Vince Masuka, the perverted Forensic Analyst from Miami Metro PD (on Dexter) has gone from good to extremely creepy. I'm going to warn you now, if you haven't seen Dexter, you're missing out. Although this episode was short of Masuka's signature laugh and dirty jokes, C.S. Lee can seriously act in any role you give him.
But there was more to this episode than C.S. Lee, unfortunately. We had to witness an out-of-character episode for Penelope Garcia. First, we see someone on death row, walking to their death. Derek Morgan is in the audience. The face covering comes off - it's Garcia. She has been having nightmares. She decides that she needs to make peace with Greg Baylor, and asks Aaron Hotchner if she can go to Texas. He gives her his blessing, and says that Technical Analyst Kevin Lynch can cover for her. I'm not a huge fan of Kevin, but I thought he did an okay job at covering for Garcia. She says thank you, and, "You're a terrific boss." That he is, Garcia, that he is.
Next, we have this argument between Garcia and Morgan which was pretty pointless from my point of view. For those of you that know me, you'll know that I have wanted to see Morgan and Garcia get together since Extreme Aggressor (1x1). And I don't mean simply as friends with a nice little hug, no, I want them to date. Since this petty fight didn't end with Morgan kissing Garcia, this fight was useless to me. Morgan quotes:
He is a murderer. He is scum.You're darn right he is, Morgan. I feel like Garcia should've realized that this guy seriously tried to kill her and Spencer Reid, and had no remorse for doing so. Morgan still called her Baby Girl, and she claims that she can't talk to Sam (her boyfriend) about this.
Another thing, Hotch didn't say his signature phrase, "Wheels up in 30". That is never a good sign. David Rossi wins quote of the night by saying, "Where's Morgan and Garcia? Are they finally having their love-child?" I wish, Rossi. I wish. Right after this, we see the unsub (Unknown Subject) in a leotard? What's up with that? After we see a bit of the unsub in action, we have Reid and Morgan conversing about Garcia. Reid asks, "She isn't sick, is she?" Morgan's not-so-nice retort is, "That depends on your definition of sick." Excuse me, Chocolate Thunder, but that's not a nice thing to say about your Baby Girl, who is clearly going through a delusional phase in her life.
Next, we see Hotch and Jennifer Jareau (JJ), also referred to as Batman and Robin, back together to talk to the next of kin of the victims. I'm a huge fan of JJ as a liaison, and I truly miss the episodes where we got to hear, "Agent Jareau, we spoke on the phone." JJ was always a source of raw emotion, someone the families could talk to and feel safe with. Ever since she became a profiler, I feel that we don't have that same JJ anymore - she's too busy trying to be a part of the profiling process to be bothered to really be there for the families and the press anymore. Last night, however, she was able to listen to a family member, and she looked a bit vulnerable. Perhaps they are trying to convince us that JJ is indeed getting an episode dedicated to giving her well-deserved PTSD. Alas, this episode is for Garcia to have PTSD, for some reason.
Roman numerals, Dante's Inferno, and the 9 circles of hell? An interesting concept for an episode. I believe CSI used this same concept for a delusional criminal, but I digress. Watching someone who used to work for the police in another life become so delusional that he hears his brother's voice and kills people in these horrific manners was quite weird to see.
I believe it was either Kate Callahan or Rossi that said, "This road is highly trafficked." Interesting choice of verbiage, don't you think? Maybe this is an allusion to the Human Trafficking Ring we got to see last episode? Kate tells Rossi, "I had a rapist once..." I know what she meant, but this is still a weird choice of words for a now BAU agent to say. We get another Reid & Morgan scene where Morgan is upset about Garcia. Reid reminds Morgan that Garcia is going through PTSD, and that, "She carries a laptop, not a gun." And now for my favourite part of the night: No, not the Gideon reference, but the Phillip Dowd/Timothy Omundson reference. I have been watching Psych, and it's a really fantastic show. Timothy Omundson's character of Lassiter is so refreshing to watch, and he is a truly great actor. Needless to say, I loved seeing him play a creepy Long Distance Serial Killer on Criminal Minds. Reid talks about how when he shot him, he kept thinking about Dowd, and he looked at pictures of him in the army. The only thing that got him through shooting him was pictures of his victims. Best part of the night, for sure.
Garcia calls Morgan "Chocolate mousse/moose." That's a new one. She's all alone in a motel, and the one person she needs to hear from is Morgan. Still don't think they should be together? They keep referring to a Virgil in reference to this "9 circles of hell" thing. A Virgil? Is this some indirect reference to the writer Virgil Williams? I don't know much about Dante's Inferno, so I was quite confused, as were my parents. Next, we can see the unsub spying out of his car on a strict dad yelling at his son. Masuka has a camera in his hands - he's not taking pictures of the crime scenes, but pictures of future victims. I'll never get over this.
Right after this, they find the unsub's "Virgil". They go to his apartment. They start looking around, before they fully checked out his dorm. How did they not notice that the guy was still in his dorm when they walked in? Come on, BAU team? You're better than that. When they interrogate this guy, he mentions that, "Evil doesn't discriminate." How nice. Reid uses the verb "replicate". Another possible allusion to an unsub - The Replicator. I'm enjoying these indirect puns, Criminal Minds.
Garcia finally gets permission from Baylor to meet with him. As they're talking, Garcia starts legitimately profiling this guy. That was really cool to see, seeing as how she's not an actual profiler, but she has learned enough from her peers to know how to do it. That was the only part of this whole PTSD debacle that I thoroughly enjoyed. Speaking of profiling, there wasn't much of a profile on our main unsub, Justin Leu. Stereotyping aside, Leu's brother committed suicide thanks to their extremely harsh father. Every victim Leu killed, he saw hallucinations of his father. Creepy doesn't even begin to explain this episode.
