Criminal Minds

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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?

Tomorrow night, we have a new episode of CM to watch. YAY! On CBS at nine is “Amplification,” which has the team looking for the source of a chemical that threatens innocent people. I’m thinking an anthrax-type situation. I love/hate episodes like this. They terrify me, and I always feel a bit edgy during the entire thing. It was the same way with “Lessons Learned,” from season two and “Lo-Fi” and “Mayhem” from seasons three and four. It’s almost a bit too dramatic for me…but I still can’t wait! Here’s a little preview for you. Enjoy! And we’re counting down to the season finale too.

What do Shemar Moore and President Obama have in common? They’ve both been named to The 2009 AfterElton Hot 100: Men of Color list. Shemar did edge out the President by a few spots, landing at number 4 while Obama is at number 7. Very respectable! Check out the list at AfterElton.com.

Shemar Moore and mother Marilyn at a star-studded event, Race to Erase MS. Marilyn has MS, and Shemar routinely bikes inhuman amounts of miles to raise money and awareness. You can find more info on the red carpet event and the other stars there by clicking this link.

And speaking of mothers, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there. Enjoy your day!

First, let’s hear it for Criminal Minds helping CBS be the most watched network for the week of April 27 - May 3 - for the ninth straight week. Eight of the top ten scripted dramas were on CBS. Here is the top ten shows and their numbers, according to the Associated Press:

“American Idol” (Tuesday), Fox, 23.26 million; “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 22.37 million; “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 19.29 million; “The Mentalist,” CBS, 17.11 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 16.70 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 15.54 million; “Dancing With the Stars Results,” ABC, 14.72 million; “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 14.16 million; “Grey’s Anatomy” (Thursday, 9 p.m.), 14.12 million; “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 13.61 million.

Last night’s episode, “Roadkill,” hopefully kept the numbers strong. There are some shows that you can watch all day on DVD. Have you ever done that? I know I’m not the only one! I do that with Medium. I sit there and watch it - “while I’m working” is my excuse. To me, this was the kind of episode you’d watch, say, “Good. Next,” and then go right on to the next one. A few episodes for me, like “Revelations,” make me say, “Wow. I’ll have to rewatch that one later with a big old bowl of popcorn.” They’re edge of the seat type episodes. “Roadkill” wasn’t like that for me. For one thing, another unsub this season was wracked with guilt over losing his daughter in a car accident, so he began hunting people on the road. This was the same - the unsub is wracked with guilt, we find out, because his wife was killed in an accident on “Suicide 7.” So he is hunting people with the type of car he thinks did it. Red coupes.
Meanwhile, a man comes forward saying he caused the accident that killed the unsub’s wife. He had fallen asleep. Backtracking, they’re able to figure out that he didn’t, in fact, cause the accident. He did cause a car to go off the road, but there was no damage.

There were differences, of course. Like the unsub, Coakley, turned out to be the one who caused the accident. As JJ and Prentiss are going through his things while the rest of the team is racing to save the next intended victim, she notices that his wife had a red coupe. Turns out that it was a single car accident, he’d fallen asleep at the wheel. The detective in charge of the case and Hotch were chasing him, and crashed into the truck before he could kill his intended victim, the bike rider. The detective then tells Coakley, against Hotch’s warning, that he caused the accident. Coakley is consumed with guilt and drives off a cliff. The detective later tells Hotch that he’s not going to lose any sleep over it. It looks like Hotch isn’t either.

Oh, I forgot: at the beginning, David comes in and tells Garcia that he’s going to interview for a top-secret position. OOhhh. But he couldn’t even tell her where it would be. He wants her to go too. At the end, we find out that the position is gone because someone (hmmmmm) hacked into the system and compromised security. So all is safe in David/Penelope Land. Oh Garcia.

So, for me, this was a good episode. I’d definitely watch it again. But I wouldn’t skip ahead to this one on the DVD set. I’d watch it, say “Good. Next.”

What are your thoughts on “Roadkill”?

Note: A reader asked who played Mr. Bonner. That is Dale Midkiff.

New episodes! I love them. Wednesday, we have “Roadkill,” which is about an unsub whose weapon of choice is a car. Have a look:

Here is a list of the top ten shows for the week of April 20-26:

1 “American Idol”

2 “Amazing Race 14″

3 “Criminal Minds”

4 “Grey’s Anatomy”

5 “American Idol”

6 “Desperate Housewives”

7 “Survivor: Tocantins”

8 “CSI”

9 “Fringe”

10 “Two and a Half Men”

In the States, CM was #2 on Wednesday, behind American Idol. On Thursday, a reair of “Brothers in Arms” won the time slot. Great ratings!

