"Your Mr. Bridgerton is approaching."

I'm very happy to have more case of the week episodes this season (mostly because it means we get more profiling), but 19x08 does feel like filler in a way most of the other cases haven't. I think it's because the writers found ways to connect the characters personal journey's to whatever case we were working on. In 19x01 we see JJ relating to Jeri Ryan's character, Luke has the military connection in 19x02, 19x03 and 4 focus on Tyler learning how to become a profiler, 19x05 dives further into Luke's grief through Tom's murder, and 19x06 and 7 explore Penelope's empathy and capabilities. I suppose the case in 19x08 is loosely thematically relevant to what JJ and Luke have going on, but for the most part, it just didn't really matter. That's a problem when we now only have 2 episodes left.

I think the biggest thing this season is lacking is urgency. The stakes were so high last year and then it sort of ended with a thud, so maybe the slower build is not the worst thing they could be doing. But again, we're getting very close to the finale here, and I'm worried we're going to end up having to rush to the finish line based on the current pace.