TV Series Lounge

This week’s episode of Criminal Minds brings a new face, Rachel Nichols as Ashley Seaver. The good thing is that, basing on this episode, there is no reason to hate Seaver!

TV Fanatic: As a result, the resolution of “What Happens at Home” was fairly predictable. You had a feeling from the onset that she would be in a pivotal situation at the end, showcasing her profiling and negotiating chops. Lo and behold that’s exactly what happened.

It’s impossible to assess her on the basis of one episode, or predict how Ashley will mesh with the team over the rest of the season, but Nichols held her own in the episode.

The outpouring of love for A.J. Cook after J.J.’s final episode makes it hard to embrace the new character without some degree of bitterness and questioning of the network.

A lot of us wish there was no casting shakeup to begin with, but we are where we are right now, and after Wednesday, we’re intrigued by what Seaver brings to the table.

In a gated New Mexico community – the kind of place people live precisely so they don’t have to worry about this sort of thing – an UnSub has been slaying women at night.

In their homes. Security camera footage reveals that no one entered or left the community around the time of the murders, either, making for nightmares across the board.

Before re-joining the team, Hotch first stops by a training area to meet recruit Seaver, a young agent with a unique perspective. Ashley’s father was a notorious serial killer.

With the case hinging on pinpointing the suspect in a community where everyone knows and trusts each other, he feels he needs her help profiling the families of UnSubs.

With Seaver in tow, the BAU organizes a town meeting to see if they can flesh out anything suspicious. It worked, tragically, when a fourth woman winds up dead during it.

This killer is so cocky that he just narrowed the suspect list to a few dozen no-shows. While the dust settles from that, Seager decides to speak with the family of victim #3.

She’s got spunk, disobeying an order and venturing away from the team for a little solo investigating. Naturally, this leads us to the night’s killer, with Ashley on her own.

The breakthrough comes when Seaver mentions to the victim’s husband that the killer’s family will be very sorry for what he did. The husband, Drew, flies off the handle.

Ashley knows what the family will think because she was the family in a similar case. Predictable and a bit melodramatic for sure, but that is why Hotch brought her in.

Aware that she’s now staring down the killer in a life-or-death situation, her own childhood is the weapon she uses to get out of it in a quick-thinking, soul-bearing scene.

She admits that she still loves her dad despite all the unspeakable things he did, and coming clean is the only way to salvage what’s left of the relationships he holds dear.

This was not the best the show has to offer in terms of plot, but did serve as a strong introduction to the new team member. The rest of the season should be interesting.

The BAU has always been a family, so it’s hard to embrace a new member overnight. These things can take years, lifetimes. But we can see the potential there for sure.

So do you like Nichols’ appearance?

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

As other people say when one door shuts, another one opens. This is true for Adrianne Palicki.

Her Fox series, Lone Star, got an early axe, but Adrianne Palicki is currently shooting a guest starring role on Criminal Minds for early 2011, as we reported last month.

“It’s in the vain of Natural Born Killers or Kalifornia,” says Palicki of the killer Criminal Minds episode. “I never played a raging psychopath before so I couldn’t turn it down.”

“I’m having so much fun.”

The show’s casting moves have been roundly criticized, but between Palicki and new cast member Rachel Nichols, no one can accuse Minds of falling short on eye candy.

The actress describes her character, Sydney, as a girl “who comes from a broken home where her father molested her. She is an alcoholic who found love with a man named Ray. She and Ray get their kicks by drinking and killing people for no reason.”

Sounds along the lines of what could have happened to her Friday Night Lights character, Tyra, had she continued hanging out with the wrong crowd. Speaking of FNL, Adrianne says she will return for the series’ final two episodes this spring!

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

At first, we all knew that Rachel Nichols will appear on Criminal Minds. But even before her most awaited appearance, she already earned a promotion as series regular. So what can you say about that?

Guess the producers really like what they see.

The former Alias star originally signed on for a three-episode arc beginning this week (Dec. 8) as Ashley Seager, an FBI cadet with an unusual family history.

It was previously unclear if Criminal Minds would bring on a new female series regular this year after the controversial exit of A.J. Cook in September, but it looks like they have.

Why the popular Cook would be let go for creative reasons is a mystery to many, especially without having seen what Nichols brings to the show. Her debut should be interesting.

Also this summer, Paget Brewster’s role was reduced from 22 to 17 episodes, sparking rumors that the show was looking to kill off Prentiss or write her off in as it did with J.J.

Brewster was later asked to appear in all 22 episodes this year, but opted to work a reduced number so she could field other offers for future pilots/projects. It’s all very odd.

Will Rachel Nichols bring changes into the show?

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

Another superb episode for Criminal Minds! This episode is another testament that this TV series is one of the best today. Below is the summary by TV Fanatic.

