"He's so lifelike!"

Finally getting around to posting some comments on 4.02. I jotted a few notes down when I re-watched it, so I'll take those and expand on them a bit.

4.02 "The Angel Maker":

As is usually the case with Criminal Minds, there really isn't a whole lot to say beyond "well done". It really says it all. There are always very few criticisms to be made, if any; the cases are always interesting and thought-provoking, and the character moments are always beautiful little gems sprinkled throughout every episode.

That being said, most of my comments are things that I loved.

~ The continuity of Hotch's injuries from the premiere. I'll be interested to see where that leads this season - I don't anticipate that he'll have lasting hearing loss, but with this show, you never know if they'll go there. It would be an interesting route to take, and I would be very intrigued by how they would play it out. It's not the kind of thing I could never see them doing to the character, so I can watch it with a real sense of possibility that it could be in the cards for Hotch to lose hearing in that ear.

~ Speaking of the hearing thing - I loved the little moments where the other members of the team expressed concern. The way Rossi practically held him at the end was an especially stand-out moment. It showed not only concern but also familiarity - you don't grab on to mere acquaintances or coworkers like that. This team is a real family.

~ I called the constellation part long before Emily figured it out - mainly because I missed the shooting star at the beginning and only saw the stars themselves when the victim looked out the window. I also called 'the Dove' being the final victim - between the name, the tattoo, the fact that it was the only constellation left and the fact that dying was the only way to be with the original 'Angel Maker', I was pretty sure she'd be the one. That didn't stop me from being interested to see where things went.

~ I'm with Garcia on clowns being creepy as hell. I saw that episode of Supernatural!!1!

~ 'Traditionally, the concept is a good twin and an evil twin, but in this case, it's an evil twin and an eviler twin.' - Oh Reid, how I love thee. *hugs and feeds cookies*

~ Speaking of Reid, I always love little moments between him and Morgan - the teasing comment about his haircut was fun. It doesn't take much to add character moments, and this show is very adept at doing so. Listen up, CSI:NY!

~ 'Because she shot him in the junk, right?' - this episode had a lot of good quotes in it, and when Random Cop said that, I laughed out loud.

~ I'm always impressed by the things you can learn on this show. I've always loved astronomy, so the inclusion of a group of constellations was interesting. It's nice to see complexity with these cases - it's a good contrast to something like the CSI shows. CSI uses increasingly flashy gadgets to solve crimes (albeit combined with complex crimes and the use of logic), but CM focuses on the logic and the mind and the history of crime, with minimal use of gadgets beyond Garcia's tech savvy.

You won't see some sketchy snowflake forensics or tear analysis on Criminal Minds.

~ Rossi: What do you need to crack it?
Reid: The ability to clone myself and a year's of supply of Adderall.
Rossi: I'll put on the coffee.

LOL!

~ The conversation about the code and Emily's response (the quote from the top of the post) was definitely a highlight of the episode. When Reid is at his most nerdy-genius, it's really the kind of response we all have. It was fun to see Emily say it (completely straight-faced) and the others react to it.

When Emily first joined the team, I was reluctant - the convenience of her ability to speak Arabic in "Lessons Learned" had me worried that she might be too much like Reid and would detract from his character. Then later on I was worried they were going to try to tie her up in a romantic relationship with another member of the team right out of the box.

Clearly, I needn't have worried. :D I had never had a problem with Elle, but I'd never loved her either. I hated to see an original team member leave, but they pretty much made me want her gone during the beginning of S2. My reluctance to trust a show's ability to add a new character without incident is clearly a knee-jerk reaction to being burned in the past. CSI:NY, I'm looking at you.

Naturally, when I say I don't have much to say, I write a ton. Overall, a very good episode, as always, and I'm looking forward to next week.

You want to know something kind of interesting (I think, anyway)? With something like CSI:NY, I watch and think of stories I'd write if I were in charge, cases I'd like to see them solve, etc. With Criminal Minds, I just watch to see where they take me - I'm just along for the ride. I just now realized it's that type of show for me. I don't think about what's going to happen, I just wait and see.

Plus, of course, there's no way I could come up with any kind of story smart enough to belong on CM. (I like that they don't dumb it down, BTW.)

I used to have a Garcia icon, but I deleted it since I never used it. I need to get a CM icon in my userpics stat.