TV.com

Criminal Minds Season 8 Episode 9

Magnificent Light

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 34

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

8.6

User Rating

218 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

AIRED: 11/28/12

The BAU is puzzled when a well-known motivational speaker disappears. He was, after all, their preferred UnSub in the murder of one of the participants in a recent conference he gave in Seattle. Now they must look elsewhere. Back at Quantico, Penelope tries to understand why Morgan won't go to a dinner for an old family friend.

moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

Magnificent Light

7.0

By thefanof, Dec 27, 2012

An interesting case here, and while not totally original, there was not the usual feeling of "we've been here before" in my mind throughout the entire show. That was fine, but a bit too storyline devoted at the end. Not really interested in hearing about Shemar Moore's daddy issues.
DO YOU AGREE?
0 0

Flag
Share Hide
8x09 - Evil Words

9.0

By JDML23, Dec 14, 2012

I really enjoyed this episode. I really like unsubs who are people who think they're doing the right thing because of something inside them twisting their reality into something which doesn't jive with the rest of us. The use of synesthesia was a brilliant touch as was the play on words of 'See their Evil'.

I also liked it how the kidnapped guy was able to keep himself under control and used his public speaking skills to try to get the guy to stop. Usually the victims are freaking out so I liked getting a relatively calm one.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 0

Flag
Share Hide
Criminal Minds.

9.5

By Dec1964, Dec 09, 2012

Very entertaining episode, very well written, i'm starting to like the character of Alex Blake, Love the ending when Garcia & Derek went to the Embassy & Derek made his speech. Nice twist at the end with The Silencer. But i thought he was dead. I guess not.
DO YOU AGREE?
7 2

Flag
Share Hide
Shoddy

4.5

By rivqah, Dec 01, 2012

Another poor episode in the tradition of season 7. Unlike the previous episode, which I also considered poor, this one did not have the feel of an unfinished script: rather, the script was just bad. The beginning profiling sequence in the BAU almost had me in tears; Morgan's idea that the killer simply got the phrase wrong and Blake's suggestion that he had been a non-native English speaker were about the most far fetched ideas possible when confronted with the phrase "See Your Evil, Hear Your Evil" - in fact, Blake's suggestion had me thinking, more than anything else, that nobody on the CM writing staff had ever buckled down and learned a new language.

The plot was lazy and not at all like the original erotomania episode, season 1's "Broken Mirror". It reminded me more of "The Performer", another atrocious episode in which the writers tried to convince us of how hard it was for the famous person, and the level of importance to which they gave him: Garcia's sudden obsession with him was a very lazy way to try and convince the audience he was talented. I found myself thinking Garcia unprofessional, which I never do as I dearly love her, but she should not have been spending so much time consuming his products when she could have been helping catch the unsub. This was out of character for Penelope, as I know she would care more about the victims than to waste her time on trivialities such as this.

Barry Flynn himself was a very shallow character. Considering how much screen time he got (I personally would have preferred watching the team) he should have had far more depth. The acting on the part of most of the guest actors was poor bordering on wooden, and even the main cast really struggled to keep scenes from sinking. This makes me very sad to say, as I know they all are very capable actors. However, even the most talented actor can only do so much with a dreadful script. Kirsten Vangsness was, in the end, the star of the show; as she was the only member of the cast that gave a good performance all the time, even with the terrible writing she had to work with.

I fail to understand what Great Britain had to do with Morgan's father's former parter, or with 9/11 at all. As a non American, I've seen this many times: a complete misunderstanding of culture outside the States. The dinner at the end had me fairly groaning; the cultural mistakes were so bad. The director may have thought it a cute and quirky reward for fans, but I found Morgan's car a fairly out of character inclusion. Derek Morgan is not Shemar Moore; Morgan, I think, would enjoy driving powerful cars occasionally, but would settle for a standard up market Audi or Mercedes Benz, perhaps more powerful than average, with a 6 cylinder engine and maybe a turbo engine, but nothing like the one he drove to the dinner. The director would also do well to remember that the BAU are not actors and do not earn as much as their realistic counterparts. I believe Morgan may be the richest character besides Rossi, due to his property work on the side, but I do not believe him wealthy enough to own that car.

All in all, I almost cheered in relief at the end, because if we had not caught a glimpse of the mysterious photographer I would have thought this episode a complete waste of my time. I pray next week's will be better. I know the writers have the ability; I don't understand why they only choose to show it every few episodes.

EDIT 1st December 2012: Thanks Jennifer for pointing out my mistake with the car. I retract that part. I think I was feeling so frustrated by the episode I was not paying the close attention I usually give CM by the end there :)moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
9 17

Flag
Share Hide
Last scene with the mystery man - the best part

8.0

By VidyaSukumar, Nov 30, 2012

Was seriously going to only give this episode a 7 but the mystery photo guy made the rating go up... The case wasn't brilliant but again not too bad... Agree with the other reviewers who talked about Garcia's obsession being unnatural... Overall either the last ep's have been boring or I've been losing interest cos after Fallen the episodes have not been good enough for me...

Btw does anyone know if the amputee shown at the end was one of the old victims or a new one... Is this mystery guy imitating the team's cases this season??? Just a thoughtmoreless
DO YOU AGREE?
2 1

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

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

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Patrick Fabian	Barry Flynn	Guest Star
Raphael Sbarge	Carl Fisher	Guest Star
Matthew Yang King	Detective Harrison Chen	Guest Star

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (0)
ADD TRIVIA
- ADD TRIVIA from this episode.
QUOTES (2)
ADD QUOTES
- Morgan: "The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." Fyodor Dostoevsky
  EDIT SHARE
- Blake: "A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage." Sydney Smith
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (1)
ADD NOTES
- The writers didn't look far for Matt Yang King's character surname. In tonight's episode he plays "Detective Harrison Chen." As a star in the failed Washington Field pilot – the first attempted spin off from Criminal Minds – he played "SA Mark Chen."
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (0)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.