Photo taken from the CM Set Report Twitter.
I can sum up this episode in one word - odd. Something just felt off about the episode. The writing? No, it was all right. The unsub (Unknown Subject)? Maybe, I can't say for sure. The profiling? Definitely. The atmosphere? Probably, it just felt unnecessary and weird. I can't quite pinpoint the problems I had with it, but I won't be adding this episode to my favourites list. It was a decent story, but it was told in a strange way.
For starters, we get a Christmas episode? Isn't it a bit early for that? A girl and a guy are walking around the mall, and they both seem to be kind of vain. The girl says, "What can I say? I can't help my selfie." Ew, that didn't sit right with me. Next, we're transported to Savannah's place of work - the hospital. Savannah and Derek have a very strenuous relationship. I'm getting a bit sick of it. Every episode we see them in, they're arguing about their jobs. Also, their kiss was a bit weird; it just did not feel right. We're taken to that girl's house. Why is she dressing so skimpy? We get it, she likes her body, but if any less skin was showing, she'd be naked. The unsub came into her room. When the unsub smashed her head into the mirror, I legitimately had a heart attack, and so did my mom. That was very scary and unexpected. Is it weird that part might have been the only part of the whole episode that felt right to me? I'm worried, now...but hey, if "selfie" wasn't a popular word before, it certainly is now. The Behavioural Analysis Unit mentioned this word way too many times in the span of a few minutes, and The "Selfie Killer" isn't such a unique nickname.
Then, we get a nice little Reid and Morgan moment where they both said, "No comment." at the same time. That was a great little scene. And then Morgan said, "The internet is forever." - a clear reference to the 5x22 episode of the same name. We get a Rossi and Kate scene next. "Too cocky for his own good." "That's when they usually make mistakes." Yes, Rossi. A nice Hotch and Garcia moment was to follow; too bad it was only for a few seconds. Kate and Rossi go and pick up a suspect. "Don't you know by now, that cigarettes are bad for your health?" Yes, Rossi, again! This creepy guy stalked her. This means that a Criminal Minds/Stalker crossover must be made. It's bound to happen. JJ is then seen talking to the friend of the victim. Very nice. A.J. Cook looks quite amazing here. Vidcon and Jenna Marbles allusions came next? I like Jenna Marbles, and I really want to go to Vidcon. Thanks, Criminal Minds, you might have killed any chance I had to go there. And creepypasta, Garcia? Yeah, no thanks. It is so strange for the BAU to be talking about these things. Selfies, Vidcon, more selfies, Twitter, more and more selfies, and retweets? So, so odd. But JJ and Reid saying "fear" at the same time was very funny.
I like the song that was playing while Alexander Chase was being murdered; how unfortunate for me. Looks like I have to rewatch the episode for that scene. JJ said, "Thanks, Pen." Pen as in Penelope? Interesting nickname choice, JJ. And we get a profile delivery! Much to my dismay, the profile is that this guy is a hashtagger. Nice. Probably one of the weirdest and worst profiles I've ever heard the BAU use. Although, Garcia contributed something to the profile, yay! That was really great and might have saved the episode. Morgan and Garcia then have a heart-to-heart in Morgan's office. "Okay, Oprah. What do I do?" Um, okay? Calling Garcia Oprah is, once again, odd, for lack of a better word. Garcia sayid that Sam acts like a Dalek to cheer up Garcia. I must admit that is very cute. "I always forget how good you are at this." Hell yeah, don't be forgetting about your chocolate thunder, Garcia. He is very good at his job. One thing I want more than anything in Season 10 is for Morgan and Garcia to please be a thing. They already have the best chemistry needed for a relationship. It would be so perfect. I will say that Morgan playing with the baseball reminded me so much of House. I hope I get to see some lovely gifs on Tumblr. Hotch and Rossi got to talk for a bit. Rossi said, "Good point, Aaron." Yes! This was perfect!
Next, we see Kate and JJ talking to another suspect. Kate was being aggressive and JJ was being sympathetic. Interesting combo. I liked it until Kate started talking about syntax. Oh really, Criminal Minds? That's what Blake would normally contribute. That was a nice shot to my heart, with a nail gun, in the shape of a hashtag. Reid a few times said, "Like Slenderman." Whoa there. There were so many references to Internet and Social Media related things. This is just strange for Criminal Minds, and for me as a watcher and reviewer. Morgan had a nice quote, though. "Sometimes people's wires just get crossed. It's tragic, but it happens." Kate, Morgan, and JJ are trying to take down the unsub. He grabbed an innocent woman. Somehow the press got a hold of where they were, and they bombarded the scene and gave the unsub fame. When JJ yelled at the press, I screamed. I was so happy with that.