The episode ends with Garcia franticly walking to her home, with Morgan waiting on her doorstep. I screamed, "JUST KISS HER ALREADY!" but of course, that didn't happen. All in all, this episode was oddly out of character for Garcia. You don't believe me? Remember the episode Hope (7x8)? One of the women in her support group was taken hostage by a delusional man, and Garcia actually went inside the unsub's house and tried to talk him down, without regard of what the consequences could be. She could've easily been killed by this man, but she didn't care. She was just trying to save her friend. Does this sound familiar? When Garcia shot Baylor, she was just trying to save herself and Reid. She had no PTSD after Hope, why does she need PTSD now? Which leads me to my next point...
In conclusion, I have a few questions to end on.
- Why couldn't Garcia discuss any of this with Sam? He is her boyfriend, after all.
- Why wasn't Reid the one to yell and complain about Garcia's actions? He's the one who almost got killed by this guy. He's the one who knows what she's currently going through, and how out of character it could seem. They had to have Morgan and Garcia argue because any and all scenes with them get lots of views, right?
- Why did we have to sit through so much of their arguing, and not enough profiling of the unsub? This show is called Criminal Minds, not Criminal PTSD For Technical Analysts That Wasn't Really Explained All That Well, But We're Going To Show It Anyway, Because Why Not.
- This isn't a question, but C.S. Lee looks good in a tank top. He can seriously act, too. Did you see him crying? That was amazing acting.
- This also isn't a question, but next week's episode is about an unsub who crashes planes. That could be really interesting.
What did you think about Burn? Are you looking forward to seeing Kate's backstory in A Thousand Suns? Are you annoyed with my Dexter references? Are you ready for my Linkin Park references next week? Leave a comment below!
Great review Laura. Really enjoyed the episode!
ReplyDeleteI did wonder the same as you about Garcia not talking to Sam about it.
Thank you. Yeah, it is weird, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't google "Dante" and "Virgil" at the same time, huh. How old are you? Are you still a teenager? As an adult reading this, it's pretty obvious that your complaints about this are due to youth and misunderstanding. Penelope Garcia is the technical analyst -- she isn't a profiler. She has put herself on the line before, but rarely. She gets nervous when she goes on location with the team. When the man almost killed Reid, she shot him. It wasn't the fact that she was in danger, it was her own capacity for violence. No matter how good a reason she has for it, it's the fact she shot someone that has her so torn up. Reid understood this, which was why his past example were not related to the times he was in danger, but referenced the first time he shot someone.
ReplyDeleteI just so happen to be a teenager, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm /trying/ to understand why they decided to go this way with her.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you post your opinions, Angela. I feel like you should be making these reviews instead of me! Thank you for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point with Hankel. That's literally the same situation Garcia was put in, except Reid's PTSD was restricted to anger and an addiction to Dilaudid. Not sure why they thought Dowd was the right unsub to reference, but I'm so incredibly happy they did, because I love Tim.
Hm, I'm starting to understand why they might have chosen to take Garcia down the road of PTSD. She has held a gun before, but this was the first time she shot one. But why they made Morgan the person she had to discuss this with I don't think I'll ever truly understand.
Yup, get ready for my Linkin Park puns next week. Maybe I'll reference each song on the album to a different scene?
Aw, thank you! And you're welcome in return-your reviews are great, I'm glad you're doing them. It's nice to be able to look forward to reading an overview of this show each week, and discuss it with others.
ReplyDeleteGlad we agree on the Hankel thing. Yeah, that guy drugged him and tortured him, and yet he still felt some sympathy for him (at least, the "Tobias" part of it all, 'cause that was the "good" personality. Charles and Raphael he'd do without). But yeah, Hankel died, so he never had a chance to confront him about everything after all was said and done, and he died at Reid's hand at that. So that's where he and Garcia veer off in different directions. It does make one wonder if he would've visited Hankel in jail, though, had he survived. He visited Amanda Jackson, after all, to try and help get Adam back. Dowd was the first guy Reid killed, so I guess that's where the similarity came in reference-wise, a means for Reid to sympathize with what Garcia was dealing with. But yeah, that's a good episode and the guy who played Dowd was fantastic, so any reference to that is fine with me, too.
Cool. I like that we're able to see each other's perspectives on this storyline-you brought up some things I hadn't considered in your review, which I'll think about when I rewatch the episode :). And yeah, I get that she and Morgan are friends and all, and that they usually are the ones to help each other through their stresses, but it would've been rather interesting to get another perspective on this. JJ shot that guy who shot Garcia, that could've been an angle to explore, we've mentioned Reid already...maybe Hotch or Rossi could've provided a unique insight as well. There's a reason certain friendships-Morgan/Garcia, Hotch/Rossi, Morgan/Reid, etc. appear on a regular basis on this show, of course-there's some great moments that can come from certain common pairings. But it is nice when the show switches things up a little here and there, too, and characters that don't often have scenes together get them. It would've been cool to see that happen here.
Go for it! I'd love to see how you could make that work! That'd be fun.
Anyone who dismisses someone's opinions simply because of their age, forget 'em. You've got as much right to ask questions as anyone else :). It's nice to get a variety of perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI thought Garcia was pathetic, this guy was a KILLER, where is the compassion for the victims. Did not care for this ep at all, except the ending.
ReplyDelete