Criminal Minds - Mosley Lane

Network: CBS
Time: Wednesdays, 9:00-10:00pm
Cast: Thomas Gibson, Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, AJ Cook, Kirsten Vangsness

Summary: After a child is abducted from a carnival, the BAU determines the case may be related to many child abductions over the past ten years.

Review: I've spent the last month and change catching up on Criminal Minds episodes, so this is the first episode I actually had to wait to watch, and it didn't disappoint.  The main draw of a CM episode is a heart-stopping case, and this episode had that and then some. 

In the beginning, it's a fairly typical child abduction (if there is a such a thing as a typical one).  One kid snatched from a carnival.  It's sad, but it's unfortunately something that happens on a too-regular basis.

But then another mother shows up, claiming that her son was abducted by the same person.  The catch?  She's been saying that for every child abduction in the last ten years.  So often, in fact, that JJ recognized the woman based on what she had told Emily, without ever seeing her face.  But JJ's changed since the last time this woman showed up.  She has a kid of her own now, and maybe that's warping her perception, because now she is starting to believe this mother.  And so the hunt begins.

I like any episode that attempts to give JJ a stronger character.  Out of all the members of the BAU, she's still the least developed.  She has the weakest backstory of any character, though the writers have taken steps to try to fix that this season.  And her personality has been confined until recently to the role of a consummate professional at almost all times.  This has gradually been changing, but it's still nice to see another episode that focuses on her, to gain another glimpse into her life.  They could have done a little more in this situation (I really think the ending practically begged for a scene between her and her son), but it was nice to see her step outside her professionalism for a little while, even if it made the others question her a little bit.

I also really like the episodes with missing children.  I know that sounds kind of sick, but, in general, those episodes have at least a slightly happier ending than flat-out serial killer episodes, rapists or arsonists.  I know the writers are definitely not squeamish about doing bad things to kids in their episodes, but they seem to appreciate the need for a little bit of hope at the end, so as not to make it all bad.  This episode made me cry, but there was enough of a positive at the end to ease the pain of what had happened.

I don't think they could have cast better people to play the UnSubs if they'd had years to do it.  Guest star casting has always been a strength of Criminal Minds', and it's nice to see that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon.  The UnSubs were creepy in a way that just screamed mental disorder, which is exactly how they should have been. 

One of my favorite things about this show is that it balances the cases and characters better than any other crime show I've seen.  A lot of this season has been dominated by watching bad things happen to Hotch, but the last few episodes have returned to be largely case-based.  While character-driven episodes are my preference, there has to be a balance or the show would get soap opera-y.  And it's nice to be able to take the things you know about the characters and apply them to the case that's going on (such as apply JJ's relatively new motherhood status to a case where a mother believes her abducted son is still alive).

In just a little over a month, this went from a relatively unknown show to one of my favorites ever on TV, so I may be a little biased towards the episode (though I'm trying to view them objectively).  So what did you think?  CM has been on hiatus for a couple weeks thanks to the Olympics.  Was this episode worth the wait?  Are there other things you're hoping to see as the show begins to wind down for the season?  Leave a comment and let me know.


Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad

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