Criminal Minds Season 3 Episode 14

In this episode Rossi feels he has to solve the case that has been haunting him especially because it is the 20th anniversary I can't believe it has taken Rossi 20 years to solve that case and he had got no where until Morgan, Prentiss an JJ started helping Its kind of embarrassing for Rossi because they was really only investigating the case for half of the episode What was even more embarrassing was that the person he was looking for was a clown who is scared off just about anything I would say this episode was rushed and it made it disappointing.

Okay so the first thing I noticed was Rossi saying "Its the 20th anniversary of this crime" , in a previous episode there was a Sheriff whose case went unsolved for 27 years, when Rossi told him he had an unsolved case too the Sheriff asked how long it had been to which he replied "21 years" with the Sheriff responding "don't let it get to 22". Now fast forward to this episode and all of a sudden it's the 20th anniversary? That frustrates me greatly!!! Also how easily the case was called "20 years" he's been unable to figure it out but bam all of a sudden he does.



My guess is the producers wanted to get rid of this story (Rossi's unsolved case) so they could move on with the series and not continually have Rossi playing around with the chain and having the viewers wondering what happened.



If a clown were following you around you'd remember it!!! This is the worst episode i've seen so far



To be honest they did a shit job! The story could have been put together so much better!!!

While I like criminal minds sometime its really far fetched how quickly and easily a case is solved. This case was 20 years old they solved it when the daughter remembered a scary incident with a clown the day before her parents were killed 20 years ago. They checked circuses in the area and caught the clown. One minute they were in BAU Head quarters and next they were borrowing the jet to fly after their colleague to follow up the case. The case was not even an official case. And every year for the last twenty years the clowns father made the clown go with him while he left a present for the three orphaned kids. REALLY REALLY SILLY

I absolutely loved this episode, as it was very touching, while still being immesely enjoyable. The storyline was emmaculate, and I loved how the way this episode worked itself out.





I haven't particularly been enjoying Rossi as a character, but this was certainly a very nice episode ventred around him. It was very well written, and it turned out to be interesting.





The only disappointment I had was the fact thit this episode didn't really have much action, and I felt that it let us down a little bit.





But overlooking that, I would highly recommend this episode, and I think you'll absoulutely love it!

I'm going to keep this very short and to the point. This will be the worst episode of the season and so far is my lowest rated episode of Criminal Minds to date. There was so much hype, since the day he joined the show, for this case. This was the big one. We all knew that one day he was going to get back to this case and some members of the team were going to help him solve it. We finally get there and I cannot be more upset with the ending to a twenty year old case. The unsub was awful. Not a brutal murderer but a "big kid" who followed a little girl home one night and then destroyed the parents with their own axe which he took right out of the fathers hands? Not so much. Hotchner and Reid scenes were pointless to the max. They went to interview someone on death row and it served no purpose other then to eat up some time for the episode as a whole. Was very happy to see Kevin back in this episode after I complained about it in my last review, but I am simply still in shock over how bad of an episode this was. I understand it was right after the strike had ended, but why come back with such an important episode if you were just going to flunk out on the storyline? Awful.

I had mixed felings about this episode. I really enjoyed the entire section where Hotch and Reid interviewed Death Row inmate, Chester Hardwick. I thought that part of the script was excellent and Reid's quick thinking under pressure was very well done. The only thing that bugged me was that Hardwick was wearing a prison suit with the letters 'DR' on it, and that is wrong because there is no such place as 'Death Row', it doesn't 'officially' exist in any prison and no place is actually called that, so it would NOT be written on a jump suit.





The Galen case finally being solved was very anti-climactic for me. With all of Rossi's obsession over it, I would have liked the conclusion to be more interesting overall. His purchase of the victim's home etc., while undoubtedly a very nice gesture, seemed just a little too much for a law enforcement officer. However, overall, the episode was interesting for the most part and it was nice that Rossi and the Galen children finally got some closure after so long.

Over all series three is very disappointing when measured against the high standards of the first two series and this episode just emphasises how dull and predictable it has become.


