Hard to believe, but the on-again/off-again “serial killer of the week” series delivered a real, live horror show with a recent episode, and it’s actually work a look.
Criminal Minds has been on CBS for nearly 10 years (and yes, it’ll be back in the fall), and it’s been the home (sometimes temporarily) of some pretty impressive talent, from Mandi Patinkin to Jeanne Tripplehorn to Joe Mantegna (still hanging in there) to Jennifer Love Hewitt to — our persona favorite, forever — Paget Brewster (helleww, dahling!). And the episodes themselves have often avoided gratuitous violence or cruelty despite the premise, and even injected real personalities and human foibles into the core cast members. They’ve also been known to phone in multiple episodes (we’re looking at you, Jennifer!).
And now, nine seasons in, they deliver an actual monster movie — of a sort — in an episode called Mr. Scratch, directed by one of the series’ most intriguing actors, Matthew Gray Gubler (his eighth turn in the director’s chair). It’s complete with a Shadow Creature with huge talons and guys getting pulled down the stairs and Satanic rituals (kind’a), and with an intense ending that actually gives you a bit of a shudder. Special kudos to Thomas Gibson and to a totally creepy turn by Bodhi Elfman as the psycho of the week …
… and this is where it gets weird. Because Bodhi Elfman, the guy who tortures Thomas Gibson and may actually affect his mind for some time to come, is the real, live husband of Jenna Elfman — has been since 1995. And of course Jenna Elfman co-starred with the aforementioned Thomas Gibson in the big break for both of them: Dharma and Greg, way back in the 1990’s.
So what kind of message does this send? Is it coincidence, revenge, Hollywood-style nepotism? And what is Elfman’s character becomes the Big Bad for CM, even for a while, like Pony Boy before him? Like the show itself, it’s just… weird.
You can watch “Mr. Scratch” absolutely for free — at least for a while — on CBS.com. Click here to go to the Ciminal Minds page… and tell us what you thought of the show below:
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Criminal Minds has been on CBS for nearly 10 years (and yes, it’ll be back in the fall), and it’s been the home (sometimes temporarily) of some pretty impressive talent, from Mandi Patinkin to Jeanne Tripplehorn to Joe Mantegna (still hanging in there) to Jennifer Love Hewitt to — our persona favorite, forever — Paget Brewster (helleww, dahling!). And the episodes themselves have often avoided gratuitous violence or cruelty despite the premise, and even injected real personalities and human foibles into the core cast members. They’ve also been known to phone in multiple episodes (we’re looking at you, Jennifer!).