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Criminal Minds Season 5 Episode 9

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AIRED: Nov 25, 2009

8.7

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Episode Summary

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When The Reaper returns to Washington for a final showdown, the team works frantically to catch him before he reaches SSA Hotchner's family.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (52)

babyface95

10

By lauriebessler, Mar 15, 2013

I can see what you are saying. However, a US Marshall does not live with the family nor do they have daily contact. The contact they have is stuff that the family or marshall needs to know from each other pertaining to the situation. They are given new names, ss numbers entire new everything as if they died or fell off the earth. Then moved to any number of small or large but usually smaller cities where they are known by their new names and never discuss their old selves This protection makes it doubtful someone knows them and will call them out by their real name. Even the Marshall isn't allowed to reveal to anyone family included who they work for but the government or any of the cases ever to protect them. They are free as anyone else to walk down the street without a swat team watching as it is assumed they are not compromised. Nothing set a sense that they were compromised until way past until it was too late for anyone to help he was hours ahead of them.

The Marshall does have a gun but he didn't necessarily have it on his side 24/7 especially when at home (if watch when he comes in he throws the jacket and holster on a stand ) as it showed him to be. No doubt it was there nearby but he was blitz attacked so no way to get to it. Marshall and Hotch talking were through the phone of the agent so he had no way to contact but in this context he could. Jack "working the case" you never had little kids their ideas and imitations can be anything such as hiding in a box next to daddy working. Was Aaron to tell him he hunts horrible serial killers all day and kills bad people ? I do agree if I were Haley I may at first be taken over by emotion on hearing he died but when my senses returned I would think the agent would never for any reason use my real name and any replacement one would come to me not me to them and hide deeply sending a message to someone secret as can. All over except the setting of a investigative meeting to see if Hotch was to blame the show was one of their best. I do realize in the real world an officer of any type would have to answer to beating someone to death not just walk off free of actions.

The last thing you mentioned though is why Haley didn't know what the reaper looked like. They are rarely shown what they look like to avoid panic and if they are that close you usually dead anyway. Hotch also never brought work home so she never seen a photo of him or anyone else they worked on cases .

Last you mentioned Mandy being written out need to do some research he hated the showed and the violence it projected and never showed up for a table reading the beginning of the next season, then wrote to his co-workers and told them it bothered his conscience too much for dead people, murder, rape and so forth and wanted off the show. It was nothing to do with producers, directors, other actors or stage stuff. It was a personal choice. I loved Gideon he was good but I have to wonder why his agent didn't ask what all his character would entail so he knew It was not a job for him before took.moreless
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Tearful and Terrific.

9.5

By Drea94, Jan 28, 2013

I've only been able to watch this episode twice, because it's just so sad, but it is definitely one of my favourite episodes.

The characters in criminal minds are what sets it apart from other crime shows, and this episode really lets those characters shine. I think this was the best performance we see from Thomas Gibson in the series. It's raw, and heart breaking, but spectacular.
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Amazing

10

By hellokitty1314, Nov 18, 2012

I created an account just to comment on this episode. WOW. I've been following this season from the beginning and the only other time I've tear-ed up was in Season 4, ep24. When Reid was leaving a message to his mother because he thought he could have died from the virus.

Hotchner and Hayley's conversation near the end (moments before Hayley was killed) was so powerful. I cried like a baby when their conversation came to an end. When Hayley is shot, you could feel the pain Hotchner was feeling. Nothing more epic than a show that can really pull you in and connect with the characters.

This is a 10/10. One of my favourites, don't know if I could re watch it since I know I'd cry everytime.moreless
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There is only one word to describe this episode:- EPIC!

10

By vicky24c, Jun 08, 2012

In this episode of Criminal Minds, the following happens. The Reaper returns in this episode for one final showdown between him and the BAU team. Soon we learn that he has managed to trick Haley into thinking that he is a US Marshall and manages to get her to agree to meet him. He also tells her that Aaron is dead. But when she speaks to Aaron, she realises that he lied to her and that he is in fact The Reaper. Terror soon takes over; when we learn that he plans on killing her. Aaron speaks to his son Jack and manages to get him to go into another room, and hide. As they speak on the phone for the last time, we hear the gunshots and we know that Haley is dead. As Aaron gets to the house, he finds Haley's body and soon he and The Reaper, fight in a battle to the death.

Aaron kills him with his own bare hands, and has to be pulled off of him by Morgan when the rest of the team turn up. He then goes to find Jack and finds Jack hiding. As the episode draws to a close we see Aaron holding his dead wife in his arms. This has to be one of the best episodes of this show ever. It was so powerful and very emotional. Even if you don't like the show would still recommend this episode to anyone and everyone.moreless
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High expectations

10

By squad78, Jan 13, 2012

@babyface95 I can't answer all your points - some of these mistakes are essential to the plot of the show and if all the protective custody measures were taken there would be no risk.

I think you're mistaken on a couple of points: the phone call between Hotch and the Reaper is initiated by Hotch calling the Marshall phone - at that point Hotch does not have the Reaper's number. I'm pretty sure the Marshall is reaching for a weapon of some kind when the Reaper shoots him - remember, the first shot is a complete surprise to Sam.

There is a flashback near the end of the show that helps to explain Jack "working the case" and the reason Hotch tells Jack to do it when he is on the phone is as a coded way of telling him to hide in a place only the two of them know.

As others have said, I find this one of the most gripping and emotional episodes of the show and a great culmination of the long battle with the Reaper.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Thomas Gibson	Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Joe Mantegna	Senior SSA David Rossi
Matthew Gray Gubler	SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
Shemar Moore	SSA Derek Morgan
Paget Brewster	SSA Emily Prentiss
A.J. Cook	SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Ariana Thomas	Pharmacist	Guest Star
Zokai Holmes	FBI Agent/Super	Guest Star
Kim Swennen	Medic #1	Guest Star
C. Thomas Howell	George Foyet/The Reaper	Recurring Role
Gina Garcia Sharp	CSU Tech Agent Sharp	Recurring Role
Jayne Atkinson	Section Chief Erin Strauss	Recurring Role

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Featured Episode Clip

Episode Photos

Agent Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) battles t...

© 2009 CBS Corporation
Agent Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) on Crimin...

© 2009 CBS Corporation
Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Morgan (Shemar...

© 2009 CBS Corporation

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- JJ's son, Henry, is played by A.J. Cook's real-life son, Mekhai Andersen, in this episode.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Jack Hotchner: I worked the case, Daddy, just like you said.
  Hotchner: You did a great job, buddy.
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- Prentiss: It makes sense to stay close to Hotch. He [The Reaper] stuck around Boston to watch Shaunessy deteriorate... not that you...
  Hotchner: That's all right. I know he's been watching me. That's part of the reason I stepped down... so he'd think I was falling apart.
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- Hotchner: Poet Haniel Long said, "So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty."
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- Hotchner: "He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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NOTES (5)
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- The song heard in this episode was "Evil Is Alive and Well" by Jakob Dylan.
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- In an early draft of the script for this episode, Hotchner was written to kill George Foyet with his own knife. However, Ed Bernero and Thomas Gibson believed the scene would be more powerful if Thomas used his bare hands.
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- The Nietzsche quote that discusses fighting with monsters heard in the beginning of this episode was nearly identical to the quote used in the pilot episode, "Extreme Aggressor."
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- This episode marks the 100-episode milestone for the series.
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- The writer of this episode, Bo Crese, is actually an anagram using the first initial of each member of the writing staff (Breen + Oanh = Bo and Chris + Rick + Erica + Simon + Ed = Crese) because each writer wrote a section.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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