Whenever I write the title, I hear Tina Turner in my head. The big wheel here referred to the ferris wheel that Vincent, the unsub, helped Stanley, the vicitm’ son, to build. Let’s rewind and see how that came about.

Vincent had severe OCD. In the beginning scene, it shows him going through his morning ritual, keeping an eye on the clock the whole time. He kind of jiggles the handle a few times before opening doors, he has black plastic over the mirror. We see him getting ready and walking down the sidewalk with those big black glasses. He stops at an open house, when the realtor assumes he’s going to look at the house. She sees no threat, but then he stabs her. He guides her to the couch and watches her. He looks concerned throughout. But when he stabbed her, he looked immensely relieved.

The next scene has JJ presenting the case to the team, and Hotch tells Garcia to pack a go bag because she’ going with them. Finally, Garcia gets to leave her little office! As far as I can tell, she does the exact same thing on the road, but it’s nice to change the scenery once in a while. The unsub had sent a video to the police, writing “Help Me,” at the end. He indicates that the 29th will be the day he will kill next. They discover that he kills about every 12 months, selecting blond women in their early thirties as victims.

Breaking the pattern, the police find the body of a younger black woman. She had shown up at Vincent’s apartment - and he hates the break in routine. She sees a news broadcast that shows a police sketch of the man who killed the realtor. And she feels the need to say, “Wow, that looks just like you!” Why? Why do this? Why not just say, “Sorry for dropping by. Let me know if you can take the job. Bye!”

There is a scene in which a blond woman is watching a boy ride a scooter. Vincent is nearby, and I assumed he came for her. But no, it was the boy he was visiting. He says he’ll come back later. It turns out this boy was the son of one of Vincent’s victims. He was there when Vincent murdered his mother, but he’s blind.

Vincent notices police cars and officers and walks down an alley to get away from them, taking off his glasses as well. He bumps into a gang member, who says that he shouldn’t be there. Vincent says he doesn’t want any trouble, but the other man flashes a gun. Vincent stabs him, getting shot himself. He leaves another gang member unharmed. Next he’s at his home, stuffing bread into gun shot wounds. I find this odd, especially for someone so concerned with germs. Ah well. Then he wraps them up with saran wrap. In the background is the video that keeps popping up: a blond woman being stabbed. Vincent’s mother was killed by his father. He was in the closet, taping it.

Vincent takes Stanley to a ferris wheel - they’d built a model together. Vincent worked with a mentoring program so he could get closer to Stanley. He was very protective of him. He said Stanley helped him see. His first murders were done with overkill - he stabbed the victims 20, 30 times. After Stanley’s mom, he still had the urges to kill but only could stab them once. Remorse? He couldn’t stop, but wanted the police to stop him.

So they’re at the top of the ferris wheel, and Vincent tells Stanley never to wish he was dead, that he is special. As they go down, Vincent dies, holding Stanley’s hand. He knows he killed his mom - that part was really sad. He just lost his best friend - who killed his mom. Sad.

I had one complaint: it is the same as last week. It seems that Morgan and Rossi are so intuitive that they don’t even need to listen to witnesses. It’s amazing. Stanley’s foster mother was talking to them after she notices Stanley is gone. They don’t let her finish her thoughts, but supply answers for her. It wasn’t so bad in this episode, but it was really noticeable in other episodes. It seems to be Morgan and Rossi more than the others. This bothers me because shouldn’t they want to hear what she says without putting words in her mouth? I understand that sometimes you would need to prompt a witness, but you can’t tell them what happened; they need to tell you. Maybe a minor point, but one that gets to me!

Anyway, overall, I liked the episode quite well. I felt bad for Vincent - that is an unimaginable thing for a child to see. But then again, he killed several women. He orphaned Stanley. It shows us again that life is not black and white nor are all the unsubs. There is true evil (like the sociopathic little boy in last week’s episode) but then there are also people who have been broken like Vincent.

What did you think of “The Big Wheel”? And Alex O’Laughlin?

Update: I totally forgot! We have another CM on tonight. “Brothers in Arms,” about a killer targeting Phoenix police officers will reair tonight at ten on CBS, taking the place of Harper’s Island (which moves to Saturday night at nine). Enjoy this bonus!

“The Big Wheel” airs tonight at nine on CBS. Make sure to tune in to see Alex O’Laughlin make an appearance on prime time. The Boston Herald has an interview with him. Here are some excerpts in which he talks about CM and Moonlight, his canceled CBS show:

“I’m playing a villain, kind of,” O’Loughlin told the Herald last week in a telephone interview. “He’s a very flawed human being, but there is redemption as far as I’m concerned.