Since Rossi joined the cast we have been offered tantalizing glimpses of the case that haunted him and caused him to join the BAU. Somehow this episode, which should have been a spactacular culmination of tension, falls far short of expectations. We are expected to make a leap of faith and believe that the pivitol clue of the carnival toys being delivered on the aneversary of the crime has somehow gone unnoticed for all these years, and that the kids are dumb enough to think that it is Rossi that is sending them.


Hopefully season 4 has more to offer

They spent long time building up the mystery why Rossi came back and now, he comes and solves it, 20 years later. If not looking into the irony that case like this can be solved 20 years later without main problems.. then why not back then? They did not looked too carefully into this?





Anyway.. if not think on logic.. and this was important case for Rossi.. it was not bad. The way team cared, went there and helped him.. and those kids, the ending..





And ofcourse that substoryline of Hotchner and Reid.. it was funny - speaking convict to dead and saving their lives..

Rossi has finally solved the case that has been haunting him for 20 years. There were several tearjerker moments, but there were several funny as h*ll moments!





The episode begins with Rossi having a nightmare about the case that has been haunting him for 20 years. He wakes up in a sweat and gasping. He grabs the charm bracelet that he's kept with him for all these years and clutches it tightly to him.





We move on to Garcia's apartment. Garcia is having a romantic evening at home. We see candles, strawberries and cream, and glasses of champagne. Garcia comes out of her bathroom, tying her robe and mumbling about doing bodily harm to whomever is pounding on her door at that hour. As she yanks the door open, she sees SSA Rossi. Rossi is demanding to know where the rest of the information he requested is. As Garcia is trying to get Rossi to wait until the morning (and a more respectable hour), Kevin Lynch comes out of the bathroom towel-drying his hair. As he walks into the room, he says, "You left the middle of my back totally unloofahed." He comes to a screeching halt when he sees SSA Rossi and then sheepishly lowers the towel to cover himself.





I thought that scene was hillarious! Poor Garcia. She finally gets a decent love interest and then Rossi has to interrupt her fun evening!





We are introduced to the three children survivors from Rossi's 20 year old case. It's obvious that life has not been the greatest for them. They are living in the home left to them by their grandmother. The oldest,Connie, is working in a strip club. Middle child, Georgie, has been fired from yet another job. Baby sister, Alicia, has been acting more like a very rebellious teenager than a responsible 23 year old woman.





We learn that for the past 20 years, someone has been leaving gifts for the kids on the anniversary. They assume that it's Rossi. The kids want to move on but can't seem to because of the anniversary "reminders".





This episode delves more into the backstory of Rossi. It helps us to understand him and what makes him tick. We learn that he purchased the Galen home from an auction and has had it maintained for many years. The one thing that I did not like about this episode is that it didn't match with what we learned about Rossi in "Birthright". In "Birthright", the children watched their parents beaten to death on Christmas Eve. It was because of this that Rossi no longer puts up a Christmas Tree. In this episode, the parents have been axed to death in March.





My heart went out to Rossi when he is confronted by Connie as he and the team arrive at the Galen's home. Connie tells him to that they want to move on with their lives and to go away and never bother them again. Rossi only wanted to help them get justice. He felt that they deserved that.


Definitely a tearjerker moment for me.





Hotch and Reid go to Connecticut to visit Death Row inmate, Chester Hardwick. SSA Hotchner seems to be wound even tighter than he normally does. He's rather snippy with JJ and Reid. I think that this part of the episode revealed a side of Hotchner that is rarely seen. You can tell that he still loves his wife very much and that he does not want to divorce her. The stress of it is starting to really get to him. For me, the most revealing part of Hotch's internal turmoil came when he was going to "throw down" with Chester Hardwick. He was itching for a fight and Chester Hardwick was the "chosen" one.





Watching Reid diffusing the situation by spouting all kinds of facts in rapid succession was awesome. He maneuvered himself into a safer position (as best he could in the tiny room) away from the two giants.





The funniest scene took place in Garcia's office. Kevin creeps up on Garcia and they both scream. Garcia starts to go off on him because they had been caught "fraternizing" by Rossi. She asked him if he remembered last night.