Criminal Minds is never for the faint of heart, but the combination of the bleak outdoor settings, the intensity of the child actors and, of course, the murderer remaining at large made “Into the Woods” one of the strongest episodes of the season, if not beyond that.

A child killer loose on the Appalachian Trail, which is 2,175 miles long for those keeping score, had the BAU springing into action to nab the UnSub before he kills his next victim(s).

He abducts kids and keeps them in some crudely-fashioned dungeon for months before killing them, wrapping them in a plastic bag, and leaving them in the woods to decompose.

Hope you weren’t planning on eating breakfast.

Joseph Lanham, the father of Daniel, the last boy whose body was found, is an early suspect until Garcia helps uncover a pattern of other abductions up and down the trail.

They started long before the Lanhams even lived in the area, although recently, the radius of the kidnappings has actually decreased to a 30-40 mile area of Pennsylvania.

Armed with that piece of knowledge, the BAU discerns that the abductor is staying much closer to home than he once did, quite possibly after suffering some form of injury.

Thirty miles out of 2,175 does help narrow it down.

The focal points of the episode were Ana and Robert Brooks, ages 9 and 10, who are taken from a campsite in the UnSub’s territory. At some point, maybe there should have been an alert to keep kids off the trail once they realized who they were dealing with?

In any case, it’s an abandoned coal mine in the hills of the Keystone State where they’re being held, and where Robert hatches a plan in which he tells Ana to run “the next time he comes” for him. This was one of the darkest Criminal Minds scenes in some time.

Perhaps because there was no violence actually shown, and accentuated by the fact that it involved a 10-year-old about to be abused in the worst way, this was powerful imagery left to one’s imagination. What a brave, brave thing for an older brother to do.

The BAU tracks the UnSub, Shane Wyatt, to the house of drug dealer and pedophile Brandon Hayes, to whom he has “traded” Robert for a supply of painkillers.

In a surprising twist, Robert is rescued at the end, but Shane eludes capture and escapes, presumably back to the trail. Anybody up for a hike this weekend?

You have to think he’ll turn up again, right? The interesting thing was that the children really owned the scenes involving the killer, who remains somewhat of a blank canvas in terms of personality. Somehow, we can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of him.

So what do you think?

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

Criminal Minds said goodbye to JJ, so who’s next? According to TV Guide, Agent Prentiss is on the chopping block.

Soon enough, Paget Brewster’s Agent Prentiss is reported to be next.

When Cook left Criminal Minds, in large part due to the overwhelming response the casting move generated among fans, producers gave her a very classy send-off.

It nothing else, she left on a good note as far as the show’s overall narrative is concerned. The question is whether the powers that be have similar plans for Paget.

According to TV Guide, they may not. The show is casting a recurring character described as a dangerous, threatening European. Pretty much the ultimate bad guy.

The character’s story line relates specifically to Agent Prentiss.

This is really an important development for Criminal Minds. What do you think?

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

Criminal Minds’ episode this week is one of the best yet not the best. But the only important thing is we are entertained!

According to TV Fanatic, the BAU took on a local case this week after a girl was taken captive, tortured and dumped in an alley with her lips cut off. When another girl is abducted, the pattern starts again.

The recent death of his mother has the killer, Rhett, behaving this way. The fact that he keeps her body propped in a wheelchair at home tells you how disturbed this guy really is.

Having lived obediently with his mother all his life, Rhett developed the requisite skills to become a productive member of society. He also picked up on his mother’s obsessions.

An actress with a memorable role from the 1950’s, her celluloid scenes are now the Georgetown locales he’s now using for his abductions and murders. Delusions become reality.

With Garcia leading the way, the team isolates his location to one neighborhood, but with time and clues sparse, they take a page from NCIS’ Leroy Jethro Gibbs and bluff him out.

Holding a press conference they know Rhett will watch, the team announces they have just found the address of the killer. Which they would never do if it were so, but it worked.

As authorities patrol the streets, the team is able to take down a spooked Rhett and save his victim, Penny, when he attempts to flee. Sharp thinking by the BAU. Rhett, not so much.

As good as Criminal Minds is, this episode wasn’t the most riveting. The writers attempted to mix things up with the homage to ’50s films, the case itself didn’t really lend itself to it.

After five-plus seasons, they won’t knock our socks off every time, but by this show’s standards, there wasn’t anything too interesting psychologically about the killer they profiled.

Why did he start doing this? It was interesting that the mother was not actually there in the video scenes. Did the team find out May had died by the time they got to the house?

Guest star Robert Knepper made for a convincingly creepy UnSub, but his side of the story received an inordinate amount of screen time compared to the team, which seemed off.

One thing we particularly liked was that the final victim, Penny, played along, working on building Rhett’s trust. It’s nice to give the victim a role rather than be purely hapless.

