52 Pickup
- Episode aired Nov 26, 2008
- TV-14
- 42m
A greatly sadistic serial killer who disembowels women and forces them to clean it up before killing them proves difficult to catch thanks to his social charm and simple, yet clever, disguis... Read allA greatly sadistic serial killer who disembowels women and forces them to clean it up before killing them proves difficult to catch thanks to his social charm and simple, yet clever, disguises.A greatly sadistic serial killer who disembowels women and forces them to clean it up before killing them proves difficult to catch thanks to his social charm and simple, yet clever, disguises.
- Jennifer Jareau
- (credit only)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaNear the end of the episode, Austin (the waitress) tells Reid that she's thinking of taking up magic; Courtney Ford went on to play sorceress Nora Darhk in DCs Legends of Tomorrow.
- GoofsMixing Bleach and Ammonia produces toxic gas.
- Quotes
Dr. Spencer Reid: How are you doing?
Derek Morgan: Well, I gave out all my flyers.
Dr. Spencer Reid: How many phone numbers did you get?
Derek Morgan: None. I'm working a case here, kid.
[Reid gives him a look]
Derek Morgan: Okay, four were offered, but I didn't take any of them.
[Reid gives him another look]
Derek Morgan: All right, look, let me school you a little bit. What you have to do with these ladies, just take control of the conversation. When you're talking what makes you feel like an expert?
Dr. Spencer Reid: Uh, statistics.
Derek Morgan: No, trust me. No. Something else.
Dr. Spencer Reid: Well, when I do magic.
Derek Morgan: See, that's perfect. Chicks dig magic.
- SoundtracksMillion Dollar Baby
Written by Phontaine Judd (as Phontaine)
Performed by Phontaine Judd (as Phontaine)
The idea of a serial killer disemboweling people and using the slow death that entails to force them to clean up their own blood and guts is uniquely horrifying in a way that, as the series grows, becomes harder and harder to find. Unfortunately, this episode contains almost no criminal profiling, and utterly fails to capitalize on that horror. Why a serial killer may choose this method of killing and this avenue of sadism is left entirely unexplored. There are no artistic shots inviting the viewer to understand what being victim to this killer might be like. We are given no insight into his daily life. Even after we find out why he commits these crimes and what his stressor was, there is no interesting psychobabble explaining it all.
The idea of a serial killer using oft-sociopathic PUA tactics was a great idea as well, one that predicted the recent Isla Vista and Toronto killings, but again, this episode fails to dissect and criticize the practice properly despite taking much time to present them. I have no idea why they missed the opportunity to go in-depth on why such techniques are poor and attractive to antisocial personalities.
The scene with Reid and Morgan was cute and a nice insight on them both. The filmmaking and script were competent, I suppose, if barren.
The time spent on things tangential or even outright extraneous to the case is disproportionate to how meaningful the scenes therein are. Take, for example, "What Fresh Hell" from Season 1, and compare it to this episode. It uses less than half the time that "52 Pickup" does to cover extraneous subjects, but somehow the scenes from "52 Pickup" with the sole exception of Reid and Morgan's one manage to be far less meaningful, informative, or realistic.
If these showrunners lack the ability to make plot-irrelevant information compelling, I suggest they give us more of what we came here for: Actual criminal profiling and infamous, mind-bending crime.
- kaleestraza
- May 20, 2018
Details
- Runtime42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD