Criminal Minds: Minimal Loss
By fred | October 9, 2008
(S04E03) So far, this season looks nothing like the previous one. Last year there’s been lots of things coming in the way and making it harder for the show to have a regular season. It started with an unexpected departure, and then of course there was the strike. As a result, I think this was the most uneven season ever, with at times episodes that I thought were really weak, bad even, and at other times simply some of the best episodes of the series.
Now that the new team is in place and there’s no strike of any kind coming up (right??), the show is fully back on track. And while I thought the season premiere was maybe a little disappointing, every episode after that simply got better than the previous one, and this week I think we had, once again, one of the best episodes the show ever produced.
It started in an usual way, and once again there was an explosion. I don’t know what’s up with explosions this season, but it seems there must be at least one per episode or something… Anyways, the episode opened right in the middle of things before backing up a little. No introduction by JJ, who’s had very little to do this time, and Garcia was also less present than usual.
Prentiss and Reid were coming in to question some children over allegations of sexual abuse, all done in a church led by Cyrus (Luke Perry, doing a great job). I was a bit surprised at first that they only came alone without anyone else, but there was no serial killers or any situation that really deserved more when you think about it. As illustrated later on, Reid is a perfect candidate to work with such groups, pick up signs and analyze people, and Prentiss also had the advantage of being a woman, which would probably facilitate things for a young girl to talk about such things. (By the way though, from the start that message didn’t sound to be coming from a young kid to me…)
Rapidly things grow out of proportion, and we had a lot of awesome things to enjoy. There was the obvious emotional involvement of the team, outside of the church, you could sense the frustration and helplessness of everyone, worrying about Reid and Prentiss’ fate. Especially after what they all went through not long ago, it was really affecting all of them. I think that was really why Hotch let Rossi handle the negotiation, because he felt he was too involved emotionally and wouldn’t risk to let this get in the way (as he almost did, when they thought Cyrus had poisoned everyone and Hotch wanted to go in right away).
I know Rossi said he was, too, but come on, I’m sure he cares about them and he too was involved in recent events, but it’s not like he’s been there working with them for years already. (Side note, I’m a bit sick of Rossi having invented profiling, taught everything, …) I’m guessing there’s also the fact that, though he seemed quite fine and could fly without problem this time, Hotch isn’t back 100% yet, which is why he didn’t participate in the final assault at the end, and I think maybe also played into why he didn’t want to be on the front line. He still had some kick-ass scene nevertheless, like when he sent back that attorney general to his momy. Awesome.
Reid and Prentiss were both first in line this week, and both demonstrated how good they are and how well they can handle such situations. I’ve always been a fan of Reid, so I was more than happy to see him getting “close” to Cyrus and gaining his trust, starting even before things went off tracks, over quotes and solar energy. I loved how he was able to make him believe than he was one of them and almost could join them, how he made him release a child (over revealing Prentiss’ identity) cause he knew Rossi & co were listening, all that while fooling everyone. Soon, Reid was Cyrus’ number two on the pyramid of the church, and Cyrus never suspected anything.
And of course you had Reid’s conflict over the way he had to behave, because once he probably felt he should have came out as FBI agent instead of Prentiss, and took the beating, but in retrospect the decision made was obviously the right one, only he was able to become so close to Cyrus that he could “play” him like that.
Prentiss had some pretty cool moments as well, though for a moment it looked like her “special ability” was to take hits. But the way she managed to get the attention of her team outside, so they could point a mic towards her, and how she and Morgan managed to exchange information like that, that was just really cool. It was all the team, everyone at his best, and it was such a lot of fun!
For a moment I was scared that this would end up being, much like the season premiere was, an episode were action took over the whole profiling part. We had guns, beatings, explosions, and not the traditional team work to came up with a profile. But it worked, mainly thanks to Reid. Sure there was some profiling work outside the church, and Prentiss did figure out who made the call (though that one was obvious the moment we first saw her), but it was Reid’s analysis of the situation and the way he played the cards that really did it for me on that area.
In the end this was really a great episode, one of the best ones, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with next — Don’t you agree ? Who do you think was more kick-ass, Hotch, Reid or Prentiss ? How great was it to see Reid play Cyrus and be smarter than everyone else ? Just how cool was our entire team this week ? And how pregnant is JJ ?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Criminal Minds
