Criminal MindsCold Comfort
Original Air Date: Feb 11, 2009
JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com
Criminal Minds made us wait again for a new morsel of show, but unlike last time they left us for a while, only to come back with the mediocre Soul Mates, this time they gave us a good solid episode to come back on. It was full of hocus pocus, ick factor, and Rossi being stubborn, the last of which is one of my personal favorite ingredients in any episode. Oh yeah, and JJ is back. I may have never been one to sing JJ's praises before, but after Todd, I could kiss her and her miraculously already-gone baby belly. Ah, Hollywood.
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Criminal Minds made us wait again for a new morsel of show, but unlike last time they left us for a while, only to come back with the mediocre Soul Mates, this time they gave us a good solid episode. It was full of hocus pocus, ick factor, and Rossi being stubborn, the last of which is one of my personal favorite ingredients in any episode. Oh yeah, and JJ is back. I may have never been one to sing JJ's praises before, but after Todd, I could kiss her and her miraculously already-gone baby belly. Ah, Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteThis show starts on a rainy day in Olympia, Washington, where the local detective of the episode is brooding over the photos of a group of girls, one of them recently marked deceased. He's interrupted by the mother of one of the girls, Brooke Lombardini, wanting to speak with him. She wants a favor: she wants her daughters necklace returned to her out of evidence. Why? Well, she's going to bring it to a psychic, that's why! 'He says it can tell him things'. Of course. And lo and behold, it does! The psychic, after caressing the necklace oh so sweetly, opens his eyes, gives Mrs. Lombardini a foreboding look... And then we cut away to Garcia's cleavage!
Okay, seriously? No one can tell me with a straight face that they meant for us to actually be focusing on the newspaper in her hands with that shot.
Moving on, Garcia takes to reading Kevin (Eep! I'm always so happy to see him, even briefly!) and Prentiss' horoscopes out loud--much to the chagrin of Prentiss, who displays her displeasure quite nicely--and then JJ is dragging them all off to the conference room for a new case. Oh yeah, and she's wearing a new ring, a citrine for Henry's birth. Will has one too. Really, Will? Seriously? Man, JJ totally has that guy by the... heartstrings.
Anyway, there's been a string of abductions in Olympia going back nine months, all blonde, blue-eyed girls in their early twenties. Just that morning, the first girl was found when the rain caused a mudslide in a hiking area of a local state park. She had been embalmed, so there's no way to know how long she's been dead or how long she'd been buried. And since the victims were taken three months apart, if the unsub is 'rotating his victims out' as Reid puts it, there are more bodies in that park.
And so, the team finds themselves in Olympia, after some discussion on the plane, during which we find out Prentiss wants to be cremated after she dies and the team comes up with a theory that the unsub is embalming the girls because he wants to hold on to his victims after their death. That may seem icky, but this episode hasn't even gotten started yet.
Morgan and Reid head straight for the state park to investigate the scene where the body was found. A hiker found the girl's foot poking out through the mud. Morgan and Reid do their own poking about through the mud, when a new body is conveniently found while they're there, and discover that the unsub cares for the girls he's killing. I think he's got a strange way of showing it, but I never question the team's resident genius anymore. When he's sober, he's almost always right.
Meanwhile Hotch and Prentiss are off with the detective at the latest abduction site. They determine the unsub must have money based on the places he frequents, and then discover that the detective gave the necklace they recovered at the scene back to the mother to take to a psychic by the name of Usher. Watch as Hotch and Prentiss do their best not so blurt, "Are you kidding me?" Instead, Hotch asks what Usher told her, and we're swept back to the local PD where the mother in holding a press conference on television, saying she knows her daughter is still alive.
Cue Rossi digging his heels in. Cue Rossi vs. JJ. Cue Rossi vs. Usher. Cue Morgan and Reid discovering the unsub is cutting the victims' hair, piercing their ears, and sexually assaulting them after they're dead. The whole thing just gets more complicated from there.
Reid tells us later that sixty percent of all necrophiliacs work in the death industry. I told you it got more icky, didn't I? I'm now officially in the cremation camp with Prentiss.
Overall, I have to say I agree with Rossi's opinions in this episode, but I hated to see the way he handled himself here. Rossi is a man who is sometimes too stubborn for his own good. I was at first impressed by the way he seemed to be upset because he cared about the victim's mother, talking to the psychic about him not being what she needed, but as the episode progressed, I realized that was not it at all, and I just kept thinking "why?" Even JJ echoed that sentiment in the scene in which they listened to the 911 recording. What did you guys think?
I have to admit I was hoping for some sort of alpha male struggle between Rossi and Usher, but I can't have everything, can I?
It was great to see JJ back, and interesting to watch the play on her maternal instincts, even if I thought the angle was a bit stale. We've seen that done before, even just earlier this season when JJ was pregnant. I liked the way it played off Rossi here, though, and it was good to see her stand up to him, in a sense. She was the only one on the team that really did this time around.
It was a good solid episode to come back with and definitely in my top few episodes of the season so far! And necrophilia is always fun, yes? Okay, maybe not. And after the guy Prentiss interviewed, I may never open a beer without shuddering again... and then laughing. Is it possible to watch this show and not have a dark sense of humor?
