Criminal Minds

Last night, I was watching Criminal Minds with my fiance, who can be at times the most insensitive person alive. But he surprises me on occasion. After the show, he said that something about the show is different. He said maybe it was just this episode but the mood was entirely different. So I tried to pump him for information, but that’s really all he said, other than that it was more action-based, where the others were more pensive. There is usually a race to save another victim, and this didn’t happen in “True Night.” There was also not a lot of profiling going on, which I didn’t really notice until he said something about it being different. This was an episode that focused on the killer instead of the BAU members. As the episode progressed, you could kind of profile him yourself. John’s (Frankie Muniz)flashbacks let the viewer understand what was happening. He kept calling his girlfriend’s phone and getting her message that she was out living her life. This was emphasized so much that of course she was dead. My fiance was right: the tone was very different. It almost made you feel crazy as John relived the attack on himself and his girlfriend but didn’t really seem to realize that it actually happened. And he had no idea that he was killing people (all gang members, who were responsible for the attack). He drew the crime scenes as pages of a graphic novel.

John’s agent talks to the FBI and tells them about the behavior he’s noticed in John - the erratic behavior, calling his girlfriend’s cell, the change in his work. When John’s led into the police station, he looks confused, and you can almost hope he didn’t do it.
When he’s being interrogated by Hotch, Rossi, and Prentiss, they have to convince him that he’d been attacked. A huge scar lays across his abdomen. It’s like telling him his girlfriend is dead all over again, and he finally remembers.

At the end of the episode, he is in a hospital/institution, and he’s surrounded by drawings of his girlfriend. Still calling her cell phone to listen to her voice.
On the plane home, Prentiss wonders if anyone is capable of this. John went from a writer and artist to a murderer in six months. If he could do that, anyone could.
I was kind of surprised that cute little Malcolm in the Middle could be a convincing serial killer. He was really good. He looked the part, but still managed to have an innocence about him.

I really did like this episode. It was different and more unsub-focused. The profilers played a very small role in “True Night,” which I wouldn’t really enjoy watching week after week, but it was a good change.
The more I think about it, the more that this episode is one of the ones I like best. It’s not often that shows can make you feel a certain way, but you definately feel John’s emotions and feel sorry for him at the end. Even my aforementioned insensitive fiance felt bad for him.
What did you think of the episode? Good, bad, ugly?

If your favorite show has run out of new episodes, it’s a good time to check out what’s new on DVD at TV on DVD. - I am still waiting anxiously for the second half of the last season of The Sopranos to come from Netflix.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - it’s one of the only times I get to see my whole family. (Except for my brother - Happy Thanksgiving), so I love it.

Also, one of my favorite tv sites, Buddy TV, has some details on upcoming CM episode, “Birthright.” Birthright is expected to air on December 12 at nine. Sounds interesting…I guess you can inherit anything from your parents.

Anyway, on to our “Penelope” recap…

Good episode. This one was the best of the season, and the most exciting one since Reid was kidnapped. We got to learn a bit more about Penelope - losing her parents, how she was recruited by the FBI. It’ll be interesting to see if this episode did as well as last week’s, which topped Private Practice in the ratings for the first time.