As for Garcia’s “secret,” well, it was pretty light. It’s nice that there wasn’t much fallout from the reveal, although it did feel a bit forced. Anyway, we want to hear what you think.

Any comments guys?

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

In this week’s episode of Criminal Minds, we are all intrigued by few events. Such are discussed below.

Criminal Minds is always a compelling show, but last night’s episode added additional intrigue as it was often unclear who the BAU was even after, and who would survive.

“Middle Man” centered around women found dead in Indiana cornfields, but instead of one murderer, the UnSub turns out to be a trio college students, with another twist.

Not only is the BAU searching for their latest victim, they’re racing against time to stop the group’s leader from offing his two partners and disappearing for good as well.

Their last three victims went missing from strip clubs on Friday and were discovered dead by Sunday. A fourth, Stephanie Wilson, was abducted the night before. The clock’s ticking.

Capt. Salters, the local officer in charge of the case, is upset that this was leaked to media, and for good reason. We actually see the killers watching a story on themselves on TV.

In another interesting twist, two of the three, Chris and Scott, were under the impression that they were just abducting and raping the women, then setting them free. Not the case.

Michael, the ring leader, was chasing them down and finishing them off later. Absolutely terrifying stuff. The two confront him, and Scott wants out, creating a rift between them.

Around this time, Rossi and Morgan pieces together the same fact, that the victim is dropped off in a cornfield, thinking she’s able to escape, before she’s chased down and killed.

They’ve now separated the killers into the leader, Michael, a loyal follower, Chris, and a follower who isn’t wholly committed who wants to break the cycle. These guys are good.

Good enough to save Scott, though? Michael convinces Chris to kill him that very night. By this point, Hotch grows suspicious that there’s yet another obstacle in the BAU’s path.

Someone leaked the story to the media, the killers seem to have perfect knowledge of police roadblocks … it doesn’t add up. Unless someone on the inside is aiding the assailants.

Hotch confronts Salters, and therein lies the rub. Chris is Salters’ son. It’s too late for Scott, but there’s still the chance to save Stephanie. You knew it would be a tense standoff.

Michael and Chris are holed up, refusing to surrender, leading to escalating tensions and Salters and Michael both being shot. Salters is hit in the arm but survives, Michael dies.

Chris is gunned down by authorities** moments later. Stephanie is finally safe, and all three of the college students are dead. That manhunt was even more tricky than usual.

Overall, it was a very strong and complex episode, the kind that takes a while to calm down after (a Criminal Minds staple). The writing and acting were both solid as always.

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

This week’s episode of Criminal Minds is their Halloween presentation! “Devil’s Night” is heart-stopping and gruesome with a twist of drama! TV Fanatic adds more:

When you’re Criminal Minds, unquestionably a show that’s hard to stomach (in terms of subject matter, not quality), and Halloween is your medium, you have to step it up.

“Devil’s Night” was a solid episode that certainly paid tribute to this time of year, albeit a side of it we would all like to pretend doesn’t exist. Our setting? Detroit, Michigan.

We thought it only applied to October 30, the night before the big day, but apparently in Detroit, the three nights surrounding Halloween are collectively known as Devil’s Night.

In any case, it’s flat out mayhem, with criminals taking over the beleaguered city, looting, breaking stuff, setting things on fire, the works. Makes you not want to live in Detroit.

Our latest UnSub, Kaman, has marked the occasion with grisly abductions and murders for several years now, meaning the BAU knows where and when he’ll likely strike again.

The only question is whether they can stop him in time.

On the first night of his annual three-night killing spree, Kaman takes a victim into an seedy, empty warehouse and sets it, and him, ablaze. This is absolutely terrifying stuff.

Morgan figured firefighters and first responders could be potential UnSubs given the nature of these crimes, but a huge civilian organization throws a wrench into that idea.

In talking to the victim’s wife, Rossi learns that the kidnapper’s body has likely been badly burned, and that disfigurement allows him to blend in only at this time of year.

Kaman abducts victim #2, but panics and hastily burns him alive in a back alley after a police barricade thwarts his planned escape route. They know is identity. It’s on now.

In a race to find and save the third and last victim before it’s too late, the team makes its way to Jay-Mo’s, a restaurant owned by the father of Tracy, Kaman’s ex-girlfriend.

Before the accident that mutilated him, she and Kaman were together. Feeling abandoned by her has led, in large part, to the killing spree this UnSub’s been on ever since.

As Kaman tortures Jay-Mo, finding her is what he cares about now. Hot on the trail, Hotch barely gets a badly-hurt Jay-Mo out of the place before it goes down in flames.

Closing in by the moment, police surround Tracy’s house with Kaman inside. With the home covered in gasoline, any bullets flying could risk innocent lives. Time for Plan B.

