Criminal Minds and Stalker Make for Creepy Viewing

I have watched Criminals Minds from the beginning for the most part, though I have missed some episodes here and there over the years.  That show in particular can creep me out more than any other because of the nature of the crimes that are part of the stories.  There are times when I’m not in the mood for that type of show.  I have been known to follow watching it with very silly comedy or even a cartoon or two.  For the last few years, CSI has been on after Criminal Minds but that has changed.  CSI is now on Sunday nights and a new show, Stalker, follows Criminal Minds.  It was just about as creepy as Criminal Minds.

There are potential spoilers ahead, for both Criminal Minds and Stalker. 

At the end of the last season’s finale, the newest member of the BAU team, Alex Blake decided to leave the team.  That particular case seemed to really get to her, so I wasn’t surprised that she decided to leave the team.  The promos for the episode said that someone would be leaving forever, so I was slightly concerned that someone would be killed off before seeing the episode. 

I’m not sure how much time was supposed to have passed since the finale, but both Reid and Morgan were fully recovered from the injuries they sustained.  Kate Callahan, an agent the team has worked with before at some point, becomes the newest member.  The team heads off to work on a new case while time is also taken to show what looks like a regular family.  Then we see that the husband/dad has severed body parts hidden in the house.  It isn’t long before he is arrested, with more limbs in his car.  He claims he just bought the limbs and didn’t kill anyone to get them.  As the investigation continues, the team discovers he was telling the truth while the audience sees a young woman being held against her will by a very creepy looking guy.  It seems like he is the person who sold the limbs to the first suspect.  The young woman is able to get away, after losing an arm, just as the team is arriving.  They believe that they have captured the person responsible for the disappearance of several young women, though Kate does raise a few questions.  The last bit of the episode shows another woman runner being kidnapped and then someone looking at some sort of website where it looks like women are sold to the highest bidder.  It seems like the show is setting up another ongoing major villain.

When I first saw promos for Stalker, I wasn’t planning to watch it.  Somehow, I didn’t hear that CSI was moved to Sunday nights and that Stalker would be on after Criminal Minds.  I really just didn’t change the channel after Criminal Minds since there wasn’t anything else I wanted to watch on at that time.  I’m not sure what I think of the show yet or if I will watch more.  It seems like there is some potential there, but it has to be handled correctly.

Within the first few minutes a beautiful young woman is confronted by her stalker.  Things don’t go well and it ends with him setting her vehicle on fire with her inside.  That has clearly escalated beyond stalking.  Later we see Jack Larson, a new detective joining the special stalking unit with the Los Angeles police department led by Beth Davis.  She is not happy with Jack at first, something that doesn’t improve when he cracks a few stupid jokes.  Another pretty young woman is doused in gas in an elevator, but she manages to get away.  In addition to that case, Beth is also trying to help a male college student who says his former roommate is stalking him.  The roommate is from a wealthy family, which makes it even harder to deal with.  They discover two men had been working together to stalk both women, though one of them turned far more violent and wanted to burn the women alive for some reason.  I honestly can’t remember if a reason for that was given.

A little bit comes out about both Beth and Jack during the episode.  It seems very obvious that Beth was a stalking victim sometime in her past.  She has a ritual every night at home, going around checking all the window locks and closing the sheer curtains before activating an alarm system.  It does seem like she wants to help people being stalked, though sometimes she goes too far.  She takes matters into her own hands with the rich young college student stalker, actually attacking him and then telling him that she can lie so much better than he can.  It sort of looks by the end of the episode like the stalker is becoming fixated on her.  She also tends to wear somewhat inappropriate clothing for work - low cut bouses - and then gets an attitude if someone notices.  While I am not saying that a woman is asking for trouble if she wears low cut, tight, or revealing in some way clothes, there are things that just aren’t appropriate to wear to work.  I probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to that, but the writers made a point to make a big deal out of it by having Jack talk about it.

Jack has not been truthful about why he wanted to move from the other side of the country and join the unit.  Taking the job was an excuse for him to be able to move to Los Angels and once again be near an ex - I’m not sure if it is an ex-girlfriend or ex-wife - Amanda and the child he believes is his son.  He didn’t attempt to call the ex and talk to her about seeing the child or anything.  He just skulks around the boy’s school, watching.  At one point, he did take pictures from a distance as well.  So John is basically a stalker himself.  Amanda spots him and tracks him down to confront him, telling him to stay away.  Nothing is shared to indicate that Amanda just disappeared with Jack’s son or anything like that.  While I can get that he wants to see the child - though it seems like it is questionable if it is his son or not - the way he goes about it makes it very hard, if not impossible, to have any sympathy for his situation. 

