Crime Drama TV

Wow. What a fantastic episode. I’m still kind of recovering from it AND I have a wicked head cold, so excuse me if I’m not completely coherent.

Gideon is out buying flowers for a date when Hotch calls. It seems the BAU is under review a little bit earlier than usual this year, and the only file not requested for review is Hotch’s. They mention Elle’s departure, Morgan’s arrest, and Reid’s issues and are both a little worried about how this is going to turn out. Wow. Hard to believe all that stuff happened in just one season. Gideon stops when he sees Jane wandering around across the street. When she disappears behind a car, he convinces himself he’s seeing things. Until Frank gives him a call on his date’s cell phone from Gideon’s place.

Gideon rushes to his ladyfriend’s apartment and finds her in pieces. He takes off. The team arrives and decides they need to find both Frank and Gideon despite not being invited into the investigation of the ladyfriend’s murder (I’m sorry, I’m not going to call her his girlfriend. It sounds weird.). Hotch convinces Gideon over the phone to work with Garcia on finding out who Frank really is.

Turns out Frank is really, really evil. He has a list of victims that Gideon’s saved and if Jane is not returned to him, he’s going to kill them all. The team tracks down Jane after she’s arrested and we find out that she left after Frank almost killed her during an argument. She also provides Frank’s last name, which they use to find out that his father was absent and his mother (who Jane reminds him of) was a hooker - the basic recipe for a serial killer. Meanwhile, Frank shows up at Rebecca-From-”The Fisher King”’s place and slices her up.

He arranges a meeting with the team to exchange Jane for the next victim on the list, Little-Sister-Fanning-From-”Boogeyman”, who moved to the New York area after almost being beaten to death by a psychotic kid. Gideon shows up to confront Frank with all the information he has on him. Somehow Frank manages to talk Jane into coming with him again and they jump in front of a train, disappearing behind it as it puls into the station. Reid and J.J. go to Frank’s apartment and find not only Little Sister Fanning, but the decayed corpse of Frank’s mother.

Hotch meets with his boss, Karen Hayes from 24, and she tells him that she believes he is no longer effective in his position as head of the team. Hotch and the rest of the audience thinks this is bullshit, and he profiles her to show her how good he is at his job. He also semi-profiles the team for her. He is able to keep his job for the moment. Karen talks to another member of the team that we can’t see and tells them to help her end Hotch’s career if they want to stay at the BAU. The person she’s talking to? Prentiss.

I have to admit that I’m a little worried about this storyline. A lot of crime shows have tried to do the villian arc with some type of authority figure trying to break up the team or whatever and they usually fail miserably. But if any show can pull it off, it’s Criminal Minds.

The last episode of the season airs in a mere five hours! I can’t be the only one impatiently doing a fidgety dance in their chairs, so here’s a preview of “The Evolution of Frank” to tide us over.

I went looking on the premiere Criminal Minds blog, Criminal Minds Fanatic (who admittedly have WAY more connections than little ol’ me) and found that “Doubt” will not air until next season.

That means we only have TWO episodes left of the season. “Legacy” and “The Evolution of Frank”, or as someone called it, “No Way Out Part II”.

Okay. Apprently the Criminal Minds schedule was changed YET AGAIN and last night’s episode was “Open Season” instead of “Doubt”. TV Guide.com, in the brief span of time where it was actually cooperating with my computer, says next week is “Legacy”. Will “Doubt” ever air? I’ll check some sources and get back to you on that.

On to the episode. This episode has the BAU tracking two brothers who kidnap people, set them loose in the woods, and hunt them. Anyone else having flashbacks to the Supernatural episode “The Benders”? Just me, then? Okay. Moving on. Anyway, we get some backstory from Prentiss - she aparently spent a lot of time in the woods with her grandfather who had a whole J.D. Salinger thing going on for a couple years - and an adorable shot of Hotch sleeping on the plane.

Half of the episode has us following Bobbi, one of the brothers’ victims. She stumbles onto a camp and tries to survive with the remaining two campers after the brothers open fire. After the one guy is taken down, Bobbi defies the rules of horror movies/shows by thinking ahead and taking the guy’s knife, which she later uses to stab the younger brother when he shoots the second camper.

The BAU team arrive after some detective work and a lot of blind luck (I think that’s why this episode had a “meh” effect on me) and the older brother is shot. He dies, but not before Bobbi can get in his face and call him the harshest thing she can get away with on network television.

I really think that the focus on Bobbi this episode contributed to the fact that I didn’t like it much. I want my BAU team, dammit! Especially my adorable genius (anyone who hasn’t read this blog before; I am totally shameless when it comes to fangirling the illustrious Dr. Spencer Reid).

My favorite part of the epsiode? The cold open with Prentiss, JJ, and Garcia showing up a guy hitting on Prentiss who claims to be an FBI agent. SO funny. I laughed for about five minutes straight, which is something only House has been able to achieve. Seriously. Rolling. On. The. Floor. Laughing.

Until I get back to you guys with some seblance of an explanation to the scheduling craziness, have a preview of tonight’s CSI. This generalization is the best I can find, but pay attention to the stuff about aliens and lizard creatures for an idea of what tonight’s episode is about.

