Criminal Minds - Recap and Review - A Shade of Gray

Criminal Minds
A Shade of Gray

Original Air Date: Apr 22, 2009

JD - Associate Staff Writer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

The first thing I thought when this week's episode ended was how much I'm going to miss Deb Fisher next season. A Shade of Gray kept me hooked for the full hour as the BAU investigates a series of child abductions and murders. I have to admit, I thought the beginning bordered on giving away too much--though I'll readily admit it's probably because I've watched the show way too much (impossible!) and noticed body language most people who aren't as in love with the show (read: obsessive) might miss--but then it swept me away from my conclusions so fast that I totally forgot until the show brought me back to them. Good job, show. Good job.

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[photo: cbs]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Conflicted

Criminal Minds
Conflicted

Original Air Date: Apr 8, 2009

JD - Associate Staff Writer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

This week, it's time for spring break! Bikinis and beach, along with asphyxiation and molestation. Party time!

Rick Dunkle wrote this one. It's his first episode with the show as a writer, and it's a pretty good first episode. Oh yeah, and Professor Rothschild from this season's Masterpiece was directing... I mean George Costanza... er... Jason Alexander. You know what I mean.

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[photo: cbs]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - House on Fire

Criminal Minds
House on Fire

Original Air Date: Mar 25, 2009

JD - Associate Staff Writer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

We're just going to ignore the way I've had the Talking Heads' 'Burning Down The House' and 'Love--Building on Fire' stuck in my head for a few days now and jump right in here, shall we?

People trapped in a burning building. This is normally a surefire way to make me cringe at my television. I was sort of surprised that this episode didn't induce that reaction. As I watched it, I had thought it was a pretty solid episode, but the longer I let it sit around in my head, the less and less I like it. In fact, I could barely remember many of the details of the episode when I sat down to write this, and that is never a good sign. This is the second Criminal Minds episode written by Holly Harold, a new writer to the show this season, and the second mediocre offering she's given us (the first was the less than Stellar Brothers in Arms earlier this year). Can we have a three strikes and you're out rule?

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[Photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Pleasure Is My Business

Criminal Minds
Pleasure Is My Business

Original Air Date: Feb 25, 2009

JD - Associate Staff Writer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

I love my show.

I'll say it again, I love my show. After what I think was a somewhat spotty start to season four, the show is reminding me all over again why I love it with the last four episodes. Pleasure Is My Business is another strong one, with a lot of fantastic Hotchiness (it's a word!). You can't see me, but believe that I am doing a happy dance at my desk right now. I love my show.

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[photo: cbs.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Zoe's Reprise

Criminal Minds
Zoe's Reprise

Original Air Date: Feb 18, 2009

JD - Associate Staff Writer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Almost nothing could have made the part of my heart devoted to this show happier than being told there was going to be a Rossi-centric episode coming up.  Okay, almost nothing, because I am also pretty stoked about this upcoming Hotch-centric episode I keep hearing about.  But I digress.  Back to Rossi.  I was even happier about this episode being a Rossi episode after I watched it.  All the character work here, even outside of Rossi's, was so well handled. 

But Rossi's books!  Rossi's fame!  And best of all, Rossi's kindness and generosity, and how he still doesn't know the right way to show those things sometimes!  Oh yes, I am a very happy Rossi fan right now.

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[photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Cold Comfort

Criminal Minds
Cold 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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[Photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Bloodline

Criminal Minds
Bloodline

Original Air Date: Jan 21, 2009

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

If you've been reading my reviews over this past season, I think you might notice a bit of a pattern: in my opinion, this season's episodes have been hit or miss. My reviews have been reading a bit like 'Pass. Fail. Rockin'! Pass. Fail. Pass. Rockin'!'... which is a shame because I've not seen a season of this show yet that I've felt so ambivalent about as this one, in spite of much preferring Rossi episodes to Gideon ones. However, I am very happy to report this week that I believe I have a new favorite episode of the season! This one actually comes from a brand new writer to the show, too, Mark Linehan Bruner. I think they need to keep this guy around. Something's been lacking this season, and Bruner brought it.

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[photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Soul Mates

Criminal Minds
Soul Mates

Original Air Date: Jan 14th, 2009

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Well, it's a brand new year, and that means new Criminal Minds! After one long month without my team, after arms full of gifts and gorging on too many sweets, they are back, and I wish I could say better than ever. What I have to say instead, though, is that after so long without an episode, I wish they would have come back with one a little punchier than this. This is the sort of episode that works well as a breather between bigger, more explosive episodes. Soul Mates was slow, and while slow is not always bad (and I should say, there was nothing bad about this episode necessarily), it's not the sort of thing to get one excited for the rest of the season to come.

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[photo: CBS]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - "Brothers in Arms"

Criminal Minds
Brothers in Arms

Original Air Date: 10 Dec 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Well, they can't all be winners. Brothers in Arms was a perfectly fine episode, but it seriously lacked something. I honestly haven't quite put my finger on what yet, so I'd love to hear your opinions. I've heard people say it was rushed, that it was predictable, and that the ending was trite. I would agree with every single one of those points. It had its moments, but not enough of them to redeem a tired story. So! Here we go! Watch as I skillfully attempt to spice up a recap of this one. Will I do it? Place your bets now.