Kevin replies with a look of pure happiness on his face, "I will NEVER forget last night!"





Watching his facial expressions was priceless and had me cracking up. But the best parts were yet to come!





Kevin says, "You know, it was rude of Rossi to show up to your place, after work hours."





"Rude? You found him rude?" asks Penelope, flabergasted.





"You know, maybe I should have a talk with him. Straighten him out."





Kevin says that maybe he should talk to Rossi "man-to-man" because he feels that he should be able to visit his 'girlfriend'. Garcia was touched. You could tell that she thought it was wonderfully sweet.





Penelope tells Kevin sweetly yet threateningly, "If you get within a hundred feet of Agent Rossi, I will unleash an unrecoverable virus on your personal computer system that will reduce you electronic world into something between a Commodore and a block of government cheese!"





That is like the worst thing to threaten a computer geek with! I was rolling at that! Kevin's face was priceless!





At the end of the episode when Rossi is saying goodbye to the children, he gives them the keys to their parents' house. He tells them that they should be able to sell it and get a good price for it. Rossi gives Connie the charm bracelet. He tells her that their grandmother had let him hold on to it until their case was solved.





As Rossi is about to get into his vehicle, Connie runs up to him and gives the bracelet back to him. With tears in her eyes, she asks if it would be ok if they called him from time to time to let him know how they were doing. He tells her, "Anytime, kiddo. Anytime." For me, this was the biggest tearjerker scene of the episode. There was closure for Rossi and the Galen children. Something that isn't always possible to do.





The seriousness and the humor was outstandingly blended together throughout the whole episode. And, because of that, it is definitely one of my favorite episodes!

I cried in this episode. It is not all about giving justice to other people but also their own personal lives. I just wish they expound more the case of Rossi. It seems interesting to profile. But I guess the case is not a subject of a criminal mind. An autistic child is hard to ponder. I like the ending how Rossi saw the children. I hope the children will have different path in life rather being in no direction. On the other positive side, Garcia you rock! and Lynch can you really talk to Rossi man to man??!...I find Rossi amusing murmuring …"man to man…".. Reid was so clueless when it comes to life. He might know technical things but life..yeah??!!. I like his face when is so clueless. JJ's face was so amusing when she sang. I like to see Morgan jealous but he seems happy for Garcia..I like Brewster's last comment...hahahaash. ..I mss this show very much.

A good and enjoyable yet very convoluted storyline with 3 facets and multiple parts of each facet. The first story with Rossi determined to cleanse himself of an unsolved case. Was handled pretty well with the standard alienation of the team and them coming to help him anyway. We have Garcia being caught in a sexual relationship with a fellow employee but it was really silly imo how much of a big deal she made out of it. The third act had Hotch and Reid facing down a killer getting ready to go to death. The episode nicely made it look like he was related to Rossi's case but sadly this was only a ploy to get Hotch in a standoff with a mad man. By episodes end however Hotch had signed his divorce papers which like the Garcia line was a personal issue mixed in with all the other plot lines. Fun episode lots of suspense and they did do what they were doing well. So i'm happy with the episode but don't think they should've done such a everything and the kitchen sink job at it.

The main focus of the show revolved around Rossi's determination to close a double murder case. The secondary story center's on Hotch and Reid's interview with a death row inmate. Each story was given equal balance and gave us some interesting character developements. The budding romance between Penelope and Kevin added some nice comic relief.





Rossi is determined to solve his cold case but isn't willing to accept help from Morgan and Emily, who come to his aide out of concer and a willingness to help. Rossi relectantly accepts their help and finally opens up about why this particular case haunts him. Morgan and Emily's fresh perspective on the case lead to an unexpected unsub that makes the case all the more heartbreaking. Not only did the writer's do an excellent job of showing us a more compassionate and caring side to Rossi, they also did a good job of showing us how the three children's lives have been affected by their parents murder.





The story involving Reid and Hotch had it's suspensful moments and showed us that Reid can think quick under intense pressure. The saddest part of this story was Hoth's decision to end his marriage uncontested. Clearly, Hotch didn't want to let go but in the end, he did what was best for everyone. The hardest part for Hotch was realizing that he isn't infallible to the pitfalls of his job.

