Criminal Minds: Play-by-play recap for "Devil's Night"
Hello again! I've been so busy these past few days that I only got a chance to watch this episode last night at about 11pm (I always have to wait until at least Thursday morning to watch the episodes because I don't have cable, so I watch them on CTV.ca after they get uploaded to the streaming video site... which takes about TWELVE HOURS to happen. If anyone knows how I can watch the episodes online as soon as they air on Wednesday night, I might just have to love your forever). So yes, this recap is a little late, but we can blame this on two people: Whoever updates CTV.ca's website (a person whom I'm positive has been put on this earth just to fuck with my blood pressure), and my best friend who decided to have a bit of a life-crisis yesterday. Anyway, now that all crises have been averted, I can finally get to it. It's time for me to recap Devil's Night in "as-I-watch-it" point form!!!!!
I really love it when they do these cityscape-montages to music at the beginning of episodes in order to give us a feel for the setting (see also: the 5-minute mark of Season 2's Distress... right after Reid does his snarky little "Fine"/eyebrow thing).
Bahahahaha! Sorry... I HAD to make a .gif of this. Hotch's face... priceless.
Anyway, the motown music at the beginning of this ep really sets a great tone.
At first glance the Unsub seems to be drawing his inspiration from the "Handbook for Murderers": Van (check), hooded sweatshirt (check), bound prisoner (check, but I will give bonus points for the use of chains. Most opt for budget-friendly alternatives such as duct tape), creepy warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks (double check). So far so good.
He's breaking up packing crates with his foot. Even though I'd already seen the preview/promo for this ep, my mind immediately jumped to "omg wooden stake!" when I saw him smashing the boxes. And once again I realize that the X-files has tainted the lens through which I view every single TV show.
Oh. I see why the chains were necessary. Ouch.
He doesn't mess around! You can light fires with a match (which you can get BOXES of for free at most restaurants), or a lighter (approx. a dollar fifty at your local Seven Eleven), but this guy goes for the blowtorch. Now I feel kind of bad for lumping him in with all the creatively-challenged criminals earlier. Sorry, Unsub. Blowtorch gets you ten points.
They actually show the guy burning!!!! D: My respect goes out to that stuntman.
AGHAL;GDHKSLAGHDSAHG JACK HOTCHNER I LOVE YOU SFM.
In all seriousness, though... that's a really cute little boy. I love that they've kept the same little actor over the years. He does such a lovely job.
I adore how Hotch is completely... anti-Hotch when he's around Jack, and his "Can I have a cookie?" is a perfect example of why they need to show him in dad-mode more often. It's nice to see him so... non-serious.
REID! Words cannot express how much I love this part... mostly because this is the first full-on Reid geek-out we've been given this season. I'm gonna throw in another .gif just because I can (and because it was gifted to me today by the lovely goddessdster):
Why do I have a feeling that Reid's two potential Halloween activities were plucked straight from the pages of Gubler's day-timer?
XDDDDDDDD I love the way he says "thee-ay-ter"!!!
Poor Spence. Shot down by both Rossi and Garcia in a period of twenty seconds. It's a wonder how he's managed to stay so enthusiastic/resilient over the years. Sometimes this team shows him absolutely no mercy!
Garcia's outfit is amazing. If this happened to be your first time watching the show you'd probably think that she dyes her hair to correspond with the colour-scheme of every major holiday.
(It probably goes without saying that I shouldn't be allowed to operate photoshop.)
-Hotch: "We're going to Detroit."
-Reid: "WHAT!? It's halloween weekend!"
Hotch, you big bad meanie! Don't you know this is, like... the one day that Reid has plans?!
And once again I'm educated by Criminal Minds (and Wikipedia). I had no idea about the "Devil's Night" celebration/vandalism in Detroit. Silly, ignorant Canadian! :)
-Morgue lady: "We call this a 4th degree burn."
-Me: O_O
I'm guessing a 5th degree burn is when you just blow away with the smoke.
