"Criminal Minds" tonight, like the first episode this season of "The Good Wife," focused on relationships. The crime part of the program was so over-the-top that some of us couldn't take it seriously. Clearly, our attention was supposed to be on how members of the unit were handling the Prentiss hoax.
There Prentiss was, back on the job, after the unit, with the exception of Hotchner and JJ, had gone through months of grieving her death. In fact, Spencer would go regularly to JJ's house to cry about the loss. It turns out he was so bereft that he was toying with the idea of returning to drugs.
Morgan has somehow managed to respond with an attitude of gratitude that Prentiss is at least back with them. He was the one who helped carry her coffin.
Rossi tells Hotchner that he had a hunch that maybe Prentiss wasn't dead. It's his business to be suspicious.
But Spencer is enraged at both JJ and Prentiss. An extremely sensitive guy, he feels betrayed.
The rage get muted some - we won't know how much until future episodes - when Rossi invites the unit over to his home for a lesson in making the perfect pasta. Spencer is on the fence about coming but finally he does show up late. It is a sign that he at least is making an effort to accept that the people closest to him lied to him and allowed him to suffer.
Will Spencer distance himself from the team? Will he return to drugs? Will he decide to leave the unit?
There could be big shifts this season in how members of the team relate to each other and to themselves. Because of his suffering, Spencer could be growing emotionally. He is less the geek and more a human being who is deciding what he will tolerate and what he won't.
It's amazing how the best shows like "Criminal Minds" and "The Good Wife" decide that the gold is in concentrating on how people relate to one another. Crime-solving and defending clients in court seem to fade into a prop on the set.
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