Whether this was Criminal Minds's way of getting rid of Mandy Patinkin once and for all, or a cheap ploy to increase the ratings because making Spencer Reid upset will generate buzz and money, I don't know. But I do know that it's ridiculous to do anything related to Gideon seven and a half years after he was on the show. The show's original idea was to have Gideon commit suicide, due to the murder of his girlfriend, and him not being able to understand what life means anymore. I thought that would have been a very interesting way to take the character, and would have been very realistic - because this job really does has that effect on people in real life.
Let's just try to get through this review. Apologies in advance, for this review was untimely again, and I wasn't so pleased with the episode. The episode starts with Reid in his car, looking all emotional. This was supposed to echo the ending of In Name and Blood (3x02) where Reid drove all the way to Gideon's cabin to find his gun and credentials. There was a dead body inside; the team is all gathered around it. There was a chess board set up. It was Gideon. They killed off Gideon. That was a very fast intro; one of the fastest ever on the show. I don't like where this is going.
Opening Quote:
Spoken by David Rossi - "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." Harriet Beecher Stowe
It appeared that Gideon was murdered. All right, then. Rossi mentioned names of friends who have died. Erin, Harrison, now Jason. Um, aren't you forgetting Carolyn and your son, James? Oh, well you said, "Disease is one thing...now, murder?" Um, diseases are a pretty huge thing. Especially ALS. And Blake didn't die, but she left and was your friend too, wasn't she? Anyway, they also brought Gideon's son in on this. Um, Gideon abandoned him. All he did was call him that one time. There was never any indication that Gideon started caring about him again. Regardless, at least they remembered that he had a son. It seem as though Reid is very troubled by this news. Poor guy. He's crying in the morgue. Morgan is there for him.
Apparently Gideon had a bucket list. That's cute. Hotch said, "I knew your dad pretty well, and he had trouble with a lot of things. Saying "I'm sorry" was one of them." Nice little quote from Hotch there. Elsewhere, Kate said that the letter Gideon wrote to Reid was "beautiful". Um, Gideon quit the BAU, left it all behind for Reid on a piece of paper, much like Reid's father did to him, which I know Gideon was aware of, and that is considered "beautiful" to you? I know she's probably referring specifically to the part where he mentions Sarah, but still. Kate just keeps getting worse and worse to me, and I'm really sorry for that. Next, we get more sad Reid. "I'd just always thought I'd see him again. I'd just really like to play one more game of chess with him." Oh, Reid...don't.
Reid and Rossi are talking about the Behavioural Science Unit, also known as The BSU. You're telling Reid about it like he doesn't know. He gave students a lecture about it in Compulsion (1x02). Time for some flashbacks! All Rossi can talk about is books and money, while Gideon is elated when he looks at birds. I like their mention of Zodiac, and calling it "serial crime". Ben Savage and Robert Dunne look like the perfect Gideon and Rossi. The flashbacks are the best part of this episode, by far. Well, I like seeing the team all huddled up for a case like this. It's unfortunate that this is why they are, though. And JJ needs to stay with Garcia because JJ is afraid of the woods. That's so adorable and sad.
These flashbacks are so wonderful. Ben is honestly so perfect at this role. He is more of a Gideon than Mandy was; is that weird to say? I can just see him so vividly as Jason Gideon. It's such a change from his role on Boy Meets World as Cory Matthews, and I love Cory way more than I love Gideon. He's just this talented that he can do both roles so well. Hey, at the very least we now know why Gideon was always so fascinated with birds. Now, we get the JJ and Garcia scene. They had a taste test with ice-cream for one of Gideon's birthdays? Interesting, I would have loved to see that. And now they're eating a dead man's ice-cream - creepy. They do look like they're enjoying it.
Later, Hotch mentioned, "Arrested Development" at one point, in relation to the unsub's psyche. I got so giddy, I love that TV show. I wish he was actually talking about it, though. Oh well, more flashbacks now; boy oh boy! To my surprise, we got a mention of someone that I wasn't expecting. "You [Rossi] and Carolyn were expecting." I was surprised to hear about their son, James. They haven't brought it up since we saw his gravestone in Epilogue (7x07). Gideon said, "Mazel!", when he found out. That means everything to me, hearing Ben say that. Back to the unsub, although we aren't really paying much attention to him, that is until he killed the bird in front of the woman he has taken. Ew!
