Criminal Minds spoiler thread for "No Way Out" starring Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, A.J. Cook, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness and Mandy Patinkin.Writer by Simon Mirren and directed by John E. Gallagher. Guest starring: Rusty Schwimmer, Amy Madigan, Keith Carradine, J.K. Palmer, James Horan, Melissa Leo,and Otto Sanchez.
"Gideon is pitted against the scariest and most evil murderer in his entire career. When the BAU confronts the sadistic killer in a remote diner in the Nevada desert, the local authorities want to move quickly and make an arrest. But Gideon bides his time as he attempts to persuade the man, who has sworn not be captured, to reveal the whereabouts of a woman he is holding hostage."
One of my all time favorite episodes ever. I loved the use of flashbacks in this episode. It really made the diner scene with Frank more interesting then if they had just filmed the case in real time. Very mysterious and puzzling from the very beginning and I was hooked from the very first second of the episode and I think Mandy and Keith Carradine turned in award deserving performances.
ReplyDeleteI loved the twist at the end with Frank kidnapping the bus full of kids and hiding it in the desert. He was one step ahead of Gideon, which didn't often happen.
For me the real twist was thatJane had been perceived as the town nut for years because she believed she had been abducted by aliens and then it turned out that she was Frank's only victim who got away. The mind is a powerful thing. Jane's mind dealt with the trauma of almost being killed by creating a "memory" that she could live with.
ReplyDeleteThe whole episode was great. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat captivated by Frank and wondering what his game was.
Garcia finding his path of murders and racking up the numbers was chilling!
Seeing Frank sit in the diner calmly sipping his strawberry milkshake was nerve wracking and had me glued to the couch. The inflection of his voice was scary as hell. You just knew that this man was the defintion of pyschopath! It was terrific. I loved every spine tingling moment of the episode and the flashbacks were very well done and really added to the anticipation that you were going to be shocked and amazed. I was both!
ReplyDeleteThis was really great editing by the Criminal Minds produciton crew! The scenes fading into each other and the flashbacks were perfectly executed and made this episode great. The highlight for me was Frank getting away with Jane. Frank forcing Gideon to choose between capturing him or saving the children was brilliant writing. This nut got away and the whole team knows he will kill again. This was the perfect episode. No flaws, no pauses, no down moments.
ReplyDeleteThis was definitely one of my favorite villains. Frank is so creepy, and so completely aware of what he is and what he's doing...
ReplyDeleteThe twist at the end, where the kids are so close and Frank gets away...man, good writing.
Funniest part was Reid explaining to them that you can associate peas with seratonin levels and the way that the brain feels love. Reid never fails to amaze!
ReplyDeleteI did think Reid was weirdly unsympathetic towards Jane with some of his remarks. Given his mom's mental condition, I found that surprising.
I had a hard time wrapping my brain around Gideon letting Frank leave. I would have thought he would keep Frank and profile him to find the kids on the bus or search for kid while Frank was in custody. It was hard to reconcile the BAU just letting this killing machine just drive off into the sunset. Having Gideon be the one to drive Frank did reinforce the fact that Frank did best Gideon but it seemed contrived and just a way to let us know that Frank would be back.
In the end I still really enjoyed this episode. I was shocked at the performance by Carradine. I seriously didn't know the man was such a great actor.
I look forward to rewatching the episode this week.
One genius versus another genius worked for me. Patinkin and Carradine nailed the episode with their give and take. Loved how they use flashbacks to show us how they got to the diner and Frank.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this episode. Frank is definitely one of the creepiest unsubs ever. The flashback structure was a nice change. I'm not even a big Reid fan, but I still laugh when I think about him exclaiming "Peas! It's peas, too!" That was probably my favorite scene with him and Emily. Of course, I enjoyed JJ and Garcia dozing off in Garcia's office, as well. I'll look forward to watching this one again.
ReplyDelete"You won't feel a thing"
ReplyDeleteFrank was the best unsub so far!
Loved the episode but one thing did bug me and I have always remembered it. Reid is a very compassionate person and hearing him say, "Oh, a psycho with a whistle, that's weird"? , was too out of character to believe. It might sound petty but I like when the characters stay true to themselves and with is family history of schizophrenia it was unreal to here him say that. Keith Carradine really brought the creepy with him and he was great!
ReplyDeleteThe look on Hotch's face when they entered the killing trailer was horrifying and Reid looked like he was going to barf.
