CRIMINAL MINDS! AKA best show ever.

Okay so, I've been watching numerous episodes of  CRIMINAL MINDS and it was actually really hard to pick which one I wanted to write about!

I've enjoyed them all a lot, and while watching all of the episodes, i've picked up on a key characteristic of the show. In most episodes, the audience is normally always one step ahead of the rest of the Investigation Team. This can be a very risky characteristic to follow, because if you are always one step ahead, you're going to get bored at some point, right?! WRONG! The makers of Criminal Minds have been very clever, yes, they normally show the criminal before the Team have found him, however, they always keep the reasons as to why they carried out the crime to the end, which I think, is the most important part, because the audience always want to know why on earth they'd do such a thing!

anyway, as I was saying, it was really difficult to decide what episode to write about, however I have decided on an episode which I think has a great twist, and is not the typical conventional Crime Drama ending.

At the start of the episode, I was actually really confused! I didn't think Criminal Minds had started, and had to rewind to check that it had! It was man dressed in black, he was hooded with a cape, carrying a machette, it looked extremely 'cartoony'. The scene was in an alley way, it was dark, and raining, which gave off a 'dangerous' mis-en-scene. The scene showed this hooded man, killing a man in the alley way in a very 'heroic' way, in that it looked just like something out of a comic book. It then becomes evident that this is actually a 'dream' and that Danny is infact dreaming. He wakes up with signs of blood on his hands however he ignores it, the camera then pans slowly to the right demonstrating his bedroom wall, it is full of comic book drawings that he had drawn himself. A man is knocking at the door of Danny's flat constantly, when Danny opens the door it is his assistant, Craig, of whom he is very unkeen to see. Craig shouts at him and tells him he has a comic book signing to attend to in half an hour, Craig then looks at Danny's wall, and it is full of very violent comic book drawings (just like the one we'd seen in the flashback) and Danny simply tells him that he's ''working on something new''

Next, they are in the back of the car, the camera is in mid-shot in order to show both characters at an angle where the audience can see everything that is going on.Danny has a flashback of him and a blonde girl, it becomes evident that she is his girlfriend, she is in his bed while he is drawing, she says to him ''Danny, do you have to work so much? Can we go and get some beef jerky?'' and walks over and kisses him. Danny is then back in the car and looks very distressed by this flashback.  Danny arrives at the destination and walks into his comic book signing, it becomes clear that he is famous for his genius artwork in comic books. Everyone is taking pictures, and Danny starts to see things in double, he has a panic attack and runs out of the room.

Meanwhile, the Investigation Team, have been informed of a few murders! and they all link. Four men had been killed within the last few weeks, all by a very sharp knife, a machette. There are pictures of the bodies on the board, which the camera zooms into slowly, to create more of a 'chilling' effect on the audience. They had been killed in places such as alleyways, and even their own homes. The team decide to fly out to California and see what is going on, and investigate the crime scene of the murder that had taken place last night in an alley way. They arrive at California, and are examinating the crime scene.

Danny has ran out of his book signing and is running down a very busy street, he runs out infront of a road and gets hit by a car, the car stops and the man that hit him is very apologetic and is leaning over Danny who is currently on the floor, we see the man trying to help him in a POV shot(seeing the action from the actors eyes) Danny cannot see this man very well, and it is very blurry and is coming up as doubles. Danny strangles this man and runs away, the man is fine. Danny runs towards the crime scene looking very nervous, he asks Hotch(one of the members of the investigation team) what has happened, and if the man is definitely dead. Hotch looks very suspicious, and tells him that yes, he is definitely dead. Danny's assistant comes up behind him and drags him away and gets him into the car to take him home, Danny has yet another flashback about this girl. ''Danny, it's so cold! I'd wish that I'd brought a jumper with me.''  ''Haha, yeah. You know, I've never known someone to like beef jerky as much as you.''  ''I know, my mother likes it a lot, I guess thats where I got it from''  ''I don't think those things are genetic, i'm pretty sure they're enviromental.''  ''Do you think the baby will like it?'' Danny then wakes up from the flashback, and is very panicy, he gets out his phone and says ''I have to call Helen, i've been calling her for days, she's mad at me, I know it!'' his assistant Craig, looks at him very worried. He ascorts Danny into his apartment, and Danny tells him to leave him alone, and that he is fired.

