Criminal Minds - Amelia Porter - Review: "Creepy Uncle Benton and Hotch the Wingman"

- Photo taken from the Criminal Minds Set Report Twitter. -

This episode marked the end of Hotch and Beth's long distance relationship. It also featured a pretty messed up family reunion. It was pretty interesting to watch, actually. Not bad for the fall finale of the show I have loved so much for so long, although it has disappointed me recently. Anyway, let's get right to the review.

What an eerie introduction. A guy set a car on fire to the tune of a Christmas carol of sorts. Well, we did not learn much about the logistics of this crime at this time, but this scene was certainly lacking in Christmas spirit. Next, we have a nice Hotch and Rossi scene. "You and Beth broke up. I got a 20 year old bottle of scotch that you could drown your sorrows in." I love Rossi more than words can describe. Hotch finally told Rossi that him and Beth broke up. Rossi suggested, "What about online dating? [...] Bad idea." I have so many things to say about Hotch and Beth's break-up, most of which are angry rants. Why are they breaking up? Because you can't get Bellamy Young back on the show because she's busy with Scandal? Has that ever stopped you before? Hotch and Beth were just fine with their relationship until now. There was no reason to break them up! Either way, Rossi wants Hotch to be social and be his wingman. I gotta admit, I love the idea of Rossi and Blake being together. I guess I have to get over it, because Rossi seems to be making some new friends. Next up is a conversation between the unsub (Unknown Subject) and his friend, maybe? "You are leaving a trail of bodies because you can't keep it together." "Have you ever looked death in the eye? 'Cause I have. And I've seen the Grim Reaper staring right at me." The friend is being considered as a partner. Interesting.

Amelia Porter has been introduced to us as the partner of our unsub. The fact that we know who the unsub within the first 10 minutes of the episode is unnerving. We were learning a lot of background information about the unsub at this point, although I was quite distracted because of the early reveal. All I remembered during this time was that Amelia Porter = bad news. Then, we go to Garcia. "Garcia's the name, the 4-11's the game." The writers can never run out of quirky and flirty things for Garcia to say when she picks up the phone. Now, we get some insight on the unsub and his family. Hey, Garcia said Amelia fled to Canada. It's always so lovely to get my home country mentioned on this show. And later on in the episode they mentioned the province Winnipeg. How utterly delightful. Next, Morgan, Reid, and JJ went to go see Benton's father. "Head's up guys, I've got a real bad feeling about this." Uh oh, looks like his father is dead. I like how they tired to get victimology from the crime scene. I like how they used flashbacks to tell the story of the crime and the unsub. I also like how they explained that Andy might actually have empathy for Benton. Andy got pulled over because his tail light was out. I found it peculiar that the cop who pulled them over was unaware of who was in that car.

Hmmm, this episode kind of reminds me of Elephant's Memory (3x16), only a bit weirder. I can see some similarities between Benton and Owen Savage, although there are some differences too. Oh well, back to the show! After much riffraff, Andy crashed the car in the hopes that this would kill Benton. Benton, who was onto Andy, decided to shoot Andy and a helpful civilian who approached them on the street. Well, this is keeping me from wanting to ever stop for anyone in need, ever. Andy was lucky to survive. Now we're back to the scene we saw earlier where Benton blew up the car. And how, the special effects in this scene were crazy. More profiling is next, and the BAU think that Amelia might have come home. She might have used an alias. Benton came to Amelia with Rebecca in an attempt to do "that night" over again where Benton and Amelia raped and killed Benton's sister Miriam. Rossi, Reid, and Kate storm in just in time, or do they? It was an interesting tactic to tell the unsub that they were only after Amelia and not himself. Benton shot himself; it was his last move as a "free man". The scene ended with Kate hugging Rebecca with the song that was playing in the first scene. Well, you can't say it wasn't an odd episode. Something just felt weird about it, much like Hashtag (10x07). I cannot put my finger on it.

And finally, we get to see a snazzy jazz bar where Hotch took Rossi up on his offer to be a wingman. "Isn't she great?" "She's great, you could do worse!" I love these two, but this is too weird to hear. The singer brought her own wingman, or should I say, wingwoman? And her name is Audrey Hansen? That is strikingly close to Audrey Henson, who was a victim of battered-woman syndrome back in the episode The Crossing (3x18). I wonder if Hotch even noticed. ~ All in all, this episode had some highlights. I enjoyed some of the aspects of the profile, while the overall family feud and Amelia Porter's return could have been better. It seemed a bit rush at the end with her appearance and Benton's barging in. Still, it wasn't the worst episode I have ever seen, so I guess you can take some solace in that. ~

What did you think of Amelia Porter? Did you like it, or were there some parts that had you disappointed? Are you angry that we have to wait a month until The Forever People airs? Leave a common down below!