Criminal Minds was creepy like normal, which is what I expect from the show.  Kate seems to fit the team well so far.  With Stalker, I’m not sure what I think just yet.  The two main characters both have issues that make them harder to like.  The show has some potential along with the issues.  I’ll keep watching for now.  The pilot episodes can be different in some ways from how the show ends up being after a few episodes.

Castle Season Seven Premiere is Full of Twists

I have been ready for the seventh season of Castle to begin for a while now.  Really since the disappointing season six finale because I was immediately read for the story to get past what was set up then with the disappearance of Rick.  I have read different things about what would be coming in the premiere, and some of what I read did make me a little nervous.  In the past, I have had more faith in Castle than really any other show I watch.  The season six finale shook that faith a bit.  I did briefly consider waiting and watching the episode from my DVR later, but that didn’t happen.  I am mostly all right with what happened in the episode, though there are some things that I didn’t care for. 

I will be discussing events from the season seven premiere of Castle and possible some things from the finale of season six as well.  There will definitely be spoilers for people who haven’t seen the episodes yet.  You have been warned.  Read at your own risk.

Season six ended with the cliffhanger of Rick’s car in flames along the side of the road.  He had been on his way to his and Kate’s wedding at his home in the Hamptons when he disappeared.  The last the audience saw, a black SUV came up beside his car.  Then it jumps to Kate getting a phone call and her arriving at the crash site in her wedding dress.  I was much less than pleased with that episode and that ending in particular.

The premiere picks up immediately after that, with Kate running down to the car and trying to get to it.  Once the fire is out, she is able to see that no one is in the car.  A search is quickly started and Ryan and Esposito each find evidence that Rick was forced off the road and then taken from the car.  In no time, Kate and the guys follow a lead, seeming to get there too late.  Kate goes a bit extreme when questioning someone.  The FBI gets involved and the idea that it could be someone that Rick and Kate put away behind it is brought up.  New evidence seems to indicate that Rick was actually actively involved in his disappearance, a development that I absolutely do not like.  Esposito is quick to jump on that and decide that Rick was behind it all.  The FBI is willing to go with that theory and indicate that their involvement will soon be over, so Kate vows that she will find Rick.

Two months pass with no sign of Rick and Kate doing everything she can to find him.  Then Rick is found unconscious in a dingy by the coast guard.  He remains that way for a while, even once he is in the hospital.  His return does offer a new lead or two that once again points back to Rick voluntarily being gone.  This time even Ryan and Kate buy into it.  When Rick wakes up, the reunion isn’t overly happy since Kate is wanting answers.  Rick doesn’t remember anything about the time he was missing and is shocked to hear he was gone two months.  Kate believes that he is lying about not remembering and only changes her mind after it is learned that a witness turned out to be fake.  Rick is back home by the end of the episode, but there are a lot of things unanswered.  Kate is with him, though it seems like she still has at least a few doubts.

I just do not like all the doubts raised about Rick and how almost everyone lost faith in him.  Esposito was the first, which didn’t really surprise me given some of his actions in the past, but I still didn’t like it.  Then Ryan and Kate after some DNA evidence is discovered.  Ryan and Kate never once consider that the DNA could have been staged, much like it was back in season five when 3XK framed Rick for murder.  I don’t like that Kate didn’t believe Rick.  I don’t mind that not everything was answered by this episode, but it would have been better if more was done to erase the lingering doubt about Rick that some of the characters seem to still have.  Hopefully at least that point will be cleared up sooner rather than later.  The acting by everyone was very well done, especially Stana Katic as Kate.  I was very happy that there was no Alexis drama or fit.  There was enough of that to last ages last season,  though I think the possibility for it is still there.  I won't be a bit surprised if Alexis has a fit in a later episode, throwing up how Kate questioned what was going on.

I didn’t hate the episode, but it is far from a favorite.  I’m just not liking this story that much, at least right now.  I’m fine with the writers wanting to explore Rick more and do this new mythology thing tied to him.  I just don’t like the way the writers decided to set everything up.  I was a bit aggravated at times when watching the premiere, but I did feel better by the time it ended even though I was less than happy with certain aspects of it.  I haven’t forgotten the season six finale and I still don’t like it, but I’m not as annoyed and irritated as I was after that one was over.  From the short preview after the end of the episode, it sounds like they may be something else shared or figured out in next week’s episode.