Criminal Minds
The Storm
Original Air Date: May 4, 2016
Caitlin- Senior Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
Waiting two weeks for a season finale is annoying. STILL not having season 12 confirmed is more annoying. But set all that aside for one night, because this is going to be a doozy of an episode, with an agent’s freedom and reputation- and thus the team as we know it- hanging in the balance.
Everything starts out serene enough (doesn’t it always), with Rossi and his ex, Hayden, debating whether to tell their daughter they’re back together, and everyone else making vacation plans. But the drama marches right into Hotch’s living room while he and JJ are getting ready to take their kids to school. It comes in the form of an armed SWAT team that arrests him in front of his son, JJ, and Henry. Because I guess the writers have decided poor Jack hasn’t seen enough already.
Two seconds later, the rest of the team is already trying to figure out what happened. They consider the possibility of a prank (but what kind of season finale would that be?), but, as JJ brings the boys- now including Will and Michael- to the Bureau to keep them safe, she informs us that things are about as bad as we could expect. Rossi heads off the SWAT team, trying to get them to say what’s going on, but has no luck. Neither, for that matter, does Hotch himself.
Before long, it’s clear this is an elaborate setup- one that involved weeks of work with an app called “The Storm”. Remember Antonia’s line to Hotch last week? The team certainly does, and JJ confronts Ms. Slade face to face. Her mysterious son seems to be the one behind this whole thing. Antonia tries to manipulate JJ with the idea she wouldn’t let the man be harmed, but now that her kids are involved, JJ’s having none of it. With little effort, she gets the son’s name: Asher Douglass.
Reid is troubled by this situation, but we have no choice but to talk to Asher now. Hotch, meanwhile, is finally getting some details about the case against him. Apparently it involves testimony by one Peter Lewis- yes, THAT Peter Lewis, AKA “Mr. Scratch”. You’d think the Justice Department (they’re one ones doing all this) would be less cordial towards a serial killer, but then again, the one reason they sent a SWAT team was one random creepy call Hotch seemed to have made. (All part of the setup.)
There’s some of kind of weird tactics the lead investigator uses against Hotch. Really, the guy’s such a jerk I eventually lost track. Something about something unforgiveable Hotch did, and a random run through of several past events…anyway. Reid interviewing Asher is much more sympathetic. Turns out Asher is autistic and never realized just what he was being roped into. He set up that creepy call, but only because he was told to. His partner is the real unsub- and that man bought a ton of explosives.
Wherefore explosives, you ask? As you can imagine, the plot goes beyond just framing Hotch. Soon, it involves a major prison break. The team heads in as a fed up Hotch finally demands the Justice Department stop pursing a false case and let him do his job. Let’s hope they listen. The prisoners have killed a guard, taken control of a control room (meta!), and dug a tunnel to freedom. Rossi cuts them off with the whole tunnel thing, but elsewhere, Lewis finds herself surrounded by serial killers.
At the last possible moment, another SWAT team shows up- with Hotch in tow. Apparently the Justice Department did listen, and called in timing gods while they were at it. Reid and JJ find themselves in a hail of gunfire, but eventually the good guys take over. And Hotch analyzes our real unsub to figure out where he’s planted those explosives he mentioned earlier. There’s more drama, more guns, lots of fire, and more, but the team is able to stop the Ivory Tower from, in Garcia’s words, “going boom”.
If that all seems very fast-paced to you, you’re right. We’re reserving the whole end of the episode for things that are a lot less…explode-y. Like Hotch worrying about a now moody Jack and Rossi convincing Hayden to stay with him in spite of his job. He does this by convincing her to meet the team at a big party where everything is adorable and Reid does some pretty impressive magic and Hotch and JJ stand off to their side and discuss their various trials as parents and agents.
This, in turn, is all very low-key. Which means we should be suspicious. Sure enough, in the last moments of the episode, everyone’s cell phone starts going off. They’re informed that a series of other prison breaks have led to the escape of 13 killer killers, including Peter Lewis. Mr. Scratch is on the loose again. So are a dozen other murderers. There’s no way you can end the series like this, CBS, so hurry up with season 12. It’s a long enough hiatus already.