Oh, well what do you know. We get some sort of profile on this guy from the BAU. "The years of isolation spent in that house were the stressor. That's why he was obsessed with birds." Um, how exactly do you arrive at that conclusion? I really don't follow how being isolated in a house leads one to having an obsession with birds. Maybe if there were birds inside the house he could have turned to them for growth? But Morgan didn't even mention that. That was a lazy profile, I'm sorry. Okay, at least the team is hunting the unsub now. There's a standoff betwixt Rossi and the unsub. "I killed Jason Gideon." Is that really something to be proud of? He's a retired agent, after all. He retired because he couldn't take the job anymore. He quit. You killed a quitter. On the other hand, he was a very good profiler. Oh snap, Rossi put down his gun! And how the unsub died will be a mystery, now.
Thank goodness for more flashbacks. Gideon is getting snappy! Ben Savage is way too perfect at this. Rossi profiled that Gideon was going to have a kid too! That was ADORABLE! I seriously did not think they would have gotten along at all, but this was so great to see. Young Gideon and Rossi were so believable. I have to applaud the writers for that. Their comments about getting a jet, and about being called "a profiler" were amazing. And the ending was cute, but it doesn't make up for the fact that this was a bad way to go about with the episode. There were some great moments, however.
Ending Quote:
Spoken by Aaron Hotchner - "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him." Euripedes
Final Thoughts:
- The whole, "Out of respect, I kept him covered." thing wasn't lost on me. You can get any ole' body to portray Mandy, you could've even put Ben under the covers! I just don't understand...
- Having Gideon's son be named after Rossi's middle name, Steven, was very nice. I liked that very much.
- If there were more flashbacks I would have enjoyed it even more. Those flashbacks felt so real.
- The ending song was lovely, and having Reid play with the chessboard was heartbreaking. I so felt like he was going to say, "Checkmate" at the end.
- Hats off to Kirsten Vangsness for her first attempt at writing an episode. It was lovely, I have to admit. The way it was writing was very creative. But the real MVP is Ben Savage.
- I don't know what I would rate this episode. Perhaps a B, because the flashbacks were that good.
What did you think of Nelson's Sparrow? Be sure to leave a comment down below!
Not really in agreement with a lot of what you said but did find some common ground. I was just happy to have the whole group together and in a different setting from the office or the plane and it was a nice changeup of pace and Vangsness should do more writing. If the show had Gideon committing suicide,either back when or now, I think it would have fit the character, after his girlfriend was butchered( because of his relationship with the killer really) but shows get a lot of negative blowback about setting bad examples from the real world when they portray cast members as suicides, plus it would have smelled like retaliation against nasty ol' Mandy P. When they told JJ to stay with Garcia, I was surprised as well but then thought that it did make sense that they would not leave Penelope alone in the woods at a cabin where a murder had just taken place ( the old murderer might return to the scene of the crime business). Isn't it a policy anyway that they usually do things with a partner. It would have been far more relevant and effective, as Angela suggests, to have worked in one of Gideon's more famous villains or a relation of theirs as the killer--- someone whom we were already familiar with, but that might have necessitated using old Mandy P footage, a definite no-no for the show, or making the story a two parter. I agree that the profile of the killer made no sense as, frankly, the killer's story made no sense.. I especially found it inconceivable that an idiot like that could get the drop on crafty Gideon , who at the very least deserved to be offed by a smarter adversary. Well, one thing coming out of this episode is that Ben Savage is going to get a lot more job offers now. In conclusion, I am glad the whole Gideon business was closed but I was very surprised when I realized that they were doing it. I was engrossed in the hour. But, for the love of pizza for gosh sakes, would they PLEASE let Reid finally have some lasting happiness in his life -- how on earth could that hurt the show really. Please....
ReplyDelete'The show's original idea was to have Gideon commit suicide, due to the murder of his girlfriend, and him not being able to understand what life means anymore. I thought that would have
ReplyDeletebeen a very interesting way to take the character, and would have been very
realistic - because this job really does has that effect on people in real
life. '
Where did you get this idea? It was NEVER planned to kill off Gideon. CBS had still
hopes that MP would come back to CM, like he did on CH so there was no plans to
kill him off.
‘All right, then. Rossi mentioned names of friends who have died. Erin, Harrison, now Jason. Um, aren't you forgetting Carolyn and your son, James?’
But Carolyn and James were not friends but family, big difference.
‘And Blake didn't die, but she left and was your friend too, wasn't she?’
What does Blake have to do with Rossi saying through the years he had some of his friends died? Blake is not dead, she left but she is still alive.
‘Anyway, they also brought Gideon's son in on this. Um, Gideon abandoned him. All he did was call him that one time. There was never any indication that Gideon started caring about him again.’
But what to say in the years that Gideon was away from the BAU he and his son didn’t got closer? That he didn’t care about him?
