‘Criminal Minds’ season 10 episode 18 review: Is Spencer getting a new love interest?
Last time on “Criminal Minds” we learned that Kate is pregnant and that Meg is acting out. She is a thirteen year old, but how much of her acting out is because she’s a teen-aged girl or because of Kate’s pregnancy and she’s missing her own parents who died in 9/11?
So we were of course hoping for more on some of our main character’s stories this week, but instead the episode was fairly focused on the case of the week. It involved a congressman, his wife getting kidnapped and a battle with the media to try to keep it quiet while they looked for the missing wife. Usually when a spouse goes missing it’s the husband or wife that is behind it, but “Criminal Minds” is a smarter show then that…. or are they?
There is a he said/she said fight going on between the congressman and an old intern that he was sleeping with before meeting his wife. The intern claims they are still sleeping together, while the congressman says that he stopped when he met his wife but that the intern has been emotionally blackmailing him ever since. Of course this was just a ruse (especially since the congressman was telling the truth about the affair never happening) and the real kidnapper was the congressman’s mother who thought that his waning numbers could be boosted by a sympathy vote for his kidnapped wife. While the congressman didn’t approve (or know about) his mother’s plan, because it worked he’s still leaning on his mother for advice on what to do next.
It was a little disappointing to not have any of our main character’s getting time in the spotlight, but that sometimes happens on this show. Although we didn’t have any movement on our main stories, the case of the week was okay. Kidnapping cases are not always the most exciting. We did have some nice moments with Spencer working surveillance as we saw him stick his foot in his mouth, learn more about his background in languages and his affection for coffee (that’s one that we share with Spencer). We are excited at the possibility of Spencer meeting a love interest after asking out his surveillance partner for a coffee. Episode grade: C
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DeathMunchkin
April 2, 2015 @ 4:58 am
Well, if they do make Spencer and the woman (sorry, couldn’t remember her name) a couple, it would be totally horrible towards Spence if they kill her off as well. He clearly didn’t take Gideon’s death earlier in the season too well. I feel like if he had to lose another person he cared for soon, he might slip into depression, or worse.
ZanneJ
March 29, 2015 @ 7:53 am
While the episode wasn’t perfect, it still had many elements that reflected the style of the series in its original format: We didn’t see the unsub up front (or rather, the identify was not revealed right away), there was some mystery, everyone on the team was involved somehow, and the team worked with other agents/people to get the job done. I prefer to find out things about the team members through the cases and how they respond to things– maybe they can sometimes say something about themselves or their past or their feelings. I am not a fan of the bookends with personal stories because those usually don’t seem to fit the episodes. This episode did not have those annoying bookends. Furthermore, I have absolutely zero interest in anything involving Kate’s niece. I really like Kate and I also really like her husband, but the line delivery and facial expressions from the child playing Meg are awful. The teen angst drama is something I have never been interested in and I am not interested in it now. I would be happy if Meg is never mentioned again. So, I did not feel the least bit bothered by the fact that Meg was not mentioned in this episode. Kate had to focus on the job– she didn’t have time to be bringing up her obnoxious niece.
I also liked that they picked an actress who resembles Scully from X-Files as Reid’s new friend. Even though there were some unexplained things and some loose ends, I still think this was probably one of the best episodes in the past 5 seasons. I give it a solid A.
But I know each person has different preferences, so, to each their own.
SheriAz627
March 28, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
I really liked this episode, and while it may not be an A+, it was definitely at least an A-. I prefer episodes where we don’t know who the unsub is at the beginning. Once in a while that’s okay, but it seemed to be happening far too much. This type of episode is why I fell in love with Criminal Minds.
brit2010
March 28, 2015 @ 3:50 pm
Loved the episode. Great case, excellent team work, lots of profiling. Good twist at the end. No I didn’t miss not having any update on Kate teen daughter, not a storyline that I find appealing. I hope we will have more episodes like ‘Rock Creek Park’ where the focus is on the team, the profiling and the case. I give this episode a A+
Phoenix Rising
March 28, 2015 @ 3:50 pm
MWH2, I concur with you 100%. This episode was absolutely one of THE best of this year next to A Thousand Suns and Nelson’s Sparrow… Criminal Minds has ALWAYS been about the Psychology of the killer… the Team working the Profile and bringing justice to the victims… It was NEVER conceptualized to be a sappy family soap opera… and If I NEVER see another sappy bookend scene I will be happy. Do I like when the team personal lives are woven into the storyline… YES absolutely… But to shorten a case to fit a disjointed personal bookend just doesn’t float my boat…
MWH2
March 27, 2015 @ 7:16 pm
Are you mad?? This was the best Criminal Minds episode for a long time – just like the glory days of earlier seasons. A clever story, profiling, all the team playing an essential part, suspense and a twist at the end. Much, much better than all those sappy personal storylines they have been ruining the show with over the last four seasons. This is supposed to be a show about the psychology of crime and not a soap opera. Even the little moments with Reid and the girl on surveillance were at least well done and fit in with the story instead of the usual clunky bookends they usually do these days. This was clever writing with a lot of twists and turns – not the flash bang action cops stuff that only the kiddies really like. More like this please. Best episode of the season. I cannot believe you thought this wasn’t exciting.
brit2010
March 28, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
agreed 100%!