Criminal Minds #6 showed us a killer targeting married couples and Blake’s marriage popped into this week’s episode with a few little surprises.
The Breakdown
This week’s Criminal Minds started with a woman found clinging to life in a trunk with her deceased husband next to her. The BAU was brought into this case in Detroit as married couples had gone missing and subsequently died after being stabbed.
Blake’s husband showed up to surprise her after a several month stint away from home for his job. Blake knew he was there for a bigger reason than just to surprise her, but she did not push.
The UnSub’s MO took a small shift when a woman disappeared, but her husband was spared as he was out of town. The BAU was able to determine that the married couples were not being stabbed by the UnSub, but were being forced to stab each other to death. The team determined from this that the intense anger of the UnSub was a result of his own failed marriage.
With the most recent female victim being held captive and the team working fast to find her alive, the BAU determined that the UnSub may be using a substitute husband for her. When we were shown the victim, she in fact did have a substitute husband and each talked about their spouse with the other.
It did not take long for the victim find out that her substitute husband was actually the UnSub. Upon grabbing her at knife-point, the BAU showed up. Playing on the failed marriage that triggered this, the team brought in the UnSub’s wife who was able to talk the UnSub down and release the victim.
Blake’s husband finally told her what was on his mind. He had been given an opportunity for a job at Harvard and wanted Blake to work there with him. Blake was not as thrilled about the opportunity as her husband had hoped, yet he understood that she wanted to keep her job with the BAU.
The Analysis
This week’s episode, #6 was pretty much another basic Criminal Minds. There was nothing great; there was nothing horrible. There were no really surprises that wowed me. Sure, I was a little surprised that the substitute husband was the UnSub, but it was not an earth-shattering surprise either. And, neither was the reason for his rage.
The story line with Blake was so-so. It was nice to see them expand on that character a little bit; I have not felt like we knew much about her until this episode. But at the same time, there was nothing overly shocking on that front either.
I wonder if they are running out of ideas. I would like to see some crazy cases with bombshells – a little bit of wow factor once in a while. I feel like Criminal Minds does not stand out as much as it used to from similar TV shows. We will see what the season finale brings – a shocking story, a cliff-hanger ending, one of the BAU as the UnSub (ha!) – I just hope we see a great season finale.
What are your thoughts on this season of Criminal Minds? Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts? Feel free to leave us a comment!