THE UNSUB SHOT THE WOMAN WITH HIS NAIL GUN! That was unexpected. Although, in hindsight, they had to bring in Savannah again, so I guess this was the perfect way. Thank goodness the woman survived! However, unfortunately, the unsub survived as well. Then, apparently we're supposed to feel sympathy for the unsub? And the very last thing he does is take a selfie? That's really gross. Morgan and Savannah will now live together in one of the houses Morgan restored. Great, but he's not going to propose to her. Want to know why? . . . It's because he's in love with Garcia!!! He can never get married to another person, and she can't get married to any person because they are in love with each other. One day, the writers will realize this, and they will be end game. At least I desperately hope so.
All in all, this episode was creepy. I almost felt like deactivating my Twitter. Maybe this is Rick Dunkle's way of saying that we're bugging him with tweets? :P It had an okay storyline, but it was ODD!
What did you think of Hashtag? Did it make you want to remove yourself completely from the Internet? Are you looking forward to The Boys of Sutton Place next week, with yet another episode about Morgan's backstory? Leave a comment below!
Sorry it's so late - it was done for a few hours, but I forgot to publish it! D:
ReplyDeleteI quite liked this episode, personally. I especially liked how the way the case unfolded seemed a little different, it didn't quite do the typical step-by-step setup that most cases have. I dunno, something about it just felt a little more unpredictable and fast-paced/snappy and that really added to the tension and drama for me. And I too loved Reid and Morgan's "No comment" moment, as well as Reid and JJ speaking at the same time and smiling at each other about it afterward. That made me go, "Aw."
ReplyDeleteI actually jumped a bit with the scene where the girl was rammed into the mirror, too! That was startling-normally in most scenes of that sort the girl would move away from the mirror for something or other and you'd see the killer standing behind her ready to strike, but no, not here. It was very disturbing and really set the tone for the unsub. This guy freaked me the hell out-especially when he started bringing the nail gun in. There is not enough "OW" in the world for that. I was doing a hell of a lot of wincing and squirming and gasping throughout. The fact that it was a teenager doing all this made it that much creepier, and the ending with him in the hospital apparently not having learned his lesson* was...eesh.
*If I do have one nitpick it'd be that I think it would've added to the drama if either the unsub or the woman he held hostage had died. All that buildup for such a tense scene in the parking lot and then the comedown for the end of the case just seemed kind of...uneventful, aside from the creepy moment with the unsub in his hospital room. Given Morgan's stress over shooting someone on live TV, one of them dying could've really made an impact on that moment. But that's a minor thing-I do like it when the cases end on a good note, too, so hey.
I'm not very social media savvy, so I liked learning a few new things (heard about "creepypasta" but was never entirely sure what it was until last night), and to me, it seemed like they were bringing in all the information naturally instead of making their "Be careful online" message sound preachy or deliberately sounding like they're trying to educate their viewing audience about something new.
As for Morgan and Garcia, I adore them together, too, like most fans. But I honestly don't ever foresee this show putting any team members together in a romantic sense. Or if they did, it probably wouldn't be until the final season/unless they were to do some sort of "what if?" type episode (which I'd rather like to see, I must say). They haven't done it in ten years, after all, so I can't see why they'd start now. I've got a lot of favorite in team pairings on this show, too, past and present, that I'd be all for seeing become reality (Morgan/Garcia being among them). But for me it's one of those things that I think is fun to imagine and wonder about, but which might be tough to try and pull off on the show itself.
And I tend to like the significant others the show's picked out for the team members over the years as it is, Savannah included, so I'm okay with it *Shrugs*. I liked the ending, I thought the thing with the phones going off at the same time was cute. I was actually half expecting a proposal on that porch! It's so strange to see Morgan getting serious about somebody, but I like it. And now I wonder what that means for him going forward. Wedding bells in the future? I dunno. Morgan and Garcia's talk in this episode was fun, though-I like her giving him relationship advice. Bit of a change from him being the so-called "romance expert".
And so ends another one of my lengthy, rambling posts! LOL. Anyway, great review, as always (love the title, too). Sorry this episode didn't quite grab you the way it did me, but hopefully next week will. It looks super creepy and disturbing, given the hinted at subject matter, I know that much!
These types of episodes are a staple of procedural as of late. Good grief, they were a few weeks away from airing practically the same episode as Castle did a few weeks ago. lol
ReplyDeleteBut I liked them. :P
Thanks for the review : ) It was odd but I liked this episode even if it wasn't as good as the previous ones .
ReplyDeleteI loved the episode. It is my favorite of the season so far. Not a Morgan/Garcia fan at all but love Morgan/Savannah. I liked that the case was local and the team didn`t have to travel for once. I loved Morgan`s scenes in the hospital and that JJ stayed with him for support.
ReplyDeleteWhats the name of the song playing during the second murder?
ReplyDeleteno idea. still looking for it.
ReplyDeleteThe song is called Famous Overnight by The Hundred Days.
ReplyDelete