Tonight’s Criminal Minds is actually going to be a repeat of “Jones”. But next week is going to be “Doubt”, which was originally going to be replaced tonight by “Open Season”. Guess who’s ba~ack….

Due to the Virginia Tech massacre, next week’s Criminal Minds episode will be “Open Season” instead of “Doubt”. The change is due to the material of “Doubt”, which is about women being murdered on a midwestern college campus.

I’ll keep you updated with any other changes as they occur.

Bones is new tonight. Take a look!

Criminal Minds fans get a repeat of “Sex, Birth, Death” tonight which, if you haven’t seen it, definitely tune in because it’s probably the best episode ever. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Watch it. If not for my spectacular reccommendation, then to blow Lost out of the water. You KNOW you’re sick of JJ Abrams not knowing what the hell he’s doing.

Today is the first day of the new quarter for me. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m on the fence about declaring Criminology as my major. I’m taking Criminal Justice this quarter (lucky Veronica, getting to take the actual criminology class as a frshman. I want to go to Hearst.) and feeling it out, since it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from my current Creative Writing/Film major.

Anyway, I was peeking at the Criminal Minds official site in a fit of boredom and came across the Profiler Quiz. Sweet! I love personality quizzes and I love profiling; they are two great tastes that taste great together. 26 out of 30. Guess I should give some serious consideration to the major change.

Take the quiz and see if you’ve got what it takes to hang with the BAU.

Tonight’s repeat of Criminal Minds follows two serial killers operating in the same city, one - the Mill Creek Killer - hunting middle-class brunettes and the other - the Hollow Man - shooting prostitutes. They’re locked in a rivalry leaving the city paralyzed in fear. But before the BAU team takes off, a new member named Emily Prentiss arrives. There’s some confusion due to the fact that Hotch has not approved a transfer to the team but she has the proper paperwork. She’s left behind for now.

After the Hollow Man alerts the media to the location of one of the Mill Creek Killer’s victims, Reid figures out that the two killers are communicating through the newspaper’s classifieds. They use names from Catcher in the Rye, the preferred novel of the sociopath. Apparently I am not a sociopath, because I HATED that book. Wah, wah, wah. Shut up Holden. The team is able to play the Mill Creek Killer and the Hollow Man off of each other and apprehend both.

When Hotch returns to his office, Prentiss is there. In the dark. Waiting for him. Hotch is slightly creeped out, but is impressed with her evaluation of the case file that was delivered for him. He makes no promises - the credits already made them for him - but directs her to someone who can assign her a desk and she practically skips away.

This is one of my favorite episodes; I found it really cool how they played the killers off of one another. They also used handwriting analysis to help profile the Hollow Man, something which I would personally like to see more of on the show. Another thing I thought was particularly interesting was how we saw the Mill Creek Killer’s face in the opening. It was a great stylistic choice, especially since we didn’t see the Hollow Man until the last few minutes, mirroring the media coverage each killer got.

I just want to pop back in to say that Criminal Minds won its time slot, beating a first-run episode of Lost ! How awesome is THAT?! Congratulations to everyone involved in the show; having a repeat beat out one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV has to feel pretty good. You guys deserve it.

This week the team is called to New Orleans (which JJ in all her Pennsylvania-girlness cannot pronounce properly) to investigate a series of murders that seem to mirror Jack the Ripper. Except the victims are male. Anyway, the lead detective on the case died in Katrina, but before he shuffled off this mortal coil, he had the time to carve “JONES” into the wall of his house. Now his son - who actually looks more strung out than Reid supposedly is - is heading the investigation. They eventually figure out that the killer is a woman luring men away with promises of sex and Jones is a bar where she was raped nine years ago.

This is the first time I’ve actually had several problems with the profile/actions of this killer. First, as they have mentioned several times on this show, blitz attacks show that the killer is insecure and cannot charm their victims into coming with them willingly. So I don’t see how the woman could have been confident enough to lure men away from the crowds. Second, the way the victims were killed. Garcia said that Jack the Ripper only ever removed a kidney from his victims, which isn’t true. He also removed the uterus. If the woman was indeed like Jack, she would in all likelihood castrate her victims to rob them of their masculinity as Jack removed his victims’ feminimity.

I’m really pissed off about this so called “resolution” to Reid’s drug storyline. “I’ll never miss a plane again”? THAT IS NOT A RESOLUTION TO ANYTHING. If Reid’s using the Dialudid as his friend Ethan made it seem (since we’ve never actually seen Boy Genius shoot up), that little discussion he had with Gideon isn’t going to do a damn thing.

And now I move to the shallow end. Let’s talk about hair. Yes, hair. I had a lot of issues with hair in this episode. Let’s start with the good. Is it bad that I absolutely LOVE Reid’s drug hair? It nearly doubles my urge to just hug him and pet him and feed him soup, poor thing.

Next, Prentiss. I actually liked her character in this episode, and I’m ashamed to admit that it had a lot to do with her hair. They curled it this episode and WOW, what an improvement. Let’s compare, shall we?

