Criminal Minds spoiler thread for "Our Darkest Hour" written by Erica Messer and starring Joe Mantegna, Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, A.J. Cook, Matthew Gray Gubler and Kirsten Vangsness.
**Beware! There will be spoilers in the comments. **
109 comments:
Can't believe this is about to be the end of the season - what will we do?! Should be an excellent show with Tim Curry being the unsub - what terrific casting! You can see the potential for him to be downright insidious just looking at those eyes!
Looking forward to an exciting epi without a cliffhanger ending that might cause us to worry all summer if one of our beloved cast members is going away as the last two have been; do not want to waste a minute thinking about that!
U guys are on the season finale already??? In australia we havent even watched Mosely Lane (5.16) no fair
Season Finales are both good and bad. Always exciting to to see what happens, see what the cliffhanger will be. Bad because it means a very long summer ahead of us.
Great season from everyone - our wonderful cast, our fantastic writers, and our great production team.
Can't wait to see how you wrap the season up.
From where I read the full story?
please tell. I am excited to read it out.
I know it will be good. Ed was so kind to chat with us yesterday and I got some very good vibes from him that this will be an awesome ending. Glad to hear they are already working on the next season. I have the feeling they will outdo them selves in 2010/1!
I nearly died last year, when the season finale cliffhanger implied that Hotch got shot in the face. Really don't need a repeat performance of that. xD
Private Investigator: Until the show actually airs, sometimes in Canada or poss a couple other countries, a day earlier (Tues instead of our usual Wednesday) and a CM fanatic writes about it, you won't see the "story" on this blog. But if you scroll down to the 2 entries just before this one you commented on, you will see a summary promo-ing the show under the picture of the guest star unsub, Tim Curry. Under that one, you will see a pic of our sweet guy, Matthew, looking handsome with his new haircut, and there is a web address where you can go to read an TV Guide interview with Matthew about the finale (and his haircut!) I don't believe this is a link; you must type the actual TV guide website address to get to it. Hope this helps!
Glad the rest of you are hoping for a less scary finale than the past 2 we have seen! MGG seems to be saying so, too, and I'm happy about that.
Someone who is tweeting, pls let me know if it's really worthwhile to sign up for Twitter to see what our team is saying; I don't do Facebook and can't afford to get pulled into a timesuck that's like FB (if it's anything like that:)
so excited for this finale even though in ireland we have a few weeks to go im going to watch it online and the again on t.v ha :)
Oh this is for gubegirl (if u see this) yeah u should get twitter thomas(hotch) and joe (rossi) always post pics and its just fun ha :)
=( season finale....kinda sad about this fact. but still looking forward seeing the epi....sounds cool
OMG I'm hyperventilating about the season finale already!!!! I can't wait!!!!:) It's really hard to believe the season is over already....what a great season! I can't wait to see Tim Curry be his creepy self and our team to kick ass:-D I'm soooo worried about Morgan!!! I hope that we don't have to wonder if a cast member is returning next season.....because I cannot handle another season like the last to with TG!!!
Happy watching to my Hotch sisters and all my CM sisters!!!!
Lasell xoxo
I feel that same ambivalence (yay for a big special epi; boo that the season will be over). Can hardly wait for the DVDs to come out. I have everything saved into DVR, but I look forward to those extras you get.
Nice that we won't be frantic with fear for one of our favorite characters. I don't need another summer hiatus hissy to keep me worrying.
Bring it on, guys.
Already the season final? Can´t wait to see this episode.
I´m gald they are working on the next season.
It's always such a pleasure to chat with Ed - and Ed, if you're reading this...thank you for spending the time with us on Monday night! I love your take on "no end to CM - ever"! Be assured, we all feel the same way.
I'm excited about the new ep but sad that we are at season's end. What will we do on Wednesday nights over the summer?
OMG, Tim Curry is one creepy dude (no offense, Tim ;).
I will miss CM over the summer. Time to pull out the DVDs.
Why didn't they send female agents to interview the rape victim? Garcia loves dogs and I love Garcia. Tim Curry is one spooky looking dude.
A Reid Rant!!!! <3
of course Hotch is ok with the mother being killed and leaving a son behind.... why would something like that strike a chord with him??
AAAAAH! (rant over)
^Anonymous, you're on something? Geez, Hotch isn't ok with it. Why the disdain with Hotch? We all know he cares. It doesn't help this victim nor future victims to "get all mushy." The rapist has been moving fast and there is a lot of pressure on the team. Hotch as the leader has to be professional and focused.
@Jenna: Male detectives can be very good in talking to female rape victims. Some victims even prefer to talk to males. It all depends on the detective/agent.
Interesting episode. That this unsub was really after Detective Spicer after decades was interesting. I don't understand why Spicer and Morgan would go into the house without backup.
Vali - no kidding? glad you let me know.
There have been multiple episodes where the son loses the mom and Hotch never even flinches. Our writers are better than that. So to answer your rather rude and unecessary question - no, I'm not on anything, I just like a touch of reality.
Great epi.... definitely hit the "fear of the dark" buttons.
Sure wish the ending had been one to puzzle and figure out during the summer break - like Fisher King
what a cliffhanger! i can't possibly wait until SEPTEMBER for the new season! :(
Rolling blackouts seem like a road map for any kind of criminal. No security alarms, doors open and even the cell phones went dead. Intentional witnesses. Well Spicer was an intentional witness and didn't even remember it.
How stupid was that woman for going into the house when she knew she had only left the door open a crack and it was no wide open.
Pretty good episode.
