Revelations

Season 2, Episode 15, Aired

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In this conclusion of a special two-part episode, finding the serial killer becomes critical to the BAU when the team realizes Reid is being held captive and a live feed of him being tortured is shown on the internet. Meanwhile, Reid's troubled childhood is revealed in flashback sequences as he drifts in and out of consciousness.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (54)

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  • Well done. When characters are this well developed, the viewers cannot help feeling their pain.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Finnegan77, Feb 13, 2012
    Scary, dark, touching what an episode. The writer kept the stress level ramped while giving us the best view of the real souls of these profilers we have ever seen. And. let's face it, even though the plots are tight and involving, it's the characters that keep us coming back for more. This episode had everything I wanted, except the scene we were all waiting for between Morgan and Garcia. JJ's vulnerable response to her own situation was very realistic much more so than most television characters' one-dimensional reactions to horrors. Hotch was finally humanized, ending up, surprisingly, with the big emotional reunion with Reid that we would have expected from Morgan, or Gideon. The torture scenes were hard to watch which should be a compliment to the actors and director. While I was hurting for poor Reid (and no one can show abject terror like Matthew Gray Gubler), Van Der Beek had me feeling almost worse for Tobias the sad connection that grew between Reid and Tobias made the ending even more tragic. Having Reid "save himself" by shooting the man who had literally brought him back to life was an excellent solution that will only leave more internal scars for Reid to recover from. And the drugs? They were a way for Reid to escape from the torture for a moment during his ordeal. Clearly, his physical ordeal may be over, but his emotional/ psychological ordeal continues. On a more practical note, no one should stop taking Dilaudid cold turkey the physical side-effects are much worse than a gradual withdrawal. Brilliant Reid will know this, and this could be a real rationalization for continuing to take the drugs. For a while.

    Gideon continues to make the hard decisions, and also pays the psychological price for the consequences to his team/family. I see another "major depressive episode" in his future.moreless

  • Where the hell is this mans Emmy?

    10
    "Perfect"
    By woodstock-chan, Nov 29, 2011
    I am serious. The acting in this episode is some of the best I've ever seen; from Matthew Gray Gubler or anyone else. The plot and the outstanding reactions from the team also contribute to the fact that this is my favorite episode. The name, revelations is certainly appropriate. We get an in-depth, first hand account of Reid's childhood and how he became who he is. It also plants the seeds for one of the darkest subplots in the show to date, Spencer's drug abuse (Which is second only to Gideon seeing his girlfriend's eviscerated body). A thrilling episode to watch.moreless

  • My favorite episode of criminal minds to date. Multiple personality killer kidnaps Reid and the rest of the team can only watch while he is tortured and forced to make decisions about life and death of civilians or his fellow BAU members.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By CannonVulcan, Nov 29, 2011
    My favorite episode of criminal minds to date. Multiple personality killer kidnaps Reid and the rest of the team can only watch while he is tortured and forced to make decisions about life and death of civilians or his fellow BAU members. The emotion really comes out in this episode Giddeon blaming himself for causing Reid's death, JJ blaming herself for Reid being captured Morgan's anger that Reid has been captured and their is nothing he can do about it. This is not only my favorite episode of Criminal Minds but one of my favorite episodes of any show ever. The ending was a surprise to me when Reid knelt down beside Tobias I thought it was to say his goodbye to the part of the killer's mind he had bonded with but he takes the drugs out of his pocket and hides it in his own. This episode should have won the show many awards saying that I wont forget it is an understatement.moreless

  • Reid is being held captive by Tobias Hankle, whose multiple personalities could well be the cause of Reid's demise. In the second of this two-part special we see what a lifetime of abuse can do to any ordinary man.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Lady_Lancaster, Nov 29, 2011
    With Reid now firmly in the hands of Tobias Hankle and JJ set to fall to pieces, the team can only watch through video streaming from Hankle's house (which they are unable to locate) as Reid goes through hell at the hands of his captor.

    Hankle is a kind and gentle young man, but his dominating (and very much dead) father, as well as 'Raphael' are quite the opposite. Reid knows that he will die in the remote cabin in the woods in which he is being held if he doesn't manage to somehow convey his location to his team. In typical Reid fashion, he uses his intellect to do just that and in spite of being drug addled by Tobias, (who is trying to make things easier for him) he is alert enough to covertly give out necessary information. When the not-so-pleasant Raphael asks him to choose a member of the BAU to die. With the team watching, he selects Aaron Hotchner and gives him a message that only Hotch would understand ...

    A womderful climax to this episode as we see the team rush in to save Reid, Tobias shot dead and, sadly, Reid filch the drugs he has been given by Tobias from the dead man's pockets so we know this is not going to be a good thing for our favorite young genius.

    First-rate episode and fantastic work again by Matthew Gray Gubler and James Van Der Beek in the central roles. Watch this one!moreless

  • Some of the best acting I've seen from Reid and The Funeral playing at the end of the episode was PERFECT!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By EmmaKhoury, Nov 29, 2011
    Basically the most memorable Criminal Minds episode episode I've ever seen. I have yet to see it on TV and think, "I've already seen that episode", and then change the channel. If it's on I'm watching it. Plus it gives a new insight into his character and his past! Loved every heartbreaking minute.
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  • TRIVIA (5)

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    • In the beginning of the episode, Prentiss and Morgan are talking to the sheriff, and they are standing in the pouring rain. When the angle changes to the sheriff's point of view, there is no sign of rain. Throughout the scene, the other characters don't have rain on their faces.