So what did you guys think of Cold Comfort? Did you love it? Hate it? Do you think the title of the episode seems extra creepy now that you've seen it? Because I do.
Give me your two cents!
I enjoyed it but I kinda wish TV would leave psychic eps alone. They don't commit one way or the other with real or fraud perspective and I get tired of the fence sitting. I did really, really like the end quote about "For non-believers, no proof is possible", though, that was a very neat touch.
ReplyDeleteRossi I wanted to slap, really hard. He's supposed to be a pro and have an open mind - something Hotch reminded him of. He tells JJ to keep it professional in the work place but he sure as hell didn't; his handling of the month after hearing the tape was APPALLING. (And btw, did that get explained? How the phone call happened?)
But overall it was a good solid ep and yes, I did squee to see Kevin and Garcia together. They're so cute!
Ack, "month"="mother"!!
ReplyDeleteI loved this episode. "Bloodlines" is still my favorite of the season, but I thought this was a very strong episode, and it was an unflinching look at necrophilia, which is a definite trend in serial killers. I couldn't believe the way Reid didn't realize what the ME was talking about at first, though...
ReplyDeleteRossi I actually quite liked in this episode. Partly because he is a big character, and when he is flawed, he is flawed in big ways. Usually he's good with victims, but he was so set against the psychic that he screwed up with the mother. That said, I saw him as being emblematic of the entire difficult relationship the FBI has had with psychics, from the attempted assassination of President Reagan to the Atlanta Olympics bombing. He put a human face on the other side of psychics.
Because whether or not you believe there are real psychics out there, it's hard to believe that some of them aren't just, like serial killers, just good profilers who are out to con people.
Mitchy -
ReplyDeleteI do sort of agree on the fence sitting when it comes to this. Before Hotch pulled away the tarp, I was happy with JJ just being wrong, but it was a little wishy washy when they went 'oooh, let's make this open ended!' I agree with you on the quote, though. It struck me when I first heard it. So fitting, and SO very true!
Regarding Rossi being unprofessional, I agree. However, I think HE thought he WAS being professional. Like I said in my R&R I know he had personal issues that were motivating him more than other things, but the more and more I think about it, I still think there had to be care for the mother there, no matter how terribly he showed it. He has issues with psychics because he's seem people mislead before. And like Carfinel says, he is flawed, and sometimes flawed in a big way, and it's just who he is. Then again, I am, generally speaking, and staunch Rossi fangirl, so I'm probably biased. :)
As far as the phone call, I was thinking about that too. That was totally just a plot device to give Rossi his big 'look what a big jerk I can be' moment of the show. :) That plot thread went absolutely nowhere after that scene.
Kevin: "Confidence; I like that!" He's just too sweet and perfect for her.
Carfinel -
ReplyDeleteYES! Bloodlines is still my favorite of the season so far. And yes to Reid too. Consensual? For a genius, that wasn't very smart. And here I just said he's almost always right when he's sober, and you bring up that! My theory, it is ruined. ;)
I won't say I wasn't unhappy with Rossi's behavior, but I can still love him anyway, and I do understand him. He is who he is--and you're right, he is flawed--and he doesn't pretend to be otherwise. He's not like Gideon, who everyone made excuses for and who hid his flaws under the praises of 'best in his field'. But I should stop here before I start going on and on about Gideon vs. Rossi. (That's one I'd like to see, actually! ;))
He put a human face on the other side of psychics.
It was a very nice touch to see JJ play the other side of that coin, too. :)
Yeah, while I agree that the 'maternal instinct' angle is getting a little stale, I thought JJ's being pulled into wanting to believe the psychic made the storyline more interesting, and the reason they gave for it made sense.
ReplyDeleteReid is ALMOST always right when sober...and when he isn't right, it's usually regarding romance/sex. I think your theory still works. ;)
Oh, thanks! And in a twisted sort of way, this was about sex.
ReplyDeleteUrgh.
I agree about JJ. I also don't think I would have bought the 'maybe the psychic is right about some things' routine from any other team member but JJ.
Well, maybe Garcia, but poor thing is trapped in her bunker all the time.
I thought this episode was pretty good. Absolutely LOVED Prentiss flipping Garcia off, and it's funny watching how twitchy her eye gets during her horoscope. "Crack open a cold one" is, sadly, sort of funny, and Cybill was great as a cold mother. I also thought the unsub story was a little saddening, though I could've done without the slow-mo capture. And ooh, Harmony can act!
ReplyDeleteAkanksha -
ReplyDeletePrentiss in the mornings pre-coffee is a little like me before I am pre-coffee in the mornings. ;) I had to love that entire scene.
I don't really read spoilers, unless people just tell me I have to know something, so I didn't expect Cybill! She was very good, and that whole family situation was icy. I loved the shot of them staring out the window after Hotch gets the location where the unsub is from the father. They're just sitting there, but the distance between them and the silence spoke volumes. Really wonderfully done without even any dialogue.
Nicce post thanks for sharing
ReplyDelete