Criminal Minds Review: Sick Day (Season 12 Episode 2)

Criminal Minds Season 12 Episode 2 delivered a well-deserved shake-up in the storytelling process as we relive the case through JJ’s eyes; a case that dramatically changed her as an agent, and surely will into the future, but most importantly as a mother.

Will: You’re a hero, Jennifer Jareau.

Sometimes we, as viewers, forget that these are actual people that have trained to solve these cases and overcome intense personal struggles throughout their lifetime. This episode brought us back to the core of the show: the profilers.

When Criminal Minds began, JJ was the media liaison for the BAU. That was her role. She hadn’t had children, she hadn’t left for that brief stint at the Pentagon, she hadn’t become a profiler, and she wasn’t a wife, either.

She, perhaps, has had the most tremendous growth since the series began, even more than Aaron Hotchner. Having a personal life that is so affected by a deeply traumatizing job has to take its toll at some point, and it was time for JJ to re-evaluate why she wants to be a profiler and put away these disturbed psychopaths for a living when she has a beautiful family at home.

The case isn’t the star of this episode, JJ is, and this kind of narrative should be told more often on a show where emotions are lost in the importance of finding the killer, despite whatever happens.

These episodes shouldn’t just happen when a character is departing the show per their final calling card, but are mixed in throughout the darkness of the series, giving just a glimmer of hope, sadness, happiness, and rage at what these crimes do to those that are left to solve them.

Seeing such a relationship between JJ and Will is relieving compared to watching the family of the victim break apart when their child, mother, father, etc., is found dead and they have to deal with the grief and pain in the aftermath.

Her involvement in the search for these missing kids (let’s be real, the unsub wasn’t her top priority) led her to a self-discovery that she was startled to learn, but could change her entire perspective as she continues this job.

JJ: I chose Roberto. You wanna know why? Because he reminded me of Henry.

She immediately thought to save Roberto as she scanned the burning building. She took into account that two other people laid, bound, ready to die if the fire consumed them. Her love for Henry clouded her judgment even out in the field, and she didn’t properly assess the situation as well as she could’ve normally.

Instead of being the calm, cool, and collected FBI Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, she was a mother and let those instincts guide her.

Repeatedly, Criminal Minds pushes the boundaries of darkness on television, an asset itself, but much of becoming attached to a procedural such as this is the connection to those that are solving the cases, which has become quite light in recent seasons.

Case thoughts:

• The lack of involvement from anyone except Luke, because of his brand new team status and the pressure to fit him into the show whenever they can for the first few episodes, was disappointing. Especially because this was Thomas Gibson’s final episode, and Aaron Hotchner’s final words were demanding JJ take a week off. 11 years and we don’t even get a proper farewell to a character that, in many ways, was the star of the show. His showdown with Foyet when Haley was killed is perhaps the most memorable moment of the series to date.
• What is this unsub’s obsession with killing his sister, and why did fire become his weapon of choice? What are his motivations? In the usual episodes, we get some explanation of this, and it’s very disheartening that in an episode that focused in on a sole character, they had to lose part of what drives the show onward.

What did you think of this episode of Criminal Minds? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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