Grade 'Means to an End'

Going to try really, really hard NOT to check this thread until after the West coast showing.

 

C'mon guys!! Post your thoughts, don't be afraid.

It was a good episode and I have to admit, I wasn't suprised that Mathews had something to do with Rand. I mean he was ANGRY. I mean :brickwall:

In last week's episode I did think maybe he had something to do with it. Wish we had seen more of Waters.

Really wish they'd stop doing the 48 or however many hours earlier. I liked that Jo did save herself.

Nice to see some scenes with Adam but not enough Mac. I think the Mac/Jo shippers are going to go nuts with the last scene and I did think it was cute.

Any idea how Curtis knew where Jo would be? It just seemed too strange that he would show up at her apartment and seemed like a setup. But I am glad that the team didn't let Jo set up Curtis.

 

I really liked this episode and gave it an A+. I am so happy Jo saved herself showing that strong women can take care of themselves. I was surprised at the killer of escort. I never would have thought the dad from the DC case would have had anything to do with it. I also was surprised to see Waters off himself. I am glad Jo killed Curtis. I wanted to do it myself. I was happy to see Adam out of the lab. I hope we get some more Mac soon.

 

I thought the episode was great! Go Jo (I have been wanting to say that for so long)!
It was good to see Adam out of the lab again, although I didn't there was enough of him or Danny in the episode. I thought it was good that Jo saved herself, I was half-expecting Flack to burst through the door at that far-too-coincidental moment.

Overall I gave this episode an A-, by far one of the best episodes of the season.

 

Yeah, I even expected Mac to come bursting through or even Danny.

 

This was a very solid episode. It was great to see Jo save herself instead of Mac or Flack bursting in at the last minute to save the day.
As for the senator, I kept thinking of the episode Power Trip from CSI Miami,in which a cop became a killer himself in order to get a person whom he thought was a serial killer off the streets.
Same thing plays out here. There is no doubt (as his last scene shows) that Curtis is a monster who enjoys hurting people. But at the end of the day,Waters is no better. If you have to become a monster yourself,the bad guy has already won.
Solid episode all around and I'm glad to see they didn't drag it out all season long like other arcs in the CSI history have been.

 

There is one little issue I have.

How did Curtis know where Jo was? How did he know that woman was talking to police? I kinda expected Jo to be kidnapped.

 

Personally I couldn't actually watch the episode all the way through in one sitting. I was bored and was disappointed in the end result of a case I was initially very interested when it was brought up a few episodes ago. I realize that this was a case from Jo's past that has been haunting her since her days at the FBI, but I could have done with a little less of her flashbacks. And although I absolutely love Michael Weston, I was disappointed with how his character was used. The whole thing seemed very contrived and once again we got a quick and easy confession from the killer once under the steely glare of Mac Taylor. Don't get me wrong - I love Mac but that's several episodes in a row now where the suspect has caved as soon as Mac starts to question them and it's a lazy way to tie up a case IMO.

For me it was a case of ineffectual storytelling. I especially disliked how Mac decided to allow Jo to work on any aspect of this case simply because it was personal for her, when in the past he has chewed out others for doing the same thing.

I don't know. I realize I'm probably going to be in the minority here and that's fine. I just wish that the writers had carried through with the story from the previous episode with the same level of thoughfulness and quality.

 

Concerning the flashbacks, I can see where you are coming from even though I really did wonder what the situation was concerning the DNA. The guy at the FBI was in the wrong by not admitting a mistake even though I'm not sure what the deal is with the 'marker'.

I agree about Mac though, it does get annoying when the writers forget about the cases being too personal. I'm sure in real life, that wouldn't happen.

Well, when you are angry enough, you do stupid things I guess. I didn't put it past him.

 

I thought this was the strongest episode of the season. The opening was especially powerful. It's not my favorite, and it has some WTF moments, but it got my highest grade thus far.

 

Well said. This is exactly how I felt watching it too. Also I found it totally unbelievable that Curtis being as smart as he was, missed the bullet in the chamber. That had to have been one of the most contrived endings to the show I have ever seen. To me it was definitely the worst episode of the season. I gave it an F.

 

I dug this ep and gave it an A+. I love to see bad guys/bad people get theirs and Jo dispatching the evil jerk was a joy to watch. :thumbsup:

 

Just finished watching the episode on CBS.com and I loved it. The first solid A I've given an episode in a long, long time (that I can remember lol). Sela was amazing, and even though it was obviously a Jo centric arc I felt this episode was a great enseble effort as well. On Twitter I like to read the comments under the #CSINY hashtag and there were a lot of comments about too much Jo and not enough of the other characters (most specifically, Lindsay) but I thought this episode had a great ensemble feel to it despite the focus on one of the lead characters.

This episode left me entertained and interested even though it wasn't perfect. I thought the use of yet more very rare evidence that could have only come from one place was lame as it always is. I also thought that the writers made Jo seem a bit stupid for a former FBI agent when she didn't take precautions going to the woman's apartment to get the evidence she kept. Jo is smart enough that she would've known that Curtis would be watching her every move and watching the case closely as well.

I know Jo shouldn't have had anything to do with the case, but every single person on the team has worked cases they shouldn't have at one or more points in the history of the show so I just saw that as continuity. Until the end Jo was more of a consultant anyway, so she wasn't actively working on the case until after Frank died.

I spoiled myself and new that the Senator killed Allie before I watched. I'm curious if I would've figured it out had I not known. The whole Frank thing took me by surprise, I have to say. That he devoted his life to trying to nail Curtis and that he killed himself were twists I didn't see coming. Although I have to say the scene of him getting slammed by the bus and his body's condition after being slammed by the bus made me chuckle a bit. More of the not so good parts of the episode. lol

Going into this episode I was afraid it was going to be another "All Access" which I absolutely hated as an episode. It was nothing like that and I loved it despite its flaws.

ETA: I loved that Jo saved herself and didn't have to be rescued by a man. I also loved Hawkes' line about Quantico not teaching organization. LMAO.