On this week’s episode of Criminal Minds, the BAU has to stop a killer who is stealing his victims’ senses, while Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) deals with his own sense of betrayal.
Top 5 Moments
Reid is raging: At the start of the episode, Reid is giving Emily (Paget Brewster) and JJ (A.J. Cook) the cold shoulder because he is still angry that they faked Emily’s death and kept the rest of the team in the dark about it. JJ confronts Reid about his attitude and Reid says she had plenty of chances to tell him the truth during the 10 weeks he spent crying on her shoulder, mourning for someone who was still very much alive. Reid makes it clear that he put his trust in friends and they broke that trust by lying to him.
How to heal: When they have a moment alone together, Emily asks Morgan (Shemar Moore) if he is mad at her for making him believe she died in his arms. Morgan is just happy she is back and they joke about what was actually in her coffin. Then Morgan tells Emily that Reid needs time to work things out. Later in the episode, Emily talks to Reid and tells him that they would not have lied to him if they had any other choice, and Reid seems to release some of his anger.
Close to home: After the UnSub (unknown subject/killer) kidnaps his niece (Tammy), the team figures out that everything can be traced back to Lyla, the UnSub’s sister-in-law, and how she spurned his advances when they were teenagers. The UnSub has been obsessed with her ever since and abducted Tammy and all of his other victims because they look like Lyla. The UnSub is caught when Lyla tricks him into coming to her “rescue,” and he is arrested.
One final victim: The team saves Tammy and she is brought home safely but the UnSub is not quite finished. There is one sense the UnSub did not steal from his victims, and that is the sense of sound. The UnSub’s brother becomes his final victim when he watches the tape of his daughter being tortured and has to listen to her screams. (Did anyone else find this whole episode incredibly disturbing?)
The BAU meets the Iron Chef: The episode ends with a scene obviously designed for the fans — everyone, including Reid, gathers at Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) home so he can give them all a cooking lesson, and it is clear that no matter what the team has gone through over the past year, they are still a family.
As much as I enjoyed this final scene, I do not believe we have seen the last of the trust issues between these characters and I have a feeling we will see the ramifications of Emily’s death and resurrection for weeks to come. But on a happier note, what else would you like to see the team doing together in their off-hours?
On the next episode of Criminal Minds, the team tackles a case where things (and people) may be more complicated they than seem.
Megan Cole
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
