Criminal Minds: 100

[grav_ity]

I wish I could accurately convey how I feel about this show (and assume I am about to feel about this episode).

The first time I ran into this feeling was when I read our own sharim's fic "Broken". This was a while ago, but the intervening time has not provided me with the words. But let it be known that when I say things like "That was horrible" or "It made me want to vomit" I don't mean it in the bad way. But it's not really good either. It just...moves me. Which is why I cannot listen to "One of These Mornings" (thank you Jack from Without a Trace), among other things.

And that is how I feel about Criminal Minds. I am about to be moved.

+++

Before I dive into the episode, I would like to mention something I thought of this morning. The Reaper is about Power. First it was power over those he killed, but that only lasted until the ninth victim. After that, it became all about power over the police/FBI. And everyone remembers Hotch...but I would like to remind you all that the only reason Derek Morgan is alive is because he was unconscious. And look at who is leading the team.

If Hotch did that on purpose I will freaking die.

+++

Okay, that was possibly the best opening sequence this show has ever made. It passes Fire and Enya, which to this point had been my favourite. I just...loved how it was us, how we saw the team as they were, waving us in, puking in the yard or offering comfort if they could. And we don't know who we are (we're supposed to think we're Hotch) and we don't know where we are (we're supposed to think it's Hailey's house), and they don't show us enough to make the tension ridiculous...well done, show! I hope the rest of it is this good.

You know why I love Episode 100? EVERYONE GETS TO PLAY! *hearts Will and not!Xander*

*cues freaking death*

I think I am going to have to watch this episode a lot before I can full process the awesomeness (and horribleness) of it, so for now, numbered lists:

1. The pacing was very nearly perfect. Every flash back felt right, every interrogation was spot on...just, brilliance. It just barreled on like a train.

2. I loved how each of them "played their part" during the interrogations, particularly Prentiss (and also Rossi). Because we all know, the more in character they get, the more screwed we are, and that's exactly what happened. And then at the end, we had an entirely different Aaron Hotchner, because his part has changed.

3. Dude, Emily freaking Prentiss.

4. One of the things that I found super awkward while writing fanfic for this show was that quite a bit of it takes place on the phone. You can do that on screen in ways you can't on paper. So the scene with Hailey and the Reaper? WAS STUPENDOUS. God, I don't think I breathed, except for all the gasping sobs. And when you consider that all the actors were shot in scenes by themselves and thus had no one to play off of? EVEN BETTER.

5. Do not try to tell me that Hailey was fridged. One, you're wrong and two, I am not in the mood to explain to you how you are wrong.

6. The other great use of flashbacks in this episode was during the Foyet/Hotch fight. Just...brilliance, again, because you know that's what Hotch is thinking, that everything he's ever seen has led him to this moment, to this man's head in his hands and a broken table. And it's the one thing Foyet could not account for, the one thing that the profile always leaves out. Because the Abyss might look into you, but your family pulls you back just as hard. So in that moment, all of Foyet's calculations fell apart, because he couldn't account for love.

7. I was very, very terrified that Hotch would somehow be tricked into shooting Jack. I love so much that Hotch and Jack have this Thing They Do that I refuse to think about it being creepy that Jack bonds with his father by hiding in a trunk in his office.

8. Seriously, I can't think of all the reasons this episode was great.

9. As for Erin Straus, I think Hotch played her. Hotch plays everyone, so this is not a surprise, but I think he played her as much as he played Foyet. In stepping down, he wasn't covering his own ass, he was allowing her to cover it for him, and he never forgets that she loves her son the most, so he makes sure that Jack is his trump card. And that is why I frakking love this show.

I am going to have to watch this episode a lot. But I might need to go look at some kitten pictures first.

Comments

[mingsmommy.livejournal.com]

Yes, everything you said.

I do not ever recall seeing such an intense, well done hour of network television. It was amazing. When Hotch and Hailey were on the phone I was wrecked. And JJ & Emily wincing with the shots? Dear God.

Brilliance.

[un-jour-viendra.livejournal.com]

This. Just, this.


