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mitchy at 09:17pm on 27/09/2007
mitchy at 09:17pm on 27/09/2007Wow. I've numbered this 3.1, but in fact, this was the episode that was held over from last year; it had originally been due to air last season but was pulled after the Virginia Tech shootings, as the storyline featured a serial killer on a college campus. What they've very cleverly done is film new scenes featuring the departed Mandy Patinkin to give his character some sort of closure and explain his departure from BAU. And I have to salute the scriptwriters and the powers that be involved in this because it's one of the most ingenious re-uses of a episode I've ever seen.
The show opens with Gideon writing a letter at his cabin in the woods. It's clear from the get go it's a resignation letter of some sort, because we hear his narration as he's writing and the words are sorrowful. He talks about trying to get over the murder of Sarah and how he believed the best way to do that was to throw himself back into his work. But the very next case was the murder of college students aaaand then we cut to what I think was the original opening of the show, with the team getting off a plane in Flagstaff, Arizona and being briefed by the local detective in charge of the case.
It's a tough story in its own right, with no clear answers at all. Essentially, they arrest the security guard they believe responsible but there is no physical evidence, except that he fits the profile down to the ground. Gideon is convinced that the profile is right, others have doubts but in the end, they're forced to release him, after another girl is killed. However, Gideon believes that this last killing isn't their unsub because too many things are different. Things come to a tragic climax when a suicidal student approaches the suspected guard, lures him somewhere quiet and offers him a knife, because she wants to die but can't kill herself. She confesses she killed the last girl in order to free the guard. The guard suspects it's a trap, refuses to take the knife and she stabs him. When the agents move in to try and arrest her, having been watching via security camera, she finally stabs herself once she realises they won't shoot.
Officially the case is over, but there are repercussions. Gideon himself asks Hotch "What if we were wrong?" The killings may stop but there still wasn't any evidence that the guard was guilty. The evil Section Chief Bitch, who we last saw telling Emily Prentiss that she expected her to earn the place at BAU by feeding her information that would get Hotch fired, has more than enough ammunition to suspend Hotch for two weeks and take his badge pending an investigation. Hotch took the blame for allowing the meeting between the girl and the guard, but in actuality it had been Gideon's idea.
And then we come to the stomach punch. The show closes with Gideon finishing his letter, which we see him seal in an envelope and write a name on the front but no address. I'm going to quote the last thing he says in full:-
That was the last domino. The death of that girl. Hotch being suspended over something that was my fault. I said at the beginning of this letter that I knew it would be you that would come up here. I am so sorry the explanation couldn’t be better, and I’m so sorry that it doesn’t make more sense. But I’ve already told you I just don’t understand any of it any more
The last shot we see of Gideon is him sitting at the table, letter in front of him, and him holding his gun. The show fades to black at that point.
Holy cow.
It's logical. It fits. Gods I'm gonna be pissed off if they reveal in the next ep he's dead though. Dammit. I am also desperate to know who the "you" is in the letter that will come to the cabin. I hope they do tell us this stuff or I'll be forced to go and find the writers I was praising a few paragraphs ago and introduce them to a sharpened baseball bat.
I thought it was a corker of a season opener and considering it had to be botched together at awfully short notice, with new scenes filmed to keep the continuity smooth, they did an absolutely brilliant job. And they very neatly got around having to have Mandy work with any of the pissed off cast :P I think I heard somewhere that they did that on purpose because there was the prospect of a mutiny if they'd asked cast and crew to work with the disappearing Patinkin again, which I can understand. Anyway, it's set to be a hell of a season. Judging from the synopsis of the next few eps, it's gonna be one heck of a rollercoaster :D
*bounces about like a happy Mitchy*
The show opens with Gideon writing a letter at his cabin in the woods. It's clear from the get go it's a resignation letter of some sort, because we hear his narration as he's writing and the words are sorrowful. He talks about trying to get over the murder of Sarah and how he believed the best way to do that was to throw himself back into his work. But the very next case was the murder of college students aaaand then we cut to what I think was the original opening of the show, with the team getting off a plane in Flagstaff, Arizona and being briefed by the local detective in charge of the case.
It's a tough story in its own right, with no clear answers at all. Essentially, they arrest the security guard they believe responsible but there is no physical evidence, except that he fits the profile down to the ground. Gideon is convinced that the profile is right, others have doubts but in the end, they're forced to release him, after another girl is killed. However, Gideon believes that this last killing isn't their unsub because too many things are different. Things come to a tragic climax when a suicidal student approaches the suspected guard, lures him somewhere quiet and offers him a knife, because she wants to die but can't kill herself. She confesses she killed the last girl in order to free the guard. The guard suspects it's a trap, refuses to take the knife and she stabs him. When the agents move in to try and arrest her, having been watching via security camera, she finally stabs herself once she realises they won't shoot.
Officially the case is over, but there are repercussions. Gideon himself asks Hotch "What if we were wrong?" The killings may stop but there still wasn't any evidence that the guard was guilty. The evil Section Chief Bitch, who we last saw telling Emily Prentiss that she expected her to earn the place at BAU by feeding her information that would get Hotch fired, has more than enough ammunition to suspend Hotch for two weeks and take his badge pending an investigation. Hotch took the blame for allowing the meeting between the girl and the guard, but in actuality it had been Gideon's idea.
And then we come to the stomach punch. The show closes with Gideon finishing his letter, which we see him seal in an envelope and write a name on the front but no address. I'm going to quote the last thing he says in full:-
That was the last domino. The death of that girl. Hotch being suspended over something that was my fault. I said at the beginning of this letter that I knew it would be you that would come up here. I am so sorry the explanation couldn’t be better, and I’m so sorry that it doesn’t make more sense. But I’ve already told you I just don’t understand any of it any more
The last shot we see of Gideon is him sitting at the table, letter in front of him, and him holding his gun. The show fades to black at that point.
Holy cow.
It's logical. It fits. Gods I'm gonna be pissed off if they reveal in the next ep he's dead though. Dammit. I am also desperate to know who the "you" is in the letter that will come to the cabin. I hope they do tell us this stuff or I'll be forced to go and find the writers I was praising a few paragraphs ago and introduce them to a sharpened baseball bat.
I thought it was a corker of a season opener and considering it had to be botched together at awfully short notice, with new scenes filmed to keep the continuity smooth, they did an absolutely brilliant job. And they very neatly got around having to have Mandy work with any of the pissed off cast :P I think I heard somewhere that they did that on purpose because there was the prospect of a mutiny if they'd asked cast and crew to work with the disappearing Patinkin again, which I can understand. Anyway, it's set to be a hell of a season. Judging from the synopsis of the next few eps, it's gonna be one heck of a rollercoaster :D
*bounces about like a happy Mitchy*
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