This starts off with Rossi having a nightmare about a double homicide which took place 20 years ago, leaving three young children orphans. I found the beginning to be quite good and caught my attention. We also find out that Garcia & Kevin are now an item. They make such a cute couple so I'm glad there together even though I think that Garcia and Morgan could so work.


Reid & Hotch are in a prison to interview an inmate who is going to be executed next week. The children who's parents were murdered 20 years ago find presents left for them they think their from Rossi. He leaves one of them a purple monkey with a yellow string around its neck and the other one a colourful stick toy.


We also find out that Rossi owns the house where the murders took place. He said it was because the money went to the grandmother who was taking care of the children.


As Hotch and Reid finish with their inmate they try to leave and he explains to them that their is no one there and they wouldn't be back to at least 13 minutes and then he holds up a picture and says " it took me less time to do this" The look on Reid's face is priceless.


Thankfully Reid explains to him why he kills and before they know it, the 13 minutes have passed and the guards show up and take the inmate back to his cell. That was a close call. The gifts which the now grown up children have been receiving over the years are from the killer not Rossi as the children had believed. I personally thought that they were from the killer form the get go. It turns out that the killer was working as a clown in part of the Carnival. He was mentally slow.


Rossi gives the kids their house back to sell so they can make a fresh start.


The end is lovely when he looks at the now growing up children and sees them what they used to look like, when they were younger (when their parents were murdered). So cute.





In this episode I found that the character of Rossi was developed and a bit about his past was revealed. Also Note: - JJ's stomach is not shown and when it is she has her arm covering it. A.J. Cook is pregnant is real life.

... The fact he wrote the episode in a week's time.





After watching "True Night," one of, if not the worst Criminal Minds episode(s) ever, I certainly lost confidence in this man in terms of him taking over the writing and directing duties once again. He's a talented producer but being writer/director is not as easy as it sounds and he failed miserably in "True Night." I was expecting an encore performance with this episode but I was wrong. Before I review this episode, some clarifications.