The team have figured out that all of the men being killed, are members of gangs, and have a high record of crimes, including rape and murder. They think that the killer must be trying to get revenge for something, but are not yet sure as to what and why. The camera pans slowly to the right on each of the Teams faces to show that they are puzzled and are not quite sure what is going on.

The scene then cuts to what it was like at the beginning, however this time, the black hooded figure is in a house, the scene is still very comic book alike. It shows the hooded caped man killing yet another man, right outside his house with his machette. Danny then wakes up, and it looks like it is just another one of his dreams. Accept he has blood down the side of his T-Shirt. He has another flashback. ''Helen, you're having a baby?! When did you find out!?''    ''Just today, i'm so happy Danny, i'm going to call him Danny, just like his father'' Danny then gets down on one knee ''Helen, I promise, tomorrow morning, i'll buy the biggest ring you could ev-- ''Danny...'' Helen looks very scared in the street, and can see something that the audience cannot make out behind Danny. Danny wakes up from his flashback and hears Helen screaming, he jumps out of his window onto a ledge to see if he can hear her and find her, but the screams fade out.

The team were informed about another murder of a man that was killed right outside his house, and Danny's neighbour called the police, because she had seen him going out late and coming back in the early morning covered in blood, while having extremely odd behaviour. The Team ring Penelope, and get her to track down Danny's address on her computer, this shows that the Team do not just go on intelligence, but computer based records too, which makes it evident to the audience that it is a modern take on crime drama. The team burst into Danny's flat, and handcuff him and take him to their base. As he is being led to the interview room, he can see his assistant talking to one of the team, and other people in the episode also talking to members of the team. This is also done in a POV shot. Spencer(A member of the team) walks into the interview room with Dannys violent drawings, which infact, were the exact replica of how all of these men were killed. Spencer asks him questions, however Danny cannot remember anything, and says that it wasn't him, and that they were only drawings. Meanwhile, outside, Morgan and Hotch have his phone and look at his call log, he has calls to Helen persistantly for weeks, they call Helen, and they hear the phone going off in the box of Dannys stuff that they brought with them, and there is Helens phone.

Back in the interviewing room, Danny has another flashback. Danny looks behind him, to see a large gang. One of the gang members says ''well, aren't you going to answer him? -- ANSWER HIM!''   Helen says ''Yes, I'll marry you'' the member of the gang says ''Good, now she's your fiance, this will make it a lot more fun'' they carry Helen with force, and drag Danny shortly after. One of the gang member said ''you're gonna wanna watch this'' Danny is extremely distressed, and has to be restrained onto the table by the team, Danny says ''I'm sorry, they made me watch, THEY MADE ME WATCH THEM KILL HER''

Next, they show Danny from a high angle shot in a hospital for the physcologically damged (insane). There are drawings of Helen all over his wall, and he had his phone in his hand where he keeps calling her to hear her voice mail, which is a very tearful scene, because as an audience, I felt awful for him. While this scene is going on, the music background is this

This is a sad piece of music, which makes the scene even more heart-breaking for the audience.

So, if anyone hasn't already cottened on, Danny killed the members of the gang, and the ''dreams'' he was having weren't actually dreams, he just thought they were because he has no recolation of what happened. He also forgot all about the killing of Hayley, which was why he was ringing her and she wasn't answering. He was looking for revenge, and it had a physcotic twist because he drew how he would kill them first, and then he would do it.

ANYWAY. I chose this particular episode because it was very contreversal for a typical Crime Drama. Most of the time, the criminals are made out to be the 'bad guy' and the audience dislike them towards the end for doing what they did. However, in this episode, we felt sorry for Danny and we knew it wasn't his fault, and he was physcologically damaged from being forced to watch his fiance being murdered and tortured right infront of him. We also sympathise with the fact that all he had left of her was her voice mail that he kept repeatedly listening to. So this episode was quite moving for me, because I really did feel so sorry for Danny, and he was only killing these people because he had no idea what he was doing, and for revenge on what they had done to him. Which gives the programme that one ethical question. ''Is it ever okay to kill someone?'' and this episode, helps people come to a conclusion about that.

Watching 13 going on 30!

I know... Not really relevant to what we're doing in Media at the moment. But I am certainly taking note of the codes and conventions of 'chick flicks'! Not to mention all the camera shots!

Unfortunately Criminal Minds wasn't on today. :'( but it'll be on tomorrow, so watch out for some updates from me!