Wednesday October 18, 2006
205
The BAU investigates a serial rapist who had been attacking young women at religious schools and stopped for six weeks. He has resumed his attacks, but is now targeting a different demographic of women. Elle makes a decision that could end her career with the BAU.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)Elle goes undercover.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hide show
I love this episode. Elle is very ah-mazing she did a excellent job in my books. I watch this episode alot, but Hotchner shouldnt have immediatly jumped to saying Do you think Elle is ready like he could have chose someone else intead of her.Like JJ or the female agent helping them like Elle just got shot awhile back he should have gave her more time. But if she did not go undercover like that the episode would probally have been dull.So good job to the writer for making this episode and well done to the cast for excellent work
Oh.. it does not start half as promising as it ends - a town is hit by rapist who change his style and BAU has to figure out why and how is behind. This seems to be too much for Greenaway's already stretched nerves and when they send her undercover - it all just explodes.
I totally love the way they managed to built Greenaway's path to the point she draws that gun and shots. It was so logically built, with such an empathic.. putting her to have a drink with Raid and accusing of him profiling her.. and the look on Gideon's mind in the end - the way he probably profiled her and got the truth... even if she is going to be free, walking out..
Very personal episode for Elle and a very powerful ending that had me on the edge of my seat. From the past episodes I thought Elle was getting over the events that happened to her in The Fisher King but being put back in the field for this episode seemed to get the best of her emotions. I like the writing, but I think they need to expand on it. I was a little unsure about the decision to keep her alive after the Season One finale but I think this might be the nail in her coffin as far as this show goes. Theres no way a group of some of the best Criminal Minds investigators wont be able to tell that she is lying to them in the next episode. And for a series that prides itself on standalone episodes, this seems to be one dominant and interesting long term storyarch to follow. The rest of the episode was also good. I liked the case in this episode and how the BAu went about finding the pieces to make them all fit together. It had a bit of a slow start but once the team started in on the case I thought that it got a lot better and quickly became the best written piece of the season so far.
"Tired Of looking for sympathy,
Got to learn to stand on my own two feet"
hide
show
This episode "Aftermath" is a very, very important episode of the season.
To fully understand what happens we must rewind to previous episodes... The first of these episodes take place roughly 4 months after Elle was shot. The three episodes between "The Fisher King Part II" and "Aftermath" were of especially heinous crimes. In "P911" we see a child being put up for 'auction' in a child-porn ring; "The Perfect Storm" deals with horrible rape,torture then murder; and we deal with a sexual preditor in "Psychodrama".
Now keeping this and the fact that Elle came back to work earlier than suggested we can take a look at her mental state. She had been working very hard in all the cases [that I mentioned above]. Although all the cases were particularly difficult for everyone, it is really no surprise that this case is the one that finally set her off. In this episode women are raped in their homes. Just like Elle, it shows that we are not always safe in the place where we want to feel the safest. Elle goes undercover to try and catch this man. While she is sitting in "her" house she begins to have flashbacks of when she was shot. She turns on the radio (the song Faith, Hope, Love by Starsailor comes on) to try and shut out the real world - she cannot stop the flashbacks and decides to take action into her own hands (lyrics for the song : "got to learn to stand on my own two feet") by the end of the episode she takes it further and shots and kills the man who had been set free.
Obviously this episode is absolutely essential when it comes to Elle's character development, but it also shows more of Reid's character. He tries to help Elle the best he knows how. As I have previously stated this episode is absolutely pivotal to character growth.
Some of us aren't able to overcome our suffering. hide show
This episode allows us to see Elle’s wounds – the deep emotional and psychological wounds, not the physical wounds – that have not been healed since the Fisher King shot her. Through the comments of the rapist’s victims, Elle tells the team what is happening in her own mind – the sorrow, the pain and the utter frustration in not being able to do anything about it. Alicia Jordan verbalizes Elle’s own feelings when she tells the team, and the viewers, “Every time I think it’s over someone else wants to photograph me, or touch me or ask me to relive it.” How many times has Elle had to relive her shooting? Every time she looks at a victim’s file? Every time one of her team members asks her how she is? Every time she sees the scar on her chest? She hasn’t healed.
Cheryl Cosgrove, the college victim, also helps explain Elle’s turmoil. The rapist waited inside her dorm room – the place she felt safe. The Fisher King waited for Elle inside her own home. “The police all act like because he didn’t kill you, he didn’t somehow end your life.” Even Reid, the most sympathetic of all of Elle’s colleagues, doesn’t understand that just because Elle lived, and her physical scars have healed, doesn’t mean that her life hasn’t been irrevocably changed. The scene between the two is heart-wrenching, as Reid tries to overcome the differences between them in maturity and life experience to allow her to give voice to what is going on inside.
Unfortunately, Elle has not overcome her suffering. Given more time, and greater assistance, she may have, but instead she’s forced to play the victim again, and she is broken by it. Her knee-jerk reaction to being threatened inside “her home” undoes her – and undoes the case against Lee. Her violent outburst in the station against Hotch is so realistic that it is painful to watch – the anger and frustration she feels just flies out of her as she blames him for her injuries. Clearly, Elle has a long way to go on the road to recovery.
For Elle, recovery gets farther away as the episode goes on. She desperately needs to control the world around her so that she can never be a victim again. That is what leads to Lee’s shooting. As long as all the blame is on others – Lee, Hotch - and she is not able to openly admit that she has a problem, she can’t recover. She continues to be a victim.
While some of the scenes struggled, the overall impact of this episode was strong. Hotch (and the director) calls attention to the diversity of the BAU team, especially in each one’s method of dealing with the terrible things he or she sees on the cases. The plane scene and the beautifully fluid shots of the team in their hotel rooms emphasize this. The CM writers again deal with rape victims in a humane and thoughtful manner – allowing the BAU and the victims to help the audience understand the horrific impact of this crime. No ending quote tells us that this story – Elle’s story – even more, the victims’ story - isn’t over.
phf3947
Editor
layle1
Trusted
Finnegan77
Trusted
sammy2333
Retired
Angelwomyn
marymoss71
flame_tiger86