Blood on the wall just like the ending of the Fisher King Part Two.
Oh no, what a cliff hanger, guys. I don't know if I can wait that long! Oh please, hope the girl will be ok!!
Great episode! Loved to see Glen Close again. Tim Curry is a great unsub. Very disgusting! Hard to believe though that you'll find someone with such gross teeth in LA. Hey it's SoCal! People look pretty there! LOL
One request: Can Morgan dress a bit more professional in the future? He's such a handsome man and used to look great in a suit. He is representing the FBI and should dress the part. Even the LAPD detectives know better ...
Thank you all who have been working on CM for another great season! All the best for the next!
when is the next season?
Curry was awesome as the creepy, chain smoking, yellowed rotten tooth unsub. I thought it was a good episode and I love that one of our BAU members wasn't left in danger but as cliff-hangers go it wasn't much.
I am going to make sure all the windows and doors in my home are locked tight tonight. Very scary episode. I thought the actors were great. The scene in the hospital with Rossi and Reid talking to rape victim was wonderful. They didn't want to tell her that she would always remember the unsub's face. Very compassionate. I love our team!
Sorry if I came on too strong, anonymous. I thought your post was rather rude and inappropriate. I don't think it's cool to hide behind anonymous when you post something so harsh.
Hotch is known not to flinch. There's one episode though when a kid was forced to slap his mom when Hotch kinda lost it and had to turn away.
I had goosebumps when Garcia told them that she figured out that he had been doing this for 26 years in 48 states. I guess we'll find out why he came back for Spicer when season 6 starts. I get they were saying that Spicer was his first witness but I wonder why he chose now to return.
Well, they have managed to leave us with a cliffhanger that is just as nerve wracking as when one of our team is in danger.
Creepy and enraging. I just want the unsub to be taken down in some horrible way. That guy is a master of control. To have Morgan on the ground and helpless - that just makes the situation even more frightening.
Great job everyone! Thank you for a wonderful season. I think this was the best one yet!
Relax and enjoy your summer. We'll be here eagerly awaiting your return in the fall!
I knew this was some how tied to the detective. They gave him more screen time and interaction with the BAU than his partner. I don't know he could have blocked out the death of his parents.
Eek, once again they have us just hanging there.
oh. my. god. it was storming where i live so the power kept going out!!! it was really scary plus i missed most of the first half of the episode :(
I was kinda disappointed with the cliffhanger at the end. I really want to know what happened! Also there didnt seem to be a lot of jj or prentiss, who are my two favorite characters!
other than that, it was a pretty good episode....very intense and scary! Tim Curry did a wonderful job!
Convenient how the cell phones just stopped working when Morgan figures out that they really need to go to the house where the detective grew up so they had no way to tell Prentiss and the rest of the team. I thought the episode had some holes but all in all it was decent. I am glad they didn't repeat the supsense of last season's finale episode. I care if the girl is raped but it is a better cliff than wondering if one of our cast is hurt.
Kudos to the makeup department for making Tim Curry's teeth look worse than they did in "It". I don't know how he can stand it, but what a fabulous actor!!
Okay - I want the unsub to die a really terrible, slow, painful (maybe even embarrassing) death.
Excellent episode. I'm totally creeped out and angry at the unsub.
Great job everyone on the CM team!
Thank you for all of your hard work this season - I think it was the best season yet.
Enjoy your summer. You deserve a great break. We'll be eagerly awaiting your return in the fall.
The final episode was a killer, cliffhangers usually are not that great, but this one was awesome.
Just wish more of a fight would have been put up by Spicer, but oh well. Can't complain with an ending like that.
Can't wait till the next season.
The guy should have listened to Morgan. If he had the episode would have had a different ending. Morgan is going to have tons of PTSD after this case is over. Rape and abusing kids doesn't sit well with our guy!
Curry = The Prince of Darkness!
He was fantastic.
Close's character was stupid. My whole family knew that if he dropped his gun he was going to be shot and his family would still be in danger. He should have listened to Morgan. Lame!
The rest of the episode was good. Pretty scary.
Loved the unsub and spicer ... killing in power outages spooky.... ending? Fail.
Wow. Great episode. Can't wait for next season to start. It was a great episode for Mogan lovers.
So the unsub lives in a trailer. I wonder why he came back for Spicer. I wonder if it was because Spicer liked to talk to the press and the unsub remembered him. The profile that the BAU gave the police said that the unsub would turn out to have a feeling of being inadequate about something. Maybe it was his teeth, lol. I was totally blown away by Tim Curry.
Totally awesome!!!
A++++
How has he not been caught for so many years when his crimes have been so horrific and he does drugs??
Awesome episode.
He sacrificed himself for his kid. I don't think he was a coward. That makes him a hero.
Looking forward to the next season. Season five was great.
Loved it. Great job by all involved.
Since this is a two parter then we must get Tim Curry again next season. That's pretty cool.
I'm not really sure what I think yet...I'll let it settle a bit first. For the person who asked about twitter: Twitter is a great time. MGGs been on a while and is pretty good with it- a bit random as one would expect. Kirsten goes in spurts and is really funny/fun. The rest just started before the hiatus and that has affected things quite a bit. TG started well, but is pretty much not on because he's home with the kids' school year ending and he's apparently a good Dad!! (field trips, etc). Joe got Gia on and they are both delightful. He's exceptionally interesting. AJ is also good. Her husband is sweet (not sweet, but SWEET! you know) as well. They seem just so great together. Paget doesn't tweet much but I've laughed more at her stuff than almost anything else I've seen on twitter (the comment about the sewer guy was priceless.CMfanatics also tweets so you can keep up to date on stuff.
