Criminal Minds - The Anti-Terrorism Squad - Review: “Painful Memories”

Quite a dramatic-sounding title for this week’s episode, huh? “Anti-Terrorism Squad”. It sounds ominous, it sounds tough, it sounds like an indication that you-know-what’s about to go down. There’s so many places one’s mind could go with that concept.

Well, I don’t know what everyone else’s theories were, but I’d be willing to hazard a guess that none of them wound up being anywhere close to what the term really wound up meaning. Ultimately, the title wound up being both interesting and something of a letdown in the end, as did the episode itself. I suppose it’s a good thing that we got a “typical case” episode at some point, given how hectic the past four episodes have been (introducing a new team member, welcoming an old one, losing another to “temporary duty”, everything with Reid’s mom, Mr. Scratch’s return, JJ’s reaction to a tragic case, etc.).

But still, it would’ve been nice if this episode had had some momentum in relation to all the other craziness going on, or touched on any recent events somehow, or something. There were lots of things about the episode itself that were missed opportunities for further exploration as well, thus making the whole thing feel kinda...meh.

At least all those missed opportunities give me plenty to talk about this review, so yay for that. Let’s get into this, shall we?

The Case:

A teenage girl gets dropped off at her home after a fun evening out with friends. She’s a little nervous about her parents’ reaction to her being out so late, but as she’s about to find out, she would’ve been lucky if that were all she had to worry about this particular night.

When she gets inside her house, she hears the buzzing noise of what appears to be an alarm. Curious, she makes her way to her parents’ room to find out what’s going on…

...and finds them murdered in their bed. The situation gets all the more terrifying when she soon discovers her younger brother dead in the hallway. All three of them were shot to death. Truly every person’s worst nightmare come to life.

So what on earth happened here? The deaths don’t appear to be the result of a murder-suicide, and a hitman scenario would seem a little out of place in such a small town in Minnesota, though the team doesn’t necessarily rule out the latter scenario altogether. The most likely possibilities right now would seem to be that these deaths are either the result of some kind of revenge killing, or, disturbing though the thought may be, the daughter herself, Amanda Bergstrom, is their unsub. She is the beneficiary of her parents’ life insurance, after all, and as Rossi reminds the team, people have been killed for much less. Amanda’s in protective custody for the time being, but the BAU still plans to talk to her and find out what, if anything, she knows about the murders.

It’s also revealed that Amanda’s father, Scott, had a Vicodin addiction, and her mother, Bridget, was having an affair. So now the team can add Bridget’s lover to the potential suspect list, as well as any potentially unsavory people Scott hung out with in the midst of his drug addiction.

Turns out the team may be able to take one person off that list right from the get-go – and it’s Amanda herself. The scene before the opening credits shows a man, shrouded in black, returning to his home. He turns on some music, loads up a weapon...and proceeds to violently slash up a photo of Amanda. Might she wind up being the real killer’s next potential target?

JJ, Reid, and Emily survey the Bergstrom home to try and get a sense of how the murders played out. They believe the killer came in through a second story window, and made their way to the parents’ room from there. Scott was killed first, then Bridget. As for Amanda’s brother Kevin, the commotion from his parents’ room woke him, and when he went to see what was going on, he unfortunately ran into the killer as they were attempting to make their escape down the hall. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There’s no signs of their unsub stealing anything or ransacking the house, thus indicating the family was the main target and/or the unsub got panicked and ran, deciding to forgo any attempt at a burglary. They also believe the unsub wasn’t the most experienced of killers, since he woke Bridget and Kevin and caused a bit of chaos with them when committing the murders.

At the same time, however, this killer clearly knew where each member of the family slept and was familiar with the layout of the house. Lack of possible experience aside, these murders were definitely plotted in advance, and by somebody the family knew. A chilling thought. This begs one of two questions now: did Amanda hire someone to kill her parents, and made plans to be gone the night of the murder in an attempt to establish an alibi? Or did the unsub wait until she was gone before committing his crimes, indicating one or more of the victims was their main target?