At the beginning of the episode, she’s weaving in and out of consciousness. As the BAU, sans Morgan, gather at the hospital, Hotch tells Rossi that the EMT said it didn’t look good. Morgan is in church and isn’t answering his phone.
Pretty early in the episode, we find out that Garcia is going to be ok. But no one knows what happened. She tells them that her date shot her and that she should’ve listened to Morgan. The team is told not to investigate the case because Garcia has been suspended. She encrypted a program with the team’s info, and the internal affairs unit is investigating this. It comes out that she was hired by the FBI because she was a dangerous hacker. They wanted her on their side.
Morgan takes Penelope home from the hospital and stays with her. They patch up their friendship, which is a sweet scene. While he’s there, though, he’s awakened by gunshots. The officer guarding the door is shot by Penelope’s attacker. Morgan chases him but isn’t able to get him.
After this, the team gathers at Garcia’s house. They aren’t getting anywhere, and all of a sudden, David Rossi starts yelling at Garcia. Telling her to spit it out, what does she know, what was she working on. Morgan is telling him to stop, but he continues, while Garcia looks scared. Finally, she tells them that she counsels victims’ families. Sometimes she is asked how cases are going. So she’d flagged a few so the lead detetective would know the FBI considered them priorities. She doesn’t have authority to do this, which is why she didn’t want to tell them. But it provides the vital clue.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Brendan appears to try and crack Garcia’s system. It’s very cute when he’s in her office and she’s at home. They’ve never seen each other, but they are almost flirting as they try to beat each other into the system. (I really liked his character. He looked like he rolled out of bed, took a shower the day or so before, threw on some clothes that were on his floor, and left. Not like he was trying to look like he didn’t care, but really didn’t.)
Anyway, it turns out that a few cases Garcia flagged involved the same deputy sheriff - who is none other than her date.
So, he’s in the BAU, being questioned by internal affairs (they don’t know yet he did it). The computer tech (whose name I’ve honestly forgotten) and Garcia communicate with each other and he’s sending her video of the BAU. They see the deputy and call Hotch, who is there. The deputy starts getting suspicious. The team calls JJ, who is in her office. They tell her what’s going on, and she is able to get behind the attacker, who is holding the internal affairs guy hostage. She shoots through a window, getting the guy right in the head. It was an amazing shot, especially from JJ (who for some reason I didn’t expect to be able to shoot like that).
Anyway, at the end, Garcia meets the tech. She tells JJ that everything happens for a reason. So the two computer techies are gazing into each other’s eyes, impressed by the other’s abilities. It’s very cute and sweet.

I really liked this episode. I liked how Rossi went at Garcia. He knew it was the only way to get the information and that he was the only one who could do it because he was the one without all the ties to her. It was also nice to see how much Garcia means to the team. She’s so different from the rest of them, but also so important to the team and to their lives.
I wonder if Nicholas Brendan will appear in any more episodes…they’d make a cute couple.

I’m a little late putting this up. I really forgot it was Wednesday. My week is a little messed up so hopefully I’ll remember to watch Criminal Minds.
Tonight at nine is the continuation of last week’s episode, “Lucky.” “Penelope” will pick up where we left off - Garcia’s date just shot her. The rest of the team is working on finding her killer and wondering if it’s related to her work (awfully coincidental that this guy was in the coffee shop she always goes to and just happens to have a computer problem). Nicholas Brendan, of Buffy the Vampire fame, guest stars as a computer tech who is hired to try to interpret Garcia’s computer system and see if anything she was working on yields some clues.
Sounds good - I’ll definately remember to watch this one. I think it’ll be interesting to see the interactions of the rest of the team and how David Rossi fits into this. It’s an us vs. them type of situation, so we’ll see if he’s an us or a them.

Criminal Minds was in top form for Wednesday night’s episode, “Lucky.”

The show opens with bubbly, happy, smiling Penelope Garcia. She meets a guy at a coffee shop, fixes his computer, and gives him her number. She tells Morgan, and says she’s not the type to get hit on from across the room, and that it usually takes men longer to realize how wonderful she is. Morgan tells her to go with her gut, which she does. She throws his number away. But then, as she is talking to Morgan, she gets mad when he implies (or seems to) that there must be something wrong with the guy if he asked her out. So of course she sets up a date.

The case the team is investigating is particularly gruesome. The victims have pentacles carved into their chests, their legs are missing, and one had partially digested fingers in her stomach. The crimes take place in a small Florida town, and it revolves around the church. After the team deduces that the unsub is a former mental patient, they find the hospital where he was likely a patient. They find out that he bit a chunk out of his nine-month old sister when he was seven. Luckily, they also found out his name. From there, it was easy to trace him - he didn’t use an alias or try to hide. The last victim is saved, but one woman is still missing.
Morgan interrogates the unsub, who wants to talk to the parish priest. The priest tells the unsub that he is not alone, God is a part of him. To which the unsub replies, “And Tracy is a part of us too.”