Many initially said after the episode aired that this episode was too fast-paced and the resolution to Rossi's unsolved murder case happened too quickly. I can flat out tell you that you are wrong. I wanted to prove if this viewpoint was well-founded and I watched this episode in full a few more times after my initial viewing. It was paced perfectly. I'm usually keen to how episodes flow and this one flowed like a river. I can see how people interpret that this episode was fast-paced and that the resolution happened too quickly, but really, it was the great expectations of seeing the first new Criminal Minds episode in months that caused your disdain and affected your judgement on this episode more than anything else. The added factor that much of this season led to this episode: Rossi confiding to Penelope about keeping the double homicide between him in "About Face", him holding onto that golden chain with those children's names on it- and basically Rossi's cold nature and dislikable qualities he showed through his first episodes on the show. It was evident something was affecting Rossi and this episode was meant to show to the audience why Rossi had behaved like a jerk to the BAU team. This building anticipation leading to this episode made people believe that this episode was going to be a huge climatic episode to all of Rossi's backstory, along with being the first Criminal Minds episode back after a lengthy hiatus full of gunshots and explosions, yada yada yada. That's the irony about crime. The criminal can be someone you least expect. You could see it in Rossi's eyes at the end of this episode when he stares pitifully at the fat clown. His reaction was the same as mine and most of the audience I'm sure. The killer was not the person Rossi or all of us had envisioned leading to this episode. We were expecting a vicious, cold-blooded killer like that of Kiefer Sutherland in "Eye for an Eye" but instead we got an overgrown child crying like an infant calling his daddy. In "Criminal Minds" the time it takes to catch a killer and the killer's personality usually go hand in hand. Frank, for example, eluded capture because of his cunning. When you look at this murderer at the end of the episode, you realize that he was caught quickly because of who he was. He was handing out tons of gifts with all of them practically a red flag screaming, "I'm from a carnival!" The only reason why it took such a while for the case to be solved was that the family receiving them thought Rossi was doing it and they were caught in a situation where they feel, 'He's just trying to be nice but what he's doing is creepy. Oh well. We'll just have to deal with it.' So it is understandable as to why there were no warning signs. Now as to how such a cold case can be solved in such a short period of time once re-investigated. It has happened thousands of times. Watch "Cold Case" on A&E and you will see countless cases where there were obvious warning signs like those carnival toys given to that family this episode and yet the case was not solved until someone started asking the tough questions. I also heard some critics say that what happened with the death row inmate was overly dramatized where Hotch and Reid were essentially left for dead in the interrogation room. From what I heard, this has happened before and I'm sure many more times not published. And using common sense, you can see things like this happen at any jail at any time. Humans make dumb mistakes. It can even happen in such situations like that. One last clarification. Many people say that Kevin Lynch's clothes are dreadful and that the show needs to make him fashionable and a pretty geek for Garcia. Well doesn't this show already have a fashionable, pretty geek? That's Reid. It really baffles me sometimes how people do not realize the show's obvious intentions here. Their intention is not to make Brendon look ugly- though they have succeeded a few times- but their intention is to differ Lynch from Reid in terms of how they behave, dress, and their humor. Because if you really made Brendon that pretty geek everyone loved once again like he was on Bufy, which the show could do if they wanted to, then it would really resemble, distort or even surpass Reid's image as the favorite geek on the show. You dig? If you want an example of similar situations like this where producers had to manage two geeks on a TV show, I have one from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Andrew, a character in the seventh season, essentially was a geek like Xander but his behavior, fashion, and his humor were so different from Xander's that it didn't seem like they were taking away from any of the others' strengths. The producers of Buffy kept Andrew around for that reason. If he was like Xander in any way, he would be taken off the show. So those who criticize how Brendon has been dressed for the Lynch character- be thankful. The more he resembles Reid in any shape or form, the plug is yanked from the cord my friend and Brendon is out. Now to the review. I was going to give this episode a 9.3 since I knew it was better than Limelight (rated 9.1 on TV.com) but the fact that this episode made me cry not once, but twice bumped it to a 9.7. You have to be a damn good episode to make me cry once, let alone twice. I see TV.com's rating is 9.6. In my opinion, the episode should at least have a 9.7 rating or 9.8. Is this episode better than Lucky (which is also rated 9.6)? About a hundred times better, yet with the same rating. Anyway, the first time I cried was when Rossi was talking on a sofa to J.J., Prentiss, and Morgan about the childrens' screaming for their parents. I was crying more for the victims since it was such a tramatic thing and you could see how they turned out without their parents. That in itself, could make anyone cry. But the second time was when that woman gave back that chain Rossi gave to her after solving the crime. The music certainly helped induce the tears but the look in her eyes and of Rossi's helped as well. It was really a touching moment. Now you HAVE to be good-paced in order to make someone cry twice in an episode. I also gave this episode a 9.7 because it seems that Criminal Minds finally knows what it takes to become a good show. Especially Bernero, who redeemed himself tenfold from "True Night." Entertainment Weekly gave "Criminal Minds" an overall C rating as a show whereas they gave Buffy the Vampire Slayer an A rating overall. Is that an injustice? No. Buffy was good because each episode was paced very well and had the right mix of comedy, action, suspense, drama, and thriller for each episode. Criminal Minds tends to just be a suspense, drama, action, and thriller show. Which on paper can sound good, but you need comedy, man. And it was Penelope who was the funniest in this episode. Not much a surprise there. Penelope's humor and charisma made this episode much more interesting than it would have been if it had simply just followed Rossi's backstory. Contrary to what many believe, the Garcia/Kevin interaction at Garcia's lab was not just there for comic relief- though it was funny. It was actually a good way of showing how other characters interpret and view Rossi. The Kevin character views Rossi somewhat like a father telling his son not to date someone because she's from a different socio-economic class, whereas Garcia views Rossi as a strict disciplinarian boss who would fire them immediately if he was fed too much of their romance. The humor and dramatic irony in their dialogue about Rossi is that we know that Rossi is too busy with the double homicide case to even care about their romance. Yet, Garcia and Kevin both feel their romance is in Rossi's hands and that they must either keep it a secret from him (as Garcia wanted) or get it out in the open (which Kevin wanted). It shall be interesting to see what Penelope will do to Kevin since Kevin disobeyed her threat and did interact with Rossi at his office, talking "man to man."





