The Uncanny Valley (13 Jan. 2010)

An unusual personal obsession is at the center of a BAU abduction case. Meanwhile, Hotch struggles with his return to work.

Director:

Anna Foerster

Writers:

Jeff Davis (creator), Breen Frazier

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
Jonathan Frakes	...	Dr. Arthur Malcolm
Jennifer Hasty	...	Samantha Malcolm
Rosalie Ward	...	Bethany Wallace
Jeffrey Johnson	...	Detective Marty Cotrone
Valeri Ross	...	Linda Jackson
Christopher Boyer	...	Shop Manager
Tacey Adams	...	M.E.
Gregory Marcel	...	Karl Wallace

Storyline

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, two women have thus far been identified as having died at the hands of the same killer. Both victims were drug-induced paralyzed and still conscious during their two-month abduction, but otherwise well taken care of. Both were also petite but physically fit, and in life were fashion conscious, although the clothes in which they were found did not match what they would have worn in real life, these new clothes which were more doll-like. And both dead bodies were found in a place that represents a fun childhood, one on a playground swing, another on an amusement park carousel. Because the two women have no other similar characteristics beyond their small stature, the BAU believe the unsub to be a woman who is "collecting" the victims as surrogates for a doll collection that the unsub has lost. When the BAU learn more about the doll line that the unsub is mimicking and after one of the pieces of clothing is analyzed, they stumble across a lead to the unsub ...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 January 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min 41 min 42 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Once the team figures out the unsub, Garcia says "She was doomed... Like red shirted ensign in Star Trek doomed." The unsub's father is played by Jonathan Frakes who played Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Goofs

The New Jersey license plates on the cars are shown to have a bright yellow stripe of about 2 inches across the top with the remainder of the plate being white. In actuality, New Jersey plates have a more beige-yellow tint at the top which fades very gradually toward the whiter bottom, so that there is no noticeable line differentiating the colors.

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Quotes

Dr. Spencer Reid: [voiceover] Mildred Lisette Norman wrote, "Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions."

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Connections

References Star Trek (1966)

User Reviews

Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Such a great episode! On a base level, there is something *so* disturbing about live human dolls that no matter how many variations of it have been already done, it never loses its creepiness. Combine it with good acting from the actresses of both the unsub and the dolls - harder than it at first thought seems - and brutally effective, if rather unimaginative direction combined with a disturbing score, and you have a winner. The surprise reveal in the plot works also well, even if it is of the "of course that happened to her when she was a child" type staple.

Unfortunately, this episode also shows exactly how inconsistent Criminal Minds is even on its *fifth* season. In the 1990s inconsistency was more of a rule than the exception to it, The X Files (No. Hyphen.) being the worst offender despite pioneers such as Babylon 5 airing simultaneously and showing how a series *should* be done. Almost two decades later, the show-runners of Criminal Minds seem half-stuck in the Reset Button era of TV when most shows, regardless of genre, have matured to ongoing *character* development, whether there is a Mytharc plot (the new BSG, Lost, Supernatural) or not (The Closer, House M.D., The Office, The Wire).

The Plot outline says, "Hotch struggles with his return to work." On Criminal Minds this manifests as Hotch not himself solving anything, just asking questions and giving orders. Yeah, that's a really dramatic struggle alright. Were Criminal Minds *truly* a Reset Button show, each episode could be rated as a completely separate subject, but since they *have* established continuity, the barely-there aftermath of Haley's death on Hotch's life hangs like a loadstone on this series, constantly denying it at least one star. Twenty years ago, this would have been a 9/10, but in the 2010s it is "only" an 8/10 - still, a clear improvement over the previous episodes.