I thought it was a great end to a near perfect season.
I really liked the opening of the episode. Great camera work.
This was an okay cliffhanger, not as good to me as the past ones where one of the team has been in danger.
Why would Spicer forget about his parents' murders for so many years and then boom, he remembers it didn't seem right to me?
I know it's usually females who go and question rape victims but please don't begrudge Reid just a little bit of air time. He's had so precious little this season. I hope season 6 will be better.
Great episode!
Okay, Tim Curry is just too scary, really really scary. Every time he was on I wanted to close my eyes, wow. Interesting episode and I am so glad no one on the team is in peril. I would haved loved to have more Hotch time but that is always the case :)
Thanks to all the crew, writers and great actors that make CM such an amazing show! This was a great season and I still cannot get 100 out of my mind!!!
Well just saw the season finale!! it was great.. Tim Curry was awesome! he realy is creepy!!, but still, we will have to wait untill july to see the rest on the next season.. so untill then i will submit a more accurate comment for obvious reasons..
P.S. good job!! so far!
Tim Curry makes a great villain. Even if I weren't a CM fan, I think I would have watched this for him. He's one of the few actors I go out of my way to watch things he's in.
The other detective (the one that wasn't Spicer) creeped me out almost as much as the UnSub. Not even sure what it is about him. Maybe his voice.
I watched an A&E special on the Night Stalker over the weekend, so I was practically bouncing in my seat in the opening scenes going 'I know that! I know that!' (I usually don't have more than a passing familiarity with the names of the famous serial killers).
Despite these things, I can't say I liked the episode. There were too many things that just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't care for the woman going into the house when the door was open; I didn't care for the restrained rape victim; I didn't care for the way Rossi kept looking at Reid when they were interviewing her; I didn't care for Reid's little rant about evil not existing; I didn't like Spicer. I kept waiting for Morgan or Prentiss to put him in his place.
I don't think it was bad, I just didn't like it. Maybe I'm just in a crabby mood, and maybe I just don't like cliffhangers or season finales (two true statements).
Actually, I hate cliffhangers. I'm not even going to acknowledge this one until we get the resolution of it in the fall.
Pbbfflliitt! :p
I really liked Reed quoting Dr. Knoll's wording on the use of the word term evil in forensic psychology. "Evil can't be scientifically defined. It's an illusory moral concept that doesn't exist in nature. Its origins and connotations have been inextricably linked to religion and mythology. This offender has shown no signs of any belief. I'm, uh, Spencer Reed."
Taken from the article by Dr. Knoll: http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/reprint/36/1/105
First, thanks to those who responded to me about Twitter. Might have to go for it. Wonder if much will be tweeted during the hiatus, tho'?
As far aas the finale: OMG! Tim Curry pulled out all the stops to be the grungiest, grossest, sickest unsub we have ever seen on CM! He was amazing as this creep; I cannot imagine anyone doing a better job and I'm excited to see him again next season maybe altho' I may have nightmares about him tonite! Or for a few nites! Ugh! Those teeth! Every bit of it seemed real - almost too real, he was downright disgusting!
No need to beat anyone up here...the season's over and I loved it. Not every minute but the majority of it, and for a 5 season series, well, it doesn't get much better than our CM. Keeps us guessing and on the edge of our seats MOST of the time and our team is loveable. And for those who feel it necessary to make negative comments, let me say just one thing: IT'S TV, for God's sake. Just because much of these scripts have real cases within each, they are not documentaries. I say, get over it and appreciate all the good, and the wonderful acting, writing, direction, eerie lighting and filming techniques, great settings and the wonderful producers: I say they deserve a round of applause. A standing ovation even.
I LOVE this show and I bet I will be watching 5 years from now if it is still on - and I pray that it will be.
Thank you everyone! Love all my Reid sisters and even tho' he now looks closer to 12 again with his boyish mop-top, I still think he is the best and cutest geek on TV!
HUGS to everybody!
OMG!!!!! That was awesome! This unsub only leaves one person alive and I imagine it's going to be Morgan. Thatis going to be truly horrifying for Morgan. How will he deal with the fact he listened to the screams of a child, and later, the screams of Spicer;s sister. He will probably have nightmares - major PTSD. The summer wait is going to be painfully LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought this was an interesting episode; although I didn’t feel it was as scary/creepy as Exit Wounds. I loved the opening, which chronicled the history of the unsub through nostalgic scenes of old using what appeared to be old film to modern day technology as the versatile Tim Curry sung creepily in the background to underscore his murderous saga. Curry’s unsub was grungy and gross. He would be scary if you met him alone at night, during the day he would look like a homeless man. He reminded me of the homeless woman Derek spoke with in Legacy.
The story made such a big deal about how the unsub murdered entire households leaving only one witness to basically relive the tragedy. But I had a hard time reconciling that with the fact that when he killed Det. Spicer, he left three witnesses: Derek, Spicer’s sister and Spicer’s daughter, even though he took her with him. This was a major contradiction and didn’t make much sense to me. And wouldn’t it have been more clever for the unsub to once again kill everyone, leaving Spicer to relive the tragedy as an adult. I’m not suggesting that Derek be killed, but that the scene had been written so that the original theme remained intact, and the audience had an opportunity to experience Spicer’s trauma, which played out little too quickly and then he was dead.
Why was there a sister and not a mother, and why wasn’t that explained? I watched this episode twice, and I didn’t recall there being mention of why Spicer’s daughter was with his sister and not the girl’s mother. Spicer seemed to be traumatized by the death of his parents; but I felt something was missing with no explanation about why his daughter had no mother in the picture.
