Apologies for missing the last one!

[a_blackpanther]

This is the discussion post for Episode 8x08 - "The Wheels on the Bus". Watch out for SPOILERS in the comments.

Comments

[full-metal-ox.livejournal.com]

The impression I get from the trailer is that this may be CM's homage--I almost said "tribute"--to The Hunger Games and Battle Royale.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

The trailer makes me think the episode is gonna be off the walls awesome. So of course, in reality it'll probably suck.

[mzkitteh.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad that we've been getting new episodes. Seems like last year every two weeks was a rerun.

[ardatli.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I really hate when procedurals try to do computer game/online world episodes. It turns into technobabble interspersed with ridiculous gamer stereotypes, and this episode was right up there with the infamous 'rewrite the gui in visual basic' episode from CSI:NY. Not a fan.

[jupisan.livejournal.com]

the actor from Ned's Declassified show there. good to see him working.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

seems like they will be ignoring Reid's mystery gf for another week...

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

Reid's girlfriend comes back in episode 10, so it'll be fairly soon.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

All I could think of was, "They did a school bus kidnapping in Hawaii Five-0 already."

I loved that we got to see Kevin again. I also loved Garcia and Rossi at the end, especially with "And the OTHER cell phone," and it turned out she still had another one he didn't get.

[hjtlwm.livejournal.com]

good to see him working.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

This is the first episode this season that I've really really liked. Others were okay, and I enjoyed them, but *this* one is officially in the favorite realm.

[cammieluvr.livejournal.com]

I agree; this is probably the best episode this season...I still have issues with this episode, but they are minor compared to other episodes.

[auroradorea.livejournal.com]

i thought the episode as a whole was kind of bland, mainly because they haven't been utilizing their characters as well as they should be this season. we've already seen their poor attempt at characterization with Blake earlier on, and it hasn't gotten much better. and personally, i feel it's seriously impacting their ability to tell the unsub stories as well as they should. something just feels like it's missing from the story, and i hope they address it soon.

to go into more minute details, since the episode focused more on penelope's relationship with kevin, i went into more detail here (http://auroradorea.livejournal.com/1501.html). it's rather long and inarticulate since it happened at about 4am after i watched the show, so there's that disclaimer~~

[cammieluvr.livejournal.com]

Really nice insights. Garcia is one of my favorite characters, and I feel like they just do not put much thought into writing for her these days (her story lines, etc...) I think they rely on her too much as "comic relief". Your concluding point about the characters doing a 180 is so true. I think Hotch, and maybe Rossi, are the only characters that I feel like have not been changed too drastically, then changed back, then changed back again. There is just no consistency with how these characters are being written and it seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the show's writing (and the show itself). I see Reid, Garcia, and JJ as the most problematic. Ok, /end rant..

[michaelbart.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing

[eiko82.livejournal.com]

I thought that they came to the whole 'it's a game' conclusion too fast.

Still, the bit with Garcia and Rossi was cute.