“As I’m moving into this leading-man phase of my career, you don’t even get to read roles like this very much and you don’t get offered guest-star parts like this. I’m an actor - I didn’t go to leading-man school, I went to acting school,” he said, then laughed.

Of Moonlight:

“I look back at it with a broken heart for the most part. I put every part of me into that show. I was fighting for it from every angle and I was there from the very beginning…‘Moonlight’s’ disappearing out of my grasp. It’s sad, but I’m so glad to have been a part of it.”

Luckily, we can see him in Three Rivers, coming soon to CBS. In this one, he plays a cardiothoracic surgeon. Until then, tune in tonight to catch Alex as a killer who suffers from OCD. Enjoy!

TV Squad has a great interview with upcoming guest star, Alex O’Laughlin. Here’s an excerpt. For the whole article, click here.

You play a serial killer who’s possibly seeking redemption in Criminal Minds. Can you draw any parallels from that character to Mick St. John from Moonlight, or is this something completely different?

It’s definitely different, which is what drew me to the part. With Mick St John, the only thing the two have in common is that they are both in control of what they’re doing, but Mick was more in control than this guy. This character has a crippling case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which now runs his entire life. He’s had to stop working to maintain his anxiety, and it takes him all day and every moment to control it. And the killing is part of that as well. It’s a form of control for him, and yes, he is seeking redemption.

Did you study the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder before taking on this role?

Yeah, I actually had it. I think a lot of us have a certain degree of it, I know I do, but I’m not crippled by it. When I was a young boy in elementary school I was quite a blatant example of a child with OCD, and I remember how it used to make me feel and how difficult it was. I also did a lot of reading and I studied the effects of OCD on children and how it continues from childhood to adulthood if left untreated.

Hello! It’s spring, and it’s actually hot where I live. Sometimes we have snow at the end of April (now the gods will send a snowstorm, I’m sure!), so we’re all pretty happy in my neck of the woods. In a month, we will all be complaining about the heat, but in VT, we like to complain about the weather. It is our state past time.

On to Criminal Minds. We’re going to get spoiled with all the episodes lately. Not only do we get a new one Wednesday - hold on, Alex O fans! - we get a rerun on Thursday. On TVGuide.com, it lists Harper’s Island for that time slot (10:00), but that is being moved to Saturday nights. CM will fill in and then the following week, CSI will take the spot with a rerun.

Harper’s Island, if you haven’t seen it, is kind of a mystery show that is set to run until August, I believe. It’s a limited run show that features a group going to an island wedding off the coast of Washington. One by one, and week by week, a member gets murdered. The remaining ones have to figure out who is behind it. CBS has already produced and edited the show, which saves it from cancellation. Because its ratings don’t make it a great follow-up for CSI at nine, CBS has banished it to Saturday nights, which is kind of a no man’s land for TV shows.

I liked the idea of this a lot -but I have a hard time committing to a show and a time (except Wednesdays at nine). But Harper’s Island made up for some of its less-than-stellar ratings by being strong on DVR and online streaming. I know you can watch it on Instant Watch through Netflix, and I believe also on Hulu.com. I love this because if you miss an episode, you’re not left behind. I think it’s smart that they’re streaming it online because you can always catch up and then tune in on TV when you can. So Harper’s Island will survive till the end, but just on a less-watched night. Has anyone seen it? I saw the first episode, so maybe I’ll just wait and watch them all in one tv-gluttony day.

The two-hour CM season finale will be on May 13 from 9-11. President Obama will be having a press conference at eight, so the show was pushed back. Until then, we have some new episodes! Great. This week’s episode is “The Big Wheel.” Alex O’Laughlin fans have been really stoked about this for a while. You know, Alex O’Laughlin looks really different, but he’s still kind of hot with the glasses. Here’s a promo:

I love him! I do; I think he’s moody and excellent. Do I care he left the show? I wish he was still on CM, but I’m not going to get wound up about it if he thought it was time to move on. And we don’t ever really know what’s in someone’s head or heart, so I’m still a huge fan. Anyway, he recently was appearing with Patty LuPone (who played in Life Goes On, right?). The duo performs songs from
Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Vernon Duke and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Thirty years ago, they both were in “Evita,” and won Tony Awards for their efforts. Mandy gave an interview, talking about this role and others that appears in The Buffalo News. Here’s an excerpt about his television roles:

TV is a touchy subject for Patinkin, since his recent projects have ended in controversy. Fans still want to know why one of their favorite actors left his television role in “Criminal Minds.” And “Chicago Hope,” years earlier.