Before Spicer’s death, it seemed like we were in the middle of another pilot for another spinoff. My husband even mentioned that Spicer was delivering dialogue that Derek should have been delivering. And the fact that Davi’s character started working for the police force the same year the unsub started killing telegraphed a possible storyline for part 2, which somehow connects him to the unsub as well.
We finally got a scene with Hotch/Prentiss albeit a brief one. However, with them left stuck in traffic on the interstate, the writers have set up a great opportunity to revisit Hotch’s trauma and the question Prentiss originally posed to him in the season opener, if he “wanted to talk about what happened” after the Foyet attack, when Hotch lied and said he couldn’t remember anything. Talking about what happened at this stage could cover the full gamut, the attack and Haley’s death. The only other thing to do while stuck in the dark possibly for hours on the highway in that much traffic if you’re the passenger is to sleep. That would be a waste of a promising storyline.
It was great that Morgan picked up that Spicer had a familar empathy for the kid that saw his mother die. That was incredibly sharp and you could tell that he didn't believe Spicer when he tried to infer that Morgan was reaching. Great performances by our cast and especially by Shemar Moore and Tim Curry.
When JJ asked Spicer if he would talk to the press at 11 Spicer said he didn't mind talking to the press because it hadn't hurt his so far. Great foreshadowing to our finding out that the unsub had been following Spicer through his past press interactions. It was shocking to see he had left the newspaper in the bed for Spicer to find.
Seriously good episode. Total congrats for the season.
I am having a bit of trouble believing that nobody in Spicer's family told him the truth about his parents in over two decades. Also, he is supposed to be a highly accomplished detective but he didn't listen to Morgan at the end or ever look for a file on his parents' supposed hit and run case. Wouldn't it have been normal for him to want to see the file when he became a cop?? Other than those two holes I thought the episode was a good season send off.
Rewatched it twice and liked it both times. We all have a long summer ahead of us. Time to pull out the dvds and start rewatching the older seasons.
My biggest concern/confusion about this episode is, i guess, a little tertiary... it just seemed rather incongruous that we would have two proceeding episodes so into the Morgan/Garcia relationship, and then have zero interaction in this one. I am HOPING for another 'God Given Solace' moment in the season opener, but somehow, waiting for that interaction made the whole thing feel like buildup...
it was good, as it always is but I didnt find it scary and I dont really like the dark...will be interesting to see what happens in the fall.
I am and always will be a Tim Curry fan, from the first time I sat under his corsetted crotch in England!
I know he is a great villain and so totally believable! Just the hint at the end of part I was enough to make me want more, more, more!
He is still hot at 61 and cannot get over the makeup...teeth! rotten inside and out!
Excellent job, writers, producers, actors and staff...as always!
omg i cant wait till september. i wish Australia wasn't so far behind America have to watch it on the internet. TV still hasnt played Mosely Lane. I hope they get the girl before the unsub.
PS im loving Mathhews hair cut he looks sooooo good and im not actually anonymous just cant be bothered making account atm
The Finale was very intense, I hate cliffhangers like that, and we have to wait to long to see what happens next. I loved it though.
But I have a question: Why when women write the episodes there is no flirting between Morgan and Garcia?
It was an amazing show like expected. The way it ended is sad, now we have to wait forever it seems. I think the biggest shock for me was how much the character of Reid has grown. Since it was a case with rolling blackouts, I thought he would be nervous and jumpy. When did he deal with his fear of the absence of light??
joycejeanne has a point! We should have all noticed that Reid had no fear of the dark during the rolling blackouts! Bring back the nerd-boy and all of his neuroses!
I loved this episode!!! I cannot wait until September! I mean seriously I cannot wait!!! The cast rocked as usual! Tim Curry was probably the most awesome creepiest, horrible teeth unsub ever!!! Kudos for casting him.. He scared the crap out of me and didn't even speak until half way through the ep!!! Great acting there! Excellent ep. See you in September CM!!!!
OMG, THE FINALE EPISODE WAS AWSOME, I MEAN REALLY, he didnt have to beat up morgan like that, not cool not cool...BUT ANYWAY AWSOME, when does the new season start????
new director? the style seemed to have changed...but in a good way. however, despite my prediction that Det. Spicer would die, I was still disappointed he had to...o well.
Seriously, Criminal Minds is ruining my nerves! Everytime the power goes out now I'm going to be on edge! I thought that this episode was amazing acting, directed and produced, and you have to give a big shout out to the writers. I actualy think it was a good idea to not go for such a 'huge' cliff hanger as last year. It almost felt like they were getting back to the psychological side of the show, and I loved that. And I absolutely loved seeing that side of Morgan. Okay, he's been hurt before but he is always the hero and he has never really been in the situation where he can't do anything. Everyone did us proud! Now, off to watch it again!
Oooh seasons finale is in Germany far and away. We already have watched 5.17 last weekend and now is a summer break till September ... what will I do till then ???
I liked the episode...Tim Curry was an excellent villian and if this was a regular episode I would have been blown away. But the ending fell a little short for me. CM usually has the BEST finales which end with a member of the team being in danger(My absolute favorite finale of all time being Season 3s finale). This ending felt like just another episode. The cliffhanger basically just dealt with this case, rather than the team. I was rather disappointed. But a very good episode otherwise.
Not as good as the season before. It's difficult for me to believe Tim Curry is a bad guy after knowing him from the movie version of "Clue" and also with him having done voices for Garfield and Sesame Street.
