Criminal Minds - The Boys of Sudworth Place - Review: "Boys Will Be Boys"
Nov 20, 2014
Criminal Minds LS ReviewsIs the title of this episode Sudworth Place or Sutton Place? The original copy of the script suggests that the episode was to be called Sutton Place, but in the episode, Garcia refers to the home as Sudworth Place. Hmmm. Did anyone else notice how the detective in the episode kind of looked like Scott Miller, Blake's brother? Also, this case was in Boston. You couldn't think to mention my favourite character? I guess that is way too much to ask for. Oh well, the episode was still good.
I love when Criminal Minds takes the court room. It always brings me back to Tabula Rasa (3x19) where Hotch proved that profiling is accurate and effective to a stuck up lawyer. The defendant's lawyer is trying some kind of hypnosis related to this man's psyche? Is this really going to work? Possibly. The jury will convene later, but the lawyer looks confident and goes outside. Well, that smug look on that guy's face makes me know he's guilty. The lawyer heads outside to his car. Oh god, someone is smashing it. He calls 9-1-1, in a panic. YOU IDIOT, don't follow the guy into the dark alley! Now you got shot, and you're being abducted. That'll teach you. Fade to black. You know it's Garcia by the pan with the pretty high heels. Hotch said,"Wheels up in 30"! You know it's going to be a good episode. But hey, we've seen a floor full of glass, remember? Legacy (2x22) had an unsub who staged a scene with a glass floor to make his victims weaker. Oh, well, this one is different. There are two unsubs. They ask the lawyer, whose name is Jack, "Ready to come clean?" I sincerely doubt it. "Even with someone this perfect is bound to have some skeletons in the closet." Yes, Rossi! I absolutely love your sass. Reid spouting facts - my favourite. JJ talking to families again; this is very, very good. Bonding over kids; so sweet. This episode is going great so far.
Jack says, "I know the system isn't very fair, I was just doing my job." That's actually a very nice thing to say. Ugh, they want him to strip? And they are going to film him confessing to something? Creepy. He must have done something very bad. Then, Kate proclaims a statistic about football fans that only someone like Reid would know, only to have Rossi say, "Not you, too?" "Nah, I googled it." Cool, all we have to do is use Google to sound like Reid. Next is Garcia's usual call. "I am made of cream, gimme your coffee? [...] If he is sharing his sugar, I'll let you know." That is an amazing conversation between Morgan and Garcia, chalk full of innuendos that would only make sense if they had feelings for each other. Then, Garcia says, "Winner winner, vegetarian dinner." How cute. Next, we are right back to the action with the unsubs and our dear friend Jack. Oh, you guys threw a photo at him? That seems to be effective. There are four cute boys in it. I wonder what happened to them. "Is he in shock?" "Doesn't matter. He better start talking soon." Well, he can't talk if he goes into shock, you know...Seriously, I am really questioning the intelligence of these unsubs. Poor JJ, and poor wife. I cannot imagine having to deliver that news. This profile is actually quite interesting. This guy's a sicko. Almost makes you feel bad for the unsubs. I have been saying this nearly every episode of this season.
A nice Rossi and Morgan moment is next. Well, that was short lived. Kate joins in on the conversation. Really, Kate? You asked Morgan how he knows about Jack's M.O.? That's very inappropriate. You should trust him. He seems to already trust you for some reason. Yikes, Chad was pushed into his own death trap! A pan to Morgan brings us the next scene. God, Morgan looks heartbroken. We are brought back to the unsubs quickly. Nice going, idiots! You killed Chad; your own partner. Soon after, we are given more of a profile on the unsubs. "One wants revenge, the other wants justice." That is cool; a really great profile. Brian asks Jack, "Do you have a death wish?" Ugh, why is this the question that everybody asks? Jack replies with, "Aw, come on. I knew you were special. To be honest, you were my favourite." Ew, ew, ew. You sound just like Buford when he talked about Morgan. That might have been intentional, who knows. Oh god, Jack brings up examples of what they used to do together. Oh dear god, he took him to see Harry Potter. Don't you DARE bring Harry Potter into this! I really wonder which movie they saw together, they saw. Whatever, next scene, please.
Wait, so did this guy molest them or not? I think he did, but we can't be too sure. Morgan said he never touched them, but in other scenes it is clear that he was a pedophile. This confused me quite a bit. Oh well, in other news, Brian was molested and thus become a molester. As Morgan said, this is very rare. How very icky. Now the two boys are finally running out of the burning building. Oh no, one of them has a gun. Fear not, here comes Morgan to save the day; to tell the story of his abuse. Again. Because aside from his father dying, that's the ono backstory he has. Granted, it's horribly sad, and it also says a lot about who he is, I feel like we should be able to find out different things about him? Anyway, there was a plot twist ending. I liked it throughly. Morgan told Andrew he could get a confession, but it was Brian who needed to confess. "I said you can get a confession, I didn't say it would be one you wanted to hear." That was awesome. Kate and Morgan have a scene on the plane, and Kate tried to redeem herself. She talked to her niece, Meg. That was cute. OH NO, Meg and her friend are possibly falling victim to the Human Trafficking Ring. This is not good.
So, what did you think of The Boys of Sudworth Place? Did you enjoying its profiling and creepy unsubs? Are you excited for Fate next week, with a surprise visitor? (Spoiler alert: it's most likely Rossi's daughter.) Leave a comment down below!
Sorry I didn't like one aspect of this episode. From the outset it juvenile and childish. We saw the unsubs right from the beginning and the story was told by 'them' and not via the profiling work the BAU does. Throughout the whole episode I felt that the 'team' was secondary to the unsubs story. I had thought that JJ was back to being compassionate and caring but then the absurdity of how she told the very pregnant wife about how twisted her husband was to me came off as 'cruel'. I didn't like how Hotch/Reid just seemed to disappear. There was no profiling, all the cops needed was Garcia's magic computer and the case could have been solved. FBI brass would have loved the expenses savings... The take down was disjointed and didn't make sense. Both unsubs already said that the lawyer and the other unsub were dead so how was Derek going to get a 'confession' out of either of them for anything. Bringing up Derek's past again just felt like the writer was beating a dead horse. As for the ending with Kate's niece, I didn't like it..seem out of place considering what her mom does for a living. I would have rather seen Meg tell her friend the dangers but the friend scoff at her and take a solo pic herself. But I guess this is a clue to what the season long 'unsub' or finale will be.
ReplyDeleteAs for the promo, CBS again has virtually told the tale in 39 secs. We already know 'who' the unsub is going to be and the part about Rossi having a grown up daughter he knew nothing about seems way to Soap Operaish...Thank you 'no' I'll wait for an episode that is really Criminal Minds and not As the World Turns.
First off, Morgan's got more back story than his abuse, there's his sister, but how often do they allow the guys interact with female human trafficking victims? Secondly, Morgan and Penelope are good friends who express that friendship in a flirty manner. Who the heck are you to judge? Do you allow someone else to define your relationships for you?
ReplyDeleteI agree that this was not one of the better episodes. The stalking pedophile link to Sandusky that they were going for was just mentioned and not really shown. The whole trigger/revenge thing has been done better. The writing was weak, the characterizations were shallow and trite. I give the episode a 5.
Your review on the other hand was a whiny, snarky rambling piece of shrek that could have been better written by a five year old. You gave no remarks on the episode, just a stream of consciousness revamp. I give it a 2.
All I could think of was the movie SLEEPERS.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't heard from his sisters since The Company, and they were more of a background story because of his cousin and her stalker. Excuse me? I'm not judging them by any means, and I'm sorry if it came off that way. I love their relationship a lot, but I'm one of the people who wants to see them date. My opinions have no effect on the show and should not be viewed as such.
ReplyDeleteI write my reviews as recaps, or, "revamps" as you so eloquently stated. I do not write them to "get views", or to try to start any sort of angry rant. The fact that you clearly skimmed through my review and didn't look to see my remarks (i.e. the relation to Legacy, Tabula Rasa, how there could've been a Blake reference, how the profiling was relevant, etc.) means that your angry comment has no basis and therefore, I am not perturbed in any way. Have a nice day. :-)
I thought the profiling was decent, in terms of what we've seen in Season 10 so far. Like I said, the justice vs. revenge juxtaposition was refreshing and cool. Obviously the writing can tend to be lacklustre and the team can fall into the background of the cases. I do agree that Hotch has been disappearing a lot recently and he should be acting like a Unit Chief again. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to a spontaneous daughter of Rossi's.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the refreshing comment, Angela. It's good to see people who do enjoy what I write. People need to bear in mind that I write these reviews at early hours in the morning, while I'm in school. I don't always have the most insightful things to say, but I do believe I am constantly coherent.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said. I really want more backstory on Morgan. And Rossi, but a random daughter is /not/ the way to do it, in my opinion.