The gruesome part: he signed up to help with the search party. His job was to feed the other volunteers. There are flashbacks of him ladling out soup to people in the community. This was so disgusting to me - they’re eating the person they’re trying to find.

On the personal side, Morgan is struggling with his faith. He lost faith in God when he was a child and was being abused. God did nothing, Morgan says. At the end of the episode, he is praying in church.

And Garcia’s date…at the end, James says, “Garcia, I’ve been thinking of doing this all day.” Hmmm…first date kiss? No, he takes out a gun and shoots her in the chest.

This was a great episode - very dramatic and creepy. Not only was the case interesting, the characters were developed further. We got to see more of Penelope - her interaction with Morgan when she gets mad at him lets us see a different side of her. Her character shows a lot of personality, but we don’t know a lot about her personal life. This will change in the upcoming episode when the investigation into her shooting takes place.

The third season started off well with “Doubt.” I was less impressed with “Scared to Death,” but the subsequent episodes have been exciting and entertaining. Next week’s offering, “Penelope,” continues the story and leads the team to suspect that the attacker is someone close to the investigation.

If you want to read a bit more about the WGA strike, Buddy TV has a new article, with thoughts from AJ Cook, CM exec producer Edward Bernero, and CM writer Andrew Wilder.

Tonight on Criminal Minds, the team tracks down a serial killer, played by Jamie Kennedy. This cannabal causes Morgan to doubt his faith. Also, Garcia goes on a date, and the relationship is not off to a good start.
If you want to know what happens, click here. Otherwise, we’ll see on Wednesday!
With the writers strike unresolved, this is one of the last new episodes. Next week, Nicholas Brendan will guest star as a computer tech hired to crack Garcia’s unique system.
To find out what else Criminal Minds has in store, check out TV.com’s episode guide.

Last night marked Joe Mantegna’s second episode with Criminal Minds. A funny part of the episode had Emily, Spencer, and Morgan looking through his office and profiling him. Of course he walks in. Emily and Spencer were properly embarrassed, but Morgan just looked annoyed. He is not accepting of David Rossi at all.
So the action of the episode revolved around a former militia member in Colorado, Francis Goehring. He was being pursued by the police when he blew himself up, taking a police officer with him. He’d kidnapped four women, the fourth only a half hour or so before he killed himself. Goehring’s ex-wife leads them to her parent’s land, where the women’s bodies were found. Rossi discovers that the last woman had been killed only a short time ago, and couldn’t have been killed by Goehring.

As they search for his partner, they find several clues as to his personality. He is a submissive partner, he tried to please Francis Goehring, and he was also in love with him. His identity was so wrapped up in Francis that when he killed himself, he took on Goehring’s personality - or tried to. The partner, Henry, kidnaps a woman from a gas station and is preparing to kill her. The team and sheriff find the location (Spencer had been working on a geographical profile all episode). A sniper is the only way that they’ll be able to save the woman. The best sniper they have is not even a cop. He’s the leader of the local militia, which Morgan objects to strongly (because they had a little run in at this guy’s bar). Anyway, the sniper kills Henry, and the woman is saved.
There’s a lot of back story that played into the events also. Brought up numerous times was Ruby Ridge and the surprise that Montana authorities actually asked for the FBI’s help. I thought it was interesting how the show brought up actual events, and especially events in which the FBI is shown in a poor light. It comes out that Rossi was at Ruby Ridge -and doesn’t want to talk about it.
At the tail end of the episode, Morgan and Rossi are talking and Morgan asks him why he came back, which he’d been suspicious of for a while. Rossi just said “Unfinished business,” and walked away.

