Criminal Minds Episode 8 Recap
The Criminal Minds Team discusses the road rage killer. With everyone profiling a picture of a man in his 40s, timid in life, with low self-esteem emerges. They work with the local police to form a joint investigative team.
Ha Sun Woo (Moon Chae Won) and Kim Hyun Joon (Lee Joon Gi) interview the first victim in her hospital room. They are able to coax details from her. They realize the first victim was not a planned crime. They hypothesize the second victim was harassed to create the same situation for the road rage killer to release his anger.
The road rage killer thinks about all those that belittle him; his wife, his daughter and his boss.
Na Na Hwang (Yoo Sun) cuts in front of a driver creating her own road rage situation. She pulls over and texts that she needs help. To her horror the man approaches her car, jumps on the hood and starts bashing the windshield. The Criminal Minds Team arrives along with the police. In a nifty move, Hyun Joon flips the man off the hood and onto the ground. He arrests the man for assault and attempted murder. The man rages that she (Na Hwang) started by cutting in front of him. Hyun Joon hauls him to the waiting police car.
Sweet spin move by Hyun Joon to get the attacker off the hood.
Meanwhile the road rage killer strikes again. This time he returns to the victim to finish her off. The pleasure on his face, the deliberate murder proves his descent into the depths of evil.
At home the road rage killer stares at the splattered blood on his face. He smashes the mirror and smiles at the warped reflection.
The Criminal Minds Team arrives to investigate. Team Lead Kang recalls Hyun Joon’s recommendation to alert the public to the road rage killer, knowing he ignored it. Team Lead Kang ignores the pleas of the press for information.
The road rage killer (Mr. Jang) attends a company dinner full of swagger. Everyone notices his changed attitude and respond positively. But one coworker belittles Mr. Jang in the restroom. Mr. Jang threatens the coworker with his shotgun. That gets the coworker’s acquiesce.
At home Mr. Jang imagines killing his wife. He goes to his daughter’s room and remember when she was young. He goes to his basement lair and holds his shotgun smiling at the power it gives him.
Hyun Joon realizes that the road rage killer picks areas under construction for his victims. The police agree to monitor the construction zones. Hyun Joon and Sun Woo meet with the construction worker who recalls a man that seemed to patrol the area. Sun Woo calls Team Lead Kang who realizes they must profile the killer ASAP because he’s a hunter now and those near him are in danger.
The joint investigation team meets to discuss all the aspects of the road rage killer they can profile together. The message is clear, the killer is descending into needing to kill more often. Mr. Jang’s boss apologizes for his poor treatment. Mr. Jang appears to accept the apology but stares after his boss imagining killing his with his shotgun.
Min Young tells the press about the road rage killer.
Mr. Jang watches the press conference at work with his coworkers. He’s surprised how the description fits him. He runs away.
Professor Lee thinks he’s found the killer. Hyun Joon goes to question him.
Mr. Jang drives agitated and remembers driving with his young daughter long ago. When the car overheated, he pulled off to the side of the road. His young daughter’s toy rolled into the busy road. She went to retrieve it. Mr. Jang stared in horror as his daughter was hit by a car. At the hospital Mr. Jang and his wife yelled for medical attention. But then his is wife screamed at the insurance people for money. Back to the present, Mr. Jang pounds his steering wheel.
Team Lead Kang stares at the picture of Mr. Jang’s dead daughter.
Mr. Jang drives erratically. When he arrives home, he points the shotgun at his wife and daughter. They flee the house in terror. The police pursue Mr. Jang (who has his wife and daughter in the car) and Hyun Joon joins the chase. They create a road block. Mrs. Jang shouts that her husband is weird. Mr. Jang says they ignore him. He yells that his wife only cared about the insurance money on the day of their daughter’s death. Mrs. Jang declares he only sees things from his perspective. She begs him to stop the car.
Team Lead Kang, Min Young, and Professor Lee arrive at Mr. Jang’s house.
Hyun Joon drives along Mr. Jang aims his shotgun and shoots at Hyun Joon. His wife and daughter scream. Hyun Joon takes a break from the chase to regather his wits.
Team Lead Kang, Min Young, and Professor Lee find a messy house and a body.
Hyun Joon pulls next to Mr. Jang and yells at him to pull over. Mr. Jang crashes into a barrier. The car tilt on its axis and slides forward.
Team Lead Kang, Min Young, and Professor Lee watch the body be removed from the house.
The police swarm Mr. Jang’s car. He crawls out of the car with the shotgun in hand. Hyun Joon orders everyone to put their guns down. Hyun Joon tells him to drop the shotgun. Mr. Jang does so and begs for help for his daughter who is trapped in the car. Hyun Joon tackles Mr. Jang and tells him it’s over.
Team Lead Kang voiceover intones that Mr. Jang’s wife and daughter were dead for 20 days.
