Last night’s episode of Criminal Minds was kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, I think we got in some good time with the team, and I really liked Detective Barton (Dean Norris). On the other hand … what was with that case?
I thought it was great for the guy’s own body art to be an instrumental clue. And talk about the ultimate sonogram keepsake — an invisible ink tattoo of the embryo in utero was cool in an extremely creepy sort of way. And I’m sure it was an exact replica of his baby in utero. I didn’t understand why he didn’t get a visible tattoo of it, but then I won’t suppose to try and get on the same page as the guy.
What I wish had been explained to us was the point of his serial killings. The women were all a part of some process, all a piece of one greater puzzle. But I have no idea what the point was. Unless I missed a whole segment of the episode, I’m not sure that we saw any profiling of the motivation behind the abductions and murders. The way the team tracked him was cool, but the BAU is supposed to analyze behavior. Where was that among everything else going on?
Was he just feeding his desire to rape? At first I thought that the women played some role in the fertility process, but then the abductions wouldn’t have continued past the point that the killer and his lady friend Juliet (Jolene Andersen) got pregnant. So what was it? And what about her being raped by her father as a child left Juliet susceptible to the charm of another rapist? The whole mentality behind the crimes was left as a big, fat question mark.
The labor twist was a freaky, insane, but very satisfying way to conclude that part of the story. I’m not clear on what was wrong with a boy (did Juliet say something about him hurting her before she curled up and died?), but then that’s just one more question in a long list of them. And if Juliet was, in fact, scared of a boy’s ability to harm her, doesn’t that mean that she understood that other men in her life were hurting her? So how’d she end up with that guy?
Just too many questions. While I’m thankful for that most times I finish an episode of this show, because it means that I don’t have the mentality of a psycho, the writers usually do a much better job of keeping us in the loop. Was this sloppiness, or is this a new direction the show’s going in — more crime-fighting, less getting inside people’s heads. I hope not, for many reasons aside from how that would leave Reid out in the cold.
One thought I had on the little bit of analysis that was done — Reid found where the killer had written the word “we” in his crazy journal, and deduced that he must have a partner. Really? The guy’s psycho, and “we” couldn’t have been the royal “we?” Or the inclusion of a voice in his head, or the person he was doing it all for in his own twisted way?
I mean, lucky for the victim that Reid was right, but I don’t see why it had to be so.
“Women worry about who has to clean up. Men don’t give a damn.” – Rossi, on why female suicides are neater than male ones
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on May 06, 2010 @ 10:30 EST5EDT
If I understood it right (no promises there) but the middle of the back tattoo was left blank as in the movie adaptation of the Asminov book Reid spoke about. The creepy tattoo artist who kept wanting to see the body said it was through that open space that the protagonist, or in this case the killer, could see the future.
They never said it, but I think Juliet was the epidermal artist.
I think she was the one who drew all of the pictures in the room.
Many abuse victims become involved with the same type of person as their abuser. Explains why she hooked up with him. What was they guys bane?
I also missed why having a boy was so awful, unless that was supposed to be her epiphany that she was involved with someone dangerous.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think you’re right, but what did seeing the future have to do with killing the women? :)
they did explain how they figured out he had a partner. during that scene with Reid and the “we” business they said something about the only reason he would have stopped killing and left all of that evidence there for the cops would have been to keep them from looking any further which would protect whoever he was working with.
and she said that she didn’t want a boy because a boy would hurt her. i guess her husband never hurt her because he was busy hurting all the women he kidnapped which would keep her from being afraid of him but still prove to her that men hurt women.
*POST AUTHOR*
Thanks! I understood the partner thing, but I just didn’t see where they delved into the psychosis behind the abductions/killings. Oh well.
I also feel like this episode should have been a 2-parter that they squeezed into 1. We’re left to assume a lot of stuff as well as why the women were so important to have them tattooed as well as why keeping them for a year. Were the abductions some kind of ritual for her to deliver a daughter?
I agree it seems CM has run out of psycho ideas and is moving towards “shock and action with no explanations”. I really hope this is not how it’s going to continue…
The show is called Criminal Minds and should stick to delving into the “why”. This story would have been better on another show where the audience doesn’t expect to know why the unsub did it.
Just two add-ons:
He had been caught and convicted as a rapist, hence his being in the same prison than Juliet’s father. They meet there, when she was visiting her father and her number of visits scalated until he was released. The BAU especulated that to avoid getting caught again, he kidnapped one woman and keep her and raped her until, presumibly, her body gave out and she was killed and replaced. By the reaction of the last victim, it’s not a strech to think that Juliet took part in the torture, at least in the psicologycal part of it.
Juliet had been raped by her father; her husband was a rapist and even if she was not her victim, the reminder was there; her son kills her.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think death was the best thing for Juliet. I can’t even imagine how poisoned she must have been by her father’s abuse to have been able to take part in the rape and torture of other women.
i would love to know the brand and color of Garcia’s lipstick.
*POST AUTHOR*
Entertainment Weekly actually has this thing now called “Style Hunter,” where you can ask them how to get things you’ve seen on TV or in a movie. Got to EW.com, or e-mail stylehunter@ew.com with your question (include details). Good luck! :)