Morgan and Prentiss are on the scene again. Hotch puts them together on every case lately. I think he goes home and makes Morgan/Prentiss fanvids or something. Seriously... M/P shippers have struck GOLD thus far this season (From what I've gathered in my small amount of CM-fandom research, shipper gold consists of the two characters in question sharing any amount of screen-time together, and possibly throwing a glance at and/or talking to each other).
Yeesh... and I thought my local radio DJs were annoying. This guy could stand to take it down about eight notches.
It took the Unsub "many botched attempts" to burn his first victim. In case anyone reading this hasn't yet perused my previous recaps, I'll tell you now... I'm very easily squicked out. If I worked in a hospital, I'd be pretty easy to spot; just look for the only doctor/nurse passed out on the floor next to the kid with the skinned knee. The thought of some poor person having to suffer repeatedly at the hands of an amateur arsonist on an experimental first-run is enough to make my stomach do a few quick rotations.
Thanks to Reid we already know that both strangulation and decapitation are "more difficult than you'd think", and now Rossi's just added burning people alive to that list. If Morgan tells me next week that 97% of stab victims actually survive due to accuracy-fail, then I'm dropping my "Intro to Serial Killing" tutorial next semester and taking art history instead. Call me a quitter. See if I care.
I feel so bad for Emily having to describe the murder to the victim's wife. It makes me sad whenever they ask to see the crime scene photos. You don't want to see it!
The CM make-up department has outdone themselves since The Fisher King I/II. Those burn scars look very real.
Garcia has just found out that the guy is a welder. Well, that explains the blowtorch. *Shrugs* I'm still going to let him keep his creativity points.
Ooh! Extra ten creativity points: Unsub's windowless cube van isn't black or white. I'll also throw in five fittingly-festive points since he chose pumpkin-orange.
...And another stuntman earns my respect.
Hotch asks Reid and Rossi what they found in the back of the guy's van, and they answer, "welding equipment, cans of gasoline and a cage". *Raises hand* OOH! I KNOW! HE'S A MURDERER, RIGHT? /sarcasm. Jeez, they may as well have said "knives, knives and blood".
*Gasp*!!! Another guest star that I recognize!!!!! The guy who owns the diner is Dixon from Alias!
Usually when I recognize someone from their appearance on another show I immediately feel satisfied that I made the connection. This time, however, I still felt like I hadn't quite nailed it...
Yup. He was in an X-files episode too: Teliko. Season 4... my favourite season!!!
I hope Carl Lumbly knows that he's pretty much my new hero now. X-files, Alias AND Criminal Minds!!???? That's like my Holy Trinity of crime-fighter shows. *High-fives Carl Lumbly*
Hotch runs into a burning building to save Dixon!!! I love it when Hotch gets his hero-complex on!
FADHJ;DFSHGaldg;hdshg *SPAZ*! Reid's wearing his Chucks again. And my world continues to spin on its axis.
Whoa... deja-vu.
Of course the final target is an attractive female between the ages of 16 and 30. Minus five points for cliché victimology.
Oh, and now he's using duct tape. Minus another three points for MO regression.
Surprise! Here's that twist that Garcia warned Hotch about. The victim has a child, and the Unsub is his father. This kid is really cute and all, so I hate to start picking, but it isn't his fault anyway... it's the writers'. Does anyone else get really annoyed when children on TV have extremely un-child-like reactions to things? I just can't see a five-year-old reassuringly placing his hand on the severely disfigured face of an emotionally unstable stranger who just tried to burn him and his entire family (not to mention the gun-wielding FBI agent in the corner) alive. I mean... yeah, sure the boy just found out that he has a father, but still! This kid's demeanour could out-zen the Dalai Lama's.
But that's okay, Criminal Minds. I can't stay mad at you, especially when you give me an epilogue filled with SO MUCH CUTE.
JACK HOTCHNER. Again... you kill me. Why must you be so adorable? LOOK AT HOW HE TIES HIS TIE!!!! I don't even care if some people found his superhero line cheesy (and by "some people" I mean my cold, soulless robot of a sister). We get so little Hotch/Jack interaction that I'm not going to complain AT ALL. As a rule, if Hotch smiles, your argument is invalid.