Poor wife. But I'm glad JJ had that scene. I'm also glad we didn't have to see he telling the wife about Jack; we only heard about it afterwards.
I don't think it was the same actor as the one who played Scott in Bully, but they looked awfully similar, and of course Blake is teaching in Boston now. Yup, they could've brought up Foyet, but that would've been weird. There was no bombing so that leaves Bale out too. And Prentiss, well, I think they reference her enough, don't you? :P
I do love women unsubs, especially ones that appear to have male-unsub tendencies!?!? Could it be happening? :D
I've never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI guess for me it was my question from the beginning. What was the BAU being called into a Adult kidnapping that was just hours old? Isn't the Boston PD capable of handling this??? There was way too much 'computer' work from Garcia verses good old fashioned Team work like we saw in A Thousand Suns. Hotch/Rossi/Reid could all have had there lines spoken by any generic local cop, it just didn't seem in character for them. And I find that is often the case with this writer.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thanks for the review. I forgot to watch this episode and my cable provider doesn't have On Demand for CBS ... go figure. I may be in the minority, but I think each characters' pasts have been sufficiently covered for the audience to give a pretty solid idea of who they are and where they come from. That is with the exception of Kate since she is a new member of the team. She is someone I'm very interested in getting to know more about. Especially since Kate's family not only gives a unique viewpoint of the impact of 911, but it also shows how a family findas a way to move on from such a tragedy. Regarding the established team members, I'm more interested about who they are now and the path the writers are taking them personally in the future. It's the personal glimpses into these characters' lives that allow for much needed breaks in the episodes from the unsub(s) horrific crimes.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Laura (and Angela) for your reviews, they're always very complete and since english isn't my first language you really help me with things I haven't understood : )
ReplyDeleteAnyway, not the better episode of the season but I liked it .
:-) Thank you for your commentary.
ReplyDeleteI never meant to have sarcasm in my review? Once again, I'm sorry it you took it that way.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, maybe it's the fact that you called my review a "whiny, snarky rambling piece of shrek" that is why I got defensive. By the way, any reference to Shrek is all right with me.
I definitely agree with you that we've had some through backstory (the one person we really don't know much about back then is Rossi, and a secret daughter doesn't help that much. Also, would love to hear more about Hotch regarding his abuse.) And I agree, it's moments with the team that help me get through these episodes for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
1996 movie
ReplyDelete4 boys sent to juvie reform
Much more graphic - hard to watch at times. When they are adults 2 kill one of the guards in a bar. The other 2 work a plan to keep them out of prison. Has huge cast - adults and kids.
Aw, you're welcome :). Yeah, I find your reviews entertaining. I like the conversational style of them, and even if we disagree on an episode, you always bring up some interesting points and give a fair explanation as to why you liked/didn't like this or that. I imagine writing reviews would be harder than most people realize. I just like having a space to discuss the show week in and week out with you and other people.
ReplyDeleteGlad to be in agreement here. And yeah, Rossi-they could go back and explore his time when he was writing books more thoroughly, that could be fun. It does sound like they'll focus a bit on his early days in the BAU with that "flashback" episode coming up early next year, so that should be interesting. I'm looking forward to that. I'll be able to deal with the surprise daughter if they can come up with a reasonable backstory as to why he didn't know about her for so long. Rossi may have been cocky and a bit wild and carefree in his younger days in terms of his relationships, but I don't see him being the sort to knowingly abandon a child he brought into the world. So I'm hoping they'll be able to make that storyline good and emotional and avoid the usual clichés that tend to come with it. Guess we'll see.