ReplyDeleteFrank is the opposite of Gideon in every way in this episode but not in intelligence or the ability to profile. They profiled each other. I think that is the sign of a arch nemesis. Two people who match up in everything but basic values. Like Gideon might have been on crack or if he had cracked.
Our first head in a BAG. Wasn't it the bus driver's head that he hacked when he stole the bus with the kids?
ReplyDeleteReid being insensitive was unusual but he certainly will have nightmares after seeing the trailer.
I didn't care for the way they ended the episode but it was nec. so they could bring back Frank and that made it worth it. Frank was a great unsub.
I loved this episode! Keith Carradine was perfect as Frank. What a creepy character.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the flashback was really great, and it told the backstory of how Gideon and Morgan ended up in the diner.
Gideon was even more intense than usual, and Frank and Gideon's dialog was fabulous. "What's in the baaaag, Jason." Loved it!
Jane was such an interesting character and as people have previously commented, her brain dealt with being abducted by Frank as being kidnapped by aliens brought her ridicule by the townfolk, but who knew? The windchimes made from rib bones was a creepy touch.
I loved Reid's ramble about peas ans seratonin, I love the way his voice squeaks sometimes when he going on a fact filled ramble!
The creepy kidnapping of the town's children was a perfect escape for Frank, knowing that Gideon would let him go to save the children.
And his parting comment to Gideon, when Gideon said that he would kill himself than become ilke him, "Let me know when you do, Jason, I'd love to pick your brain," was such a funny double entendre.
I still am trying to figure out how Frank and Jane left without leaving a trace. The only thing I can come up with is a hot air balloon, but it would have been kind of obvious out there in the desert. Maybe he had dug a secret chamber underground that he and Jane hid in until everyone left. Does anyone have any guesses about that?
This is one of the creepiest episodes ever - and one of the best!
ReplyDeleteKeith Carradine was brilliant. His voice was perfectly creepy.
I love it when JJ and Garcia get to work together. And when Garcia was feeling around for her glasses...I can so identify!
And my favorite scene is the one on the porch with Reid giving a technical definition of love. He gets so excited, so carried away!
Great episode!
one of my all time favorite episode. Keith Carradine was so creepy, his voice, the way he drank his milk shake as if all was alright.
ReplyDeleteThe trailer of horrors still gives me shivers just to think about it! Hotch horrified look when he saw what was in it!
This is CM at its best!
Brigitte
This was an episode where the special guests almost upstaged our beloved team! Almost :). Keith & Amy were simply phenomenal as Frank & Jane. This episode had me sitting @ the edge of my seat wondering what atrocities Frank had planned next.
ReplyDeleteAlso...I LOVED the Garcia/JJ interaction in this epi. I love when they work together, & this epi totally delivered that.
"Ow...stabby"
I had a new affinity for peas after that episode! :)
ReplyDeleteKeith Carradine was excellent as the creepiest bad guy ever! That trailer of his would give anyone nightmares. This episode had an interesting twist with the flashbacks intermeshed with the present.
while i enjoyed this episode it was not one of my favourites. i've never been a fan of gideon and this episode had to much for my liking. however, i did love the prentiss and reid scen on the porch about love chocolate and peas. that was brilliant!! i also love when garcia and jj work together and they were very entertaining in this episode.
ReplyDeleteThis was especially awful as we learned that because of what happened, Gideon leaves the BAU.
ReplyDeleteThe whole finding out about the mother sub-plot was interesting, but I hated the ending, somehow I do not think they would commit suicide beneath the train, however insane they were. I thought it was a kind of cheap easy answer.
Lociloco
This is one of my favorite episodes also. I think it was wonderfully directed and edited as well as an excellent script.
ReplyDeleteReid's rambling attempt to explain love in scientific chemical terms is classically his way of dealing with things when he is freaked out. They had just realized that the wind chimes were made of human rib bones--something that creaped them all out. Explaining it in less creapy terms helped him deal with it, but drove the others nuts, leading Hotch to say "shut up, Reid." The whole thing came out very funny, adding some humor to a very dark scene.
A couple of people mentioned they though Reid was out of character when he unsympathetically called Jane "Oh, a psycho with a whistle, that's weird"? Yes, Reid's mother is a schizophrenic and while we want to think of him as sympathetic to all people with mental illness, that's not necessarily true. Reid has lost a lot due to his mother's illness causing him to have mixed feelings toward her. (He writes to her every day to make up for his guilt at not going to see her.) She's his mother, but her illness--and his fear that he may have inherited it from her--makes him frustrated and have unresolved anger toward her and the disease. When he's paying attention, he will mask that and appear sympathetic.
