Criminal Minds Forums

If it goes blank at the revenge, at least empty the full magazine into the pedophile.

I said on last weeks episode thread that I didn't have a favourite. Now I do. I always loved the episode 'Penelope', and watching this reminded me of what a great actress Kirsten is, and how much I love Garcia. She really brings such a softness, an emotionality- something personal to the team. I really felt the anxiety through the episode to find Monica, and was glad that they figured it out. I also loved how Garcia was able to keep it together and bring her home safe. What I thought was awesome was- even though I love Morgan and Garcia and their flirtatiousness and closeness- that Morgan was there, but Garcia pretty much stood on her own the entire episode. I think it gave her the strength that she's always deserved. Seeing the support group at the end releasing the butterflies with Monica really got my heart. CM has always been so dark, and finally SEEING a victim at the end receive support, love, help in the midst of something awful- I can't really explain, but it just encompasses sisterhood, and that's what Garcia was in this ep. A sister, a friend, a light.

I wanted to punch the unsub in the face the entire episode. I'm glad Monica got her justice. And I think I realized that I really do love character-centric episodes.

I thought this was a great episode. Putting Garcia front & center in any episode is always a good idea. She's funny, smart & compassionate in whatever scene she's in. I enjoyed seeing Jack Coleman who played the protective Dad on "Heros" playing the crazy, kidnapping pedophile. I also enjoyed seeing Brigid Brannagh from "Army Wives" as the emotionally tortured Mom. It was great to have 2 guest stars on the same episode. My ONLY complaint would be JJ allowed an unarmed, untrained Garcia to walk right into the middle of a hostage situation. That would never be allowed but since this is just tv I'll let it slide!

Wow, looks like I'm the only naysayer here. I had many problems with this episode. How did the BAU even get involved with it? I know it was Garcia's friend but the police told her they couldn't even report her as missing yet so they surely wouldn't invite the BAU in and hasn't Hotch stressed many times that they have to be invited in, that they can't run roughshod ove the locals for fear thy'll never be invited in again.. It's a jurisdictional issue, not up for debate. They did the same thing when Emily's friend died and took heat over it. You'd think Hotch wouldn't want a repeat of that situation. But Morgan arrived and flashed his badge and said, "I'll take it from here." What's up with that? Then he brought the letter in from her car, that was evidence, removed without gloves but was placed in plastic after the fact. Did he even have legal grounds to do that?

Don't even get me started on Garcia running around in Kevlar. Hotch would never have allowed that but JJ took it upon herself to bring Garcia in. What if the guy had gotten a shot off before they shot him? Sure Garcia was in a vest, but the rest of her body was exposed. If she had been injured or, killed for that matter, I'd like to see Hotch trying to explain that to Strauss and above. If any of the others had been injured in the same way it would be different; that's part of their jobs. It's not part of Garcia's. I don't see any of the team taking control of her computers.

I didn't have a lot of problems with the actual case itself, the unsub and his sick motivation toward the mother. Although, I wish we weren't always seeing unsub centric episodes these days. Anyway, I was able to go with it until Monica executed Bill, and suffered no repercussions, free as a bird to let butterflies fly off into the blue sky. It reminded me of Exit Wounds. Josh and his posse were ready to take revenge on Owen but the BAU couldn't allow that so they wounded Josh instead. Yet they all stood around and allowed Monica to shoot Bill. There was no need for her to shoot Bill. Three agents had their guns trained on him.

It's the other happenings around the case that made this so unbelievable for me. You can't establish things for six seasons and then throw them out the window when it suits you. They have to be invited in, and as far as I could see, they weren't. It's just like having a cadet join what we've been led to believe was an elite unit. You can't change the rules part way through the game. Oh wait, I guess you can.

I may be completely off base here but I think the problem that CM is having during the last few seasons is one of balance. The previous writers like Andrew Wilder, Chris Mundy and Simon Mirren knew how to balance the scripts. It was mostly about the team trying to get into the unsub's mind and a little on the unsub himself. We often found out who the unsub was before the very end but that was okay because we knew the team was on the way to figuring it out. Now we're watching the unsub show us what's going on in his mind and we're waiting for the team to catch up. That sense of balance goes for almost anything in the show. This is a dark show, not a comedy, but if a newcomer had said to a longtime fan that older episodes were completely dark, they'd disagree. There were funny bits thrown in all the time, masterfully. They just slid seamlessly into the basic plot as did bits and pieces of the team's lives. Now, in an effort to show us more about the team, and yes we do want to learn more about the people in this little BAU family, but if Wilder and Mundy were there, it would have been done much more subtly. People have always seemed to love the banter between Morgan and Garcia, myself included, and knowing that, I think the writers have gone overboard to the point where it's gotten more risque and inappropriate and I sometimes cringe when Garcia's answering the phone. I think things like that have led us to the point we reached in this last episode, Garcia running around in Kevlar; something that should never, and in the old days, would never have happened. Unless the writers can achieve that sense of balance again, at least for me, this show will never be the one that kept me on the edge of my seat each Wednesday night.

Reading the reviews most often leaves me conflicted- agree and disagree is my reaction. Frankly being a true blue fan of CM leaves one prone to picking up on all the inconsistent details such as others have mentioned and Hope is no different; i.e. Morgan's simply making it FBI jurisdiction , and yes, it would have been nice had the butterfly symbolism somehow included JJ but there were some really good attempts at continuity and character growth. Morgancontinues to believe, trust and supportGarcia and she in turn cleverly knows how to handle his overprotectiveness. In response to his "it's too dangerous"Garcia (once more with humor) responds"you can let be come along, or forcibly remove me from the SUV, your choice!"

What I really appreciated in this episode is Garcia's awareness of her own emotional limitations, but in the face of this is her willing to trust her instincts, and push the envelope. She is not prepared to leave a member of her support grouphanging out therewithout giving her all. The arguement about not letting her become part of the field action is in my opinion weak, because the team has come to see her quite differently over time.Apart frombeing the team's flamboyant techie gal, she has continually stepped out and proven herself now as an intake and triage person andunder the watchful eye ofHotchner, the team's leader,"gets the job done" every time,such as in her media role in Reflections of Desire, andas an interviewer capable of establishing repoire when seasoned profilers on the team could not in another episode.

I particularly liked the scene where she empathizes with Bill, long enough to divert him from violence and upon entry of the other team members she immediately directs him to follow their orders, a strong quick transference. Frankly, Monica's response, in my opinion may be understandable but somehow did not complete the scene ina way that I felt comfortable with, and as for the entire theme of child abduction andsexual abuse - this episode was well done, but perhaps one of the most disturbing.Perhaps it was the tragic conflict of seeing the humanness in the person doing such evil.

In Hope, Garcia once more affirms the values of the BAU team that she is part of, but she does it only as Garcia can, in her own way.