Criminal MindsParadise
Original Air Date: October 22nd, 2008
JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com
This week's unsub was one sick loon. I love it when my show draws on classic horror movies. Now, I know critics have complained that the show is becoming a little too twisted, but there are times that it really works. And honestly, when a show starts out being called 'gruesome' in season one for pretty tame stuff (by season four standards), where else can you go but darker and darker? Paradise, while not as shiny, creep-factor-wise, as episodes like Legacy, was so Bates Motel--version 1.0, not that Gus Van Sant disaster--that I couldn't help but be pretty pleased by it.
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[photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS]
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Criminal Minds
ReplyDeleteParadise
Original Air Date: October 22nd, 2008
JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com
This week's unsub was one sick loon. I love it when my show draws on classic horror movies. Now, I know critics have complained that the show is becoming a little too twisted, but there are times that it really works. And honestly, when a show starts out being called 'gruesome' in season one for pretty tame stuff (by season four standards), where else can you go but darker and darker? Paradise, while not as shiny, creep-factor-wise, as episodes like Legacy, was so Bates Motel--version 1.0, not that Gus Van Sant disaster--that I couldn't help but be pretty pleased by it.
Now, the beginning of the episode did nothing for my fear of being smashed into a million pieces by a semi truck. In fact, most of this episode did nothing to ease that particular phobia of mine, but I digress. We start out on an interstate just outside of Reno, Nevada, on a daaaark and raaaiiny night. Are you getting that scary movie vibe yet?
A semi is driving along the road, the driver distracted, switching the radio station, and then has to slam on his breaks when he comes upon a car parked right in the middle of the road. He can't stop, hits the car, and when he gets out unharmed, he checks the wreckage to find a couple in the car he just hit, both of them dead.
And then we're back at the good old BAU. The case has, as usual, come across JJ's desk. Turns out that after autopsy reports came back, it was determined that the couple in the car was already dead when they were hit. Not only that, but there have been two more of these suspicious accidents along the Nevada-California border in the past few weeks. All the victims were couples, all of them beaten, and all of the women were sexually assaulted prior to their deaths. All the incidents together are too similar to have really been accidents, and the team is on a race to figure out where the unsub is torturing and killing his victims before he gets the next couple.
So bring out our next contestants, lucky couple number four! Doing what? Driving along the interstate... and nearly getting hit by a semi truck. The semi truck thing got a bit old in Paradise, but I'll let it slide because the rest of the show was fun. Have I ever mentioned I'm a sucker for psychological torture episodes? Anyway, the couple decides they're too tired to keep driving, and pull over to a roadside motel, or as I like to call it, their almost certain doom. And cue the old school horror: the cell phones have no reception, the radio is just static, the couple thinks all is right in the world, and as we draw away from the scene, the neon 'no vacancy' sign lights up the night sky. In short order, our ever-so-fortunate couple are trapped in their room like rats in a cage, and rest of the episode is spent with the unsub watching their every move, stabbing at them through peepholes, and generally freaking them out just to watch them crumble.
Now, let's have a pop quiz. What should you do when you're trapped in a hotel room by Norman Bates' even more deranged love child?
1) Try to get out? Yep.
2) When you realize you're not getting out, stop wasting energy trying to get out anyway? Of course!
3) Figure out how to maintain a unified front and fight the bastard when he comes for you? Definitely.
4) Fight about your relationship? ...Not such a good plan when little Bates Jr. is just outside waiting to do wicked things to you.
Sadly, our victims really only went with suggestion number one above, and when it came to number four... I understand the idea; people under stress, when faced with a life or death situation, can lash out at each other. But we've already explored this concept in North Mammon, and quite frankly, it was more effective then. In a situation like this--watching Paradise, I mean--when it's probably possible to absorb the victim's dumb directly thought your TV via osmosis, I find it helps to taunt the victims right along with the unsub. Heartless and cruel? Perhaps. But it might just save you a few brain cells if you heed my advice.
There were issues with the episode, sure. Were there a lot of cliches? Yes, but not everyone dislikes them. I generally find them pretty amusing. Then the fighting couple tried my patience at times, but there's nothing more classic than victims being stupid, is there? (Walking down dark hallways and calling out 'who's there?' while armed with only a flashlight, anyone?) I also thought Wil Wheaton, who played our unsub of the week, was mediocre at best on the acting front, but he wasn't on screen enough to be a major issue for me.
The story was quite enjoyable on a whole, though, and the evolving profile was interesting to watch. And a little amusing at times. Honestly, how often to you get to hear underwear fetishes discussed in a serious nature on network TV? I was happy to, yet again, be swept away from the non-stop action; four episodes into the season now and we have an even split between action and profiling focuses. I'm waiting for the genre swings to end, even if it's been an fun ride overall.
So tell me what you think! Was Paradise heaven to watch, or did it drive you 'Psycho'? Give me your two cents!
I definitely enjoyed this week's episode! I agree that Wil Wheaton's acting was rather sub-par, though it was interesting to read his production blog about being on the show. (Did you know the guy who came in to rent a room was one of the Chicago Bears who was on the show just because he likes it?) Definitely it was great to see the team back in profilery mode instead of action-hero mode. I like action in moderation, but I enjoy watching the show most because of the intellectual prowess of all the team members.
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't read that! I was eager to get as many spoilers as possible for the premiere, as it had been so long since the finale, but now I try not to spoil myself. I like to have no idea what I'm about to watch when it comes on. :) I'll have to check it out now!
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I'm hoping the show continues in the thinky vein. It's what made me (and I'm sure other people) come to love the show as much as I do now. I don't think we get to see very much of the individual team members strengths sometimes, when the pace is so fast!
Thanks!
Ah, taunting saves brain cells....I will keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteI loved this episode! It had all the fun and nail-biting horror of a good scary movie plus the profiling and humor of our pals at the BAU.
I liked seeing Wil Wheaton. His face seemed so round...maybe it was the beard. But I knew he was the unsub the way he mentioned his "wife." There's a reason this guy only kills couples... he's got wife issues.
Anyway, when he got hit by the truck in the end I yelled out “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and then when they showed his blood spilling onto the road I let out a “Ewwwyeah!”
A couple great lines:
“You’ve got a list?” “You don’t?”
Garcia calls the team her “fine furry friends” and Hotch, without skipping a beat, says “Remind me to have her drug tested” while still concentrating on whatever he was looking at.
I'm glad other people saw the fun horror movie aspects too. I heard some complaints about cliches, but sometimes things are cliche for a reason--because it works (or is otherwise amusing). And yes, I LOVE the combo of thinkiness and funny!
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I got tired of the semi truck thing, but I really am afraid of them, so maybe that's it, for me anyway. I suppose it was fitting justice! I honestly just kept thinking something was going to happen to Hotch and Morgan as they chased the guy; booby traps maybe. I realized, after the fact, that it wouldn't have fit with the unsub's MO, but it was all I could think that whole chase! Really, I was almost hoping Morgan would do something to help ease the rift between him and Hotch from the premiere, even if I'm not sure what he could have done. Sadly, I think the writers seem to be simply dropping that thread.
Hotch, without skipping a beat, says “Remind me to have her drug tested”
Possibly the best line of the entire episode! Yes! Completely deadpanned too. Oh, I love Hotch's sense of humor! I was also a big fan of Garcia's regrouping and looking at pictures of baby pandas line. :)