It’s like they’re two different people.Morticia Addams and Emily Prentiss.

And finally, the bad. JJ. Oh, JJ, I loved you this week but I have to ask; what is up with your hair? She seriously looks like she’s been standing in front of a fan and the hairspray in her hair stuck that way.

So that’s about it. No Bones this week because American Idol has once again taken over our televisions. Tomorrow: CSI.

It’s the middle of the regular TV season, so I thought I’d give a brief overview of my thoughts on the shows I will be covering and their current plot lines. FYI: A brief review of each episode will be posted the day after the epiode airs with the exception of Numb3rs, which will be posted on Mondays.

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the only linear drama I will be covering. All the rest are your standard procedurals. I really like how the three mysteries formula is working; it keeps the show fresh and we don’t get any filler episodes. My suspect for Mystery 2: The Return to O’Dell’s Cave is Tim the TA. Also? LAMB IS DEAD. I’M GOING TO GO CRY IN A CORNER NOW, THANKS.

Bones
Bones isn’t a great procedural - in fact, one might even call it mediocre - but it’s entertaining nonetheless. I like that they’re going somewhere with the whole Booth/Brennan romance thing and adding some non-crime-related drama to spice it up a little. Although the therapist thing has got to stop. I don’t like the therapist and I think he’s crap at his job. I will elaborate on Thursday.

Criminal Minds
I. Love. This. Show. One of the things that first got me into procedurals is my personal interest in criminal psychology; I’m really more interested in the why than the how when it comes to crime and Criminal Minds is where I get my fix. My only problem with the show is that the writers have so many characters to juggle that we often get short-changed on character development with the more minor characters like J.J. and Garcia (who is my BFF). The addiction storyline with Reid bugs just a little, mostly because he’s my TV boyfriend and I can’t stand to see him hurt, but I’m waiting until this week’s episode to pass my judgement on the storyline as a whole.

CSI
Where it all started. CSI was my first crime drama. I’ve been watching it - no lie - since I was 12. Listen closely, y’all, ’cause this is the only time I’m going to say it: this is the only CSI I will be covering. Miami and New York? Crap. I will not have their sub-par excuse for crime drama taint this blog as long as I write it. That said, I like that the Vegas writers aren’t hitting us over the head with Grissom and Sara’s relationship. They’ve been very subtle and I applaud them. Greg’s civil suit makes me a bitter, angry person. He’s another one of my TV boyfriends. I would really like the writers to give Catherine, Warrick, and Nick (THANK YOU, George Eads for getting rid of that very sad pornstache and 70s hair) something interesting to do. They really feel like they’re fading into the background.

And last but most certainly not least, Numb3rs
I hate math. I really do. And yet I cannot seem to tear myself away from the adorkable math genius Charlie Eppes and his scrumptious, FBI agent brother Don. The cases are interesting mostly because you wonder what else they can solve with math. One of these days Charlie’s going to bust out an equation to find out who ate the last cookie or something. Where Numb3rs really excells is with the balance of crime and personal moments. I look forward to the Eppes family moments, which never feel gratuitous or out-of-place.

So there you have it - the line-up for the Crime Drama TV blog. I’ll see you tomorrow with some thoughts on Veronica Mars.

When checking out the Criminal Minds official website (doing my homework for this blog) I took their test to see if I had what it took to work in the BAU (Behavioral Analyst Unit) as a profiler. Take this nifty little quiz and check out your score. I scored a 26 out of 30, which makes means I have potential as a profiler.

Hmm, I wonder will that skill work on the opposite sex?

Take the quiz. I’d love to hear how you scored. On the quiz…

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I had my first dose of Criminal Minds last night, and my goodness, I didn’t know I would be in for such a great crime drama. Fast paced, good (though implausible) plot, and enough blood spatter to keep me sated until next week. I was eating my dinner but had to quickly put it down because five minutes into the show, there was bloody torture (no, that’s not an British adverb) and murder. Unlike Law and Order where you see the aftermath of the crime, on this show you see the crime happen. So that torture and my dinner definitely did not mix.

Back to the show, a repeat entitled Secrets and Lies. CIA agent Summers rescues a woman and her children. Takes them to an undisclosed location. He is subsequently tortured and murdered. The murder is then covered up and staged to look like a suicide. Call in Special Agent Jason Gideon, the FBI’s top Behavioral Analyst and his crew. They quickly take up residence in CIA headquarters on a two-fold mission. One, solve the murder of Summers. And two, find the missing woman and her children.

Since they know the leaks are from within, the BAU team is out to find the mole within the CIA. Each member of the team targets a CIA team member, profiling them and trying to force their hand. During the process another agent is murdered on CIA territory. Hmmm, they must be getting close to the source. Being a veteran of crime TV, you know that the mole has to be someone who has a lot to gain. And indeed it is, to the tune of 20 million dollars. It’s Gideon’s long time colleague and friend.

I found the show to have a sufficient number of twists. Definitely enough to keep me watching for the entire hour. The gory beginning drew me in, I have to admit. And had I known that Shemar Moore was on the show, I would have started watching a long time ago. And given that the acting was decent and I’ll be back for another round.

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