Finally, a long-term case on Criminal Minds

It’s nice when we reconnect with old friends, right? It felt really great to sit back down with our Criminal Minds BAU once again last night. I mean, the psycho-of-the-week was no walk in the park, but you catch my drift.

I had apparently totally forgotten that Hotch (Thomas Gibson) was standing at gunpoint as the last season closed. Like, I wrote my review piece last week and only talked about Hotch and his family. Woosh. But last May, Hotch was being held in his apartment at the mercy of the Boston Reaper, George Foyet (C. Thomas Howell). Season-ending cliffhangers aren’t on as steep a mountain as the writers may think when it involves the stars of a show, of course, but mea culpa nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the season opened mere hours after our team returned from Canada, also at the end of last season. On little sleep, they’re called in to find an unsub who’s vowed to kill one person per day until a trauma surgeon puts his own son in harms way.

At the very beginning of the episode, I thought it was all connected, and that the Reaper wanted the doctor, who I thought would turn out to be a plastic surgeon, to swap out his face for one of his victim’s. The Reaper would be using the son’s safety to force the doctor’s hand, because of the questionable nature of the procedure. Why would the Reaper be doing that? Well, he had just escaped from prison, so it was reasonable to assume that he was on the run.

Clearly I’ve been watching this show for too long, because there was no such connection. In fact, the only thing that really touched the two tales were the initials “LC” that the killer wrote by his victims, and that Prentiss (Paget Brewster) found written on Hotch’s hospital chart: “Living Children.” It was a little confusing, even with the explanation; the guy’s son didn’t have “LC” when he died … Dr. Barton (Christopher Cousins) does, were he to die, but isn’t the point of these crimes that the unsub is reliving some past experience? Which is what this entire case was, save for things like “LC.” Or maybe I’m reading too much into it … it just stood out because of how Reid made the connection that it was Barton, and not his son, who was the target.

Awesome episode for Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), though. First the moustache — that I had to get my glasses to see — and then saving Barton’s life AND shooting the unsub. But what was with “Go to X, I’m fine”? Reid, you just got shot in the leg; you may not be critical, but come on, man. You’re a lovable nerd, not a superhero. At best you’re a ’70s porn star….

I like watching these agents open and shut a case a week. Unlike on some other shows, it’s generally fitting that they put them to bed so quickly, and it rarely, if ever, feels rushed. However, that doesn’t mean that the occasional head-scratcher isn’t good for them. The fact that they not only brought back the Reaper, but that his tale is still yet to be closed, is a fantastic idea. He could spend the next nine seasons taunting Hotch from a far and it wouldn’t seem like overkill, or be farfetched. This is a guy who stayed under-the-radar for ten years before resurfacing.

This is also a story that will not only be great for the show, but for Hotch as well. I just hope the writers don’t feel pressure to close it because of the weight of Hotch’s personal life. If they do this right, this is the kind of undertone that could carry us through until the series’ finale. That was a really great idea.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 24, 2009 @ 10:15 EST5EDT