Rossi and Luke focus on interviewing Bridget’s lover, who we learn is named Ron Ferguson. He’s got a pretty sketchy past – petty crime, theft, and he’s known for having a pretty hot temper, too. The fact that he tries to run when he sees Rossi and Luke pull up to his house doesn’t exactly do him any favors in the innocence department, either.

Once they do start interviewing him, however, it becomes abundantly clear he’s not involved, either. He broke up with Bridget around the time Scott was starting to kick his addiction, and besides that, he claims to have an alibi for the night of the murders themselves: he was taking an injured friend to the hospital. A check of his alibi proves that Roy is telling the truth.

Roy does add to the team’s suspicions about Amanda, however. He tells Rossi and Luke that she’d been blackmailing him, threatening to expose the affair to her father. And he doesn’t seem to think very highly of Amanda herself as well, proceeding to go on a big rant about how manipulative she is. Pretty strong words for an adult to say about a teenage girl. Is he telling the truth?

JJ and Emily are about to find out. They go to interview Amanda herself, and she confirms what Ron said. She did know of her mom’s affair, and admits to the blackmail attempt. But she claims she only did that in the hopes Ron would stay away from her dad and family in general. She really didn’t want to tell her dad what her mom was doing, because he was just starting to get healthy and she didn’t want to upset his progress. Amanda also gets emotional when recalling a tense texting session she had with her mom about staying out past curfew shortly before the murders. The last words she and her mom exchanged weren’t very nice ones, and that upsets Amanda deeply.

Amanda’s explanation seems to be enough for JJ and Emily. They’re certain she’s telling the truth, and that her traumatized reaction to her family’s deaths is genuine. Indeed, when Amanda breaks down in sobs and asks why her family is dead, it’s hard not to feel for her. This entire scene gave me flashbacks to poor Carrie Ortiz from season three’s “Children of the Dark”. She too was the sole survivor after two killers murdered her entire family, and Amanda’s helplessness and fear here was very similar to the pain Carrie had experienced. Carrie was eventually taken in by relatives, and it’s revealed during this episode that Amanda’s aunt and uncle do the same for her. That won’t take away the horror of losing one’s entire family, of course, but it is comforting to know that Amanda will be in a safe place with people who’ll love and take care of her.

So the two most likely suspects are out. This leads Rossi to a new theory. Perhaps their unsub isn’t targeting the Bergstroms specifically. Maybe they were merely symbolic of the killer’s rage against families in general. And unfortunately, he may well be right, as it’s not long after that we see this terror play out again. Another home being broken into, another family screaming in horror, more gunshots – it’s frightening.

There’s one notable difference this time, however. A teenage boy wakes up to his parents’ screams, but instead of running into the hall, like Kevin Bergstrom did, he grabs his phone and hides in his bedroom closet. He calls 911 and manages to wordlessly alert them to where his home is...and then, through the small openings in the door, we see the killer enters the room. The tension is palpable as the terrified boy watches this figure in black creep around, and I was practically holding my breath alongside him.

Just then, the killer notices a puddle of water on the floor...right outside the closet door. He then towards said door. Uh-oh.

Shortly thereafter, JJ and Luke arrive at the scene alongside local officers. They survey the home, eventually making their way to the boy’s room. Upon noticing that same puddle of water, they yank the door open…

...and the boy’s still there! Even better, he’s alive! Frozen with fear, obviously, but he’s alive, thank goodness. JJ and Luke manage to draw him out, and he’s taken to the police station to be interviewed. Due to the boy’s current state of shock, it takes a while for the interview to get going. All the team initially learns about him is that his name is Matthew. Eventually, though, he starts to speak, retelling his scary experience to the team. He also expresses distraught confusion about why he’s still alive, and it’s about as heartbreaking a moment as Amanda’s “Why is my family dead?” question from earlier.

Matthew’s question does lead the team to believe that it’s not sheer luck that he and Amanda were the lone survivors of these family massacres, though. Rather, it seems their unsub is leaving them alive on purpose, taking a sick pleasure in the psychological trauma inflicted on them. The surviving family member is actually the object of his rage, thus making him an unusual variation of the typical family annihilator, since most unsubs of that sort don’t leave any survivors.

This discovery also makes the team tweak their profile a little, as the fact that he leaves survivors indicates some level of organization and control. They’re also convinced that because of that organization and control, their unsub is an adult in his twenties or thirties. The team then learns that Amanda and Matthew attended the same high school. Looks like it’s time to investigate any and all adults connected with that school.

They’re going to have a bit of an uphill battle with that investigation, too, as it seems the school is struggling with figuring out how to respond to these tragedies. A soft-spoken, friendly school counselor participates in a classroom forum for students and their parents, encouraging them to talk openly about their feelings regarding recent events.

It doesn’t go well at all. All he gets in return are a couple boys snidely mocking the entire idea, and angry parents who are demanding action instead of talk. After everyone storms out of the classroom, the counselor catches a couple boys mocking a kid who trips and falls. The counselor’s reaction is an understandably angry one...but the anger seems unnervingly personal. Might we have a whole new suspect on our hands?

Garcia seems to believe that’s the case, as she learns some very interesting details about the counselor in her internet searches. The man’s name is Eric Bakken, and like our buddy Ron earlier, he too was arrested for assault, back when he was a teenager. Rossi and Emily interview him, and he doesn’t shy away from talking about his crime. According to him, the kid he assaulted was a bully, and at the time, he believed he was perfectly justified in fighting back against him.

See, when Eric was a teenager, a kid he’d been friends with his whole life started hanging out with a pretty mean crowd of kids. The bully was part of that gang, and he and his friends tormented Eric constantly. Eric had hoped his childhood friend would stick up for him against this creep...but he never did. Finally, one day, Eric had had enough, and he beat up the kid who’d been attacking him.

Since then, however, Eric has come to regret his actions. He insists he’s worked through the pain of being bullied for so long, and that that’s the main reason he’s a counselor now. He wants to help other children who are going through the same hellish experiences, and he wants to try and help any bullies turn their lives around, too. Like all the previous suspects, he proves to be telling the truth, and so it’s back to square one for the team’s suspect list.

“To paraphrase the Violent Femmes song, nothing went down on their permanent record.”

All this talk of bullies is providing for an intriguing new angle for the team to explore, as Garcia takes a deeper look at Amanda and Matthew’s social media accounts. Not only does her searching lead to an amusing discussion among the team about young people’s obsession with selfies, it also reveals something rather troubling about both kids. Most of the comments on the teens’ accounts are full of sympathy and compassion...but there’s a few comments here and there claiming Amanda and Matthew got what they deserved. Yeouch.

A little more digging, and we learn that Amanda and Matthew weren’t exactly saints at their school. Apparently, they were known to participate in some pretty nasty bullying towards other students, to the point where they came to the school counselor’s attention. Bakken turns over a list he had which contains six other kids known to be notable bullies at the school, and five of those six kids and their families are immediately put into protective custody.

Not long after, there’s reports of another potential attack at the sixth kid’s home. JJ and Luke rush out to investigate, but they’re too late. To their horror, that kid is lying dead in his home, his father hovering over him in despair. Seems now their unsub has moved his focus to the bullies themselves. And if the unsub is targeting students who are bullies, this must mean the unsub is also a student.

During this whole investigation, we meet up again with the kids who were mocking the counselor at the class forum. One of them, a kid named Zach, is expressing sympathy for Amanda and Matthew’s situations, claiming they didn’t deserve what happened to them. His friend, however, strongly disagrees, mocking the way Matthew was found in his closet in his underwear, and goes on a big rant about how bullies are terrorists who need to be taken down. Oooooookay, then.