At that point, they didn't know who Jane was. Caught off guard, it's quite believable that he wouldn't sound that sympathetic to an unknown "psycho".
I'm looking forward to rewatching this episode. It was great the first time I saw it. The head in a bag was really similar to one of the final scenes in David Fincher's movie Se7en which I loved. I thought everyone gave terrific performances in this episode!
ReplyDeleteLOVED this episode. Frank was our best unsub in all the episodes. So cold and calculating. An evil Gideon.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Frank, but it's a really well done episode. I love the JJ and Garcia scenes in it!
ReplyDeleteThe best line in the whole episode was:
ReplyDeleteGarcia: Ow! Stabby!
I loved the flashbacks and usually things like flashbacks drive me nuts but in this episode it kept things interesting.
Beautifully written and executed episode and Mandy and Keith both deserve lots of praise for it.
I think one of my favorite episodes and one of my favorite parts was when Jane points out that love is insanity. The whole discussion in the car as Gideon drove Frank and Jane into the desert was interesting. Good man trying to get through to the evil man and the potential vulnerable, mentally unstable woman and them trying to get through to him that they are okay now that they have found each other. It was really an interesting scene and I bet it was hard to write.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few minot blips in this one. At one point you can see some production mike or something in the left top corner but aside from that it brought the awesome.
ReplyDeleteCarradine played a sociopath so well that I would be scared for a second if he walked into a room I was in.
I learned something about Morgan in this episode. He was impatient with Frank in the diner which I think is a sign of his youth and his need to get more experience. You could tell that Gideon knew Frank already had a plan in play but Morgan really didn't have the experience to clue in.
Garcia was a hit. Looking at he pictures and her working with Ms.Stabby was the light side of the episode.
Extremely great episode!
One of my all time favorite episodes of the series and my personal favorite for season two without a doubt. Loved the use of flashbacks in this episode - really made the diner scene with Frank so much better then if they had just run the case outright. Very mysterious and puzzling from the very beginning I was once again hooked from the very first second and I think Mandy turned in one of his best performances with a man he could not get the better of in the time that he was given. I liked the twist at the end with Frank kidnapping a schoolbus full of kids and hiding them deep within the desert as his escape plan. You could tell that the writers were really intent on making this a good episode, as could be evidenced by the fact that they were using it to setup the finale to deal with part two of this story. There wasn't a scene that wasn't important and there wasn't really anything that brought any part of the episode down. The show doesn't use flashbacks very often but here was the perfect example of being able to know when you need to use a new tactic to tell a story.
ReplyDeleteThe horror of what Frank had done to so many innocent people over the years was difficult to behold, it's not often we see Hotch react as he did when he entered that trailer and I thought Reid was going to show us his breakfast. And crazy Jane playing a whistle made out of human bone was really shocking.
ReplyDeleteI sat on the edge of my chair watching this episode the first time and again tonight.
I loved this episode for several reasons firstly the format. In a memento-esque way we start with Gideon confronting the unsub and then work backwards to find out how they got there I think this is a really interesting way of telling a story as it gets your mind going, piecing things together as you go. Early on we are told this guy is pretty much the most evil and sadistic killer Gideon has come accross in his entire career and as the story progresses are not dissappointed it is pretty gruesome, not so much visually but as you empathise with the victims ordeal.
ReplyDeleteThe episode has a bit of a se7en feel to it and it is well acted especially Mandy (Gideon)and Keith Carradine (Frank). The ending also opened up possibility of revisiting this story and the second part was even better than this episode. Throw in a couple of clever twists and bam Criminal minds delivered us yet another enjoyable hour of TV! Can't wait to rewatch part two of 'Frank v. Gideon'.
It is weird watching episodes with Mandy in them since he left but this one was especially weird for me because I think this was his best performance on the show. The dialogue between Gideon and Frank was rivoting and so well acted. The writing was dead on and the flashbacks were perfect. Wonderful directing in this one. A+
ReplyDeleteLoved the episode!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the episode but I had a hard time understanding why the BAU wasn't able to track Gideon when he was driving them away and also that he let Frank go. But I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete