TV Series Lounge

The casting of Criminal Minds now becomes interesting. Rumors are everywhere on who will go and who will stay. To enlighten you a bit, read below.

TV Guide: To say that CBS’ casting moves involving Criminal Minds stars A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster drew considerable criticism from the show’s fan base is an understatement.

With Brewster’s presumed swan song set for next week – an episode in which the previously written-off Cook returns – speculation is rampant over what will transpire.

Her storyline was unfolded ominously for weeks, with Ian Doyle tracking her down and looking for revenge. but will Criminal Minds go so far as to kill off Prentiss?

Or will her exit be more open-ended, as we saw with J.J.’s farewell?

CBS’ official stance has been that should Paget Brewster be so inclined, she is welcome to return to the cast next fall. But whether she accepts their terms is unclear.

What do you think will send Emily packing? Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays Reid and directed the episode, tells TV Guide that Prentiss’ dirty laundry will be aired.

“Prentiss finds herself in a tricky situation. She may have done some things in her past that wouldn’t be looked upon favorably,” Brewster’s co-star says.

So what’s your insight on this one?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

On episode 17 of Criminal Minds, “Valhalla,” we have seen several exciting and intense moments but beware, this is just the beginning.

According to TV Fanatic, the opening was not for the faint of heart or those not paying exceptional attention to what was going on. Sadly, I failed the second part, and I even have DVR.

I didn’t realize that two different husbands and wives were killed in two different ways until Rossi and Hotch started explaining it.

I’m not going to try and make excuses for not following what was happening, it was just confusing. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a blur, as there were small things that made each family stand out (i.e. the husband cursing in Italian over the spilled soda).

If it was, then great job, it worked and I got lost.

The main part of the episode is the continuation of Ian Doyle exacting revenge on those who sent him to prison. As we know from “Coda” (or learned from the “previously on…”) Emily worked undercover at Interpol and was one of the major players in Ian going to jail.

I get that she has trust issues and she is not quick to trust the BAU team. What I am clearly missing is why she is working so hard to hide what she knows from the team.

Also, how is it out of the entire BAU only the computer nerd Garcia notices that Prentiss is being weird? My boss can tell at a glance when I had something bad for lunch; how are the trained behavioral experts not noticing things like her making weird calls in the bathroom or randomly puking at crime scenes?

I do give Morgan credit for trying to get her out of her shell.

He at least took a little time and talked to her in the car. I also have to mention that Shemar Moore has a voice that would melt butter. Someone needs to get him reading some audio books, he has an amazingly smooth voice.

Indeed, a commendable episode, I hope the excitement and thrill will continue on the next episode.

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

The episode of Criminal Minds this week, “Coda,” deals with Sammy Sparks, an autistic boy witness. So what did he see that made BAU go to Louisiana?

Well, it’s the abduction of his parents.

TV Fanatic: As the UnSub drags Billy’s mom to banks and check cashing places to stockpile whatever money he can, a terrified, trapped Billy can only communicate through a piano.

What is the motivation psychosis – or economic desperation?

The team discerns that the UnSub is after a certain amount of money, as if he is about to lose property. Fishermen and child custody case participants emerge as profiles.

Reid is hoping Sammy will help them find his parents, but Lizzie, his legal guardian, may stand in the way. But Reid ultimately has a breakthrough with the young boy.

Reid sits and begins playing with the boy doing the same. With the keys, he’s able to answer Yes/No questions. This sparks another lead in his communication patterns.

He communicates through pictures, and the mysterious “L” is actually a clock. Sammy stick to a schedule. So does the delivery man they’ve now pegged as the perp.

Bill Thomas, a former fisherman with a boat at the marina, was desperate as they predicted and had no intention of going quietly. Sammy and Allison are safe, at least.

This was another strong A-story from a show that rarely disappoints with them, connecting you with guest characters even if you only have 40 minutes to meet them.

Meanwhile, the saga of Emily Prentiss continued to unfold.

Her past and future have been a topic of great debate, and we’re starting to learn more about Interpol, Ian Doyle and why she may be in grave danger this spring.

In last week’s episode, she was in contact with Tsia about Doyle, who deplaned in the U.S. This week, we learn Doyle was after them because they put him away.

The others are noticing Prentiss is not herself, but she’s not opening up to them about it. Whether she feels she shouldn’t or can’t, she’s alone. And quite scared.

No surprise there. Prentiss was considering telling her team about it, but the BAU can’t help them. Doyle is on the move to D.C., and not hiding his actions either.

Greeting her by her old alias Lauren Reynolds, he told her that since she took away the only thing that mattered to him, he’s going to take her life from her as well.

Doyle is certainly a commanding character, with Tsai and Clyde contributing to the plot nicely. You get the impression this story, however well done, will not end well.

Overall, this is an interesting episode for Criminal Minds. Agree?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

This week’s episode of Criminal Minds, “Today I Do,” gave us more of Prentiss. On the other hand, Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior also started.

TV Fanatic: As for the original Minds, Ian Doyle has escaped. That was enough to raise eyebrows, and you can’t help but think Emily is in for serious trouble as the season progresses.

“Today I Do” primarily focused on the abduction of Molly Grandin, however. Her car was ditched with a packed bag inside, as was the case with the previous victim, Gail.

Clearly the packed bags indicated some sort of connection to the UnSub, but was it romantic? Is the perpetrator male or female? The BAU is puzzled at the onset.

Molly’s ex, Lyle, says Molly was seeing someone else and is different now.

Reid and Morgan visit the site where previous victim Gail was found and see the weapons used to attack her were signs. Prentiss discovers motivational Post-Its.

We know exactly who they’re looking for, of course, and it’s very disturbing. Jane, the life coach from hell, has Molly tied up and wants to help her “fix herself.”

In a scene reminiscent of Kathy Bates in Misery, she drops the hammer on Molly as the mantra “Today I do, tomorrow I will” – as seen on a Post-It – is repeated.

I have to say, Criminal Minds does a terrific job of crafting sociopaths. Sure, there is overacting and the conclusions might feel forced, but the characters are spot-on.

Odd as it feels to call the interactions between serial murderers and victims realistic, it always feels that way. Combine that our complex team of FBI agents and it’s not a surprise that the program has been on the air for five-plus seasons.

Seaver, who we haven’t seen as much of since her arrival last fall, finds books of daily affirmations and a journal that suggests drastic shifts in Molly’s lifestyle.

At this point they’re honing in, believing the UnSub gets close to the victims offering support of some kind, then dispatches them when they no longer need her.

Soon enough, Jane has Lyle tied to the bed as well. She tells Molly Lyle didn’t care she’s missing and says she deserves better. Luckily, Lyle is able to free himself.

After a dramatic confrontation, Lyle comes at Jane and prevents Molly from being killed, but Jane attacks him. Molly makes a run for it as the BAU closes in.

Molly nearly gets away but is hit by Jane, while Emily, and Reid reach the house and find Lyle dead. They estimate that Jane is now by the lake, which is right.

Just as Jane’s about to stab Molly and finish her off, she wakes up and swims away as the authorities finally place Jane under arrest in a frighteningly close call.

Meanwhile, Prentiss gets word from Tsia in France that Jeremy, their old team member, is dead. She’s more certain than ever that Doyle is tracking them down.

So with this Prentiss-focused episode, which I know most of you are not a fan of, what do you expect on the next episode?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

This week’s episode of Criminal Minds continues the streak that this season builds. Last week, episode is superb and good as well. So what happened?

TV Fanatic: If nothing else, “Sense Memory” will give you pause the next time you get in a cab. For that you can thank another disturbingly, uniquely creepy UnSub. When you have that kind of knee-jerk reaction after an episode, Criminal Minds has done its job.

This week also gave us more insight into Emily’s past, which we’ll get to shortly.

Even for the BAU, this murder pattern was unusual. Overweight women drowned and dumped across L.A., with small pieces of their feet removed. It’s gross just writing about it.

After learning that they were killed by drowning in a highly toxic kind of alcohol, that leads us nowhere, shifting the focus to how the victims are found, caught, and disposed of.

The team employs the old standby – the news conference – after another potential victim goes missing, hoping someone had a run-in with this UnSub and lived to tell about it.

Preferably, to tell about it sooner rather than later.

The final clue was not one I saw coming. A woman comes forward to say she was picked up by the man’s taxi cab, only to be abruptly sent packing after she put on perfume.

Smell. The catalyst for the killer’s rage.

The flesh removed from his victims’ feet were samples for the unhinged scientist, who used them to break down their scents, turning the essences into candles. So twisted.

Tracking the murderer to his garage, they save the abductee from becoming a victim at the last moment, and after a long chase scene in the car, the UnSub is no longer.

While not as riveting as last week, this was still a solid episode with an intriguing B-story as well, focused on Prentiss, who as we know is rumored to be exiting the show.

At the beginning, Emily arrives home and removes a work file from her safe – a job from the past. A strange open window and phone call have her obviously suspicious.

Later, she finds a box waiting by her door. She removes the file from her safe before proceeding to open the box, which contains a single flower and triggers a flashback.

Officials take Emily away. Ian Doyle is watching and she asks to speak to Sean. On the phone, Doyle says “they got her” and to “stay on top of this” as he is arrested.

So where will this storyline lead? Now, that JJ is returning, what do you think will happen next?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

I know this spoiler will make many Criminal Minds fanatics happy. So if you are interested on JJ’s return, read below the exciting spoiler from TV Line.

A.J. Cook is back at the BAU, if only for a week.

According to TV Line, the actress whose exit such enormous viewer backlash this fall will reprise her role as Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau for one episode this spring.

It’s unclear what prompts her return, when exactly her episode airs or whether she may return for more than just that week, but she’s due on set this week.

J.J. bid farewell in the second episode of the current season to take a job at the Pentagon. The character seemed as reluctant to do so as millions of fans were to see her go.

When news broke that Cook’s contract was not being picked up by CBS, fans mounted a huge online campaign demanding the network save Cook and Paget Brewster.

Might J.J.’s comeback be tied in some way to the looming exit of Brewster’s character? It’s been speculated at length that Minds may kill off Prentiss later this spring.

CBS recently defended its casting moves, including the hiring of Rachel Nichols shortly after Cook’s exit, maintaining that Brewster’s future with the show is up to her.

So what do you think about the return of JJ?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

What can I say about “The Thirteenth Step?” Oh boy, this is one of my favorite episodes! So if you want something intense and a bit disturbing episode then you should watch the thirteenth episode this season.

TV Fanatic: What could have been a cliched plot – law-breaking, madly-in-love couple on the run from the world – was uniquely done and well-executed, however. Not to mention frightening.

Perpetrators Sydney and Ray are both in AA, but they’ve already broken “The Thirteenth Step,” an unwritten rule for not becoming romantically involved early in sobriety.

The consequences proved fatal for anyone in the Midwest who got in their way.

To the extent that two guest stars can make an episode, Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights’ Tyra) and Jonathan Tucker (The Black Donnelleys) did so as Sydney and Ray.

Both were terrific as the troubled couple “working the steps” in a murderous, drunken spree so terrifying you grew nervous, shaking whenever they came back on screen.

The original, Criminal Minds-style spin on the oft-repeated Bonnie & Clyde saga was AA, and the examination of the couple’s past as they took on the hardest steps (7-9).

Suffice it to say, the program didn’t turn out as planned for these two.

Bastardizing the 12 steps in haphazard and delightfully devious (for them) ways, the twosome stole the show this week, commanding our attention much more than the BAU.

Palicki, who we loved on FNL and the unfortunately-axed Lone Star, showed real versatility, innocently toying with her candy ring-pop one minute, bashing heads in the next.

This show can be over-the-top melodramatic at times, but this week it felt anything but. Seen through the eyes of these crazed companions, the violence served a purpose.

From the moment we met Ray at his AA meeting, you knew it was going to go horribly wrong. Shooting up the entire room was just the beginning of their downward spiral.

The grip of addiction is stronger than people realize, and Reid’s observation that they were “working” on 7-9 gave the team an insight into the twosome they were tailing.

Having become completely unhinged, Ray and Sydney turned the AA principles around by trying to force people – their abusive parents, namely – to make amends to them.

When they’re eventually cornered, Morgan uses psychology to turn them against each other, and fittingly for this episode, the climactic scene was as frightening as it gets.

After freeing the hostage, Ray lays Sydney down in the store, kissing her with passion, with the kind of false elation they’d shown all night. Then he chokes her to death.

“The Thirteenth Step” practically gave me nightmares, a testament to how harrowing and real the characters seemed, despite the bizarre, made-for-TV circumstances.

In the night’s brief subplot, Prentiss meets Sean McAllister, who had been trying to track her down. He tells her that Ian Doyle has vanished from prison. He’s off the grid.

Emily asks if he’s headed there and if she’s in danger. Sean says they all are. Presumably this blast from the past will be revisited. Think the show will kill off Prentiss?

So what do you think about this episode?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

I love the fact that despite the behind the scene issues which occurred in Criminal Minds, the show never fails to bring a good episode for us. But somehow, I think episode 12 “Corazon” is just a so-so episode.

Did “Corazon,” the first episode of 2011, live up to the show’s standards? Mostly. At times, the show gets almost too graphic, relying on razor-sharp writing to compensate. TV Fanatic shares its observation below.

When the writing and filming don’t feel quite right, you’re left with an episode you feel could have been better – even if a sub-par Criminal Minds is still better than most TV.

This week the team traveled to Miami in search of an UnSub who practices a mystical (and eerie) Afro-Caribbean religion and has been killing (and dismembering) his victims.

The writers deserve much credit for even attempting some of these settings and plot lines and the terrific cast is always worth watching, but this one didn’t quite hit the mark.