Zach is clearly troubled by his friend’s callous reaction to these murders, and mentions his concerns to a group of fellow classmates. Some of them seem to agree with his friend, others side with Zach and insist they should alert the authorities. The argument becomes moot a few minutes later, however, when the kid they’re all talking about joins their little meeting. And he’s clearly NOT happy with what he’s overheard. Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially found our unsub.

So what’s this kid’s deal, anyway? Why is he so passionate about taking such violent action against bullies? As we soon learn, the kid’s name is Kyle, and when he was little, his mom up and left the family, leaving him to be raised (and I use that term loosely) by an alcoholic father. He was also an only child, so he had no siblings to lean on during his tough upbringing. School wasn’t much better, as Kyle became the target of merciless bullying from his classmates, including kids like Amanda, Matthew, and a kid named Austin, aka, the sixth kid on that bullies list, who wound up being shot dead. Kyle tried to take his complaints to the school staff, but they did little to nothing of note to put a stop to the torment.

The bullying got so bad, in fact, that one night, Kyle was lured out to the school’s basketball court by a group of kids that included Amanda and Matthew. Once there, he was tied to the basketball pole, a bulls eye was drawn on his face, and Austin, the ringleader, then proceeded to toss a ball at him over and over and over again while his friends stood by and cheered him on. At some point, Kyle’s glasses were destroyed in the attack as well. After a while, the kids got bored and took off, and the poor kid was left tied to the pole the entire night, not to be discovered until the next day.

Needless to say, this attack lit quite a fire of rage in Kyle. He joined an “anti-terror” group, which consisted of fellow classmates who’d also been victims of bullying. The group saw bullying as a form of terrorism, and their mission was to stand up against the horrible treatment they got at school. Most of them didn’t advocate violent retaliation, however. Kyle was the only one who let his anger go to such extremes.

And now Kyle plans to make all his classmates finally pay. He proceeds to take all the kids at the earlier meeting hostage, forcing them by gunpoint out to the very basketball court he’d been lured to. He taunts and teases them, tying up a few of the students in the process. Luckily, just as he’s about to carry out his final dramatic takedown, Emily, Rossi, and Luke show up. Emily attempts to talk him down, using an impassioned, sympathetic speech to try and show she understands the pain he went through. Thankfully, her plea works, and Kyle relents without further incident.

When the title and synopsis for this episode was first announced, suffice to say I certainly wasn’t expecting a case like this. I immediately figured the case would be the sort that started off seemingly simple, only for the team to realize there was a larger force at work. Especially given the season-long theme of the team hunting down any remaining escaped serial killers – for all we knew initially, this case could’ve been tied to them. There was talk of the prison break having terrorist implications in last season’s finale, after all, so perhaps one of those escaped convicts was going to keep on with the plans started way back then. Add in the background story of Hotch being on duty somewhere, and I, as well as many other fans, wondered if perhaps this episode’s title would be connected somehow to whatever Hotch is off doing.

Since that turned out not to be the case, it’s hard not to feel that this episode wound up being something of a letdown. That’s not to imply that the case we did get this episode wasn’t interesting in its own right, or unimportant. Bullying is sadly still a very common occurrence in schools, and I do appreciate it when the show brings attention to the issue, and explores the ways everyone involved in a bullying incident are impacted. And I am glad that a story about school bullying wasn’t tied to some big terrorist group, because that would’ve made for a rather far-fetched leap in and of itself.

Still, while there were some interesting aspects to this case, the show has handled the bullying issue in much more poignant ways before. It was hard not to find myself thinking of season three’s “Elephant’s Memory” throughout, and recall that episode’s unsub, Owen Savage. Like Kyle, Owen retaliated against the bullies and other people in town who made his life a living hell. Like Kyle, Owen Savage came from a home with a dad who didn’t give a crap about him, and had lost his own mom in a car accident. Like Kyle, Owen’s method of killing people was brutal and devastating.

