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.