I didn't see any real cliff hanger as I am sure Morgan will escape or otherwise be found ok. Killing Matt Spicer made zero sense at that point in the episode, unless we find out this fall that Spicer is alive after all.
It was an "ok" episode, but nothing near as good as Hotch encountering Foyet in his apartment and then not knowing if Aaron was dead or not.
Sorry Criminal Minds, love the show, give you an "A" for the effort, but a C- on the actual finale.
I can't believe it! I want to see the next one!
Amazing episode.
I loved the season finale! I can't wait to see what happens in the fall. I'm glad this year there wasn't any 'who will live, who will die' because they've done that before. I also feel everyone got their share of screen time. Maybe not so much for Reid (who I adore) but the past seasons always seemed to focus on Reid or Hotch. The second half of this season had a lot more Garcia (who I also adore) and Morgan (my absolute favorite) so I'm happy.
I’m just a little creeped out and shaken by this episode & I think I have to watch it again to make any constructive comment .. I have to say though the team was great, the profiling was good and the case was worked well … some things that stuck with me ..
There was a comment above about Hotch being okay with the mother being killed and son left behind, I noticed though that he didn’t go into the house which to me indicated he didn’t want to confront this particular situation rather he focussed on the case at hand & Hotch being Hotch and the leader he is he couldn’t fall apart even if he wanted too .. reminded me of the comment he made to JJ in Birthright that it’s okay to loose it once in a while to which she responds that he never does, he does though respond with ‘maybe I should have’ …
In the story and the profile they said the unsub left one survivor/witness alive in each case, that isn’t necessary the case with Spicer he left two victims alive, Spicer and his baby sister … and was the grandfather there too? Spicer said his grandfather came in to tell him about his parents accident, made me think he too was in the house, I might be wrong here!!
Cliff hanger & three people alive … with one very creepy unsub …
Um, what year is this?
A killer who attacks during blackouts is a nicely icky idea, but the rolling blackout bit was years ago, so the idea that there are power outages in LA every summer took me right out of the story at the beginning. It's also frickin cold in California this year. However, using the fact that this unsub would push all the Richard Ramirez buttons was a strong point.
Tim Curry definitely brought the creep. I had no real concern that he wouldn't. But his character was incomprehensible, and not in a good way. He supposedly attacks in the dark and turns the pictures away because he doesn't want to be seen. Yet at the same time, he taunts Spicer and effectively engineers a confrontation. As a rule, he kills the strongest members of the household and leaves the weakest as a witness, but at the end, he leaves both Morgan and Spicer's sister alive. He has no reason not to shoot Morgan, especially, as the biggest threat. They also succumbed to the temptation to go over the top in making him one of the worst ever, with his track record of 26 years and 48 states. Isn't he bad enough just for what we see him do here? Plus, with the random choice of victims, they're giving us the second finale in a row with an omnivore-type killer.
Spicer's complicated history doesn't work either. We have to believe that he never found out before what really happened to his parents, despite the fact that he worked in law enforcement and the fact that the local paper ran a story on his life. At the same time, Morgan is able to magically revive his memories via a cognitive interview in a matter of minutes. You mean no crime this detective dealt with before ever triggered these memories?
I really didn't like the ending confrontation either, because it never allowed Morgan to really do anything to engage the unsub. Compare Reid's psychological battle to reach Henckle or Gideon's face off with Frank or Hotch's stalling of Foyet. Morgan's efforts are all directed at Spicer. The unsub is obsessed with Spicer, and Morgan is the obsessional crimes expert, but he makes no effort to mess with his head the way a profiler would. If Morgan blames himself for what happens, are we meant to feel that he should?
I guess I ended up scratching my head over too many things to really be absorbed by the story. There was only one moment that took my breath away: when Hotch says, "Do you have a child?" Yeek.
Nice touch: the unsub mashing the heck out of the cigarette. It puts us on notice that he is about to ruthlessly snuff out another light.
Robert Davi is made of awesome. He just is.
I don't care how many people roll their eyes at him. Reid's digressions are interesting.
Hotch with JJ, Rossi with Reid, and Morgan with Prentiss. Again, again. Here it even harms the story. Wouldn't it make more sense to send Prentiss to interview the wife who had been repeatedly raped?
I liked it. Not loved it or crazy about it though. The guest stars were def a bonus!
It is true Hotch hasn't had much reaction, and that it isn't really his style - but nobody from the team has mentioned it either. TO me it is like Reid and the syringe and ampule of drugs... did he or didn't he? There were lots of folks worked up over no consistency there, so I don't have a problem with Hotch fans not liking the lack of continuity.
Hopefully we will see Morgan fight with his own past / demons and take it out on smelly unsub man!
Good finale but not a great finale.
There were a few weak moments but all in all I liked it. I especially liked that they didn't leave one of our principal characters in danger again this season. I was very happy to see Morgan get some screen time but I would have liked to see a more even balance of cast and guest star. I think we had two very strong guest stars in this episode and it left less time for our principles. Maybe if we only had one really big named guest star it would have been better. I adored the camera work in this episode and I totally agree with whoever commented before me about the opening scene. It was splendid.
1) I'm disappointed in the ending. More specifically, in Eric Close's character and his reaction to the final moments of the episode. I've never been in that situation (and I hope I never will be) so I don't know how I'd react, but it just didn't seem realistic.
Also, it wasn't scary to me like Messer was apparently trying to make it. Fear was the emotion farthest from me--I was pissed off at people not making better decisions!!!
