Criminal Minds

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.