The second half of Criminal Minds season eight wrapped up a few weeks ago, and it was definitely one hell of a ride. The various subplots set up in early episodes all came to a head, beginning in the mid-season opener “Zugzwang.” Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) had, over a period of months, been developing a relationship over the phone with Maeve (Beth Riesgraf), a geneticist who was in seclusion due to her being menaced by a stalker. Just when it seemed that Maeve was in the clear, and she could finally meet Reid, the stalker finally surfaces in the persona of a very loony Michelle Trachtenberg. Maeve is kidnapped, and is soon the tragic victim of a murder/suicide, killed right in front of a horrified Reid. As a viewer, it was a real kick in the gut. The socially awkward BAU agent finally found his soul mate only to have her cruelly taken away like that. Maeve’s death would continue to haunt Reid for the remainder of the season.
Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) also went through the emotional wringer, as his past came back to haunt him. In the episode “Restoration,” the BAU is investigating a series of brutal beatings in Chicago, and they soon realize that the UnSub is a past victim of Carl Buford, a sexual predator who molested dozens of teenage boys, including a young Morgan. The BAU is forced to turn to the imprisoned Buford to get his help in narrowing down the suspect list, bringing Morgan face to face with his childhood tormentor. That’s the interesting thing about Morgan. On the surface, he appears to be this confident, happy, handsome guy who has it all. But underneath all that there is this painful past which has led him to join the FBI in order to aid other people who have been victimized.
Another member of the BAU with layers is Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (A.J. Cook), the BAU’s former communications liaison turned profiler. JJ often comes across as having a very laid-back, casual demeanor. But she is also a mother to a young son, Henry, a role equally important to her. In the previous season, we saw hell hath no fury like a mother scorned, as she engaged in a vicious hand to hand fight with Tricia Helfer’s serial killer bank robber in order to keep Henry safe. This season, another case hit home for JJ’s maternal instincts. In “Nanny Dearest,” we learn that the BAU has been attempting to solve a case for several years. Each year, a nanny and the child in her care are abducted by an UnSub. The child is typically returned unharmed within 24 hours, but inevitably the tortured & drowned body of the nanny is found disposed of in Los Angeles on the exact same day of the year. Hoping to prevent a new killing, the BAU fly out to LA, only to learn the latest abduction has occurred ahead of schedule, except this time the child has yet to be recovered. JJ is reminded of her son, who due to the work schedule of herself and her husband, is often left with a nanny. Following a number of leads, JJ and Morgan finally locate the UnSub, and a determined JJ kills the murderer in a tense shoot-out.
By far the biggest plotline of Season Eight was the emergence of the Replicator. In the first half of the season, the BAU was being stalked by a mysterious figure, an individual who then began committing copycat killings of various cases the team had recently solved. As the second half of the season progresses, the Replicator steps up his game, actively taunting the members of the BAU, as well as manipulating another individual into carrying out some of the killings.
As I mentioned in my write-up of the first half of the season, I was wondering if there might be some connection between the Replicator and A) the person stalking Maeve or B) the fumbled FBI investigation that nearly ended the career of Alex Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn) twelve years ago. Well, I was wrong about the first connection, although the Replicator did take advantage of Maeve’s abduction to offer his first taunt of “Zugzwang” to Reid. However, I was totally on target on the second point.
After nearly a year of build-up, I was hoping that the reveal of the Replicator wouldn’t be a let-down. Criminal Minds definitely came up with pitch-perfect casting, as the BAU’s arch-foe is revealed to be portrayed by none other than Mark Hamill. And if you thought he was creepy as the voice of the Joker on Batman: the Animated Series, here as the Replicator he is downright scary.
turned serial killer John Curtis
Who is the Replicator? He is FBI agent John Curtis, and a dozen years previously his career suffered a major setback as, along with Alex Blake, the blame for a botched investigation into a series of anthrax attacks was shifted onto him by Assistant Director Erin Strauss (Jayne Atkinson). Curtis blamed Strauss for delivering this near fatal blow to his career, he was jealous of Blake for rebuilding her position in the FBI when he was unable to do so, and he resented the BAU for offering Blake a place on their team, something he felt he deserved much more than her. All that set off his obsessive stalking of the BAU, and the replication of their cases, with the end goal of first humiliating and then killing them.
The character who Curtis directs much of his ire towards, Erin Strauss, is an interesting one. Early on, Strauss was an ambitious, ruthless figure who often maintained an adversarial attitude towards the BAU. As the series progressed, Strauss gradually mellowed, becoming more of an ally. When it became apparent that Strauss was suffering from alcoholism, the members of the BAU helped her to both enter recovery and to save her career. So the Strauss who the Replicator confronts is a very different woman from the person who threw Curtis and Blake to the wolves back in 2001.
Unfortunately, the vengeful Curtis takes Strauss prisoner and forces her at gunpoint to drink, destroying her hard-won sobriety. Having taken her dignity, the Replicator then murders Strauss. Hardest hit by this is David Rossi (Joe Mantegna). Over the past year or so, there had been a number of hints that Rossi and Strauss had become involved, and it is confirmed here, as Rossi mourns and rages at the death of a woman he has come to care for.
The final episode of Season Eight really was riveting. As events hurtled towards the confrontation between the BAU and the Replicator, I was wondering if the finale would actually end in a cliffhanger. I also was seriously worried just how the BAU was going to outwit the Replicator, who all along was shown to be several steps of them. I was a bit worried that there’d be some sort of cop-out, that he would conveniently make some sort of silly mistake at the last minute. Fortunately that is not the case.
The Replicator very nearly does succeed in trapping most of the team in a room with a bomb rapidly counting down to zero. However, he does make two slight miscalculations. Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangness) manages to reboot her crashed computer network quicker than anticipated, enabling her to jam the countdown. Rossi, who was earlier poisoned by the Replicator, also recovers sooner than expected, and the delay caused by Garcia gives him time to get the rest of the BAU out of the locked room. A fleeing Curtis leads a pursuing Rossi back into the booby-trapped room, determined to take at least one of the BAU out with him. In an act of poetic justice, though, Rossi has used Strauss’ one year anniversary coin from Alcoholics Anonymous to wedge open the lock. Rossi makes his exit, leaving the Replicator to be blown up… probably. Because, y’know, we do not actually see a body.
With the Replicator presumed dead, the members of the BAU gather at Rossi’s house to hold an informal memorial service, remembering the fallen Strauss, who in the end they counted as a loyal friend and colleague.
I thought the second half of season eight was quite good. Despite the fact that the Replicator storyline was a major feature of the season, it did not dominate events, and we did get plenty of stand-alone episodes. The mystery was resolved quite satisfactorily. And I’m actually glad that Jeanne Tripplehorn will be returning in season nine. At first, I wasn’t sure about Alex Blake, but in the end I warmed up to her character.
In My Not So Humble Opinion 