Well, that's all for today. I hope that Jack stared down his neighbours until they gave him every last piece of their candy. I also hope that Morgan and Prentiss enjoyed all their fanfic sex, Garcia found red and green hair dye on clearance, and Reid convinced someone to go to the thee-ay-ter with him.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!
Oh, and just in case anyone is interested, here are the links to my two previous recaps:
Safe Haven
JJ
I really love it when they do these cityscape-montages to music at the beginning of episodes in order to give us a feel for the setting (see also: the 5-minute mark of Season 2's Distress... right after Reid does his snarky little "Fine"/eyebrow thing).
Bahahahaha! Sorry... I HAD to make a .gif of this. Hotch's face... priceless.
Anyway, the motown music at the beginning of this ep really sets a great tone.
At first glance the Unsub seems to be drawing his inspiration from the "Handbook for Murderers": Van (check), hooded sweatshirt (check), bound prisoner (check, but I will give bonus points for the use of chains. Most opt for budget-friendly alternatives such as duct tape), creepy warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks (double check). So far so good.
He's breaking up packing crates with his foot. Even though I'd already seen the preview/promo for this ep, my mind immediately jumped to "omg wooden stake!" when I saw him smashing the boxes. And once again I realize that the X-files has tainted the lens through which I view every single TV show.
Oh. I see why the chains were necessary. Ouch.
He doesn't mess around! You can light fires with a match (which you can get BOXES of for free at most restaurants), or a lighter (approx. a dollar fifty at your local Seven Eleven), but this guy goes for the blowtorch. Now I feel kind of bad for lumping him in with all the creatively-challenged criminals earlier. Sorry, Unsub. Blowtorch gets you ten points.
They actually show the guy burning!!!! D: My respect goes out to that stuntman.
AGHAL;GDHKSLAGHDSAHG JACK HOTCHNER I LOVE YOU SFM.
In all seriousness, though... that's a really cute little boy. I love that they've kept the same little actor over the years. He does such a lovely job.
I adore how Hotch is completely... anti-Hotch when he's around Jack, and his "Can I have a cookie?" is a perfect example of why they need to show him in dad-mode more often. It's nice to see him so... non-serious.
REID! Words cannot express how much I love this part... mostly because this is the first full-on Reid geek-out we've been given this season. I'm gonna throw in another .gif just because I can (and because it was gifted to me today by the lovely goddessdster):
Why do I have a feeling that Reid's two potential Halloween activities were plucked straight from the pages of Gubler's day-timer?
XDDDDDDDD I love the way he says "thee-ay-ter"!!!
Poor Spence. Shot down by both Rossi and Garcia in a period of twenty seconds. It's a wonder how he's managed to stay so enthusiastic/resilient over the years. Sometimes this team shows him absolutely no mercy!
Garcia's outfit is amazing. If this happened to be your first time watching the show you'd probably think that she dyes her hair to correspond with the colour-scheme of every major holiday.
(It probably goes without saying that I shouldn't be allowed to operate photoshop.)
-Hotch: "We're going to Detroit."
-Reid: "WHAT!? It's halloween weekend!"
Hotch, you big bad meanie! Don't you know this is, like... the one day that Reid has plans?!
And once again I'm educated by Criminal Minds (and Wikipedia). I had no idea about the "Devil's Night" celebration/vandalism in Detroit. Silly, ignorant Canadian! :)
-Morgue lady: "We call this a 4th degree burn."
-Me: O_O
I'm guessing a 5th degree burn is when you just blow away with the smoke.
Morgan and Prentiss are on the scene again. Hotch puts them together on every case lately. I think he goes home and makes Morgan/Prentiss fanvids or something. Seriously... M/P shippers have struck GOLD thus far this season (From what I've gathered in my small amount of CM-fandom research, shipper gold consists of the two characters in question sharing any amount of screen-time together, and possibly throwing a glance at and/or talking to each other).
Yeesh... and I thought my local radio DJs were annoying. This guy could stand to take it down about eight notches.
