and Morgan shot her, JJ jumped at her and prevented the bomb to detonate. I was never afraid the bomb went off, but the tension was there and it was really good.
   The chase against Gulino was quite quick, Morgan got him just when he arrived at his ex partner’s home, with a new solider : a 6 years old blond haired boy. It was quite disturbing when he repeated the sentence about being a solider 53699. Reyes made the arrest, quite ironic for Gulino but he totally deserved it.
   I really enjoy this episode overall, it was interesting and there was action, suspense, humor. I really appreciate that Morgan, JJ and Blake are more present. Sometimes, it feels like they underused, Hotcher, Rossi and Reid are so deep and sometimes kind of dark characters, they kinda steal the show. I really love their characters, but it’s always nice to see JJ, Blake and Morgan interact more and be more relevant in the resolution of the case.
   I just had a little problem with Gulino’s motivations. He was angry because Reyes called internal affair and he lost his badge. After his partner died, he started kidnapping and training teenagers to attack Chicago PD. That’s a huge step ! And the “love turned to hate” line from Rossi did not convince me either. Why did not Gulino kill eyes himself or attack the police station ? Why training and using children ? They did not give him at chance to explain so it is unresolved… Or maybe he will be back ?


Profilers notes : 

• Is this me or officer Reyes looks weird ?
• “She is you in heels” LMAO Garcia
• Burnt romantic dinner : turn on or turn off ?
• Brainwashed teenagers are scary, right ?


Romain Ossust (aka Julian Denton) I'm 27 from France, living near Paris. I love a lot of TV shows, I can not name them all but here the ones that came to my mind : Orphan Black, True Blood, Dexter, Weeds, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, 24, Ab Fab, Carnivale, Lost, The Americans, American Horror Story, Once Upon A Time, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Ugly Betty, Scandal, The Walking Dead, Raising Hope, Grey’s Anatomy .
Otherwise, I’m also very fond of cats, I own 5 of them. I work as an administrative assistant, in one of the greatest place to work in France. I also enjoy sunbathing, reading and having fun ! I hate doing sports !