"Criminal Minds" Episode 9 recap

The group dynamic of the kidnapping case this time around is slightly more interesting than usual because the team members have an actual disagreement, and the question of who is correct is left ambiguous. Up until now it's just been, the problem is presented, Gi-kyeong says what they're going to do, and Hyeon-joon comes up with an immediately accepted alternative when Gi-kyeong's initial analysis is deficient. This time, it's an open question whether or not a certain witness should be taken seriously.
A lot of this is just because the format is broken, since the central case here does not involve a serial killer, but rather a (maybe) serial kidnapper. Although why that's an ambiguous point is a bit of a continuity error. Presumably the only reason you need a criminal profiling team is with some form of serial criminal, on account of the fact that a large number of data points are required to make an accurate profile, and that these data points tend not to be physical evidence, which can be followed up on in more conventional means.
The other main change is that there a lot of flashbacks to past evidence. I'm a little surprised we haven't seen more of this so far, since plenty of serial killers wait a long time between killings. I suspect the main reason for this is, again, a consequence of the villain being a serial kidnapper rather than a serial killer, such that the team would not necessarily have gotten involved earlier since this stuff is not necessarily their job.
While these deviations represent a decently unusual break from formula so far as "Criminal Minds" is concerned, they don't really alter the drama's concept quite as much as would be expected from a superficial description. The base ideas of "Criminal Minds" remain unchanged. There is a criminal, who is going to be caught, and the main puzzle is trying to figure out which specific combination of clues will allow the proper insight to identify the kidnapper without proper phyiscal evidence.
That is, once again, just the "Criminal Minds" high concept. So as was the case with the previous episode, I'm mostly left with being impressed, from a technical perspective, how the story functions properly and logically. I am left unimpressed on a visceral level because aside from their distinct fashion choices the individual members of the team tend to blur together with various overlapping profiling skills.
Review by: William Schwartz
"Criminal Minds" is directed by Lee Jeong-hyo and Yang Yoon-ho, written by Hong Seung-hyeon and features Son Hyun-joo, Lee Joon-gi, Moon Chae-won, Lee Sun-bin, Yoo Sun and Go Yoon.

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