(S02E21) "Only one thing you run that hard for. Your life." -Gideon
It's been a few weeks since we had a new episode of Criminal Minds, but when I first saw the preview for this installment I have to admit - the plot sounded a lot like something out of a cheesy b-movie. People... hunting people [insert sinister laughter].
However, this being one of the better hours on TV right now (and using this episode as proof), I'm fairly convinced that the writers and producers behind Criminal Minds can make even the most ridiculous ideas into something compelling.
Two brothers, a dead crazy uncle, and a whole lot of arrows. Not exactly a recipe for fun. People are disappearing, their cars go missing too, and 72 hours later they turn up in the Boise National Forest with an arrow in their chest. So of course Gideon and the BAU team get called in only to discover that the boys' crazy uncle had been hunting his fellow man since the early Eighties and his nephews had just been continuing with the family heritage since crazy uncle's death.
At times it was definitely a little corny, but it picked up once their latest victim Bobbi Baird (nice turn from Dirt's Laura Allen) decided to fight back. She went from being timid to some kind of jungle commando. From wielding a hunting knife with the gusto of Steven Seagal to jumping out of trees, she pulled a complete 180°. In the end, the boys ended up dying at their own game. Ready for the canned line? OK, here it comes -- the hunters became the hunted. That's right.
I jest, but it really was a solid episode punctuated by some very good scenes. The opening at the bar with JJ, Garcia, and Prentiss messing around the guy pretending to be an FBI agent was hilarious and I especially liked the later scene where JJ walked the local sheriff through the process of informing someone they've lost a loved one. There wasn't much emphasis on Reid, so I get the impression that the story of his drug issues is officially behind us. But then again, you never know with this show. Considering everything, I'm going to give this episode a 5 out of 7.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-03-2007 @ 11:54AM
Flutesong said...
I agree with your review. You just knew the women were going to tear a strip off the guy in the bar, once he said he was an agent. I liked the whole girl's night out thing and that when they have a moment they do socialize with each other.
At first I thought the hunting thing was going to be horribly trite, Deliverence in Idaho. But when Bobbi got captured, the energy changed, and I was rooting for her.
While I appreciated JJ's instructions to the sheriff, I had to suspend a lot of disbelief that he could get to that position and not have been trained on how to handle victim's families. But, it and JJ were nice and showed all the humanity the brothers didn't have.
This was really an ensemble episode with only a tiny touch of the "special" attention on Prentiss, otheriwise they were all a team with no extra drama. Morgan and Prentiss seem to be approaching the same easy give and take like he had with Elle.
No druggy angst for Reid, and when they showed the bodies in the woods, he wasn't having flashbacks. So. I think he is okay, maybe a bit older and wiser kind of okay.
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5-03-2007 @ 11:54AM
Jack said...
This was a gory episode, but good. "Hillbillies hunting humans" has been done many times before, but it's a classic, like an urban legend. And I love the reveal that it's been going on for decades. That too has been done, many, many times before, but it still gives me chills.
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5-03-2007 @ 11:54AM
Eliza Piston said...
I actually live in Spokane so it was nice to hear my city named so many times. You forgot to mention how cute the interaction between Garcia and Hotch was adorable. Hotch sleeping was also just to cute.
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5-03-2007 @ 1:13PM
mir said...
Since this was a new episode of Criminal Minds, I had to watch. I've always loved this show, maybe because I try to think like the BAU charaters do! In any case, this was a great episode. The theme reminded me a lot of a song I totally love a song called "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd from the Dark Side of the Moon album. I only recently got back into PF because Rolling Stone did a great article about this band.
Anyway, I think the writers of this episode may have been influenced by the article themselves. At the very end of the show, an agent talked about this "Us and Them" kind of mentality. She mentioned how the victim turned victor asked her "how could people think like this?"
She went on to point out that she, in her capacity on the BAU team, has to think exactly like the dead hunters did. Of course, she must think like them in order to figure out how to catch them. This is absolutely like the lyrics for "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd. For a real treat, check out the song and the lyrics and you'll understand.
In any case, Criminal Minds, is one of my favorite shows and this episode is a must see for those who think deeply! So much for my two cents worth...
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5-03-2007 @ 9:19PM
Rodeo Drivel. said...
Gag.
Gideon gently caressing the psycho killer's cheek as the mortally wounded monster began his slow decent into Hell. Give me a break.
And then, on the plane, the claptrap about "are we really any different from the people we hunt?". Well, YES, and the writers are morons for suggesting that such a question would even warrant asking.
Geesh.
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5-06-2007 @ 3:09PM
Dan Chichian said...
I enjoyed the ep but I really could have done without the hanging the bodies in trees a-la deer hunters scene!
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5-06-2007 @ 3:09PM
Marie McNally said...
I agree with the blogs so far. Excellent show but I too was bothered by Gideon caressing the cheek of one of the hunters. Why?? Any way. Does anyone know the song that played at the end of the scene when the 2 hunters had died and the BAU team was standing around still in the park? Something about being hunted by monsters?
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5-06-2007 @ 3:10PM
marirealestate#netscape.net said...
Excellent episode....interesting the two young nephews hunting humans, a little corny, but interesting. reid did not do much in this episode, i would have though they would of played the drug thing here in the woods but they did not so i am assuming the whole reid and drugs thing is gone. the victim fighting back was a good touch. What was up with Gideon and all that compassion and stroking the cheeck of this monster.....?...? What do u think???
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5-07-2007 @ 4:23AM
K8Sailor said...
Re: 'The Caress'
The point being that human monsters are made not born.
This is the whole nature versus nurture debate in psychological circles for the past umpty-ump years.
The answer will most likely prove to be both - once in a rare while a true human monster is born, but by far the vast majority are made. The human psyche is complex and nothing in life is strictly black or white.
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5-13-2007 @ 9:04AM
Gary Jenkins said...
I thought the episode was very good and wondered if anyone might know what was the name of the song they played as the younger killer was dying? It was a slow song almost a lament.
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