This scene bothered me a bit, and I’ve been trying to find a word that fit it since last night. The best I can come up with is cheesy. Or maybe melodramatic. We get that Rossi has unfinished business and is tortured by some case that was unresolved. I think it doesn’t really need to be said anymore - we know. It’s much more dramatic and mysterious if very little is said about it, but it comes up very frequently. I don’t know if anything needed to be said at all - a former FBI agent has a lucrative career as a writer and lecturer and he gives it up to come back as a subordinate in the BAU. Last week, he kept touching the bracelet with the children’s names. We get it. We don’t need anymore hints that he has a troubling secret.

That was just one part that I thought could’ve been better, but otherwise, I liked the episode. It was dramatic, and I liked the local characters. When Henry is kidnapping the last woman in front of a gas station, the woman who was working there ran inside when she saw what was happening. I assumed that she went to call 911, but she came out with a shotgun. I also liked how they were able to get the militia to help them. Militia hate the FBI, the government. Rossi told them it wasn’t about them, it was about this woman from their community who was missing and in danger. This made the militia members seem human, which is not always done on tv or movies. They’re caring people, they just don’t care for the government.

Next week’s episode is going to be a good one - this one features Penelope. It’ll be good to have her get her own show!

The whole way through last night’s episode of Criminal Minds, I was on edge about what happened to the missing little girl, Katie Jacobs. The show was suspenseful - thanks in large part to atmospheric music and the presence of so many police officers and FBI agents in such a normal, everyday setting.
The show begins with a call to 911 from Katie’s aunt. Her parents are desperately trying to find her. Another little girl had been taken - and killed - from a mall the previous week.
As the story unfolds, we get more details about the family. Morgan and Prentiss went to Katie’s house to look around. They find that she’d wet the bed a lot and that she’d mutilated her barbie doll - Morgan thinks she was being molested. Through this, the focus narrows to the family. The little girl’s father, uncle, and cousin are questioned. The little boy, Jeremy, was the last to see Katie before she disappeared. He saw something but will not tell the BAU.
A big clue is the necklace belonging to Katie. It is found in a garbage can, it’d been ripped off of her. Hotch feels that her abduction was personal, full of rage. Not a stranger kidnapping, and not related to the other little girl’s case.
Katie had lied to her parents about where she got the necklace, leading the BAU to believe that her abductor had given it it her. They’re led to her uncle but don’t think that he took her. Prentiss remembers a few things that Katie’s aunt had said. One was that she’d worked in retail for years and years (she doesn’t mention that she’d work in this particular mall). The other was that at the time of Katie’s disappearance, she was getting a lighter engraved for her husband. Who had quit smoking.
Prentiss questions the aunt - she’d take Katie. She was jealous of the attention her husband was giving to Katie. When the little girl slept over at their house, she knew her husband was abusing her, yet did nothing. She’d taken Katie to get rid of her competition.
She doesn’t tell Prentiss where Katie is but the team and police find her in a closet with duct tape on her mouth. She is asthmatic - which could easily be fatal with a blocked airway. They can’t find a pulse. The paramedics are working on her as her parents look on. You keep seeing and hearing the heart monitor as she flatlines. Then suddenly, you hear the beeps and she has a pulse.
I was actually unsure about whether she’d live. In most shows, it’s almost a given that she’d be ok, but this was so tense. I really didn’t expect the heart monitor to pick up a heartbeat.
Katie’s aunt and uncle are arrested and led away, leaving their son by himself. They appeared unconcerned with him as he stands with Reid and Morgan.
At the end, Hotch goes to where Haley is staying (with a sister or friend, I’m assuming). He asks to see his son for just five minutes. She lets him in and he goes and looks at his sleeping child. This was very sad - I can understand why he wanted to see his son so much, and the fact that he had to go ask made it more painful.

“Seven Seconds” was Criminal Minds in top form.

Next week’s episode deals with a predator who taunts his victims by making missing fliers of them before they go missing. Joe Mantegna also makes his first appearance, and it looks like he and Hotch butt heads right away - there’s no I in TEAM, Joe.

Tonight’s episode is called “Seven Seconds.” A child is taken from a mall. The BAU is called and locks down the area. They interview everyone there to try and find information on the child’s location. In Criminal Minds style, it’s a race to save the child.
I saw the preview for this last week. I don’t know about the episode, but the idea is terrifying. It makes me want to keep my daughter inside forever or tie her to me when we go out. It is really something that can happen to anyone - and kids are so fast. If you turn your back for a second, they can be out of sight. This is my nightmare, so it’ll be a hard show to watch. (I always thought my mother was weird because she HATES to watch shows that have children as victims.) Last week’s episode, “Children of the Dark,” also featured child victims. They’re so defenseless. It’s horrible when adults die, but you can kind of see how they can at least fight back. The little kids had no chance.
So “Seven Seconds” airs tonight at nine on CBS. It looks like a good episode - one of Criminal Minds exciting, tense ones.

Don’t forget to get your entries in to win the new Criminal Minds book, Jump Cut. All you have to do is email me with your favorite episode and why you liked it by October 31.

Here’s a recap of last night’s episode, “Children of the Dark.” (CBS 9:00)

There has been a series of home invasions in Denver suburbs in which entire families are killed. The parents are tied up and beaten to death while the children watch. The children are then taken into their bedrooms and given a lethal injection, the killer’s idea of mercy.
Hotch and the team travel to Colorado to investigate. They conclude the two unsubs are working together. As they try to find the killing team, another family falls victim to them. This time, however, there is a survivor. A teenage girl is left alive by one of the killers (as it turns out, she reminded him of his sister). In the course of the investigation they figure out that the killers were in foster care, and through this are able to track one of them down. He refuses to tell them who his partner is, until the girl he left alive came in to talk to him. She is able to get him to talk. This is a sad scene because she reaches out to the man who killed her family, and then after is kind of disgusted by it.

Hotch and Prentiss go to talk to the foster mother who raised these two killers. As she talks with them, a young boy comes into the kitchen. He finds the refridgerator locked and asks for some milk. She will not give it to him - she wears the key around her neck.
The killers are killing parents who they see as abusive (even though they are not). They kill the children to spare them the horror of going into foster care. Gary, the other killer, shows up at a school. We see him talking to the young boy from the foster home and another little girl. He says he grew up where they live and offers them a ride. At the time, the team has learned who he is and who he is targeting. They follow him to a donut shop where he is inside with the boy. They figure that Gary plans to kill his former foster parents. He’s inside with the boy and Hotch talks him into coming out. Hotch thinks something is wrong because he gave up so easily. They then figure out that Gary gave the little boy a gun (they did not search the boy) so he could shoot the foster parents when he got back home.

Prentiss and Morgan drop the children off at the home and are in the car about to leave when they hear gunshots. Running inside, they find the boy with the gun. The foster mother is on the floor, unharmed. The boy didn’t shoot her, which gives hope that he won’t turn out like the killers.

This is a hard episode to summarize shortlly. It was a good one and very sad. It was hard for the agents to send the children back to that foster home, but they had no choice. There was no where else for the kids to go, and until an investigation by child services was concluded, they had to stay where they were. And it’s also sad because you can see that the killers were trying to help the children, in their very twisted way. This makes it no less painful for the surviving teenager, and in fact, probably makes it harder because her hatred is tempered by knowing they were so abused by the people who were supposed to take care of them.

“Children of the Dark” did not focus much on the characters’ lives - at one point Emily tells Hotch that she will take the teenager home with her. Hotch tells her he needs her to be objective, and she tells him that she needs to be human. On the plane home, JJ tells Emily that she would be a good mother. At the same time, Hotch is on the phone, asking someone to wake his son up so he can hear his voice. I’m assuming this is Haley, but they never said a word about her in this episode, so I don’t know what’s going on with that situation.

Also look for Joe Mantegna’s CM debut in two weeks - the team will be introduced to Agent David Rossi.

