TVSquad

(S02E13) Once again, due to an outrageous amount of business trips, I'm playing catch up with my TV viewing. I finally got around to seeing last week's episode of Criminal Minds and I had forgotten how much I missed this show. I had been looking forward to this episode too, especially since it had been bumped from the previous week because of President Bush's address to the nation.

It was a decent episode and for the most part, it's the type of story that I've come to expect from Criminal Minds. That's a good thing though, because with the types of cases this show tackles, you never know what to expect. Who knows what's in store for the post Super Bowl episode.

First off, I loved the story-telling technique used. Backtracking to set the stage before jumping to real-time for the final ten minutes was a nice touch. I realize this is nothing new or revolutionary in terms of telling a story (Alias used to do it all the time), but it worked really well here.

Additionally, Keith Carradine was fantastic as serial-killer extraordinaire Frank. It seems like we now have our second recurring character on our hands now too. The Fisher King has come and gone, but Frank? He'll be back. If you picked up on it, you knew he was going to get away early on during his conversation with Gideon. Frank did a little profiling of his own and pegged Gideon as a man obsessed with the hunt. It's true, and now that Frank is on the run with his love(?) Jane, something tells me this will be a story that pops up for the rest of the season. Perhaps the season finale?

The one thing that bugged me was the cheesiness of the small Arizona town that the whole episode took place in. It just felt very clichéd. Right down to the quirky townsfolk, the bumbling sheriff (at least she was a woman and not some obese guy stuffing doughnuts in his mouth), and the quaint old-fashioned diner. Of course, now that I'm criticizing this, I'm not exactly sure what would have been a better choice.

To finish, some quotes that caught my ear...

Gideon (to Frank, angrier than we've ever seen him): "Do not play me."

Frank (holding up a duffel bag to Gideon, in his best "I'm crazy" voice): "But you know what's an even more interesting question? What's the psychopath got in the bag, Jason?"