Now, I'm not saying this show should have too much comedy. This episode had tons of funny moments. But I'm just saying that every once and a while, we need an episode like this. The reason this episode also should get a 9.7 is because this episode also finally addressed Hotchner's divorce head on, instead of skirting the issue like the show had done since "Birthright." It was obvious the stress from his impending divorce was a contributing reason as to why Hotchner antagonized the death row inmate and nearly started a brawl to the death. It was interesting to see how Reid salvaged this situation and saved him and Hotchner's lives by merely doing what he does best- vocalizing his knowledge. However, I do have one criticism about Hotchner's divorce and that is, out of respect to Meredith Monroe, who guest-starred in 10 episodes, I feel that she deserves more than an angry phone call to J.J.. I hope she appears in at least one more episode because it seems like they are only showing Hotch's side of the story. We saw Hotch's wife angry when he rejoined the BAU team after he was suspended but we need to see more about her motivations for the divorce as well. Merely hearing Hotchner state them is not good enough. It takes two to divorce. As I stated, I only feel like her side should be told since she has been in 10 episodes. That's a lot of episodes so she is prominent enough to get her story told. You dig?





Anyways, that's about it for this episode. Overall very good. Definitely in the top five episodes this show has produced. I've seen every episode of this series and this episode certainly belongs in the top five. It made me cry twice and no Criminal Minds episode has done that. Great performances all around from the cast. Notably Kirsten, Joe, Thomas, Matthew, and even Brendon. Especially Bernero as writer/director. Don't take this episode for granted. I doubt you will see an episode as good as we finish out the final six episodes of the season. Maybe you will, but cherish this episode for all it's worth. Magic like this doesn't happen very often.

This is why I love the show. They have compelling stories that have been slowly leading up to a fitting climax. I loved how many different storylines were woven together into this excellent episode. It was nice to see that Garcia has developed a romance with her fellow computer geek Kevin, and I hope that there relationship continues (I like Nicholas Brennan and was a big fan of his from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Hotchkins divorce looks like its final, which is sad but was inevitable, and it provides some more depth to his character. The B-plot involving him and Reid interviewing a serial killer on death row was excellent, especially in seeing how the two men were able to use different styles to put the killer off of his game. Reid was exceptional in this episode. Of course, the main plot line involving Rossi's 20 year old case finally coming to a close was full of suspense, heart, and emotion. The kinship that he develops with his team in this episode further cements his character into the dynamics, and he has become an excellent addition to the cast. I loved how real the lives and reactions of the children (now 20 years older) to Rossi and how they coped with the trama that has so badly affected them. Their lives are messed up, but they are still sticking together. I hope that if these characters are brought back in a future episode, that there has been some improvements made. Overall, and classic episode.

Great show. Loved Prentiss' new hairdo. The cut with bangs soften her already pretty face and she no longer resembles Mortica at all! She looked fabulous!





Kevin and Penelope were too cute! He totally gets her! He just smiled when she treatened to reduce his computer to a commadore 64 if he talked to Rossi and of course, he talked to Rossi anyway.





Not a really enforceable rule. I can see why they discourage fraternization, but when push comes to shove, they should have no right to tell anyone who they can get romantically involved with and who they can't. Not even FBI agents.





Rossi's learning that he needs the team. Without them, without Derek (of all people cuz him and Rossi lock horns at times) giving him his input, Rossi never would have put two and two together. More character development. Rossi who has a lot of money from the books he made a large profit on may be rich, but he has a heart and gives their old house to the victim's children after the murder is solved. I admit I wanted to watch Hotch kick that guy's butt. I loved it when Hotch said to him that he wasn't a 90 pound little girl that could be overpowered. I was thinking that FBI agents learn some martial arts and that wise guy was gonna wish he hadn't called Hotch out.