2) This is for the blogmaster: Please forgive me if this question has been answered elsewhere. Is there any particular reason that, at the end of entries which contain articles from other websites, the links to the rest of the stories aren't clickable?
of course it left us with a cliffhanger..i mean common....
i still don't understand why the spicer didn't just listen to morgan and never drop the gun..pure stupidity in my opinion...
anyway great epi as always
Bonjour,
I just watched the finale and honestly, I was very disappointed. Was it really a finale (with a cliffhanger)besides?! What I mean is I didn't feel/enjoy the inspiration of finales like season 2 and season 3 which has managed to keep us in suspense during the long summer vacation (4 months)! :(
Well, in another way, I have to admit that after to have watched the Grey's Anatomy's finale which was INCREDIBLE EXCELLENT, I had some great expectations with Criminal Minds finale... surely too much! :(
The BEST part for me: to see Morgan on the ground, losing his legendary confidence & smile ultrabright! Sad, isn't it?!
Just a detail though: where was his back up? Hotch, Rossi, Prentiss, JJ or even Reid? I thought FBI agents - like policemen - have never to be alone in action?!)
Tim Curry is scary unsub but sorry, I prefered Franck/Tobias or The Fox or the Reaper!
Anyway, I will wait Sept/Oct to watch the sequel but without any particular excitation!
To end this message, I would say that for me, this episode was at level with the whole 5th season, neither bad (except for the Fight which really sucked, sorry to insist on that!) or good (except for "100" & Mosley Lane" which were pretty good!)
Have a nice day folks,
gbraeme71
@DianaM: Exactly, I don't understand why Spitzer dropped his gun. It just didn't make sense to me. But like I said, I've never been in that situation--maybe he would've been overwhelmed by all the memories flooding back from his last encounter with the not-very-scary-at-all unsub (sorry Tim Curry).
@gbraeme71: The backup was headed to Spitzer's sister's house because that's the last communication they received. Everyone lost cell service before Morgan could tell them of his new idea as to where the unsub was.
I liked the episode, Tim Curry was creepy as hell and it felt as though the team - except from Garcia had equal time (but after the last two episodes I can overlook that). I found the case quite interesting but the whole detective remembering his past so soon after repressing it for so long happened a little fast but as the show is only fortyish minutes long I get why it happened so quickly!
Although the car bomb and Foyet's return will always be two of the most eventful and on the edge of my seat finales I'm still wondering what's going to happen next and I'm so looking forwad to season six starting it's just last nights episode seemed less like a finale and more like the first part of the two parters in the middle of the season like we usually get!
But I guess that's because one of the team members lives aren't hanging in the balance and like it's been said you can't alays have a team in danger cliffhanger, it'll get repetitive and with the Foyet arc this season I think it was the right way to go.
I still thought it was an awesomely creepy episode :)
OMG u guys rock!! I'm serious I'm dont know what I'm going to do all this time!! Great show, great cast.. love it love it love it
Very very angry he hit Morgan. Poor baby. I so love it if Morgan was the one to take him down next season, get his revenge on that fugly unsub :) Excellent season finale, very glad it wasn't a huge cliffhanger like last season. Can't wait for season 6! :)
I loved the episode. Creepy. Tim Curry did an awesome job. I also missed Morgan/Garcia interaction in this episode, but I realized that Morgan was put in trouble only in the very end of the episode, and there were no cells on or any other kind of communication. So I guess that Garcia may be playing a big role in the first episode of the next season, when Morgan will actually have to go through his horrible moment. And I wish the scene between Hotch and Prentiss were longer. Apart from that, the episode was great.
That was a great episode, really.Tim Curry was creepy as hell, but I missed our team a little bit. Okay, I know the focus was on Spicer cuz' he was the "key man" of the case, but I still missed the great interaction between the team members which we got in the last 3 or 4 episodes of this season.
But I loved this episode, and I loved that they didn't let me in panic because of Morgan. I mean as a desperated Hotch fan the last year's cliffhanger was painful to me. I didn't need another "bad, too long summer", but I have to agree with some other comments. It was not an usual season finale. It was just a really good episode which has a 2nd part, the only thing is that we have to wait 4 months for that. :)
The 5th season was mixed, but mostly I liked it really. Especially the first half of the season, cuz the Hotch-Foyet strand was amazing, definitely the best story of the CM's history.
I just wanna say a big THANKS to everyone, who worked on this season! It was such a great work, and I will come back in autumn and continue to watch Criminal Minds, because it's the best TV show ever in my book! :)
Have a nice summer holliday! See you in September!
All the best,
Gabriella
I agree it was like just a mid-season 2parter. Great, but just a 2parter. And the break? it seems to a natural flow with the rest of this season (breaks for Olympics, etc)
Still a diehard CM fan and season premiere I will be there just not on the edge of my seat.
I hope I don't come off as a complete sot but I think this felt more like a regular episode than a finale.
I loved Tim Curry, i am a big fan of his anyway.However I was dissapointed with the ending. Though the daughter was in peril, we had only seen her on screen for about 10 minutes, not enough time for us to get too emotionly invested in her character.
I saw too many plot holes. Why didn't he shoot Morgan, Spicer's sacrifice was for nothing if the unsub just drags the girl away after.
I did like this epi as a regular episode but the ending just fell flat for me.
Another thng I missed were the cookies, the little bits of backstory and team interaction the writers dole out everynow and then.
Are we to assume Reid is over his fear of the dark. why does he fear the dark in the first place? Hotch's son was in a similar situation as these victim's children. Jack must have heard everything. not one of these things are even lighty touched on.
