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Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 1

The Fisher King (2)

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9.2

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 9/20/06

The team continues to decipher the clues given to each of them by a psychopath in order to save his most recent victim. Gideon decides not to focus on the personal aspects of the case. Rather, he tells the team to profile the killer as they would in any other BAU investigation. Reid stays behind to work on a personal connection that could solve the case as one member of the team fights for life.moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (24)

The BAU pursue the Fisher King while Elle recovers.

9.5

By DexterMorgan2, Feb 28, 2013

I can't really decide whether the first or second part was better but this episode was really good as the team have to decipher the clues left by the Fisher King while wondering whether Elle will survive I think deciphering the clues was down to Reed when he found out his mother could be in danger but when some people pick her up she ends up helping with the case Up to this point they have very little on the Fisher king and they identify him in two different ways because Reed's mum watches the tape of him and knew who it was and Garcia identifies him as been the father of the girl he had kidnapped They find out he is called Randall Garner and when they go to his house Randall takes the easy way out but it was good that they managed to save the girl he kidnapped The ending of this brilliant episode ended with Elle surviving and Gideon was happy to see her back This episode makes a very good start to the season.moreless
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Amazing episode

9.7

By Parricida, Apr 07, 2011

I liked this one even more than first part - this one had the complete feeling and again - that kind of amazing quest game and the excitement..

I most say I loved the whole thing around Reid - the way he did not want everyone to know about her mother but how it all was accepted and it was not a problem.. but the way he said to Garcia that it is genetic.. some great atmosphere..

And the whole Rebbecca storyline.. her father, the whole adoption, the castle like house - and the way the got the man and he blew him self up.. the fire in the end.. I most say - a really great episode.. had it all - adventure, tragic, secrets.. and really beautiful storyline on Greenaway side.moreless
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the second part is just as good

10

By bellagirl_008, Apr 07, 2011

The best episode ever i loved this, i loved all of it even the cliff hanger is really good awesome seing the teams on vacation and there personal life priceless,absolutly hilarious can't wait to see more like this and come on modern knights of the round table great concepts it was cool to met Reids mum all though sad at the same time she seems sweet is crazy, Morgan and Elle at the beach were fun untill people died.

The case was really clever as well, with the way he was doing things to get to the team and how he really thought he was the fisher king. Plus his poor daughter stuck down there for years

oh and P.S is it just me or is Reid getting smarter.moreless
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Incredible!

10

By amazing_race, Apr 07, 2011

This episode was the second part to last season's finale, and in my opinion, it was just as great!

I really enjoyed seeing Dr. Reid and Garcia work out which book they needed to find. That was a classic moment for me.

I liked seeing Reid's mom. That was very sad and sweet for me. Very emotional.

Thankfully also, it was great to see Agent Greenaway survive the gunshot. I thought it had ended on such a sad cliffhanger, but fortunately for me, everything worked itself out.

Overall, a thoroughly planned and well written episode. It was by far one of the best episodes and I would love to see more like this one!moreless
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A fantastic episode with which to open the second season as the unsub reacts to the team's refusal to play by his rules by targeting a member of the team personally.moreless

9.5

By Lady_Lancaster, Mar 22, 2011

Tensions are running very high at the BAU headquarters in Quantico as they race against the clock to try and track the unsub who knows too much and is one of the most sophisticated killers they have ever dealt with.

When the girl being held hostage by the unsub is named as Rebecca Bryant, a young woman who has been missing for two years, the team must try to figure out how Rebecca and the unsub are connected to the BAU team. Meanwhile, Elle Greenaway is exhausted and she is ordered to go home to rest. Upon entering her house, she is shot by the unsub and has a dream in which she is speaking to her father who died when she was eight. Does she want to move on and join him or will she fight to live? The unsub has shown that by not following the rules he set down and playing the game his way, that he will retaliate, and shooting Elle is his way of showing the team what he will do if they contin ue to cross him.

The pieces begin to come together when it is discovered that Rebecca Bryant was adopted as a child when her whole family except her father, Randall Garner, died in a fire. Randall, it seems, suffered horrific burns while dragging her from the flames and ended up in a psychiatric institution due to not being able to cope with the tragedy. The same psychiatric hospital inhabited by Reid's mother, Diana ... When Reid admits that he tells his mother many things about the team in his daily letters to her and it's learned that Rebecca Bryant is actually Rebecca Garner and the unsub (and the man holding her) is her biological father, the team move in to end the nightmare for themselves and Rebecca.

