TVSquad

While I agree with you that this series is hitting its stride, there were a few things that bothered me:

1. The local cops were rather two-dimensional, despite good casting

2. Morgan's family should have played a larger role, but that's just me

3. I find it hard to accept that Morgan went through what he did as a young boy because Shemar Moore has played the character to day as very self-assured and well-adjusted, as if the backstory only just occurred to the writers for this episode. That being said, Shemar's performance was outstanding.

4. Still not enough AJ Cook. She's cute, Canadian and I've been waiting for her to get some screen time on something that wasn't complete crap since Higher Ground.

Reply

Hotch did profile Morgan while Gideon profiled the case, but it really took both views to reach the end conclusion. One of more human the other more businesslike but both ways of working have their benefits and detractions.

Reply

Excellent episode, great performance and fitting in these days of so much sexual abuse. It shows how it can happen to anyone. I love this program and find I cant wait until Wednesday night. Everyone of the team are different personalities and offers intrigue. Best on CBS besides NCIS.

Reply

The only problem I had was that the actress playing Morgan's mother looked too young. I was confused at first, thinking she was a sister, and that the Mom was dead (hence the grave). Other than that, this was a great episode, and Shemar Moore really shown. It would be nice to see him nominated at Emmy time. PS - for Prentiss' hatred of politians, she certainly showed that she learned a thing or too from her parents about smoothing over a possibly explosive situation between Reid and Morgan's family.

Reply

I agree - Criminal Minds is so much better than the other cop dramas on TV. Instead of picking apart evidence, they pick apart the brains of the most evil in our society. That is WAY more interesting to me!

My one nitpick about this episode was Gordinsky - he wasn't just incompetent, he was like a bad, buffoonish caricature of a gruff, old school cop. I thought that the other local cop - sorry, no idea what his name is - would have been better in the Gordinsky role. Maybe they accidentally got their scripts switched!

Reply

Hey, I like the show too and agree with some of your comments but please edit for prose suitable to Gideon & the gang.

1) "hitting it's stride" [not it's = it is, its]

2) "incredibly unique" [either something is unique = one of a kind, or it ain't]

Reply

I thought that last night's episode was -great-. First off, I am a huge Skipp Sudduth fan (he was the incompetent baffoonish cop), from back in his days on Third Watch. It was great to see him on screen again and to see him reunited with Ed Bernero, who was Third Watch's creater.

The ONLY thing that bothered me about the episode was how neat it was tied up in the end. I felt like a vital scene was cut or something - where was Gordinsky's change of heart? It just sort of ... happened - which I don't know if I believed.

Reply

This was a great episode. Shemar is so good looking and a great actor. Interesting that he just started profiling the murders versus wondering how he was going to get out of jail. Confidence to the max.

I am wondering, though, about his mother. On my TV, his mother looked white. I waited for the story that he had been a foster kid or something. Obviously, she was turned out to be his "birth" mother; guess my coloring is off on my TV.

The thing I particularly liked about this episode was Derek telling the boy that it's a person's heart and mind that make their life a success. Kinda had me thinking on the Chris Gardner story coming out tomorrow with Will Smith. A good positive message for people.

As an aside, no one needs an english composition class when writing about TV.

Reply

I'm going to stick up for Gordinsky a bit. He is proof positive of the old saying that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." His little bit of knowledge is the fairly bare bones profile of the killer that Gideon provided him with. He then took that knowledge and applied it the wrong way. He looked at the case and saw Morgan as the "obvious" suspect. Admittedly it was based on his personal biases against Derek as a "troublemaker" but it fits the profile. Or rather he made it fit the profile. At the same time Gordinsky doesn't consider the actual killer to be a suspect because who really considers his friend to be a possible serial killer? The man was quite literally the pillar of his community, someone who did his best to keep the local boys from turning into the local gangbanger. Gordinsky may have been totally wrong but I'm not sure that calling him incompetent is entirely valid either.

Reply

There wasn't anything odd about the fact that his on-screen mother was white. It is the same as Shemar Moore's real-life situation--black father/white mother.

Reply

I liked the fact that they didn't explain the white mother. Shows that assume the viewers are intelligent are always more intriguing. On the comedic level, Fraser did the same. Viewers are more savvy than writers give us credit for.

Reply

Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that Morgan, after becoming an FBI agent, never did anything about the guy who molested him? From the story, sounds like more than a few kids had been molested since he was. You could argue that the kid he helped was molested because of his inaction.

Hey Prof, there's a link for corrections on the bottom right side of the screen - use it instead of the comments. BTW, Brent KcKee, when you write for a living you really should get it right the first time. Even though you made no errors here your attitude bothered me.

Reply

The show dealt with that pretty well. He said he was trying to let the guy keep being a hero...I think its also true that a male victim of sexual abuse has a much more difficult time bringing that out into the light than wome would. Call it male pride... but he was trying to move on with his life. I felt it was believable.

Reply

Can someone give me a brief recap. I can not find it anywhere. Our crappy DVR failed and lost the last 15 minutes. Thanks! I gathered the youth center leader did it, but why? Did they give any reasoning, etc. The DVR stopped when the youth center guy was in the police station stating how he regretted having Morgan's record expunged. THANKS:)

Reply

They didn't really explain why the youth center guy (Carl Buford) killed the 1st two victims - the 3rd boy (Damien) was probably because Damien knew about the abuse and told the boy (forgot his name) to contact Morgan and tell him. Or at least that's what Morgan pieced together. Maybe the 1st two victims resisted Buford's molestation and he killed them? It wasn't clear...

I also thought that the grave Morgan was visiting was his mother's (based on Reid's comment that Morgan always goes to Chicago for his mother's birthday) and then was surprised to see that his mom was white. Also thought it might be a foster parent situation but then I just figured that maybe his father was black, mother was white.

Reply

Who was the lady that played Derek Morgan's mother? I think I remember her from a soap opera. Can't find the information.

Reply

Yvonne (#17)
Morgan's mother was played by Kerrie Keane. She's been in a lot of stuff, including on 90210 for a stint, that may be where you are remembering her from.

Reply