Profile this!

So I caught up with the latest episode of Criminal Minds last night, and I have to say, it had one of the best scenes I’ve seen in a long time.  There’s a reason I love this show … and I’m not sure what it is but as soon as I figure it out I’ll let you know.    Seriously though, it probably has something to do with my wanting to have been a criminal profiler.  I also think the show is pretty well written and pretty well acted.  And now it has Joe Mantegna – Fat Tony from the Simpsons.  I swear, there are moments where I do believe he’s doing the Fat Tony character as a profiler. 

Anyway, the most recent episode, Omnivore, is about a serial killer who kills randomly, doesn’t have a preferred victim.  And smarty-pants me figured out who the bad guy was before even Darc did, aha!  Score 1 for me on that one!  Okay, okay, so that score is really more like me 10, Darc 219.  CBS, being the proprietary jerks that they are, won’t release full episodes of many of their shows, just minute and a half clips, maybe 4-6 per episode.  What the heck is the point of a teaser if you’re not even going to release a full version?  And wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t put in a clip of my favorite scene from this episode, but they did have the scene immediately before it.  Here, if you’d like to see it: Deal Breaker

I went out and searched until I found a transcript though, and I copied it here for your *viewing* pleasure.  What I loved so much about this scene is the verbal butt-kicking David gives Aaron, and I love the speech he gives about good guys and bad guys.  Mantegna (David) delivered it well.  Almost like Fat Tony would have, if Fat Tony were a good guy. 

I missed my chance to be a criminal profiler – not sure I ever really had one, but at least I can live vicariously though books and TV. 

 

David, to Aaron:  Hey.  What’s going on with you?

Aaron:  He called me tonight at my hotel and offered me the deal.

David:  What did you say?

Aaron:  I hung up on him.  And then he does this.

David:  So you think this is your fault?

Aaron:  It is.

David:  Well, here, use mine. (handing Aaron his own weapon)  You convinced me.  (Aaron refuses to take David’s weapon)  No, no, you hung up on him.  You practically killed them yourself.  Go ahead, get it over with.  Don’t worry about us.  We’ll get this guy without you.

Aaron:  Dave, I had 10 years to do something about it.

David:  Shaunessy made the deal.

Aaron:  The killing stopped.

David:  He closed the case and sent the B.A.U. away.  For 10 years, you worked on other cases.  Active cases.

Aaron:  But I kept coming back to this one.  I kept coming back to this profile.

David:  Hey.  I was retired.  Should I blame myself for every victim who got killed while I was on my book tour?  Look, if you want to end up like Shaunessy, like Gideon, blaming yourself for everything, you go ahead.  But that voice in your head — it’s not your conscience, it’s your ego.  This isn’t about us, Aaron.  It’s about the bad guys.  That’s why we profile them.  It’s their fault.  We’re just guys doing a job.  And when we stop doing it, someone else will.  Trust me.  I know.

Aaron:  You can put that away.  (nodding toward the gun)

David:  You sure?

Aaron:  It’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?

David:  My wife always said I had a flair for the dramatic.

Aaron:  Which one?

David:  All of them.

Aaron:  Thanks.

David:  Anytime.