“We had some real differences in the ‘Criminal Minds’ thing, some creative differences and I’m, uh. That’s just over. It’s the past. Don’t have very much to say about it. I’ve just moved on.”

Anyway, for those of us who love Mandy, the entire article can be found here. Happy Sunday!

Medium- an “iffy” show

A few days ago, I wrote about Cold Case and Without a Trace being on the bubble, or in danger of cancellation. Canada.com has an excellent article about this and gives lists of shows it thinks are safe, iffy, and dead or dying. If you want to check this out, click on the link above. And CM is on the safe list. Someone on the comments for that post said if shows are canceled, so be it. That’s what happens on TV. I definitely agree - except when shows I like are canceled! I watch very few shows (I think a lot of CM fans watch few shows, from what I’ve read and heard - we’re selective!) - but on the iffy list is one of my other favorites, Medium.

NBC is moving Jay Leno to ten o’clock weekdays, which means there are five fewer spots for other tv shows. This will save an absurd amount of money, but will it also lose NBC an absurd amount of viewers? I like Jay Leno but it’s not really prime time stuff. And I think many people would rather watch dramas - and many advertisers would rather have shows that people actually watch, so we’ll see.

Also, last week’s poll was on who you would rather take a long road trip with. Our choice…Reid, followed by Hotch. This was the exact same result as last week, which tells me I need to come up with better questions.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I think this is my favorite episode of this season. “A Shade of Gray” was exciting - and even though I was convinced who the unsub was, I was surprised. When the family is trying to give the press conference and later when they were talking to Emily, I thought Danny knew something. I figured he’d seen or heard something because he looked so upset (good act, huh?). And while I think I’d need to be medicated if my son or daughter were victimized, I hope I could pull it together enough to answer questions - which after seeing the ending, I understand how difficult it was for her to sit there and lie, knowing what she did.

As the team is looking for the unsub, magician Penelope pulls out a name based on credit card purchases (Rollins hadn’t made purchases on the days when the other two victims were abducted). They go to pick him up, finding toys and kiddie porn on the computer. It turns out that there were toys belonging to the first two victims. Here’s where I thought I knew what was happening: when Det. Lancaster was going to shoot Rollins, I thought, “Yes, it’s him. He’s going to shoot that guy to cover up that he did it.” Then they find the child - specifically Det. Lancaster found him. I’ve read that the murderers themselves will often pretend to “find” the body of their victims to try and throw off suspicion. And the manner in which Kyle was placed as opposed to the other boys told the BAU that someone cared about him, unlike Rollins who treated the other two like trash. (BTW, I thought the actor who played that piece of trash was awesome. He was creepy and pathetic and dirty, which savvy enough to confess to avoid going to a harsh prison.)

But the pieces don’t add up. The body placement, the time line, etc. Rollins said he threw Kyle’s body in the river, which obviously wasn’t true when they found him in the woods. In addition, Reid noticed that Kyle had slept in Danny’s bottom bunk, wetting his pants and leaving his stuffed animal. They had a billion crime scene people and no one noticed wet pants? Or that both bunks had been slept in? (Maybe I watch too much CSI!) Anyway, they put together the pieces and determine that the crime scene was staged. They think Det. Lancaster is covering for Danny or Sarah. Prentiss goes to talk to them, noticing that their body language indicates they are covering for each other.

Prentiss is left with Danny while Rossi interrogates his parents. They finally break down, at the same time Danny is beating up a bag of chips and expressing absolutely no emotion - no fear, no sadness. It turns out that he had killed his brother because Kyle had broken his model airplane. Kyle was always getting into his stuff, sleeping in his bunk. I can see where the parents would want to protect their son. If it were an accident, it would be tragic to lose both of them. But then the detail that clinches it for everyone: Danny had stuffed chips of wood from the model plane down Kyle’s throat. Emily tells them that he is a sociopath, he cannot feel remorse or guilt. He never will.

This was a chilling end. Can you imagine? This is terrifying. I know that it is probably extremely rare for a child to be born in happy, loving, “normal”, family and be a stone cold sociopath (or I hope it is). What is it that makes these kids how they are. Some brain wiring problem? It’s just bizarre. I think I could cover for an accident - but something like this? He will do it again. And he won’t care. The emotion Danny showed at the beginning? An act or was he just scared of getting caught? When talking to Prentiss, he didn’t seem afraid at all.

This episode kept me on the edge of my seat, even though I thought I knew what happened. What did you think?

There is a new episode of CM tonight - but it’s at ten. “The Crossing” will reair at nine, and then “A Shade of Gray” will follow.

Here’s a promo to whet your appetite until then.