It took the Unsub "many botched attempts" to burn his first victim. In case anyone reading this hasn't yet perused my previous recaps, I'll tell you now... I'm very easily squicked out. If I worked in a hospital, I'd be pretty easy to spot; just look for the only doctor/nurse passed out on the floor next to the kid with the skinned knee. The thought of some poor person having to suffer repeatedly at the hands of an amateur arsonist on an experimental first-run is enough to make my stomach do a few quick rotations.
Thanks to Reid we already know that both strangulation and decapitation are "more difficult than you'd think", and now Rossi's just added burning people alive to that list. If Morgan tells me next week that 97% of stab victims actually survive due to accuracy-fail, then I'm dropping my "Intro to Serial Killing" tutorial next semester and taking art history instead. Call me a quitter. See if I care.
I feel so bad for Emily having to describe the murder to the victim's wife. It makes me sad whenever they ask to see the crime scene photos. You don't want to see it!
The CM make-up department has outdone themselves since The Fisher King I/II. Those burn scars look very real.
Garcia has just found out that the guy is a welder. Well, that explains the blowtorch. *Shrugs* I'm still going to let him keep his creativity points.
Ooh! Extra ten creativity points: Unsub's windowless cube van isn't black or white. I'll also throw in five fittingly-festive points since he chose pumpkin-orange.
...And another stuntman earns my respect.
Hotch asks Reid and Rossi what they found in the back of the guy's van, and they answer, "welding equipment, cans of gasoline and a cage". *Raises hand* OOH! I KNOW! HE'S A MURDERER, RIGHT? /sarcasm. Jeez, they may as well have said "knives, knives and blood".
*Gasp*!!! Another guest star that I recognize!!!!! The guy who owns the diner is Dixon from Alias!
Usually when I recognize someone from their appearance on another show I immediately feel satisfied that I made the connection. This time, however, I still felt like I hadn't quite nailed it...
Yup. He was in an X-files episode too: Teliko. Season 4... my favourite season!!!
I hope Carl Lumbly knows that he's pretty much my new hero now. X-files, Alias AND Criminal Minds!!???? That's like my Holy Trinity of crime-fighter shows. *High-fives Carl Lumbly*
Hotch runs into a burning building to save Dixon!!! I love it when Hotch gets his hero-complex on!
FADHJ;DFSHGaldg;hdshg *SPAZ*! Reid's wearing his Chucks again. And my world continues to spin on its axis.
Whoa... deja-vu.
Of course the final target is an attractive female between the ages of 16 and 30. Minus five points for cliché victimology.
Oh, and now he's using duct tape. Minus another three points for MO regression.
Surprise! Here's that twist that Garcia warned Hotch about. The victim has a child, and the Unsub is his father. This kid is really cute and all, so I hate to start picking, but it isn't his fault anyway... it's the writers'. Does anyone else get really annoyed when children on TV have extremely un-child-like reactions to things? I just can't see a five-year-old reassuringly placing his hand on the severely disfigured face of an emotionally unstable stranger who just tried to burn him and his entire family (not to mention the gun-wielding FBI agent in the corner) alive. I mean... yeah, sure the boy just found out that he has a father, but still! This kid's demeanour could out-zen the Dalai Lama's.
But that's okay, Criminal Minds. I can't stay mad at you, especially when you give me an epilogue filled with SO MUCH CUTE.
JACK HOTCHNER. Again... you kill me. Why must you be so adorable? LOOK AT HOW HE TIES HIS TIE!!!! I don't even care if some people found his superhero line cheesy (and by "some people" I mean my cold, soulless robot of a sister). We get so little Hotch/Jack interaction that I'm not going to complain AT ALL. As a rule, if Hotch smiles, your argument is invalid.
Well, that's all for today. I hope that Jack stared down his neighbours until they gave him every last piece of their candy. I also hope that Morgan and Prentiss enjoyed all their fanfic sex, Garcia found red and green hair dye on clearance, and Reid convinced someone to go to the thee-ay-ter with him.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!
Oh, and just in case anyone is interested, here are the links to my two previous recaps:
Safe Haven
JJ