Bloodline (21 Jan. 2009)

A family consisting of two parents and their son break into a home, kill the parents and kidnap their daughter. As the investigation proceeds, the BAU team begin to suspect that what they're dealing with is bigger than they thought.

Director:

Tim Matheson

Writers:

Jeff Davis (creator), Mark Bruner

Stars:

Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Mantegna	...	David Rossi
Paget Brewster	...	Emily Prentiss
Shemar Moore	...	Derek Morgan
Matthew Gray Gubler	...	Dr. Spencer Reid
A.J. Cook	...	Jennifer Jareau (credit only)
Kirsten Vangsness	...	Penelope Garcia
Thomas Gibson	...	Aaron Hotchner
Meta Golding	...	Agent Jordan Todd
Andrew Divoff	...	Dad
Cynthia Gibb	...	Kathy Gray
Brett Rice	...	Det. Bates
Slade Pearce	...	The Kid
Adair Tishler	...	Cate Hale
John Bishop	...	Jim Scheuren
Sierra McCormick	...	Lynn Robillard

Storyline

Ten year old Cate Hale is abducted from her rural Alabama home while her sleeping mother and stepfather are killed, their throats slashed. Although the BAU realize that time is of the essence since most abducted children do not survive past the first 24 hours, Cate is later released, physically unharmed. The BAU believe her release was due to the fact that she has epilepsy, which the unsub did not know of prior to her abduction. Cate recounts that her abductors were a family: a mother, father and son around her age. From Cate's stories of the abduction and later evidence found, the BAU piece together that the abduction and murders have a ritualistic nature to them. During the investigation, a second young girl in the area is abducted, her parents also killed in a similar manner. It isn't until Garcia does a search of past similar cases - abducted young girls with their parents killed - that the BAU begins to understand the full nature of this case and the rituals involved, in addition...

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Plot Keywords:

bound and gagged | cognitive interview | mother murdered | tinfoil | abducted bride | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

2874 Santa Anita Ave, Altadena, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Paramount Network Television, ABC Studios, Mark Gordon Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min 55 min 42 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

At the location where a car skids to a stop to avoid hitting the girl lying in the road, there are obvious skid marks on the roadway where the car eventually stops, indicating that the driver practiced the maneuver before the scene was filmed.

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Quotes

Agent Jordan Todd: What's going on?
Aaron Hotchner: Cate Hale has epilepsy, and whoever abducted her didn't know to take the medication.
Agent Jordan Todd: And the primary cause of seizures is stress.

User Reviews

The Rite of Darkness

This is one of the better episodes. It has a killer (eh-heh?) of a concept that should not be spoiled before watching and *could* have been a classic were it not for a few fatal flaws. It's well acted, technically and suspense-wise well constructed, but when the flaws are in the script, those people cannot make them disappear, no matter how talented they are.

The first problem: the little girl is left alive, because of the argument that the killers don't kill little girls. Not very wise to leave a *witness* alive, when the killers are revealed to be intelligent persons who have managed to avoid the law a *long* time. These characters are too wise and too *mentally deranged* to make such a civilized decision. It's not in their character! Leaving the little girl alive affects everything that happens thereafter, so it's impact on the episode is a fatal one.

Second problem: Not as big as the first one, but c'mon, isn't that end way, way clichéd? And why make the agents aware of the twist? It would have worked better had only *the audience* been let in on it. Now the agents know, but the possibilities of a sequel are quite unlikely, since the element of surprise is ruined and we'd only have a lame retread of this episode to look forward to. Argh! Still, 7/10, not bad.