Lessons Learned
Directed by Guy Norman Bee
Written by Jim Clemente & Andrew Wilder
Written by Jim Clemente & Andrew Wilder
Gideon: Dale Turner mused, "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future."
A terrorist held at Guantanamo refuses to tell anyone when and where his group plans to attack again. Emily Prentiss joins the team.
This episode provides examples of:
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: Subverted. The terrorist in custody tells a story about how when he was a child the US bombed his city and killed his family. The BAU can't find any instances of the US bombing an Egyptian city when the man was a child, so figure out that he was talking about how his son died.
- Bluffing the Murderer: Gideon tricks Jind into thinking it's later in the day than it is by pretending to let him pray at the right times of day, which he obviously cannot check from inside his cell. Eventually he pretends to get a message of a terrorist attack, and Jind ends up ranting about how the next time someone opens a mall people won't be as eager to attend.
- CIA Evil, FBI Good: A downplayed example. The members of the CIA are depicted as much more stubborn and thuggish than our heroes in the FBI are.
- Circular Reasoning: Jind says the Jihad ends when Allah wills it. Gideon asks how he will know when this is what Allah wills, and he replies: when the jihad ends.
- Clock Discrepancy: How Gideon pulls off Bluffing the Murderer. However, it wasn't done with a physical clock, it was done by altering the terrorist's prayer time slightly at each point, distorting his internal sense of time. Gideon even pointed out that using an actual clock would have probably failed as it would have been more obvious.
- Friendship Moment: By the end of the episode, Prentiss has proven herself to Gideon; so he asks her if she'd like to play a game of chess. Her face lights up at the offer.
- Funny Back Ground Event: Garcia calls Morgan to make sure he and Hotch survived the terrorist trap, and then winds up having a conversation with him. Behind her, JJ gets increasingly annoyed and worried as she waits to learn if their friends are alright.
- Gas Leak Cover Up: Two:
- The trap explosion in Annandale is shown on the news as a gas main explosion, but JJ and Garcia do not believe it, and panic when they realize Hotch and Morgan were there.
- The thwarted terrorist attack on the mall is reported as being an attempted robbery.
- Guile Hero: Gideon's status as this is on full display with the way he plays Jind Allah.
- Meaningful Rename: Jamal Abaza has changed his name to Jind Allah. This throws his rant on the end of the jihad into a different light.
- "Not So Different" Remark: The terrorist and Gideon talk about how in their respective cultures, the other is considered less than human.
- Smart People Play Chess: Subverted with Reid once again, who still loses to Gideon. Prentiss however shows that she can play chess.
- Surprise Checkmate: Reid didn't realize Gideon was about to win their chess game in the beginning, but Prentiss did. He doesn't see the checkmate coming at the end either.
- Gideon: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount a fear."