A superb piece of drama, excellently written and full of suspense all the way. Don't miss this one because if you do, you're missing some great television.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Mandy Patinkin	Senior SSA Jason Gideon
Thomas Gibson	Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Lola Glaudini	SSA Elle Greenaway
Shemar Moore	SSA Derek Morgan
Matthew Gray Gubler	SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
A.J. Cook	SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Charley Rossman	Unsub (Randall Garner)	Guest Star
Amanda Bernero	Rebecca Bryant	Guest Star
Adrian N. Roberts	Pilot	Guest Star
Jane Lynch	Diana Reid	Recurring Role
Brian Appel	Agent Anderson	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (7)
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- According to Garcia's research, Randall Garner stayed in the Bennington Sanitarium from 1996 to 2001, so he could not have known about JJ's secret when she joined the team only in 2005. It was never established that Garner visited Diana Reid after he left the facility.
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- Early in the episode when Garcia is telling Morgan what happened to the Garners, she says, "both Garner boys." Later in the episode when Reid is speaking to Randall Garner, Garner says "and my son."
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- In the first part of this two-parter, Morgan is seen on the beach without a shirt on. He has intricate tattoos on both his shoulders, but nothing on his back. In the second part of the two-parter, which picks up moments after the first part ends, a tattoo is clearly visible above the collar of his tee shirt at the back of his neck when he is speaking to the detective in front of the Bryant family house.
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- It is revealed in this episode that Elle's father had been a New York City police officer who was killed in the line of duty when she was eight years old.
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- Elle's father nicknamed her "Peanut" when she was a child. "Peanut" was also what Mandy Patinkin's character called George in Dead Like Me.
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- Although JJ says Rebecca Bryant's birthday was in August, her file says "DOB/07-15-88." It also shows "HGT/5'07 WGT/125."
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- It is revealed that Reid's mother, Diana, has a serious fear of flying.
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QUOTES (12)
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- Morgan: Detective, I've seen kids missing for a decade and their rooms look exactly the way they did the day that they left. Parents don't just pack up their kids stuff and put them in boxes in the garage. Parents don't give up, ever. What the hell is going on here?
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- Reid: People tell me their secrets all the time. I think it's because they know I don't have anyone to betray them to. Except my mother. I tell her pretty much everything.
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- Diana Reid: You know I'm terrified of flying.
  Reid: I know, mom, I'm sorry.
  Diana Reid: Then why did you have those fascists arrest me?
  Reid: Mom, they're not fascists and you were not arrested. I'm trying to protect you.
  Diana Reid: By forcing me to do the one thing that frightens me more than anything else?
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- Randall Garner: If you want the grail, you must ask the question.
  Reid: She's not a grail. She's your daughter. Her name's Rebecca.
  Randall Garner: My daughters died in a fire and my son and my wife.
  Reid: Rebecca lived.
  Randall Garner: No. Your mother, she explained it all to me.
  Reid: My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic who'd forget to eat if she wasn't properly medicated and supervised.
  Randall Garner: She made me realize none of it was real. I didn't lose Rebecca. She... she never existed in the first place.
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- Reid: Mom, we found her. Rebecca's safe. You helped us save her life.
  Diana Reid: Is it time for lunch yet?
  Reid: What?
  Diana Reid: I'm giving a lecture to everyone on Tristan and Isolde. They're all gathering in my room after lunch.
  Reid: Can I attend the lecture too?
  Diana Reid: Have you read any of the material?
  Reid: I've had them read to me.
  Diana Reid: Wonderful. That's the best way, isn't it?
  Reid: Yes, ma'am, by far.
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- Randall Garner: Ask the question, I'll be healed and you may take the grail. Just ask the question, Sir Knight.
  Reid: I can't.
  Randall Garner: Heal me.
  Reid: Mr. Garner, a fisher king wound cannot be healed by somebody else. It's... it's not a wound of the body. It's a wound of the memory, a wound of the mind. It's... it's a wound that only you can find, and a wound that only you can heal.
  Randall Garner: Just ask the question.
  Reid: There's only one question that matters, Mr. Garner. There's only one really important question. Can you forgive yourself?
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- Hotchner: What the hell was that?
  Reid: He had a bomb.
  Morgan: You didn't think we needed to know that?
  Reid: I told you to go downstairs.
  Morgan: Well, you didn't say "bomb." You left that part out.
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- Hotchner: (discussing the unsub) He's delusional. He thinks he's a mythological king.
  Gideon: But delusion and this level of organization are almost mutually exclusive.
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- Reid: It's never night in Las Vegas.
  Garcia: Excuse me?
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- Reid: (discussing a Chaucer poem) Fowles! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Chaucer! My... my mom use to read me that. It's widely considered as the first valentine's poem
  Garcia: Your mom read you valentine's poems? Hello, therapy.
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- Reid: "It has been said that time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." Rose Kennedy
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- Gideon: "The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind." French writer François de la Rochefoucauld
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NOTES (2)
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- With this episode, Kirsten Vangsness was changed from her "also starring" billing to the main cast in the opening credits.
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- "The Riddle" by Five for Fighting plays over the end scenes.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Randall Garner continually tells Reid to "Ask the question" so that he may be healed. According to Arthurian legend, Percival was to ask the Fisher King "Whom does the grail serve?" This was to lead the Fisher King to a realization of his own unworthiness, and thereby heal his wounds and allow him to receive redemption. Percival - Reid - never asks this question.
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