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Criminal Minds
Closing Time

Original Air Date: Feb 15, 2012

Angelique – Associate Staff Writer
Angelique@thetwocentscorp.com

By sheer coincidence three bodies are discovered in a lifeguard tower in California, a tower which wasn’t supposed to be opened for another month – which would have made it the perfect place to hide the bodies – had it not been for a couple of horny teenagers.

A gruesome scene unfolds inside the tower and the BAU is called in to work on the case. They are on top of it right away but they don’t have much to go on. Meanwhile their unsub is leaving a trail of bodies.

We are used to confide our troubles and sorrows upon people who are bartenders and hairdressers alike, for some reason we tend to trust them. Employees who work in those fields are used to it and often just listen to whatever it is you want to share with them. But every once in a while a creep like this weeks unsub is the man on the other side of the bar handing out the drinks, making sure that you feel comfortable. And you really don’t want to confide in him, especially not when you cheated on your lover or were cheated on.

This creep kills people who cheated or were cheated on. He’s mad and disappointed with the way his life turned out. He projects his anger on unsuspecting patrons of his bar. After all his best friend is now living with his ex-wife and son – that is until he kills him by crushing him in a car crusher. And his way of dealing with the loss of everything that meant something in his life is killing random people. Supposedly to end their suffering at least that is how he justifies it to himself.

His son is afraid of him, yet that doesn’t stop him from taking the boy with him in the middle of a school-day. But things change as soon as the boy figures out that his father killed his mother’s boyfriend and his former friend. In an instant the situation turns. The son is now in grave danger but luckily our team of superheroes isn’t far behind. And JJ’s the one who kicks this unsubs ass, she comes out of the fight a little bruised but otherwise fine. Although according to a very worried Reid they should give her an MRI to make sure that she’s fine.

Meanwhile when they are home, Hotch is still training for that marathon, triathlon or whatever it is that he’s training for. And Beth joins him because training together makes it easier … sure. Right Hotch, what ever you say. Luckily Hotch knows that he needs to act if he wants to keep Beth in his life. He knows that he has to make a move and so he does. He – very clumsily – asks her out, to which Beth quickly agrees. The way that he stumbles over his words and handles the situation so clumsily has something endearing, I mean you see this man who’s perceived as stoic and emotionless stumble over his words. It makes him human and just remember this must be a very unknown situation for Hotch, he and Haley had been together forever and this is the first time that he’s actually venturing into the dating world. I like Beth and I like her with Hotch, I really hope that this romance gets a chance to grow in the future, after all the pain and suffering he deserves some love and happiness in his life.

You gotta love Cupid … I mean Rossi in that elevator scene! Wasn’t that hilarious the way that he was implying that Hotch was only training so hard because it gave him a reason to see Beth. And that he really had to do something about it. I loved the smile on his face when Hotch admitted that he was taking care of it and the ‘come hell or high water’ comment was perfect.

I’d been looking forward to this particular episode for weeks, I really wanted to see that ass-whooping that JJ handed out to their unsub. Though it was kind of weird the way that JJ and Derek split up and it took him way too long to get into that storage room.

But I can’t help but feel like this episode was – at least for me – overshadowed by the news of Paget Brewster leaving at the end of the season. I am a huge fan of her and I’m sad to see her go, though I’m glad that at least now she’s leaving on her own terms without all the drama of last years firing and re-hiring fiasco. I have to say that I’m not really surprised, not at all to be honest. Paget Brewster is a wonderful actress who can play any type of role, I’m sure that she will find what she’s looking for somewhere else. And in the future when she has something new going on I’ll be watching.

But before that actually happens we have the rest of the season still ahead of us. And I’m looking forward to every single episode, just like I will be looking forward to see what next season has in store for this show with or without Emily Prentiss.

Next Week: A Thin Line