under the marble and the snow
mood: 
content
contentmusic: Leonard Cohen - Sisters of Mercy
Oh, Evil Sexy Leonard Cohen.
Kristen Spicer is kind of awesome. And Morgan is awesome, too. But we knew that.
And this is why cop cars have radios. See, the problem with the police is that they can call their friends. And some of their friends have helicopters.
And now I will let go of that plot point. Really.
Patient is combative.
"I'm all right." Drink!
"He headed around back before I could stop him." Heh. Why does THAT sound familiar?
"When it comes to family, common sense and procedure go out the window." Indeed, Hotch.
"The question is, Why don't I kill everybody?"
Go Prentiss!
Morgan, you might need a valium. Or six. Obviously the brain swelling is causing violent mood swings.
JJ WIN. "How hard could it be to work out?" Those test broadcasts were a fixture of my childhood. And she had fabulous endurance.
And Prentiss with the comforting gesture. Morgan's having a bad night.
Tim Curry is awesome. And so is Isabella Murad. Man, she gloats very well.
"Yes, Madam Secretary." Why do I suspect JJ is getting sharked by a different federal agency after this?
"On the completely safe assumption you're not talking about me--" aww, Reid. Aww, Garcia. And purple stripes in her hair!
"The customer, ironically named John--"
Aww, Morgan and Garcia made me sniffle.
At least they managed to get JJ a crowning moment of awesome before she had to go.
Interesting, that. The totally telegraphed suicide by cop, and Morgan basically walking right into him, because he doesn't care. Yeah, Derek, the job gets to you sometimes, doesn't it? Interesting watching it wear down both him and Hotch--and interesting that this is the UNSUB nobody can find a way to empathize with. They can understand. But empathy is different, and they're out.
That was a killing in wrath, not in pity. And he was no more interested in the bad guy's self-examination that Reid was in "Damaged." There are limits to even angelic compassion, I guess.
Derek Morgan takes first place in the roll of the damned at 5.25. (Charm & Harm (split with Elle), Lessons Learned, Open Season (split with Prentiss), Legacy (split with Hotch, Prentiss, and the CotW), and Minimal Loss (three in the center of mass). Also, "Outfoxed," more or less in extremis. And a full audience participation suicide by cop in "Our Longest Night".
Aaron Hotchner, badass, in second place with 4.25 (The Tribe, A Real Rain, Legacy (split with Morgan, Prentiss, and the CotW), and Catching Out--and then he beat George Foyet to death with his bare hands in 100.).
Emily Prentiss, third place with either 2.75 or 2.25, depending on whether one of those offscreen gunshots in Open Season was actually hers, or if all three were Morgan's. I award her the kill because of her reaction on the plane afterward. The .25 is the other quarter of Charles Holcomb in Legacy, who went down like Frankie. The first 1 is the suicide-by-cop in "Lo-Fi." The second one is Dale Schrader in "Retaliation." Which could have been Morgan's kill, but I'm giving it to Emily because the hostage seems madder at her later.
Future vigilante killer Elle Greenaway: slips to fourth with 2.5 (Extreme Aggressor, Charm & Harm (split with Morgan), Aftermath)
The mild-mannered but deadly Dr. Spencer Reid, fifth place with at 2 (LDSK; Revelations)
JJ: 1, in Penelope. And RIGHT THROUGH THE FBI SEAL. Hello Symbolism Much? Also, three dogs and my eternal respect. She is 1:1 bullets:kills, at this juncture.
Rossi: in second-to-last place with 1, in his very first episode (About Face). Having established that he is a badass, he has never badassed since. ("Welcome to the Enterprise. Would you like to beat up my Klingon?")
Garcia still doesn't kill people.
Gideon has never discharged his weapon. However, he has beaten somebody all to hell with a clubbed shotgun.
And of course, various shootings perpetrated by unsubs, victims, the families of unsubs, the families of victims, cops of the week, snipers, random bystanders, cultists, lovelorn teenagers, and Frank Miller's ego....
Because I am a suspicious thing, I'm curious that although we saw Flynn go down, we never got the usual shot of the dead unsub, or shot of the unsub being carried out. I know Morgan probably would have checked to make sure he was dead before leaving, but... I dunno. I'll be kind of disappointed it really was that easy.
And as always, Reid is love.
And I TOTALLY want to see Ellie Spicer again. She reminded me of the end of "Natural Born Killers", where Hotch talks about abused kids who either grow up to be killers or to catch them.
I think if you're looking for a big fight, you're missing the point of what did happen.
That didn't detract from the awesome one bit.
If she was dealing with DHS and the FCC, either Janet Napolitano, or Marlene H. Dortch. I'm guessing Napolitano, as is
And yeah, that was... some fine acting, there. His character gets so much complexity in just that one sentence.
Someone on another board mentioned that while Morgan is biting off everyone's heads and being miserable and giving Em the cold should when she tries to sympathize ("She's right; that wasn't fair."), he quiets down and listens when it's Rossi's turn. I don't remember that exactly, but I thought it was an interesting statement.
He's in trauma response; he's lashing out at people he normally wouldn't; he's looking for revenge.
I think it's supposed to be deeply ambiguous.
Replying without reading the post
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Re: Replying without reading the post
Tim Curry, awesome. AJ Cook, awesome and already mourned. The last scene is pretty great, and pretty disturbing. Ellie, awesome. I think my "favorite season premiere award" still probably goes to "Mayhem," but this was good.
(Dude. Morgan has bad luck with these things. He's always getting knocked out by unsubs.)
And Morgan does get mussed a lot....
She enjoyed that.
The start of this season mirrors the start of last season when Hotch was the one walking into a house with an unsub (without a gun, too!) and then Hotch, Prentiss & Rossi walking away from a suicide-by-cop and a protesting Morgan. Now, Morgan willingly executes that suicide-by-cop. With bonus overkill.
And, of course Ed B. had to establish exactly why JJ is essential to this team and how awesome she is, just in time to make her departure even more painful. I'd bet that in epsiode 3 we get a scene that says "This is where JJ is supposed to be, but she's not, so the family is kind of disoriented".
Billy had jerked Morgan around through the whole thing, leaving his alive, asking him to come into the house, etc. This was the ultimate power trip. He realized he was going to be caught, he knew it was all over, so he manipulated Morgan into killing him, something that links them together forever. Morgan will never forget him, Billy will never be "just another unsub" to Morgan. Suicide is really common amongst these guys when they are caught, or know they will be. The whole final speech, was another way to manipulate Morgan, even if there were some real truths, some personal revelations, it was still him playing his final game. When Morgan wouldn't just shoot him down, he raised the gun to force him to act. He was in control to the very end.
Especially Reid, who I think will have to take up some of the Bantering With Garcia slack while Morgan sews his stuffing back in.
And dumb me, I got the macro S5 reference when Morgan was calling in that marker with Hotch, but didn't realize until today the smaller specific echoes to "Haunted". However, Hotch was thinking 3 moves ahead, or he wouldn't have let Morgan go in.
Oh JJ. *sticks tongue out at CBS and stalks over to sit in the corner*
Sigh.
I'm counting on CM to rise to the crisis again, though.