Mr. Jang looks in the car and realizes there is no one there. He screams and falls to the ground. The Criminal Minds Team arrives and watches the bereft man on the ground. Team Lead Kang quotes Roman author Publilius Syrus “Fate is not satisfied with one calamity”.
When I looked up that quote I found a Criminal Minds quote website that identified this as Season 4 Episode 18 ‘Omnivore’. So endth this week’s crime.
Parents and their little girl are having fun at an amusement park. The father goes to buy cotton candy. The mother takes the little girl to watch street performers. A woman sits on a bench looking dazed. A woman draws the mother’s attention by roaming the crowd yelling for her child. In the crush and noise, the little girl is snatched without the mother noticing. When the mother realizes she calls for her daughter. She finds her husband. They start to search. The park announces the missing child over the intercom. The mother recounts what happened for the police. The dazed woman steps forward and declares her child was snatched in the same way. The police lead the woman away saying she’s making up stories again. The pleads with the detective to believe that her child was snatched in the same way 8 years ago.
Team Lead Kang meets with chief who has orders from someone. The chief shares the psychological profile of the road rage killer. We see in flashback Mr. Jang kills his wife in their home. Team Lead Kang asks why the chief is sharing this with him. The chief notes Mr. Jang’s lucidity indicator is almost the same as Team Lead Kang’s. Ouch! The chief gives Team Lead Kang his psychological profile. The chief tells Team Lead Kang that refusing to make the road rage killer public knowledge proves his thought process is suspect. The chief says it’s time for him to step down and take a break.
My Thoughts
The quality of an actor determines how compelling the criminal of the week is. Jo Han Chul portrayed the tortured road rage killer with aplomb making him evil yet sympathetic as the down trodden man. The reveal that his young daughter had been killed in front of him and his wife’s screams for insurance money provided the foundation of resentment. One production note, it was jarring going from the conclusion of the road rage killer into the next case without a respite.
Sun Woo is protecting Team Lead Kang. She ignored Hyun Joon’s recommendation that the public be notified about the road rage killer snapping that Hyun Joon was upsetting Team Lead Kang. Sun Woo continues to be a cold slab of logic and an uninspiring character.
Professor Lee with his IQ of 187 was a team player this episode. Not much to mention this episode.
Min Young was a team player this episode. Not much to mention this episode.
Na Hwang, the resident computer expert, should be invited to team meetings every once in a while. She’s stuck in the computer room. They’ve got computers in the bullpen, she could join them there. I do enjoy her easy comradery with Hyun Joon.
Hyun Joon (Lee Joon Gi) has heart and nifty moves. Hyun Joon’s spin move to get the attacker off Na Hwang’s car hood was sweet. Hyun Joon’s advice to go public with the road rage killer was solid. Hyun Joon’s empathy for the road rage killer when he realized his wife and daughter were not in the car is a measure of the man.
Team Lead Kang (Son Hyun Joo) is not all there. He’s a shell of his former self. This is the second episode he’s not gone to the press to inform the public of a killer. The scene where the chief showed Team Lead Kang the road rage killer’s lucidity indicator and then showed Team Lead Kang’s lucidity indicator as similar was superb. Will Team Lead Kang heed his boss’s advice and take a break?
Writer Hong Seung Hyun selection of this episode was solid. What I find frustrating is the teasing about the reaper and the river murder case. I want this delved into. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the “crime of the week” because Jo Han Chul elevated the road rage killer to garner my empathy. But it pales to the reaper who is imminently compelling.
Ranking the episodes (on a scale from 1-10) had me rank this episode as terrific. My episode ranking chart is below.
Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.
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I like the actor who was the road 🔫🚗 rage killer. I was thinking about KJT’s comments last episode about Moon Chae Won’s lack of emotion makes her character “boring and unsympathetic.” What a difference when compared to Jo Han Chul who “portrayed the tortured road rage killer with aplomb making him evil yet sympathetic as the down trodden man.”. What a terrific performance by Jo Han Chul. As mentioned by KJT this was a episode from the US original, as is the kidnapping case that just started.
When they showed TL Kang walking up the stairs was that at his home or at the restaurant? Me thinks I saw a blood spatter on the stairwell wall, if so his sanity should be in question for living in a bloody crime scene. Or…who knows was it “art”? Sun Woo thinks she’s doing TL Kang a favor by not revealing the Reaper is after the entire team; this is NOT 🚫📰 news to him. I think it would not be a bad idea for TL Kang to step down temporarily, but I don’t think he will until he is forced. All he has left is his son and his job.
I think both Lee Joon Gi and Son Hyun Joo have been killing their parts‼
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I think both Lee Joon Gi and Son Hyun Joo have been killing their parts‼
They are the best part of the series. I do have a soft spot now for the character Na Hwang who wears her heart on her sleeve. The reaper is also compelling but I don’t know when we’ll see him next.
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