The Fisher King Retrospective
This is my attempt at a review / retrospective inspired by the style of Elizabeth Bear, who is aware of my intent and who has encouraged me to give it a shot...
This isn't the most internally consistent episode ever, so we'll just agree among ourselves to ignore the peas and focus on the steak.
PART 1
... and all the guys are going off on vacation. Elle's one of the guys, right? And they leave the Faire Maydens behind to mind the kitchen store. Somehow I kept expecting Gideon to burst into song as he hot-footed it out the door.
So it is canonically confirmed that there are other BAU teams. Except that Morgan thinks that HIS team is the varsity. Which we knew already.
Spencer puts something into his m-bag. Isn't that a drink?
UNSUB reminds me a lot of Freddy Kruger before he turned into a cartoon.
Derek is in full-on playah mode, he even has his earring in; have we ever seen this again? And the fanservice team is doing a lot more for the Morgan fans than the Greenaway fans, I see.
Hey, look! It's Mr Dangle from the Sex In The City movie!
I have no idea how far ahead the writers were looking at this point, but this scene with the Happy Hotchners is so heartbreaking, looking back at how happy they were together and how genuinely cheerful and even silly Hotch could be off duty. He had so far to fall, so much to lose...
Gideon cooks! Drink?
Guilty Spencer. And Hotch tells a sweet story and gets some sofa lovin'. There for a second I thought she was going to make him wear the hat. Just ignore the timeline. And... afterglow interruptus and The Adventure Begins.
Garcia gets pwned and realizes The Awful Troof. (The Swedish? subtitles on the version I'm watching translates "Game Over" as "Slut". That's just rude.) I'm not sure whether this was uncharacteristic stupidity on her part or just her overwhelming confidence that no one would Dare Hack Her Supreme Goddessness.
I like the way the Montego Bay cops are portrayed throughout as very professional. Totally on the wrong trail, but following the evidence they have. Elle's arrest is very forward reminescent to Johnny's arrest in True Night. "This is how an innocent person acts when arrested." Neither of the detectives are slack, and the guy is a pretty good interrogator, too.
Enraged Garcia with a screwdriver is a thing of fearsome beauty.
Hotch, ever the Southern Gentleman, hands Elle his jacket without missing a beat. And the look on Elle's face is pure "My Mom's here. Now yur gonna get it." Hotch eschews a Hotchalance in favor of a Logic Bomb.
Just something to think about, but when they get back to Quantico, Greenaway is exhausted while Morgan seems rested and awake. We know Elle had a late night and was awakened rudely - surely Dupree was knocking on Morgan's door a few minutes later. Can we infer from this that Morgan got to sleep relatively early that night? And can we maybe infer from that that Morgan is, as has been discussed, "all sizzle and no steak" with the ladies due to his history of sexual abuse?
"The items he sent must have been some kind of clues." Yeah, Jason, if anyone ever needed a clue...
Yes, Pen screwed up royally, and she knows it. But Jason's an ass.
"This guy like to write things in blood on walls." Foreshadow much, Elle?
And Elle neatly lampshades the whole plot: "Definitely an Indiana Jones movie."
Yes, Jason. It's all about you. You just want to be left alone. To heal the wounds of your mind, your soul? Sound anything like another recluse we meet later?
Of course, Elle leaves her windows open when she goes on vacation. And of course, the unsub knows she's the one who went home.
Gideon, alone in his cabin.
Gideon, alone in his office, sulking like Achilles in his tent.
Gideon sitting alone at the hospital.
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PART 2
Poor Eddette looks bad. Kudos for not being afraid to let your daughter be ugly.
Dear Hotch: "Take her home" means "take her home". To anyone but you. And why not a hotel somewhere like you did with Haley? Elle's fambly too, y'know.
Delivery guy is a complete idiot. But that's who you'd pick, isn't it?
"Hello therapy."
Elle dialed 911; you have to save yourself. No one else can do it for you.
Poor Derek. A Big Damn Hero can only be in one place at a time.
Reid isn't even trying to fool himself about why he writes to his mother every day. And we're introduced to Reid's long running fear.
JJ smiles the mother into leaving Morgan and the detective alone. Because JJ is good at lying.
I keep getting the feeling that there's just something ... off, about Rebecca's whole home situation here, but I've never managed to put my finger on it.
Morgan and JJ crack the case!
Rebecca is fighting back. She's sick and chained, but she's trying.
Gideon is singing his usual refrain: "It was the right thing to do".
"I did the right thing."
"Elle will understand that."
And Hotch... I'm not sure just what the look is he's giving Gideon, but Thomas Gibson is so good with facial expressions it can't be accidental. I'm inclined to think it's "Right thing? Are you out of your effin' mind?"
Gideon's fooling himself. Reid isn't.
For the record, Jason? Your press conference didn't accomplish a damned thing (well, nothing good). The team solves the case without a single thing that came out of it. And in their usual neat way of team members following different paths to the same destination. Fortune cookie, anyone?
Diana Reid is adorable. She's not fooled about Spencer's reason for the daily letters either. Crazy, not stupid.
Diana cracks the case!
Garcia cracks the case!
Just in case any of the Faithful Viewers haven't caught on by this point, Diana spells it out. Modern day Knights of The Round Table.
Morgan and Hotch actually stand back and let SWAT go in first. Wow.
Garner knows exactly who Reid is. And, like a mockingbird, he has no regard for his own safety.
"There's only one question that matters. There's only one really important question - can you forgive yourself?"
That's right, Spencer, that's the question. And every single one of you is going to be asking yourself that eventually.
That's another refrain we hear from time to time: "RUN!"
Shaka, when the walls fell. Spencer, his ass on fire.
"You didn't say 'bomb'! You left that part out!"
She's not a Grail, She's a person. And we saved her - temporarily at least.
"Elle's out of surgery. She's gonna be OK." JJ lies, even when she doesn't know it.
Hotch makes sure Garcia knows that she's appreciated. 'Cause Mom is love. And gets all the dirty jobs, too.
Is Hotch realizing that maybe RULES aren't always a Good Thing?
The final quote, by Rose Kennedy, sums up the ongoing condition of our Big Damn Heroes.