A Real Rain (22 Mar. 2006)

The team travels to Manhattan to work with the NYPD in tracking and apprehending a serial killer who is intent on dispensing his own style of vigilante justice.

Director:

Gloria Muzio

Writers:

Jeff Davis (creator), Chris Mundy

Stars:

Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, Lola Glaudini

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Mandy Patinkin	...	Jason Gideon
Thomas Gibson	...	Aaron Hotchner
Lola Glaudini	...	Elle Greenaway
Shemar Moore	...	Derek Morgan
Matthew Gray Gubler	...	Dr. Spencer Reid
A.J. Cook	...	Jennifer Jareau
Kirsten Vangsness	...	Penelope Garcia
Tonya Pinkins	...	Det. Nora Bennett
Dennis Boutsikaris	...	Lance Wagner
Ethan Phillips	...	Doyle
David Aaron Baker	...	Will Sykes
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pat Connolly	...	Marshall
Sarah Scott Davis	...	Uniformed Cop
Jeff Ferris	...	Wilson
Natalie Graziano	...	Woman on the Street #2

Storyline

In New York a hooded serial killer blindfolds and shoots, then stabs victims which seem to have nothing in common. The profiling team concludes that the cab driver could only be killed after thorough preparation. His latest attack is a priest, accused but cleared in court of child abuse. After this incident he lets a female witness escape to a church, suggesting that the setting is essential to his ritual. It turns out all the victims were acquitted or got the charges dropped. The killer turns out to be a vigilante who stabs his guilty victims in a 'poetically just' organ, probably continuing on the theme of a first crime against a perpetrator whose victim he once was. Gideon thinks it may be a cop, but can't scare off the NYPD from collaborating, and indeed the next victim is a double cop-killer. All victims have been on trial in one single court-house. Crime newspaper reporter Lance Wagner gets incredibly precise scoops every time. After shooting in panic an undercover cop in the ...

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Plot Keywords:

blindfold | reference to confucius | driving in the rain | taxi | quoting mahatma gandhi | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 2006 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Quixote Studios Griffith Park - 4585 Electronics Place, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Paramount Network Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min 42 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gideon hands Hotch a newspaper in the lobby of the courthouse. When Hotch turns it over to read the headline, the viewer can briefly see the title of the paper - "New York Quest," not New York Ledger, which is the fictional NY newspaper of choice for most shows set in NYC. The format and design of both fictional papers is meant to emulate a real newspaper, the New York Post.

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Goofs

After the unsub releases his hold on the hostage, the alternating scenes show him gripping the pistol in his right hand, then in his left hand, then back in his right hand again.

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Quotes

[closing quotes - 2]
Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner: Ghandi said, "Better to be violent if there's violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence.
Jason Gideon: Ghandi also said, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."

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Connections

References Se7en (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Hallelujah"
(uncredited)
Composed by Leonard Cohen
Performed by Jeff Buckley

User Reviews

Good, But Could Have Been Much Better

New York City is the scene where the BAU travels after a third person is killed the same way as two others. The victims are shot, then stabbed with a flint-type knife and then blindfolded. After a fourth murder, the team has a new profile: a vigilante serial killer. All the victims are people who walked after being charged with serious crimes. The blindfold supposedly represents the blindfolded lady justice figure you see on scales.

There were a lot of interesting profiling details about vigilantes. It seems these BAU guys can't stop talking about criminals, even at dinner out at a Chinese restaurant. Sometimes I wonder if the TV writers don't add to the profiling truths that are spoken, just to embellish and dramatize, but I don't know that for sure.

Anyway, the episode was interesting but not as suspenseful in the last 10 minutes as I would have expected since they were hunting a killer about to claim another victim. It almost was anti-climactic the way they portrayed it.

I detected a bit of elitism on the part of Gideon and his group who see themselves and knowing and being a lot wiser than the public.....in this case with their thoughts about vigilantes and justice. That was brought out a few times, especially at the very end with "the man on the street interviews."