You are far more coherent than I am, as all I can do is go... "Hotch!!" and end there, but yes. Ditto on all of this, but especially your points on Strauss and the interviews.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

This review got me crying again. Oh Hoootch! :(

What does fridged mean?

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

In an edition of the Green Lantern, the Bad Guy killed the Green Lantern's girlfriend and put her in the refrigerator for the Green Lantern to find. His grief at her death gave the Green Lantern the power to overcome the Bad Guy. So a "woman in the refrigerator" refers to the (often exceedingly violent) death of a woman for the sole purpose of motivating a male character. So...Mary and Jessica on Supernatural would be other examples, as would Bobby's wife.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Ah. Yeah, I think that's usually the reason the bad guy does it, really, rather than a storytelling cliche or an anti-feminist thing or whatever the implication of the phrase is. No better way to get under a man's skin than to prey on his protective instinct.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I do not ever recall seeing such an intense, well done hour of network television.

I KNOW! I am a chronic clock watcher during TV shows, and at one point I thought to myself "I don't even want to know how long I've been watching!" It was just so compelling.

When Hotch and Hailey were on the phone I was wrecked. And JJ & Emily wincing with the shots? Dear God.

That whole sequence was beyond amazing, because with the intercutting to the interrogations, sometimes you'd forget what you were watching, and then it would be all up in your face again. Just...perfectly done.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I am sort of obsessed with Erin Straus. I almost always hate her kind of character on TV because she's just so wrong, but every now and then she has flashes of actual humanity, and I remember how WELL this show does even minor characters.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

No better way to get under a man's skin than to prey on his protective instinct.

Indeed.

I do think it runs into problems sometimes, however, when it is done in a lazy way. Or in a stupid way. It is literally the oldest trick in the book, and in a world where people like me are starting to crave stories with good female characters doing awesome things and being the hero, it can be hard to pull off.

[un-jour-viendra.livejournal.com]

::nods:: She has her moments, but she's very much a character, and these past several appearances have been particularly well done. It's weird, not hating her, but in a good way.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I love it because it shows how good this show is.

[wojelah.livejournal.com]

YES to everything, especially Rossi and Prentiss with Strauss - and also Reid, who is so very clear about what you do when being tortured.

And AMEN to acting over the phone - I just don't know. And Hailey? Frigid? What?

That's an interesting perspective on Strauss - I think it's definitely possible.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why I've become so obsessed with Erin Strauss. Because for a while there, she was all set on breaking up the team for...no reason that I could determine (beyond being the Stereotypical Evil Bureaucrat), but I've decided that I think she just really hates Hotch and somehow thinks she can out think him and I like...watching her try? Or...something? I don't know.

[wojelah.livejournal.com]

I think Hotch called it, really - Strauss is ambitious. Period. She's not heartless, but she will make good use of an opportunity. She's exactly what Emily means when she says political with scorn in her voice. And Strauss -isn't- stupid. Hotch and co. are very, very good at what they do, and if she screws that up in such a way as to make her intervention evident, the negative outcome redounds to her, and she gets sunk. So if Hotch is a threat - and thereby his team, because we know how tight a group this is - then her best bet is to chip away at the chinks.

Was she trying to be a jerk when she went to get Hotch to sign the retirement papers? Not really, I don't think - I do think she couldn't legitimately see that he would choose anything else other than leaving to care for Jack. And to be fair, Hotch almost did - but for Hailey's sister, he didn't really have another option. So I think on the one hand, she was presenting Hotch a great out, and an answer to the problem at hand. It just happened to be a very convenient answer for Strauss as well, and that's sure as heck not a coincidence.

The difference, I think, is that Hotch (and Prentiss) recognize the game. Hotch plays it, not because he wants to, but because if he plays it, and plays it well, they'll leave him alone to do what he really wants, which is catch bad guys. Prentiss probably plays better than Morgan, right now, but she's so averse to it, that mostly she's learned to play so she isn't a pawn, not because she's got some driving goal. Which is sort of how I see Rossi deciding to play it - although in a pinch, I'm betting Rossi could give Hotch a run for that money, if he had to - only mostly he doesn't. Morgan, I think, will ultimately learn it for the same reasons Hotch does, and he'll be damn good.

Sheesh. Sorry. That was a lot of pontification.