Last night, “Scared to Death” aired on CBS. This was Criminal Minds first Mandy-free episode, though his character was mentioned several times. When the show opens, Spencer is sitting at his desk rereading his letter. They quickly move on to other matters - a serial killer in Portland, Oregon. The team travels there to investigate and eventually figure out that the deaths had to do with phobias. From there, they need to figure out who is responsible. Through a lucky spotting of a flier in a laundromat, they are led to Dr. Howard (aka Dr. Goodman), in time to save his latest victim from being buried alive.

I really like Criminal Minds, I write a blog about it. But did anyone else think “Scared to Death” was kind of…boring?
The doctor was torturing these people, recording their responses, while having flashbacks to his mom making him sleep in the dark. Michael O’Keefe as Dr. Howard was kind of creepy, but it seemed like they crammed all of his motives into 45 minutes, and it didn’t quite work. It did cover all the bases; his abusive childhood, his naggy wife, his change in behavior, his treatment of his daughter. But it seemed like they hurried to put this all in so it’d make sense at the end.
Criminal Minds can be very creepy - like in “Revelations” or “North Mammon,” from season two. This one didn’t have the same feeling to it. It also felt like the characters were kind of wooden; they didn’t seem as dynamic as they usually are - with the exception of Spencer and Morgan getting stuck in the elevator…that was pretty funny.

What was interesting, though, was their response to Gideon leaving. Spencer is clearly upset. He talks to Emily at one point and says that Gideon confronted the most violent, dangerous criminals in the world. If he had enough courage to do that, why did he just leave a letter? Emily tells him to read it again and figure out why the letter was written to him. Out of all the people he left behind, why did he only bother to explain to Spencer?
Morgan also brings him up. On the flight home, he says that the team is doing just fine without Gideon.
Besides Gideon leaving, the only personal note was when Hotch tells Morgan that Haley has left, and he didn’t know if she was coming back.

“Scared to Death” was all right. It wasn’t one of their best episodes, but it was still entertaining. I’m looking forward to Joe Mantegna’s debut (on October 31 - Halloween) to bring some tension to the team and move some action along.

Tonight’s episode, “Scared to Death,” has Hotch and his BAU profilers tracking down a serial killer. Not just your average ordinary killer - he may a psychiatrist. The team thinks that hte doctor finds out what his victims fear most and uses that fear to kill them. The victims have all recently moved to Portland and have not developed strong ties to the area. (Michael O’Keefe plays Dr. Stan Howard.)
“Scared to Death” will air on CBS at nine tonight and will be Criminal Minds’ first Gideon-free episode.

If you want some good Criminal Minds spoilers, check out Buddy TV. If you don’t want to know anything until you see it, don’t read any further.
Later in the season, Garcia is in a diner and helps someone unfreeze his laptop. They go on a date, which apparently doesn’t go well. He shoots her. Yes, that’s right, he shoots Garcia. He leaves her and that’s where the episode ends.
In the next episode, emergency teams try to save her, as we see flashbacks to different points in her life. (In two, she’s a child with her parents. In another, she is at a funeral with two caskets, which may be her parents.)
No, no more stars are leaving the show, so Penelope lives.
Nicholas Brendan -aka Zander from Buffy - will play Kevin, who the team hires to help crack Garcia’s system. They hope that something she was working on will give them a clue to her shooting. He finds something “shocking” and drama ensues. At the end, a possible love match between the two techies is hinted at. Nicholas Brendan will appear on the one episode definately and may appear more if his character is well-received by viewers.

Sounds exciting. This show keeps the surprises coming. Garcia goes on her date November 14, and Nicholas Brendan makes his CM debut on November 21.