And yet, in the end, I had way more sympathy for Owen than I did Kyle. Owen was lucky enough to have a girlfriend, Jordan, who was something of a moral center for him. We got to see hints that there was a gentle, caring soul still lurking somewhere in him anytime he interacted with her, and when we learned of the lengths he went to to protect her from any abuse she suffered. Despite standing in the middle of the street armed with an assault rifle during his face off with Reid, he still came across like a scared, lost boy. His grief over his mom’s death was poignant, as was his own self-loathing. None of what he went through justified his crimes, of course, but through exploring why he turned out as he did, and through allowing the viewers to see a softer side of his personality, we were still able to feel for him to some degree regardless, and at least better understand him.

Kyle, on the other hand, showed none of that empathy. He didn’t care one bit that two children lost their entire families. He wasn’t bothered about killing people that had absolutely no connection to the bullying he dealt with. Owen’s victims were people who were actively complicit in the abuse he suffered. There was no explanation for why Kyle had to kill, say, Amanda’s little brother. Kevin never made fun of him. Kevin wasn’t at the basketball court that horrible night. Why did he have to die? I understand that Kyle’s main objective was to make Amanda and Matthew feel as alone as he felt, but still, killing people who he personally had no beef with doesn’t exactly make him a sympathetic figure.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly horrified about the bullying he suffered, of course. No child should ever have to go through what he went through that night at the basketball court. What Amanda, Matthew, and the other kids did to Kyle was absolutely wrong and cruel, and he’s right that they should’ve been punished much more severely by the school for their actions. On that level, I definitely feel bad for Kyle.

But obviously, his actions were not the right way to respond to that abuse. And since we didn’t spend the entire episode delving into Kyle’s psyche beyond that horrible night on that court, since we didn’t really get a glimpse of how troubled his home life was, or hear stories of a friend betraying him the way Bakken’s childhood friend did, or things of that sort, aside from our sympathy for the torment he did suffer, it was hard to really connect with him otherwise.

Another thing that helped shape our feelings about Owen was Reid’s empathy for him. We got to see Owen through his eyes, and Reid was able to help his teammates, and by extension, us viewers, better understand the mindset of somebody who’s been beaten down so badly. We’re all familiar with the stories about how rough Reid’s time in school was, with the girls who mocked him and that infamous goalpost story. Reid was fortunate enough to rise above the bullies and go on to make a good life for himself, but he also understood how easy it would’ve been for him, or somebody like him, to go the route Owen went. He understood the rage and loneliness Owen felt, and the helplessness that comes with the realization that no adults are around to help you when needed sometimes. We trust Reid as a character, and knew that his concern for Owen came from a genuine place.

We didn’t get any of that here with Kyle. Emily gave a really nice speech when trying to talk him down at the court, sure, but she didn’t have any firsthand experience with the kind of bullying he went through. The abuse Kyle suffered at the basketball court was practically a replica of the horrible football goalpost incident Reid shared with Morgan in “Elephant’s Memory”. One would’ve naturally expected this case would’ve struck a nerve with Reid as a result.

And yet...nothing. No ruminations from Reid on the trauma these kinds of cases leave on people, he wasn’t the one talking Kyle down at the end. Now, granted, presuming Morgan’s the only person Reid ever told about that traumatic incident, it would make sense that none of the other team members would think to bring his past up, if they don’t know that story. And people have also pointed out that Gubler’s time spent working on the next episode, which he directed, meant he wouldn’t have as much of a presence in this episode. As a result, that left little room for the show to explore his reaction to this particular case. And one could also make the argument that Reid’s in a different place in his life now, to where he can deal with those kinds of memories much better now than he did back then.

