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"Coda" is episode 616, season six, of "Criminal Minds." It debuted on February 23rd, 2010, at 9 pm ET on CBS.
From first glance at the description, this episode seemed promising.
"Tomorrow, you promise yourself, will be different. Yet tomorrow is too often a repetition of today."- James T. McCay (author)
SPOILERS!
The episode opens with a 10-year-old autistic boy Sammie playing piano. As he's playing, we see his mother getting attacked in another room. Soon, blood sprays on the boy as he's playing, and next we see him walking to school with the blood still on his face. Apparently the boy's parents were kidnapped, while he was left behind.
Meanwhile, Prentiss is shown going to her car, which is already unlocked. She talks on a 3-way call with two other people that helped put Ian Doyle away, suggesting maybe her FBI team could help, but they decline. Shaken but still brave, she continues on with the team to Lafayette Parish, LA, never mentioning her predicament.
Blood at the crime scene belongs to the boy's father, Charlie, who was shot. The crime scene itself is very disorganized, as if the unsub (unidentified-subject) didn't think it through. Due to the recent oil spill, many businesses, particularly in boating and fishing, lost tremendous amounts financially. Although the kidnapped parents' only asset was a music store, even a little bit of ransom money would help someone who was struggling to make ends meet.
At the crime scene, the agents take notice that no expensive jewelry or belongings were taken; the unsub came strictly for the parents. No sign of forced entry suggests the person also knew the family. Blood patterns reflect that the unsub shot the husband before sneaking up on the wife in the kitchen; taking the time to drag the husband's wounded body out of the house along with the wife, suggests the unsub knew of the boy's autism and knew that the boy would not be able to tell police what he saw.
In the sheriff's office, Reid and Rossi try to get through to Sammie. A police officer touches the boy and he starts to panic, remembering the blood spatter; "Some autistic kids don't handle touch well." (Rossi) It's clear Sammie's been pushed to emotional overload. Reid notices Sammie drew a bunch of L's on his drawing pad.
In the parent's music shop, Prentiss sends the shop's video footage to Garcia, while she also finds a desk with drawings, realizing that Sammie sat there while his parents worked, and therefore any customer could see he was autistic. In addition, Reid realizes since Sammie's brain does better with pattern and routine, it makes sense why he would walk to school on time, despite his condition. Therefore, his parents most likely had strict routines as well, making them easy targets.
We soon see that the unsub is a fisherman, a man who knew the family but needs the money to help keep his own. While he takes the wife to the bank to get money, her husband, tied hostage on a boat, passes away.
Meanwhile, Reid, after playing piano with the boy, discovers that Sammie was speaking to them not in L's but in pictures; "L" was the hand's on a clock. The agents discover that the unsub was the music store's delivery man, and they save the wife.
At the end of the episode, Prentiss meets Doyle, who reveals he knows all current locations and characteristics of the BAU team. Prentiss has a gun aimed at him, but Doyle alludes that if she shoots, the bomb attached to him will go off, and she won't make it out alive either. He says he won't kill her then, but he will kill her soon.
"Most people of action are inclined to fatalism and most of thought believe in providence."- David Viscott
As mentioned previously, the episode's description says "Reid's connection with the child could help the agents find his parents." As such, I was expecting a performance ala "Mercury Rising," which sadly never came (I know the show is less than an hour, but I thought they could have made Reid's storyline a bit better.) I also hope they cease in cutting characters; new faces make the initial episodes lack cohesion.
What we Learned from this Episode of "Criminal Minds":
- Either the show is running out of ideas, or crime is down in fictional America, as the BAU seems to take more and more cases where a person is missing vs. dead.
- Apparently every member of the cast must insult Reid's intelligence, no matter how new they are to the team. Jealous much?
- A wanted criminal can get through numerous amounts of surveillance simply by making up aliases. Or paying off lots of people in high places.
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