    • It is revealed in this episode that Reid's mother was first hospitalized when Reid was 18 years old.

    • It was revealed in this episode that Reid's father abandoned him and his mother when Reid was a young boy.

    • When Charles removes Reid's shoes to torture him, Reid's socks don't match. Matthew Gray Gubler refuses to wear matching socks because he considers it bad luck. In fact, he sprained his ankle the last time he wore matching socks.

    • When Reid receives the beating from "Charles," both of his shirt sleeves are rolled down, as they would normally be. When Reid encounters the persona of "Tobias" for the first time, however, his right shirt sleeve is rolled up--much like it would be after "Tobias" injected him with the narcotic. Considering Reid's hands are bound in handcuffs to the chair he's sitting on, it's unlikely that he rolled up the sleeve himself.

  • QUOTES (17)

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    • Tobias: This will be over quickly if you just confess your sins.
      Reid: I'm not a sinner.
      Tobias: We're all sinners.

    • Hotchner: (desperately) We're not getting any closer.
      Gideon: Reid's brilliant. He'll figure out a way to survive.
      Hotchner: You know I always take advantage of Reid for his brain, but I never actually teach him how to deal with things emotionally.
      Gideon: You lead by example.
      Hotchner: What kind of example is that?
      Gideon: (solemnly) He'll make it.

    • JJ: We think Tobias Hankel may have murdered his father.
      Mickey Bates: Good for him!

    • Tobias: You came back to life. There can only be one of two reasons.
      Reid: I was given CPR.

    • William Reid: I'm not gonna have this conversation in front of him.
      Young Reid: Statistically, children who grow up in two-parent households attain three more years of higher education than children from single-parent households.
      William Reid: We're not statistics, Spencer.

    • Garcia: It's the internet, sir. Once something's out there, you can never take it back. Gideon: The entire history of man, you can never undo anything.

    • Hotchner: All right, everybody, right now, what's my worst quality? (silence from team)
      Hotchner: Okay, I'll start. I have no sense of humor...
      JJ: You're a bully.
      Hotchner: I'm a bully.
      Morgan: You can be a drill sergeant sometimes.
      Prentiss: You don't trust women as much as men.
      Hotchner: Okay, good. I'm all these things, but none of you said that I ever put myself above the team because I don't. Ever.

    • Morgan: Something weird's going on here.
      Det. Farraday: Ya think?

    • Garcia: Yes, but Reid's completely innocent.
      Morgan: If you search deep enough we all have our sins, including Reid.

    • Tobias: (while dying from the gunshot) You killed him.
      Reid: Tobias?
      Tobias: Do you think I'll get to see my mom again?
      Reid: I'm sorry.

    • Gideon: (to the webcam) Reid, if you're watching, you are not responsible for this. You understand me? He's perverting God to justify murder. You are stronger than him. He cannot break you.

    • JJ: Any more sign of Reid?
      Garcia: He just posted the last murder online. It had over 17,000 hits in the first 20 minutes.
      JJ: I wanna see it.
      Garcia: No, you don't.
      JJ: Don't tell me what I want and don't want. (Garcia looks at her in surprise). If I can't watch this, I have no business being in the field.
      Garcia: JJ, it's not a competition.
      JJ: I need to see it.
      Garcia: If you stop being affected by things you (pauses for a moment) lose parts of yourself, you know?

    • Reid: If you tell me where we are, my friends, will come and they'll save us.
      Tobias: We can't be saved.

    • JJ: I keep thinking the one thing we need to crack this case is, well, Reid.

    • Hotchner: Think of this house as a witness. If it could talk, what would it tell us? Garcia: My guess is, it would tell us to get the hell out.

    • Reid: You don't have to do this.
      Tobias: I'm just an instrument of God.

    • Hotchner: "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." Ecclesiastes 7:20

  • NOTES (2)

    ADD NOTES

    • The song played at the beginning of this episode "Sympathy for the Devil" was suggested by Matthew Gray Gubler.

    • The song in the opening scene was "Sympathy for the Devil (Neptunes Remix)" by the Rolling Stones. The song heard at the end was "The Funeral" by Band of Horses.

  • ALLUSIONS (4)

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    • Mickey Bates: His dad went Section 8. The term Section 8 used to refer to a military discharge that was issued for psychological reasons. The regulations are different now, but the expression is still a familiar way to describe insanity.

    • The angel Raphael does not appear in Bible canon, but does appear in the apocryphal Book of Tobit or Tobias, recognized by the Catholic Church. Raphael appears as a traveling companion of the young Tobias, protecting him from evil. He reveals himself as the Archangel Raphael at the end of the story. This story is also where we find Tobias burning fish hearts and livers to ward off the devil.

    • Gideon and Raphael refer to the seven archangels of the Book of Revelation. Revelation chapters 8 and 9 talk about the seven angels with the seven trumpets who bring tribulation to the earth. Raphael quotes Revelation 7:7 where the first angel brings hail and fire mixed with blood.

    • What Reid's mother reads to him is from Marcel Proust's Remembrances of Things Past, published in France between 1913 and 1927. This work discusses how a particular smell or sound can immediately take someone back to painful or happy memories.

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