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[photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - 52 Pickup

Criminal Minds
52 Pickup

Original Air Date: 26 Nov 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com


Oh, it's a story told throughout the ages: Girl goes to bar. Girl meets boy wearing a fedora. Mister Casablanca flirts.Girl has a few too many drinks. Girl takes boy home... Boy guts girl and makes her clean up her own blood as she dies a slow painful death. Very, very romantic. This is the kind of guy you want to call the next day, if it weren't for that you'd be dead. This felt-capped fellow is, apparently, a little more Freddie Kreuger than Indiana Jones.

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[photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Masterpiece

Criminal Minds
Masterpiece

Original Air Date: Nov 19th, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com


Sometimes I think the people at Criminal Minds like to try to shock us with their casting choices for unsubs. We've had James Van Der Beek (who was so surprisingly good, I had to question my entire existence), Frankie Muniz, Luke Perry... and now they've given us Jason Alexander as Professor Rothschild. I was skeptical. But after watching Masterpiece, the question must be asked... Who ever knew George Costanza was such a creep?!

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[photo: Vivian Zink/ABC Studios]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Memoriam

Criminal Minds
Memoriam

Original Air Date: November 12th, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

What I learned from this week's episode of Criminal Minds: Spencer Reid is an angry, vindictive young man. Okay, that might be just a slight exaggeration. Regardless, a lot of fans have been wanting to see Reid reunited with his father (played by Taylor Nichols) since Mandy Patinkin's abrupt departure from the show after season two, which rehashed all of Reid's 'daddy issues', and those fans finally got their day. Unfortunately for them, they didn't exactly get the 'time heals all wounds' vibe they were probably hoping for, but that's life... Or at least that's life being relatively realistically played out on television.

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[photo: CBS.com]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - The Instincts

Criminal Minds
The Instincts

Original Air Date: November 5th, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

In the wake of historic election highs, at least Criminal Minds was there to kill children and bring us back down again. We wouldn't want to start believing the United States has changed that much and become all rainbows, butterflies, and brotherly love, would we? Now, while I try to avoid spoilers like the plague, I had heard already that we were getting yet another 'let's torture Reid' episode this season. A two parter, actually, and here it finally was.

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[photo: Vivian Zink/ABC Studios]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Catching Out

Criminal Minds
Catching Out

Original Air Date: Oct 29th, 2008


JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Five things to take away from Catching Out:

1. Sometimes--just sometimes--Morgan is made of fail in the flirting department.
2. JJ is one of those annoying 'touch my belly even if you don't want to' pregnant women.

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[photo: CBS]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Paradise

Criminal Minds
Paradise

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]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Minimal Loss

Criminal Minds
Minimal Loss

Original Air Date: October 8th, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Oh, how I hate to admit it, but every once in a while, my favorite show on television leaves me with a reaction that can be summed up in one word: Meh. It almost pains me to say that Minimal Loss was one of those episodes. Andrew Wilder, you wrote us so many great episodes: Elephant's Memory, Lucky, North Mammon, L.D.S.K.. What happened? I have to wonder what kind of hacking occurred between script and screen. Was it in the editing? I wish I knew. The only plus in this episode for me was the focus on Rossi. They actually touched on his past with Waco and Ruby Ridge, and let him use his experience and strength as a negotiator, which is an honor that usually goes to Hotch. It was a bright spot in an otherwise 'Mind'less episode.

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[photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - The Angel Maker

Criminal Minds
The Angel Maker

Original Air Date: October 1st, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

All is right in the world again. My one disappointment from last week's premiere is resolved--the BAU team is back to their profiling and getting in the killer's heads again. No one is getting blown up, and it's a return to the standard format for us. We can all unwind, relax, and sit back to watch some good old fashioned serial murder the way serial murder is supposed to be done. Of course, with every change for the good, there is always change for the bad. Reid has started combing his hair again, sadly, and gone back to the (almost) Boy's Regular, pre-drugged-out cut. It makes this reviewer a mite sad, but I suppose I can't have everything, can I? And as that goes, it's a change I can learn to live with.

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[photo: Eric McCandless/ABC Studios]

Criminal Minds - Recap & Review - Mayhem

Criminal Minds
Mayhem

Original Airdate: September 24, 2008

JD - TwoCents Reviewer
JD@thetwocentscorp.com

Four long months we've waited since Lo-fi aired in May to find out who--who?!--was in that SUV that went kaboom at the end of the season finale. It really has felt like an insufferable length of time to wait and see if I was losing one of my beloved BAU team members. Would the victim of the bomb be killed or just injured? Over the last few weeks promo pictures and previews went out, and I greedily snapped up all I could find, while at the same time wondering: will Mayhem live up to its name? There was no doubt it would start with a bang, but would it deliver all the way through?

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[photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS]