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Criminal Minds Season 8 Episode 4

God Complex

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9.5

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/24/12

The team searches in New Mexico for someone who has been amputating limbs from random victims, and Spencer's secret phone calls to a mystery woman leave the team interested in who it might be.

Fan Episode Reviews (15)

A clever title goes here!

7.0

By oxymoron2009, Feb 05, 2013

Reid is talking to .....Beth Riesgraf the lady from leverage.

But i would love to know why or who she is in the show? I like Reid's story line finally.

But yea the girls are not getting enough storyline.. would love to know whats going on with everyone else as well. this episode was good but not that good... this season .. lets see how it goes from here onmoreless
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Writing is going downhill

6.5

By Katerine_M, Nov 10, 2012

The writing on this show is starting to show its laziness.

I didn't mind the Reid subplot at all, of course, although I did find it hard to believe that he wouldn't see her behavior as creepy after everything he'd encountered in his years at the BAU. I certainly found it creepy, even before I knew she was watching him.

But what really irritated me was the main plot. There was just so much about the way the BAU worked in this episode that just seemed like... lazy writing. I can no longer watch it on CBS.com, and it's been a while since I've seen the episode, so I only remember one specific example (although there were more at the time). When they were delivering their profile, they said something like:

"The doctors under Hitler's regime had the same psychology."

Really? ALL of the doctors who worked under Hitler's regime shared the exact same psychology? All of them? And that's not even counting the fact that they brought up Hitler... a major indicator of lazy writing in any show that isn't actually about Hitler...

I'm sure there's no shortage of real-life and more recent examples of doctors with god complexes who committed atrocious acts. The naming of past killers who've been studied or interviewed by the BAU often lends a certain degree of realism to the show that was notably absent in this episode (and actually, in all of the episodes to this point this season).moreless
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8x04 - God Complex

8.5

By JDML23, Nov 04, 2012

This was a really good episode. I was so creeped out by the unsub that I had to close my eyes and plug my ears during the limb amputation.

The mystery of who Reid is talking to is also interesting, and I look forward to learning whats going on there.
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The doctor is ready to operate.

10

By 7dixob, Nov 03, 2012

This episode was just madness but a perfect 10.In the episode an unsub is amputating limbs from one victim and putting them on his other victims to try and prove that you can walk with someone else's leg.At first in the episode it shows you a victim waking up with his leg cut off and I thought that was just crazy but then gets more crazy when he attaches that victims leg to someone else. It was insane how he thought it could work and he let one of his victims walk into a hospital and when the nurses had a look he had another persons leg on.When the team is struggling in the case Reid gets some extra help from his mystery caller who helps him with the case who we don't really know much about but I presume we will know more about in the future.In the end we find the unsub is trying to prove it works so that his wife can have a leg but as I expected was shocked to find what her husband was doing and the team was able to arrest him before anyone else would fall victim to him.moreless
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Season 8 looking pretty good...

7.5

By rivqah, Oct 29, 2012

As a cynical writer who loathes romance this was the one I was dreading. They would have to blow me out of the water to impress me with the Reid subplot I knew was coming. Did they do that? No, but they certainly came close. The relationship certainly was different as they promised from the normal Hollywood trash I've come to so despise. The power of having Reid hear "I love you" for the first time was incredible.

On the other hand I fear CM is sacrificing good writing for gore and shock value. This is powerful every now and then - look at season 2, all those well written psychological unsubs and then BAM, they hit you with the gore of Frank; but too often and the show becomes typecast and very boring. I don't remember what episode, but I'm reminded of the cop who begged the BAU for help a few years ago, saying "What, my bodies aren't covered in peanut butter so it's not interesting enough?" or something to that effect. The writers would do well to remember their old stories.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Joe Mantegna	Senior SSA David Rossi
Jeanne Tripplehorn	SSA Alex Blake
Thomas Gibson	Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Shemar Moore	SSA Derek Morgan
Matthew Gray Gubler	SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
A.J. Cook	SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Arjay Smith	Tony Anders	Guest Star
Ray Wise	John Nelson	Guest Star
Chris McGarry	Carl Timmons	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- When JJ and Reid are in the morgue, there's a sign that says "OXYGENO". It should say "OXIGENO", the proper spanish translation for "OXYGEN"
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QUOTES (2)
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- JJ: "Body and soul cannot be separated for purposes of treatment, for they are one and indivisible. Sick minds must be healed as well as sick bodies." Dr. Jeff Miller
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- Reid: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, "When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has the nerve and he has the knowledge."
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