Criminal Minds Season 10 Episode 7 Review: Hashtag
doug@mediavine.com
at
.
Updated at
.
The true star of Criminal Minds Season 10 Episode 7 was social media.
This is appropriate and timely (as A.J. Cook tweeted earlier in the day) in view of the recent Kim Kardashian pictures that splashed all over the internet in the last day or so.
The writer of this episode had a lot to say about selfies and Twitter - and not a lot of it was complimentary.
In truth, the problem wasn't the media itself, but what unscrupulous people - like this story's immature unsub - could do with it. I liked the zingers that came out, here and there, such as:
Naivete in grownups is often charming; but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity - Eric Hoffer
Morgan
And:
Recent studies have linked the excessive taking of selfies to narcissism, addiction, even mental illness.
Reid
Stupidity and mental illness may be a little difficult to sort out when it comes to overexposure on Twitter and Facebook.
This was borne out by the vanity of the first victim, which was surreal and entirely representative of so many popular social media personalities. Her collage of duck-face photos were as comical as they were inane.
Of course, the message isn't that over-exposure to the Internet means a criminal will come and kill you. There is a real danger, though, as a person can become the subject of stalkers, burglars... people who do identity theft and the like.
It's amazing to find so many people still innocently and naively posting deep and intimate details online... to strangers they've never met!
Riley's response to JJ about the excessive numbers of selfies that Tara (the unsub's first victim) took was fairly representative of an awful lot of young people: she wanted to be famous - Kardashian-style.
I think the whole story served as a public service announcement about the dangers of putting one's personal details online. And as such, it was well done - it certainly accomplished what it set out to do.
There was another perhaps more subtle message too though; and that was embodied in the mindset of the captured unsub, when his friend visited him in the hospital. He wasn't concerned about his pending jail time, nor was he burdened by any sense of right and wrong.
His friend was horrified when he was asked for his camera so that he could take a selfie to prove to the world that he had been shot. And as for jail time: yeah, but I mean for how long though? Kids do the craziest things, right?
Clearly, his elevator will never hit the top floor, but ultimately, he might not be wrong. He's a juvenile sociopath who may do some relatively soft time for his criminal acts.
So much for justice, I guess.
The lighter side of the episode revolved around Morgan and Savannah. We've seen his frustration over not being able to keep promises with her before because of his job. In addition to that, their work schedules often clash, which means they barely get any time together.
Garcia's sage advice to him rang true: he doesn't have to promise the world to her; he just has to make smaller, more reachable and realistic goals. Enough to show her he cares.
Still, that one goal he achieved could hardly be called small: inviting her to move into his newly renovated house with her was a huge step. Clearly, they're on the same page, and the timing was perfect - and marred only by their simultaneous cell phone interruptions at the end.
While not an especially exciting episode, this one hit the mark with its message. For that, it deserves a decent rating.
What did you think? Were you impressed by the message, or is it something you've heard and already acted on before? Are you surprised by Morgan asking Savannah to move in with him?
Be sure to watch Criminal Minds online and then give us your thoughts in the comments below!
Douglas Wolfe was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in 2016. Follow him on Twitter
.