‘There's a standoff betwixt Rossi and the unsub. "I killed Jason Gideon." Is that really something to be proud of?’
Yes, for a serial killer it is. Same as when Foyet told Hotch he would be more famous than they ever thought because he wanted to kill the BAU Unit Chief. This is a killer( the unsub) killing off one of the most famous hunter of serial killer tracking him down (Gideon).
‘- The whole, "Out of respect, I kept him covered." thing wasn't lost on me. You can get any ole' body to portray Mandy, you could've even put Ben under the covers! I just don't
understand...’
Probably have more to do with CBS not wanting to pay MP for using his image. And Ben was way too young to play a 50’s years old dead Gideon( unless they used a LOT of make up).
Agreed with you, loved the flashbacks. Loved all the scenes between Hotch and Rossi. Those two have a great friendship. KV and EM did write a great episode and I give it a A.
Thank you so much for your comments! I'm happy we do agree on most of these things, and wow, I now agree that it would have been cool to bring back a former villain. Maybe Bale? I was thinking another showdown between them would have been cool.
ReplyDeleteI read about it someone that they considered actually killing him off - suicide was a way to do it.
ReplyDeleteYes, hence my argument about why he just chose to mention "friends" being killed off. It should've been a time to open about everyone who has left, ESPECIALLY Blake, even if it wasn't a death. I don't give a crap about the millions of people who were happy to see her go. We get a Prentiss mention (and a Gideon mention, for that matter) in many episodes in these seasons. We are never going to hear about Blake again? That's ridiculous. They were close friends - watch seasons 8 and 9 and tell me I'm wrong. For that matter, what about Elle? I know this is getting off the topic of Rossi, but shouldn't she have the right to know Gideon died? Elle hasn't been mentioned since SEASON 3!? The continuity on this show sometimes is crazy, and it makes me sad.
Yes, but it does not matter what happens behind the scenes, especially when the character leaves. All we know is what we are told on screen. Sometimes they clue us into what's happening in the background, but we got NONE OF THAT with Gideon. The only references we got were about some cases he worked on.
Did you just not read the rest of my sentence about that one? Yes, he's a well respected profiler and one of the grandfathers of the BAU. But he retired and quit in a way that was so...I don't even know how to describe it. You can't even compare this unsub, or Gideon, or this situation to Foyet in any way.
I knew there was no way of ever getting Mandy back on this show in any way, hence why I said they didn't even bother giving us a body to work with. I don't think you're reading what I'm writing.
Flashbacks made this episode watchable. Hotch and Rossi are wonderful. Kirsten had some great points - still not keen on EM's writing recently at all.
To add to your suicide comment, there was this from the recent TV Guide article:
ReplyDeleteDid you ever consider killing him off earlier, like when Mandy left?
Messer: When Mandy left eight years ago, there were a gazillion ways to go. We chose the most honest version, which was to write what was really happening.
It doesn't explicitly state suicide as an option, no, but that certainly would've been one of the ways, and the end of "Doubt" DID seem to imply he was considering doing that, so I do think that idea was considered, at the very least, if not their original plan.
As am I :). I'm currently in an epic discussion/debate over at a "Sleepy Hollow" review, and I'm reminded of how exhausting those can get, so it's always nice to be able to come here and agree on some things with you, and the things we do disagree on, we can discuss them calmly and without getting bogged down in endless rants :p.
ReplyDeleteNo problem :). Hope you can find the other one, too-I'm interested in reading it if you do.
ReplyDeleteI was going to link that article, but there was an older one too which I can't find. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see we're in some sort of agreement, Angela. Thank you for your comments once again! :D
ReplyDeleteIs the review on this website? Because I know the person that wrote it and they're a bit overwhelmed! ;P
ReplyDeleteIt is :D. He's handling it pretty well, though-but I don't blame him for feeling overwhelmed! There's good discussion mixed in there, but it's getting pretty hectic and intense in some areas, too.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool that you know him :). I like that the staff of this site seem pretty friendly with each other.
They really are, I'm so thankful! They all seem so kind! (My TBT article of House got noticed by the show creator and some of them were congratulating me :D) It's a nice company here. As well as the community itself. You've always been great to me!
ReplyDeleteThat's great :D! I'm glad you're getting on so well with them.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, that is very cool. Maybe someday the cast of this show can acknowledge an article of yours and congratulate you-I'd be so envious of you if they did :p. There's a lot of very nice people here, it's a fun place to hang out, even when the debates get heavy and intense.
And aw, thanks! You've been great to me as well! I've loved being able to chat with you about the show on here.