But it was even better to watch our wonderful Reid start babbling infinite facts and manipulate the guy into listening to someone talk about the only person he had ever cared about in his life - namely HIMSELF. Honestly, all unsubs it seems have that one trait in common. Didn't take a genius to figure that out, but our genius knew enough facts to keep the self-centered sociopath engrossed long enough for the guard to return.





Good writing. Heavy material with some humor and warm fuzzies mixed in so we (the audience) don't have to spend too much time down in the deep, dark pit. Not an easy task, but the writers did it!

As many of you all have know from the get-go, I haven't been really fond of Rossi and his arrogance. But know, he is trying to become into character development as well as being a team player. He has come a long way from his old-school days but still has a long way to go. As he goes back to the case where it haunted him for twenty years. Wanting to bring those two kids some closure. Like one detective said in a previous episode, don't let twenty years go to twenty-one. Garcia really laid it out on Kevin not to mess with either her or Rossi. She seems like she has forgiven Rossi for unleashing it out on her after she was shot. Thought Hotch would unleash on the serial killer as it kept going back and forth from the crime scene to the death row scene.

In the last episode the retired detective tells Rossi at the end not to let his haunting case turn another anniversary. Rossi takes it to heart and while Reed and Hotchner are otherwise involved with a serial murderer who wants to talk to them, Rossi get his chance to solve the old case of his. This episode shows that there is no such thing as a super cop who solves cases by themselves, as Rossi tries to do. It isn't untill the Bau team arrives and they confront the kids that the case has its first real clue as to who might be doing the killing, that it might be a singular case not a serial case and that the murder was not committed with that thought but by accident. Altogether great writing, great casting and great acting. It was definetly worth the wait from the strike.

Finally, we get down to the nitty gritty of the case that's been haunting Rossi. I loved the aspect of Rossi trying to handle things himself and then realizing the team has his back. The fresh eyes of Prentiss, Derek & JJ are exactly what he needed as well as some additional information from the victims kids. However, the aspect of Reid and Hodge going to interview the condemned prisoner was puzzling to me. Almost like a filler aspect of the script. The fact that Hodge is fighting the divorce is no surprise. I loved Penelope putting Kevin in his place at work was great.

The Criminal Mind writers outdid themselves with this episode. It had an edge that was so exciting. Hotch and Reid going to interview this maniac killer on death row set up such a tense situation. I wonder if Hotch was spoiling for a fight because he was so upset over the impending divorce. Reid's ever-cool mind saved the day (and the two of them) with his usual brilliant verbal bombardement of theory and fact. We finally got to see the case disclosed that had been eating at Rossi for 20 years. I thought it was great that the team pitched in to help him out. I also thought that there was a great job of cutting back and forth between the prison scene and the crime scene. This is one of my favorite Criminal Minds show ever!


And then...the wonderful comic turn with Penelope, her new beau and Rossi. It was great and the three actors were all teriffic in the scene.


It just goes to show...this show has EVERYTHING!

This was one of the best episodes ever. It was amazing to see Rossi deal with his case. Now we know the teem has fully accepted him. This case made me almost cry. It was extremely sad to see what happened to the children. We hardly ever see Rossi show any emotion and you could tell it really hurt him deep. It was bitter sweet when they found the murderer. You could tell he didn't understand what he did wrong. It's so sad that because of what he did no one could get any peace. Now when Hotch and Reid are in the interrogation room with the serial killer was nerve racking. When it's revealed that no one was coming I was terrified. I loved how Reid started doing what he does best, talking constantly about random facts. I love when he was leaving and the killer asked if it was true, he just said "I don't know, maybe" dismissively.

Absolutlely beautiful. Nice amount of humour added to what would be only lightened. Such as where Reid rambled to the man and by the time the guards came and the man asked Reid, "is that true? I wouldn't have changed?" and Reid says, "I dono, maybe" and leaves.


Quite liked how Penelope threatened Kevin to not talk to Rossi and in the end - he talks to him. Loved how the gossip started at the beginning of the episode for JJ and Penelope. Then when Penelope asked JJ, "why did she call you?" 'she' as in Haley and JJ said, "because I can do this" and goes onto her phone to call Hotch.


Excellent episode all around - well written.