Hotch is gone, Prentiss is gone, Gideon is gone. The team goes to Milwaukee. Hotch comes back. Prentiss comes back. They arrest the serial killer using his son as bait. Gideon’s still gone. And Haley’s gone. Just a quick recap for “In Name and Blood.” This episode wrapped up some loose ends from last week and also gave us some new loose ends. Hotch and Prentiss are back with the team. Section Chief Erin Strauss travels with the team to Milwaukee to work the case. While there, she actually sees what the BAU does. She can’t do it. She insults the local detective, takes control when she shouldn’t, and then finally, breaks down at a crime scene when she steps on a victim’s hair. Having seen the reality of their job, she relents. Hotch is back but cannot move up in the chain of command. This is a big deal as he wanted to become FBI director.
Spencer worries about Gideon and finally goes to check on him at his cabin hide-away. Inside, he finds empty shelves and a gun, badge, and letter on Gideon’s desk. He tries to explain to Spencer why he’s leaving - not committing suicide as was implied last week. At the end, we see him traveling alone, trying to find hope again.
The new loose end - when Hotch gets back from Milwaukee, Haley is gone. Earlier in the episode, the phone rings. When Hotch picks up, the caller hangs up. Seconds later, Haley’s cell rings. She ignores it. When she leaves the room, she grabs her purse. Hmmmmm.

I thought this was a good episode - the big huge deal that was Mandy Patinkin’s leaving the show was quietly dealt with. The case the team was working on was interesting, and you can feel the itchy, tense feeling when they’re racing to find the unsub before his victim dies. Also interesting was that Hotch mentioned - fleetingly - that one of his team members has a possibly serious drug addiction. Hmmmmm again. Spencer seems to be functioning pretty well for someone addicted to heroin, but I guess I wouldn’t really know. Maybe this comes up in future episodes.

So that’s how they’re going to write Gideon off the show. Criminal Minds third season started off with Gideon alone in a cabin writing a letter to the one he knew would go looking for him - he is talking about the death of his friend Sarah and the case they worked on immediately after. That case, of course, is the killings of several women at a small college (which was held over from last season). As the flashback unfolds, Gideon sees his murdered friend in the crowd, watching him. The episode was entitled “Doubt,” and that is exactly what Gideon feels. He isn’t sure of himself anymore, in both his personal and professional life. As he writes the letter, he discusses this, as well as the horrors that he can no longer live with. At the end, he is holding a gun.
Meanwhile, the section chief, Erin Strauss, is out to get Hotch, and is extorting Prentiss to help her. The campus situtation is resolved when the killer is killed by a suicidal copycat, who then plunges a knife into her stomach. Strauss takes issue with Hotch’s handling of the case and suspends him.
So that’s where it’s left - the next episode, “In Birth and Death,” has Gideon missing, Hotch requesting a transfer, and Prentiss resigning. The remaining team members struggle to catch a serial killer in Milwaukee who abducts women from very public places.
I thought that the season premiere was excellent. It was exciting, and I liked how they wove Gideon’s eventual departure into the pre-existing show.
There is something wrong with the layout of this page - sorry. I couldn’t get into it last night to work on it. Of course, on the night of the premiere. I’m surprised my power didn’t go out or something. Anyway, I apologize and will see what I can do to get it fixed.

One more day. Season three starts off with “Doubt,” the lost episode from season two. “Doubt” was pulled out of the lineup last year because of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

(Officers at Virginia Tech tend to the wounded)
On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two people and wounded four more. He then killed himself. Cho was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder in middle school and received treatment until his junior year of high school. While at Virginia Tech, he was accused of stalking two female students and was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice. At least one professor suggested he seek counseling. The Virginia tech shooting surpassed Columbine and the University of Texas shooting as the most deadly school shooting in the U.S. Wikipedia has an extensive entry for the shooting if you want to know more about it.
So the producers pulled the episode because it was to air so close to the time the shooting occured.
It’s definately a timely topic. On Friday, September 21, two students were shot at Delaware State University. The campus was closed immediately - classes were cancelled and students were told to stay in their dorms. The reaction was swift because Virginia Tech had been widely criticized for not taking action sooner to prevent more deaths.
Police have identified two “persons of interest,” one of whom is in custody. The victims were one female, who is said to have possibly life-threatening injuries, and one male, who is in stable condition. Thankfully, there were no more injuries and no fatalities.
In the Criminal Minds episode, a college campus is shut down after shootings, and the BAU works on a profile of the unsub. After they have a suspect in custody, the shootings continue.