Still, I can’t help but feel it would’ve been nice to at least see some demonstration of that fact if that were the case, or at least have a passing line where Reid makes reference to Owen’s crimes or that case in general. And if they know a certain character may not have much of a presence in an episode, it seems pointless to write about a case that said team member would heavily identify with to some degree. Mind, there’s also the fact that the writer for this episode looks to be completely brand new to the team. This is their first episode ever. That could explain their inability to connect this case to Reid’s past, depending on how much or how little they know about events and storylines from earlier seasons. But even then, there are people on staff who have been there long enough to remember that stuff, so one would think they might’ve made a point of suggesting the writer include that. Go figure, I guess.

There’s also the fact that the team’s profile was rather off in weird ways. Again, that’s not necessarily anything new – there’s been episodes in the past where the team got things wrong, and we all know profiling is an inexact science. Still, it felt more like the mistakes they made here were the result of clumsy writing than natural missteps in a profile. Had they figured out their unsub was a student much sooner, perhaps Austin could’ve been spared. I would’ve been considering a student unsub right from the moment Amanda became a suspect. There’s been plenty of real life stories of teenagers hiring their friends to kill their family members, after all, so it would’ve been a pretty easy leap to make, and once Amanda was ruled out as having any involvement in the murders, they would've at least still had enough for a profile of a teenage killer to build off of and expand upon. It all just felt kinda awkward in how it was handled.

As I said earlier, though, the episode wasn’t a total flop. I did like that we got a multitude of suspects to consider – for a time there I was quite sure that the school counselor would be our unsub, and I appreciate that the writer let the story twist and turn as it did, keeping us guessing to the end. And I was intrigued by the concept of comparing bullying to terrorism. Some have argued over the years that in order for bullying to be taken seriously, we need to make clear just how high the stakes are for those who are victims of bulliying. And considering how violent some bullies’ actions are, considering the stories we’ve heard about kids committing suicide because of what they’ve suffered at school, I can actually see where it might be easy and tempting for some people to consider bullying to be equivalent to terrorism.

Still, it’s a pretty extreme comparison all the same, and I wouldn’t have minded hearing the team discuss whether comparisons like that help or hurt the anti-bullying cause, and perhaps offer up their own opinions on what the best way to handle such issues might be. I think that could’ve made for some fascinating conversation.

So yeah. “Good concept, mixed execution” would be the best way to describe this episode, I think. Appropriately enough, that sentiment would also perfectly describe Garcia’s actions this week in regards to Luke and his dog, Roxy.

Meanwhile, back at Quantico:

After bonding with Luke over his adorable dog last week, Garcia comes to work bearing gifts for Roxy. There’s bags of homemade dog treats and a (rather pretty) sweater she knitted, and she is all eager to see his reaction to her efforts.

Unfortunately, her gifts don’t exactly go over quite so well at first, particularly the dog treats. Luke appreciates her thoughtful gesture, but he informs her that Roxy’s on a special diet, and he just doesn’t really seem the sort to dress his dog up. Garcia’s a little deflated by his reaction, but she doesn’t let it get her down for long. Instead, she makes up for it at the end by getting a cool-looking collar for Roxy that Luke guarantees her she’ll enjoy. Yay!

Also, Luke finally agrees to go out for drinks with the team, proving he really is starting to feel at home in the BAU.

And that’s it. That’s literally all that happens for a side story this episode. Not the most exciting of storylines, no, but still a cute distraction all the same. It’s nice to see Luke’s feeling more at home on the team, and I hope we can actually see him being part of a night out with everyone soon.

As noted, the next episode will be directed by Gubler himself, and it’ll be the tenth episode of the series that he’s directed besides! Quite a milestone, and if the promo and episode summary are any indication, it looks like this episode will fit right in alongside the other super creepy episodes he’s directed. Should be interesting stuff, and I look forward to discussing it all with you!

What did you think of this week’s episode? Did the title live up to your expectations? Were you sympathetic to Kyle’s plight? Did the students’ method of equating bullying to terrorism seem logical to you? Are you looking forward to the possibility of seeing Luke interact with Garcia and the rest of the team outside of work more often? Share your thoughts in the comments!