Something about “Santeria,” as I believe the religion is named, did not come across as believable and the filming style felt like the show was trying a bit too hard to be gritty.

That said, the case involved a number of unexpected twists in the hunt for this disturbing UnSub, while a subplot involving Reid’s undiagnosed illness bookended the episode.

Jimmy Mercado, a local who knew the victim, first tells the BAU about Santeria. They also meet Julio Ruiz, who runs the local soup kitchen, and his teenage assistant Elian.

The team meets with a professor writing the only book on the topic when they learn Jimmy Mercado is dead. The UnSub is now targeting people who talk with the BAU.

Julio is dragged to the station for questioning, but despite his criminal past, he seems genuinely remorseful and is ruled out as a suspect. Elian, however, not so much.

When the kid turns up MIA, he begins to look guiltier by the minute, but the BAU later begins to suspect Elian was framed, thanks to various inconsistencies in the case.

Parts of the crimes fit in with Palo Mayombe, but others did not. No prints were left at the scene, but a bloody footprint conveniently matched a shoe found in Elian’s room.

It all seemed a bit obvious then. Prentiss and Morgan figure it out that it’s professor Walker, trying to get press for his book, who committed the crimes and framed Elian.

Reid stumbles upon the killer and a tied-up Julio, and after some clever outmaneuvering, the rest of the team show up to arrest the UnSub and free Julio and Elian.

All the while, Dr. Reid and the MRI of his brain are the episode’s backdrop. The guy has been suffering from very bad headaches and even some mild hallucinations.

In the end, the scans of his brain are surprisingly normal. The doctors suggest he might be suffering psychosomatic symptoms due to stress. This is likely not over yet.

Reid’s migraine appears to be caused by past emotional/psychological trauma, so we can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of this. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

Overall, it was solid, just not Criminal Minds at its best. A little predictable and gory for the sake of being gory, but again, the show is almost a victim of its own success.

It’s hard to expect a home run every time out, especially after five-plus seasons, and even attempting some of these borderline out-there stories counts for a lot.

So did you like this episode?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

Other Season:

• Season 7

Spoiler:

• JJ to Comeback for Good?
• Episode 19 “With Friends Like These” Spoilers
• Say Goodbye to Some
• JJ is Back!
• Adrianne Palicki as Psycopath
• Rachel Nichols is Now Series Regular
• Prentiss out?
• Reid’s Secrets

Episode Review:

• Episode 24: Supply & Demand
• Episode 23: Big Sea
• Episode 22: Out of the Light
• Episode 21
• Episode 20
• Episode 19
• Episode 18
• Episode 17
• Episode 16
• Episode 15
• Episode 14
• Episode 13
• Episode 12
• Episode 11
• Episode 10
• Episode 9
• Episode 8
• Episode 7
• Episode 6
• Episode 5
• Episode 4
• Episode 3

So what did we see on this week’s episode of Criminal Minds? Quite intriguing actually that’s why TV Fanatic tells the same below.

“25 to Life” saw Morgan in the spotlight and in the crosshairs as his decision to help a parole candidate, Don Sanderson (guest star Kyle Secor) achieve his freedom led to unexpected, nearly disastrous repercussions.

Shemar Moore was terrific, especially the impact of his actions resonated internally.

After a quarter century of denying the charge he was convicted on and causing no problems behind bars, and following close monitoring by Morgan, Don is set free after Morgan makes a recommendation to the parole board that he be.

Three days later, Don kills again. Or is it again?

Morgan has no idea what he just opened up, but this much is clear. Don is not your standard UnSub. His victim, Tom Wittman, was one of three people Don claims was present the night his wife and daughter where slain – the crime he went down for.

Don claims what he did was basically self-defense.

He’d been waiting a quarter century to find the real killer and was innocent all along. As Morgan takes heat for setting him free, the BAU delves into the case once more.

The trail leads to Mary Rutka, but as the team arrives at her house, a man flees out the back and she is found dead. A tough break, but clearly they’re onto something.

Prentiss and Morgan point to blackmail as the reason she was killed. She had evidence of the crime committed against Don’s family that would implicate the threesome.

An old video proves them right. The UnSub’s voice is on it, crystal clear … or at least one of his catchphrases is. It’s politician James Anderson, a well-known figure!

After Garcia is able to match Anderson’s voice, the BAU busts him and a vindicated Don, is reunited with the son he hasn’t seen in 25 years in a moving conclusion.

“25 to Life” was another solid episode from a show that rarely delivers anything but. Morgan’s role was strong and the exploration of the parole process was new.

You never really know how it’s going to play out and sometimes your best guess has to be good enough – and sometimes the convicted really are innocent.

Did you enjoy this week’s episode?

You can check Criminal Minds Season 6 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.