Criminal Minds - Protection - Review: "Finale Setup"

I'm quite disappointed this episode didn't have any PTSD or a traumatic aftermath for Hotch, although I wasn't really expecting them to do that. When it comes to PTSD, Criminal Minds doesn't exactly have the best track record. However, this episode was pretty great in its own right. I'm not a huge fan of the Sex Trafficking story they are deciding to go with for the finale, but I'm sure it will be intense nonetheless.

Another interesting opening shot was had in this episode. It's man in a black hoodie running from the police, panting heavily. He goes to his friend's house, maybe? Her mom is horrified at what Danny, our unsub, looks like. She asks him what happened, and there's a shot of this blonde woman running through the forest, scared. That transitions to JJ and Morgan going for a run together. That was really cute. Morgan and Garcia's cute flirting continues with Garcia's opening jab, "Hurray, heavy breathing! I wasn't invited. What's the occasion?" Garcia informs them about the unsub's victims. They were all found in their cars, which immediately made me think of Zodiac. However, Danny appears to be mentally unstable. He gets headaches and becomes irrational. His friend seems to be very helpful to the cause. She even massages his head. "The right thing to do is always the hardest thing to do, and you're doing the right thing." Danny's mom died, and she encourages him to find the son of a bitch who killed her. Great advice. Now it's time for the theme song.

Opening Quote:
Spoken by David Rossi - "It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." Buddha

The profiling on the plane was interesting. The scene where they walk into the police station was also interesting. Rossi's interrogations have been such a fantastic thing to see. He's so incredibly sassy, but it comes from such a great place that you don't get angry at him. Reid and Rossi being hit on by a prostitute was hilarious! That seems to always happen to Reid, and I kind of find that adorable. This other prostitute, that JJ and Kate interrogated, seemed to be hiding something, but I felt bad for her. She seemed really afraid and disturbed about this case. JJ even gave her a ride to where she needed to go. She was lying, though, she knew the victim and the unsub. She saw the shootout take place. She begged JJ not to take her son away, that she had nothing to do with the murder. JJ was compassionate; she reassured her that they're not going to take him away. I really enjoyed this scene because I love when JJ talks to the families. Meanwhile, the unsub is severely devolving.

His profile is a vigilante. I'm a big fan of those. They tug on my heartstrings because what they're doing is wrong, but they do it for the right reasons. See the show: Dexter. A perfect example of a serial killing-vigilante. Anyway, now Danny is self-loathing. He thinks it should've been him. Yeah, do you really want to revisit the words, "It should've been me."? Thanks for reminding me of Demons (9x24). This unsub's story is actually interesting though. His tenants and the story around his mom's murder is intriguing to me. It's unsubs like this where you actually root for them to succeed with their deeds is an unsub well constructed. Even the public is starting to root for him and use his services, or at least, that's what the unsub imagined in his head. He envisioned that this girl was demanding that he kill her boyfriendI found this fascinating. Later we find out that him and his mom both have paranoid schizophrenia. Oh, something Reid could possibly relate to, ouch. Wish they played that up a bit more.

The BAU get to the apartment. "Get back, I've got hostages!", screams the unsub. Yikes. He shot the door where JJ, Morgan, and Reid were standing. Oh boy, this got intense. The whole time the man that shot his mom was in police custody. And that ending with his victims talking to him was quite creepy. And the case wraps up with a happy ending of sorts. That's a relief. And dang, the team has a "Congressional oversight meeting" with paperwork to work on. That's not good. Now, here's the part of the episode I really don't like. First of all, we were promised a season-long unsub, much like the Replicator, that won't be involved with the BAU until the finale but will affect Kate and her family all season long. However, this Sex Trafficking Ring was only mentioned prominently 2-3 times. That's already a pretty ineffective move on the writers' parts. Furthermore, how in the world are Meg and her friend able to sneak off to meet this guy with a BAU AGENT AS A MOM? She works for the FBI for god sakes, surveillance should be her top priority! She said she was monitoring her internet access, yet this was still able to happen. This is very unrealistic and kind of put a damper on this season/episode/inevitably the finale next week. It just seems like a poor choice with some lacklustre writing.

Closing Quote:
Spoken by Spencer Reid - "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein

Despite the ending leading up to the finale that I'm really not a fan of, I throughly enjoyed this episode. It felt a bit like "classic CM" (I just shuddered because I hate using that term), where the profiling was crucial to the case. If I had to rate this episode, I'd give it a B+. I was immersed in this story, rooted for the unsub (until the ending), and enjoyed JJ's scene with the prostitute. It was definitely one of the episodes this season that stands out to me as one of the better written episodes. I just hope the finale next week isn't completely disappointing.

What did YOU think of Protection? Are you curious about what's going to happen to Meg and her friend next week? How excited are you for this finale? Be sure to leave a comment down below! And as always, you can catch the rest of my reviews [here].