Hotch convinces Tracy to tell Kaman they had a son together, one he had never met until now. That detail is enough to end the tense standoff without further bloodshed.

This was all frightening and unsettling to watch, but very well-written just the same. The action moved along at just the right pace, and the resolution felt appropriate.

The strong episode also included a sweet sequence in which Hotch and Jack prepare for Halloween, with Jack deciding to dress up like his father – a real hero. *Sniff*

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

It is evident that this week’s episode of Criminal Minds is a Morgan-centered one.

TV Fanatic: When two Midwestern families are killed just miles apart, the BAU is called in to track down the grisly murderer before he strikes again, and their discovery was not what we expected.

It was a good one, too – made all the creepier by a young Ben Linus sighting!

Lost is one of those rare shows where every bit character is memorable and may be forever linked to that program. That even goes for someone like young actor Sterling Beaumon.

He wasn’t a big name star on Lost, but he played young Ben Linus, and one of the scarier, more fascinating TV characters ever. We can say his Criminal Minds turn did Ben justice.

Playing Jeremy, his troubled teen character enacts revenge on surrogate mothers. Why?

For pretty much his whole life, he’s blamed for everything by a mom who despises him.

The case has the BAU team stumped at first, as both sets of parents not only let the killer into their homes, they fed him dinner, and apparently left them alone with their children.

It’s not until a third victim, Minister Louis Hannum, is discovered dead in a truck on the side of the road that the BAU discerns that they’re likely dealing with a teenage psychopath.

Abandoned in Omaha by his mother due to a loophole in the state’s safe haven law, a real development which made headlines years ago, Jeremy’s on the loose – and out for blood.

In a powerful and devastating scene, we learn that the mother was at first pregnant with twins, but one “consumed” the other. This is why she loathed “rotten” Jeremy for years.

Note to parents out there … it’s probably not good to hold your child responsible for behavior in utero. You may just turn them into disturbed, Ben Linus-like serial murderers.

Fortunately, Jeremy is arrested, but he somewhat defiantly tells Morgan he’ll be out by age 18. Morgan (Shemar Moore was terrific in this episode) vows to not let that happen.

Meanwhile, Ellie Spicer has away from her foster family and came to see Morgan. Interestingly, the BAU calls the foster family to let them know that she had been found safe.

The surprise? No one knew she was even missing. Ellie wants nothing to do with her mom, but Morgan tells her he lost his father too and can understand her plight and pain.

From “The Longest Night” to this week’s installment, could the producers be setting up an ongoing, Morgan-Ellie story that continues intermittently throughout the season?

It will be interesting to see if Ellie resurfaces again, but it added a little something extra to the episode, providing a nice B-story to a typically solid Criminal Minds episode.

So what do you think about this episode?

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

I am not really a fan of this TV series, but I think it is good. Below is the review of this week’s episode.

TV Fanatic: If there’s a silver lining to be found regarding J.J.’s departure on Criminal Minds (and you’d have to look long and hard for one) it’s that the BAU seems as shaken up as we are.

We may never understand why this terrific character was written out, and it seems that neither can Hotch, who spent much of “Compromising Positions” coming to grips with it.

Beneath this subtext was another solid episode of Criminal Minds, with a twisted and disturbing attacker on the loose, but J.J.’s absence seemed to be the dominant theme.

With a string of married couples being slain in Ohio, Garcia offered to travel with the rest of the team in J.J.’s place, since their jobs were the most similar … in theory, at least.

Predictably, she had a hard time filling the role of communications liaison, and Hotch had to bail her out personally. The pressure is palpable. These are some giant shoes to fill.

Audibly whispering “I miss you J.J.” was a tad melodramatic and unnecessary, but at the same time, we’re all thinking it. You wonder if they’re trying to send CBS a message.

The BAU considers itself a family, and you don’t pick up new members off the application pile. Replacing a vital cog will take effort from everyone, and will be an ongoing process.

Garcia is terrific, but in her own way. She can’t just be the new J.J., much as she might want to. As Morgan eventually ended up telling her, “you need to go O.G. Original Garcia.”

She did, and a good thing too. The episode’s UnSub, frustrated by impotence, is committing brutal crimes based around the sexual fantasies he used to enact at swingers clubs.

After six seasons, the show proved it can still stun us with some of the case-related action. When the suspect opened fire at the swingers party, that was pretty messed up stuff.

In addition to Garcia coming through with the phone call, Prentiss used herself as bait, right out in the open, in hopes of snaring the killer. We were almost as nervous as she was.

It was all hands on deck, and an admittedly strong episode, despite the pall cast over the season so far. We’re still sad J.J.’s gone, but it will be interesting to see the BAU evolve.

As the night drew to a close, Hotch assured Garcia they need her, but in her usual role, and that she didn’t let him down. In the future, they’ll split J.J.’s duties to better handle it.

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