Season 10 Episode 13 Nelson s Sparrow Aired Jan 28 2015
If you ve been a fan of Criminal Minds from the beginning you love Gideon. Mandy Patinkin s sudden departure in season 3 was a gut shot to fans everywhere. This week old school Criminal Minds devotees should rejoice In this episode (written by Kirsten Vangsness) we fire up the nostalgia cannon and take a trip in the way back machine as we watch the birth of the BAU through the eyes of an old friend.
The case
We open with the BAU standing over a sheet covered body in a small cabin. A record player spins a chess game sits unfinished and Reid is at the brink of tears. Yep it s official. Gideon has been murdered.
After spending some time grieving and remembering their friend and mentor the team jumps on the case. It looks like the unsub fired a rifle from a short distance injured Gideon and stood over him as he finished the job a very personal kill.
Using her cybersleuthing skills Garcia discovers Gideon had recently traveled the East Coast stopping in Roanoke Virginia. Reid thinks back to Gideon s victim book and recalls the last letter he left him. Maybe he found another unsolved case to finish.
Inspired by Gideon s style of detective work Morgan and Rossi act out the murder and discover a gunshot through a picture of a bird. Since the bullet came from Gideon s gun it must be a clue
Meanwhile a creepy guy asks a passing lady for pay phone change. After she kindly lends him her cellphone and says hi to his dog he leaps from his wheelchair and whacks her in the head with a pipe. (Side note Blunt force trauma always freaks me out.)
The investigation
Rossi realizing Reid needs some closure takes him to a storage area in an old building. It s where Rossi and Gideon first did their criminal profiling back in 1971. As Reid marvels at where it all began we flash back to Rossi and Gideon as young FBI agents.
In the flashback young Gideon (Ben Savage) and young Rossi (Arye Gross) are investigating a series of murders by someone who leaves dead birds in his wake. As new terms like signature and profile are tossed around it s great to see how the BAU was born.
Back in present day Rossi thinks Gideon was tracking down the same killer from 1971 an unsub they never found. The recent death of the unsub s first captive may have triggered him to hunt again.
After a flashback to young Rossi and Gideon interviewing the mother of the first victim we see Reid and Rossi talking to the same woman. The compassion Gideon had for the people affected by violence is evident in Reid s own interactions. Gideon had a profound effect on our favorite genius.
The profile
After Morgan examines a recently discovered body the team concludes that the woman our ubsub captured back in 1971 has been held hostage for over 30 years. The unsub obsessed with birds snapped her legs and forced her to walk like his favorite animal. When she died she was discarded causing the unsub to find new prey.
Back in the creepy basement our unsub proves the BAU right by trying to feed his new victim worms and dislocating her legs. The crack of bones snapping will haunt me for days to come.
Adding insult to injury our unsub takes a pair of wedding rings and places them in his scrapbook of evil trophies. No doubt about it. He killed Gideon
After enjoying an ice cream treat with JJ Garcia gets a big hit. A woman was recently declared missing. Her last known location The same library our original victim was last seen more than three decades ago.
After interviewing a waitress at a local diner (well known as Gideon s favorite hangout) we realize the unsub must have recognized him snooping around and got spooked. This unsub was Gideon s Moby Dick.
The closing in
After watching young Gideon and Rossi work the case and develop the BAU terminology Rossi urges the team to focus on bird watching groups. Gideon s signal of shooting the picture couldn t have been an accident. Sure enough Garcia narrows down the list to Donnie Malick. One look at his mug shot tells us all we need to know He s the unsub
Meanwhile our unsub subjects his victim to some horrible psychological torture. He forces her to tell him to snap the neck of a living bird. When she does he punishes her for making him do so by snapping another joint. Yikes
En route to his home the team learns Donnie was obsessed with birds as a child. When his aunt died he replaced her with unwilling victims.
The team arrives and after a quick search Rossi confronts Donnie at gunpoint. Donnie admits to killing Gideon and Rossi drops his gun. Why kill one BAU legend when you can kill two
When the rest of team arrives on the scene Donnie has been shot dead. It s unknown whether Rossi pulled the trigger or Donnie killed himself. As Rossi drives back to the station he thinks back to the day Gideon invented the BAU. He needed an army of people to fight serial killers and his passion for justice led to the team we know and love today.
As the episode closes Steven (Gideon s son) receives his father s wedding ring and Reid plays one last move on his chessboard. Hotch and Rossi swap funny yet touching stories of Gideon as a young go getter in the FBI. They sound like the tales told at funerals a celebration of the good times spent with the ones you love the shining moments we treasure forever.
While none of us wanted to see Gideon go like this one thing is for certain. His life and legacy lives on in the people the BAU save every episode a fitting tribute to a Criminal Minds original.
Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 9/8C on CBS.
No comments:
Post a Comment