I liked that scene with JJ, too. And yeah, we can leave it to our own imaginations how she's dealing. I hope she'll be able to move on (or move on as best she can, at least). I often find myself wondering how these loved ones, or surviving victims, are dealing after the episodes end, given how dark and horrific so many of these cases are.
It's freaky sometimes how similar some people can look, isn't it? Kinda neat, though. But yeah, it would've been cool if they had a chance to pop in and say hi to her at some point-maybe down the line they will :). And yes, thankfully nothing similar to any of those previous cases happened in this episode, so at least they didn't have any of that lingering over their heads. I don't mind the Prentiss references when appropriate, but this one obviously wasn't, so yeah, no need to bring that up.
Maybe! I'd be VERY interested in an episode like that. I've seen enough episodes of the show "Deadly Women" to know that there are plenty of female killers out there who can be just as ruthless and similar to the male unsubs you note, so the show has plenty of real life examples to draw from to create that kind of female unsub for an episode. Here's hoping it'll be a really good, creepy story!
Ha, thanks for your mention of me :p. I feel bad, 'cause LauraLoo's reviews are great and I certainly don't mean to horn in. Just that her reviews bring up so much good stuff to talk about, and I love talking about this show and the characters, and then I get rambly as a result :p.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah. Thanks-happy to help you make sense of things :). And well said about Laura, too. I also like how she's able to keep things simple and easy to understand.
I loved the episode. And it also made me think of "Sleepers". IMO a brilliant movie.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the confusing about whether or not the lawyer was a pedophile... Morgan correctly profiled that the lawyer did not molest the boys who were his clients, because they could have been too much of a risk for his career. The lawyer did molest the boys from Sudworth Place.
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhhhhh, okay. That makes sense. Guess I didn't look closely enough at the photos they were looking at while they were discussing or something. Thanks for clearing that up.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really like both of your comments, and don't ever feel like your crossing the line by commenting. I really appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteWas it ever established that Gideon had abandoned his son? I know they had a distant relationship, but I can't remember what all they said about how he and his son had become so distant. May have to do a season 1 rewatch to refresh my memory. He certainly abandoned Reid, though, and Reid was something like a son to him and had looked up to him very much, so him being one to abandon people in general is certainly within his character.
ReplyDeleteBut either way, yeah, a very fair point to consider. I don't mind Gideon as a character-the whole "grizzled, seen it all" persona is interesting to me, and I did like some of his interaction with Reid in particular. But I easily see why he was so off-putting to a lot of fans, too (and Rossi is much more likable and personable, hands down :)). So yeah, we can definitely add that to our list of reasons to hope they don't go that route with Rossi next week.
I'm excited about it, but yeah, I can see why you'd be nervous, too. Flashback stuff is tough to get right 'cause fans will be eagle-eyed about canon accuracy and such, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. I am intrigued about Kirsten being a co-writer on that episode, though-I look forward to seeing what all she brings to the table, how she incorporates all the stuff that's happened on the show into the story. 'Cause after playing Garcia for so long and getting to know the other characters as she does, I'm sure she's got a unique perspective on that aspect of things. Here's hoping it all turns out well! Same with JJ's PTSD episode. I'm glad they are going to address it, 'cause that was a big deal thing she went through, so she deserves her moment just like all the others got when they went through their respective stresses. But yeah, here's hoping the story for that one turns out good, too.
That would be so fascinating. And creepy. There are women who don't have some emotional/personal reason for killing, who do it just 'cause they can, so yeah, I'm all for an episode exploring that setup. May all your hopes come true and your fears be eased :D!
Ah, good :). Thanks, and you're welcome in turn!
ReplyDeleteThis episode was so bad. Can we get back to bloody murder?. Just saw a repeat of the reaper episode, good all times. Also so sick of this turning into the Jennifer love hewitt's show! Why does she get special treatment?, she's in every freaking scene. Miss the old CM
ReplyDeleteHey don't feel bad lol I know that it's Laura's chronicle since she post the first review but I really liked to read your answer to her . Both of you rock :p
ReplyDeleteAw, well, thank you. I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteWhat special treatment has she gotten, exactly?
ReplyDeleteAnd of course she'll be in practically almost every scene. So has every other agent who's come and gone throughout the years-if they're part of the team, logic dictates they're going to get a lot of airtime as a result, no?