Looking forward to season six., maybe Spicer is not dead.
Tim Curry was a great unsub and the teeth... well, ew. Good job crew!
I liked the epi until the end, when it just became 'meh'. The shooting victim was predictable and since I have no investment in the cop, I won't spend the summer wondering and waiting with baited breath for S6. Would have been more effective for Morgan to have made an actual mistake, putting someone's life (preferably one of the team for better effect) at risk.
Loved Thomas' look when the comment of 'why did the unsub leave her alive?' come up.. a nice throw-back to Foyet letting Hotch live. But still not enough continuity for that storyline. Come on, 9 stab wounds, dead (ex)wife, kills man w/ bare hands and all is well? Nah ah. But great leadership from our Unit Chief... needed more of him.
Good job CM, I will always love '100'! Enjoy the break and look forward to S6.
I agree with almost everyone else's comments so it is hard to follow them. I liked the episode and if it had been a mid season episode it would have been better imho. I don't feel invested in the cliffhanger. But I also agree with those that said the performances were super, the camera work was super, Tim Curry is incredible and CM is the best
For me, there were two huge glaring illogical turn of events that don't ring true so I can't truly embrace this episode.
First, that Spicer didn't investigate his parents' death when he has access to the reports. Even if he believed the accident lie, he would have wanted to be sure the drunk driver was brought to justice when he was old enough to make sure someone paid for his parents' death esp. if he felt responsible for it. I think he was really young when it happened but still, a cop like that would have looked into the case and found out the truth long ago.
Second, with the entire team plus the LAPD in the same room when they discovered who the unsub was after, only two people went to take down a sadistic, violent unsub with a possible 2-hostage situation?????? Did everyone else decide that they had more important things to do like pick up their dry-cleaning or wash their hair??? If it was my family in possible danger from a deranged unsub, I sure would have taken the entire police force and SWAT with me. In the past, they always take SWAT and most of the team with them to go get the unsub.
Granted, dramatic license needs to be written so that you can set up for the cliffhanger but this scenario is toooo far-fetched .
And to bring out a daughter and sister at the last moment leaves you not caring about the hostage.
Tim Curry did make a creepy unsub. He gets my vote for unsub most deviant and most in need of dental care.
At least, Reid got to put in two "poor puppy-eyed look of empathy at victims" look. One when the first rape victim asked when do you stop seeing the torturer when you close your eyes and second when he mention how being somewhat different from other kids can set you up for schizoid behavior later.
His hair looked cute in that mop-top sort of way.In a way, he now looks less likely to be taken seriously as a G- man. He makes an adorable frontman for a Yo Gabba Gabba band but less as a FBI agent. With all the fuss about his hair, he definitely is the Keri Russell of Criminal Minds.At least with this season for all you Hair Chronologists out there, season six can be divided into TFL-the Fabio Look, BKC-butterknife cut(the shortened look) and TGC(the guillotined cut). Kind of makes up for the lack of Reid time. :)
But seriously, thank you to cast and crew for a fun season with all your hard work.
Looking forward to what you have in store for season six!!!
Creepy unsub … I read somewhere that it was meant to be scary, but I can’t say that it scared me, I was affected by the case though, was awful to see the restrained, raped & beaten women lying in that hospital bed and hear the horrible things that she went through, I didn’t care for another Mother being killed leaving a child behind ..
I did like the opening with the film rolling, and Tim Curry’s score of the song in the background, top marks for effects and creepiness, camera work was amazing, somehow I don’t think I’d be able to listen to ‘I’m you Man’ again without being reminded of that moment!
The team worked the case well I thought, but it bothered me that the unsub managed to get away with what he did for 26 years in so many states, wouldn’t someone in law enforcement have connected the dots! ..But then again we’ve seen many of these through the past five seasons & it’s not stretching the truth with some of the real serial cases in years past.
There were a few things that didn’t sit right with me -
• The Mum walking into the house when clearly there was something not right with the door being wide open
• Okay I’ll buy the fact that maybe Spicer didn’t want to find out what exactly happened to his parents & was happy to live with what he had been told as a child of the incident, but I can’t buy it that his work in law enforcement would not have triggered some of his childhood memories of the incident … the whole cognitive interview and recalled happened a little too fast for me … but given content that had to be crammed into 45 mins I’ll let this one go
• A whole station full of cops, and why is it that only Morgan & Spicer go to the house looking for his daughter, specially give they know what the unsub is capable of? And with no vests?
• I agree with some of the comments above, the end was a little flat for me … okay I get that the unsub wanted to make an impact with Spicer, but I don’t know that killing him exactly did that … and with practically no fight
• Lack on Morgan’s part to talk down the unsub given his extensive experience on obsessional crime … it just all happened a little too fast for me!
As far as cliffhangers go, yes I want to know how this will all turn out but I’m not as invested in the characters & I thought Spicer could have played a larger part in this given the whole story line, and okay I’ll say it, the camera never goes to Spicer after he’s shot, could he come out of this alive? … cat among the pigeons!!
I agree that this feels more like a mid season two parter. That said I’m okay with this I don’t think I could have taken another cliffhanger with one of our team in peril.
Season one, two and three were amazing cliff-hangers, and season four was the best one yet and the Hotch/Foyet arc that followed … and I agree with whoever talked about this episode opening doors to revisit Hotch’s trauma and the question Prentiss posed to him in the opening episode.
All in all okay episode for me …
A big thank you to the entire CM ‘family’ for a great season, our wonderful cast who always do an amazing, outstanding job and offcourse the writers, producers, directors and entire crew who put this amazing show together, best show on TV … a little up and down but all in all a great season 5, “100” and Slave of Duty will be my top episodes, and will forever be marked in my memory.
