Amplification
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“Amplification” was on last night - what did you think? I absolutely hate episodes like that! But love them too. I find it odd that I can watch a psycho butchering people but can almost not stand to watch an invisible powder. I think it’s because with a human, you know you’re fighting a human. You know there is a chance you can win. With something like Anthrax, you can’t really run and hide.
The whole episode was very dramatic, from the innocence at the park to the man sprinkling his vial of Anthrax. From there, the BAU becomes involved, as well as military forces. A common theme throughout was the team member’s desire to get in touch with their loved ones. JJ got extremely upset when Reid told her about a baby who had been exposed to Anthrax (a seven month old, roughly the age of little Henry) after 9/11; Reid asked Garcia to record a message for his mom; and Prentiss kept wanting to tell people what was going on. Not being able to talk to them must be hellish - I think it should be a job perk that people in these dangerous situations should be able to call their families and say “Don’t go outside.” I wouldn’t begrudge them that. I understand about mass panic and making the situation worse, but they’re risking their lives. Ah well. Rossi said they’d have a lot of secrets to take to their graves.
The tension upped itself when Reid entered the lab of the unsub and was exposed to the new, weaponized Anthrax. The team had taken cipro to vaccinate themselves, but they didn’t know if it’d work on this strain. Turns out, nope, it doesn’t. Reid starts to get sick, and in the ambulance, he starts to have trouble with his words (which is what happened to the other victims shortly before they died). The team managed to track down the unsub through his thesis on weaponized Anthrax. I love the scene at the end when Hotch has his gun drawn and says he’ll kill the unsub, and the Army guy steps in. For a half second, I thought that was nuts, but then I got it. Good thing the unsub didn’t get it. After he surrenders his bag full of Anthrax, he’s taken into custody. All this because he didn’t get the recognition he felt he deserved or the chance to work at Fort Detrick.
What I found very chilling was the end, when Morgan asks what else is in containment at Fort Detrick. They show someone in a hazmat suit putting the Anthrax strain into a vault, then they show a wall of vaults, and another, and another in this cavernous room. That was terrifying in itself.
I liked this episode very much. It was much more like “Lessons Learned” (in which Hotch did break protocol and try to call Haley, by the way!) than the typical episodes. I couldn’t stand to see episodes like this every week, but they do add some drama and intensity to things, don’t they?
What did you think?
May 14th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I thought it was amazing !! i mean we always see them in danger but this time it was so serious and touching that at the end i was almost screaming where is Spencer!!! XD
I totally know what u mean by the whole invisible powder thing..it’s awful..you don’t know how to fight it nor see it! how worse can it get?
u know what part i’m gonna remmeber? “don’t Emily me!” hehe..
May 14th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Oooh, Raiders of the Lost Arc and Star Trek the Wrath of Khan, when Spock is inside the chamber and says his sacrifice is good for the many instead of the few or the self.
This was a good episode, the human factor of the very nervous and stressed agents was the best part and when they call home at the end, awwww sweet.
I find these kinds of episodes the least believable, especially when the military is involved and the real kinds of protocol they follow is not at all like the episode. Nevertheless, it was exciting and poor Reid’s plight was an extra pressure, on Morgan most of all. “We are a TEAM!!!”
The ending was amusing, Raiders of the Lost Arc, The X Files conspiracy with the Smoking Man’s secret cache of alien things hidden in the basement of the Pentagon. Actually, I spent time yelling at the episode PUT ON GLOVES YOU IDIOTS!!! Several times.
What else is hidden in the vaults, you do not want to know….
May 14th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
JJ did call home during the scare, but got the answering machine–I wonder what she would have said if they picked up. I’m with you–I think they should have some sort of understanding that they can call home and just say –don’t go out–or don’t go to a mall–ect.–without giving a real reason–how can people work at these jobs when they don’t even know if their own families are safe? It is too scary.
Sometimes I tell the kids at school about my growing up in the fifties in NYC and having air raid drills in school because of the cold war threats–(we were even issued metal dog tags with our names and addresses–to identify the remains?) That was scary, but I think the possibilities today are so much scarier. Anthrax, for one. Time to stock up on the duct tapt, I guess.