Amplification (13 May 2009)

The BAU co-work with the U.S. Army to find the perpetrator behind an anthrax attack on a park in Annapolis, Maryland.

Director:

John E. Gallagher

Writers:

Jeff Davis (creator), Oanh Ly

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
Kirsten Vangsness	...	Penelope Garcia
Thomas Gibson	...	Aaron Hotchner
Dan Lauria	...	General Lee Whitworth, MD
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Dr. Linda Kimura
David Dean Bottrell	...	Chad Brown
Miles Anderson	...	Dr. Nichols
Donald Sage Mackay	...	Senator Baylor
Joe Howard	...	Russ Daniels
Eric Brandon	...	Ethan
Traci Belushi	...	Melinda

Storyline

Within 18 hours of their common time together, 12 people who visited Quiet Hills Park in Annapolis, Maryland, have died from anthrax poisoning, with at least 13 more in emergency rooms headed in the same direction. It is a highly sophisticated strain of anthrax, meaning that it was developed by someone with a science background. The military is called in as the BAU believes that such scientific work is the specialty of the military, the resulting pathogen was used as a potential WMD. Although the strain of the pathogen is not being used by the military, military scientists are the most likely candidates able to develop such a strain. The attack site, a family-oriented public park, is contrary to such work, and thus the BAU believes the site is personal to the perpetrator. Because of the panic it could cause, there is a media blackout on the story, which negatively affects some on the team, some for personal and some for professional reasons. The team is hit even harder when deep into ...

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Plot Keywords:

anthrax | annapolis maryland | u.s. army | coughing blood | petrie dish | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min 42 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Hotch and Morgan were driving to the Frederick Metro train station to apprehend the unsub but before they got to the station the scene cut to an image of the New York City 59th street (N,R,W,4,5,6) subway station to help establish the location not a DC Metro station.

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Quotes

Dr. Spencer Reid: [Reid is being cleaned by a bio hazard team] I'm about to get naked so they can scrub me down. You sure that's something you wanna see?

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Connections

References Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

User Reviews

Tough Call

Not sure if there are really any spoilers, but just to be safe...Possible spoiler alert! I like this episode despite the overall topic being a bit overdone. Since around 9/13/2001 we have seen a lot of shows with "terrorist" flavor or a WMD as the main focus, and most of them are pretty predictable. This episode had a lot of that in it, but it had a lot to make it good as well.

First off, it is a "Spencer Heavy" episode, which I always like. I think the Dr. Reid character is one of the best, though it's the great characters all around that I think make the show so good. Also, while there are predictable aspects to the story, it has enough in it to keep it interesting.

Definitely one to watch, especially if you are a Dr. Reid fan. The only negative I can give it is the sort of cheesy "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ending, which if nothing else was good for a laugh.