I still rewatching the Morgan parts. I hated all the previous ones. But this one will bring me back for season 6!!
It just didn't hook me in like most of our previous finales have done. People here have been using the word 'invested' and I think that it is a good word. I am not invested in the story. I was extremely happy that we didn't once again find ourselves wondering if one of our people were dead but I am not sure why there is a need to always finish up with a cliff-hanger. Criminal Minds' strength has always been solid story episodes. Why not just do a solid episode and call it a season??
I had a hard time believing the Spicer repressed his memory and then got it back in less than two minutes scenerio. I couldn't get invested in Spicer because when he wasn't be vain he was just being dumb.
What this episode did have is a fantastic guest star with Tim Curry! Wow. My boyfriend never watchs CM with me but he did so he could see Curry and we were blown away by his performance. He will forever be defined for us as this character. Kudos galore. The makeup department did a fanatastic job with him!!
In watching a second time, and reading all the comments here, it would seem that there are many unanswered questions from this epi. The one about Spicer not ever looking into his parents' death being the first. 2.) Davi's role being on the job the first year the un-sub started his kills. 3.) Reid's sudden comfort in the dark which has always been an issue. 4.) Where is Spicer's child's mother? 5.) Why wouldn't he listen to Morgan - they seemed to have developed a great and trusting relationship (i.e., the interrogation Morgan did while he un-laxed to try and remember what he could about his parents' murders, and finally, 6.)why the un-sub took BOTH sister and daughter and 7.)left Morgan alive. And because of this, 8.)is Spicer really dead?
All of these points make me DYING to see the continuation and so hard to wait until Sept. 22nd or thereabouts to find out. It def would appear that we might see Tim Curry again and how in the world will Morgan be? I would be putting in for a long sabbatical for PTSD if I were him.
As far as Hotch goes: I disagree that the mother being killed in front of the child did not affect him but he is the consummate professional and can successfully detach himself emotionally so very well. But I DO agree with whomever suggested this might have been an excellent opportunity to explore just how he has been feeling since Hayley's death and how Jack is doing, etc. Too bad, if they could have fit that in, even for 2 minutes, it would have been welcomed by many of us.
Anyhoo, there, that's my final 2 cents' worth, not that many will read this, 'cause now it's been DAYS, but just in case, I would love to get a feel for how some of the rest of you feel now that the dust has settled!
So, I’m late again thanks to RL, but since I’ve commented all season I want to leave my opinion on the finale as well:
Eric Close and Tim Curry rocked the finale! Normally I’m not a big fan of guest stars taking away the focus from our regular cast, but I like it as a way to make the finale something special. Personally, I hate cliffhangers, but since this one was at least case related and not the big, over-used team-member-in-peril, I’m quite happy with this one.
It’s a shame that Eric Close’s character has presumably been killed - he had such a great bond with Morgan and was so competent that I would be happy if he survived and joined our team as a new, additional member. The character as he was created would fit in nicely with all our “broken” profilers. Or he could have been hired to the new team which would have been one reason for me to watch the spin-off. He could be to the FW character what Hotch was to Gideon in the beginning of the original and then take over the show just as Hotch has done. (Yes, in case there are any doubts, I’ve been a fan of Eric Close since Dark Skies.)
The case was interesting even if (or maybe because) it didn’t scare or creep me out for a change. I like the focus on Morgan and really hope that he finds a way to prevent the little girl being raped - not so much because I care for the girl specifically, there wasn’t really enough time to get involved with her, but for Morgan’s sake (and of course because NO child should ever be submitted to such an experience). I think Morgan can handle a lot, but not being able to prevent the abuse of a child when he’s not only working the case from a distance but being right there when it happens must be his worst nightmare.
I’m really curious how this will all turn out and how Morgan will find a way to handle the situation and prevent the worst. I’d rather see Morgan save the day using his profiling skills instead of his muscles for a change than him not being able to prevent the worst and go through guilt issues next season.
For me, season 5 is my least favorite out of all seasons so far, though it has been somewhat better in the second half of the season. I’d prefer if season 6 would be free of any personal drama for any of our characters and focus on profiling and case solving again for a change. Having Morgan finding a way to resolve the current situation in a positive way would be a good start for that.
Thanks to our cast and crew for another season of entertainment. I’m looking forward to see you back after the summer break.
After the season finale, I went out and bought 4 night lights! Just kidding, never did like the dark and now more so than ever!
Loved seeing Eric Close on the show as I've missed him with the cancellation of 'Without a Trace' where he had a co-star role. I also agree that it would have been a great addition to the cast line-up for the fall given he is such a self contained character actor, difficult to 'read' and thus gives more scope to the story lines his characters can play.
All I can add is hurry up September!
RE twitter; yes, they've been active over the hiatus- Lots from the Memorial Day Show and Joe's now in France. MGG's building a fireplace...uhm.
I still haven't had a chance to review the episode- I'm taking classes this summer. I don't remember if they ever profiled the unsub-I know they got him mostly from Spicer's connection (yes, I'm sure he's quite dead). It will be interesting to see how they put a name to him now that Morgan has seen him. They better put the sister in protective custody. And if this completes the unsub's pattern will he be going after those other "remaining" witnesses?
Just saw this late but I think Eric Close will be a member of the regular cast next year. In other words, I don't think he's dead! Does anyone agree with me?
Unrelated to the actual plot of the episode, but anyway, love spencer's new hair cut in this ep.
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