Criminal Minds

Season 5 Episode 18

The Fight

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7.3
out of 10
User Rating
329 votes
24

EPISODE REVIEWS
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Episode Summary

SSA Aaron Hotchner and his team investigate the murders of several homeless men in San Francisco and coordinate their efforts with another team of BAU agents who are working on a case that appears to be connected.
FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (24)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • jason wiles again?

    6.0
    By houdvtv1, Dec 24, 2011
    huh? jason wiles in this episode...he was a guest star on an epi in season 2 episode 4 as a bad guy who got arrested. so why use jason again as a victim? that does not make any sense 2 me..like there are not enough actors in LA to play that part? i doubt that. LOL

  • Not quite as dire as the other reviewers led me to believe....

    6.0
    By kyomoi, Oct 13, 2011
    Although the members of the other team didn't strike me as interesting enough to build a spinoff show around, it was nice to see that there was more than one BAU team. Too often the team of this show is presented as isolated. The impact of the larger FBI organization is generally limited to dodging the petty political games being played at a higher level (but never by the team members). Therefore, I found it interesting to see them interact with a peer team even if the case seemed too small to warrant the deployment of 2 BAU teams.

    Unfortunately, however, the desire to quickly introduce this other team as quirky characters in order to build a spinoff led to some very poor writing. I see that the other show was cancelled rather quickly and I suppose that was due to this kind of sloppy writing that equates quirky/eccentric formulas with interesting character-driven drama.

    All that being said, I thought the particular psychopathology of this case was quite interesting and deserved better development. I found it unbelievable that the linkage between the 3 dead males and the father/daughter pairs was simply a "gut instinct" of the other team leader. Furthermore, if he had enough "weight" to be able to hand-pick his team (and include both foreign nationals and ex-cons on that team) then I would have expected his instincts to have been respected by the hierarchy as well. I also wonder how Erin Strauss keeps her job, since her subordinates constantly and publicly flout her orders.

    In the end, even though I will agree that this was a sub-par episode, I didn't find it quite as abysmal as some of the other viewers. I do, however, hope that future episodes willget back on track with some better scripting.moreless

  • Welcome to Criminal Minds Forest Whitaker...

    8.5
    By intimidationcap, Sep 01, 2011
    So we finally get a glimpse of Minds 2.0. I must admit my reaction is a bit mixed. I liked the overall story. The plot of the crazy guy who forces men to fight was well done and the end sequence of his hunt was great. Hotch and Team were excellent as always. As for the new team, I wasn't as blown away as I wanted to be. I liked them overall, Forest was good although at times a bit flat, hopefully they'll give him more character to work through. Beau and Michael were both fine, although Beau as well needs more depth, okay well they all do, but that's hopefully coming. I was fine with Matt Ryan, but please for everyone's sake someone please teach Matt Ryan how to do a British accent, that was painful. My chief concern with the new spin-off is that it will become too much like NCIS Los Angeles or CSI Miami, in other words all action and style and no plot or characters. But I definitely think there is potential and I eagerly await it's debut to see where it goes.

    Overall, solid episode. Not the show's best, but that's hardly saying anything.moreless

  • Introducing spin-off chars

    8.0
    By Parricida, Sep 01, 2011
    So.. This was the episode so many people have been talking.. so much hopes have been put and many people were sure if will be disastrous.



    What I think? I can say it was not way the best Criminal Minds episode I have seen and at first glance I thought the new team is.. quite dull.. They did managed to bring some excitement up and open their stories but sorry.. I think they are still too onelayered. Maybe it is too early to say but.. Only one who made me some impression was that english guy.. and worst impression came from that woman. All femal agents original team have had have been that kind of.. believable but she seems to be way too much look not enough depth. And I do not mean char depth.. the way to play.. acting depth. Sorry, but she looked so plain on screen. Cooper, ofcourse will probably be the most dynamic person of the new team.. and for sure, they have great actor behind him.. so I think when their "show" starts, he will have great weight to carry.



    Ok.. but to the story. I most say, it was too plain. I understand that because most of the effort on this episode was given to new chars and bringing as much as we can out of them.. so story was predictable and not very logical.. But.. I am quite fine with this episode if this means I will get two episodes of Criminal Minds next season.. if only the second team will manage to be as good, have as deep stories as the first one.moreless

  • Much better than NCIS: Los Angeles introduction...

    6.5
    By Annie929, Sep 01, 2011
    I personally don't like spin-offs. They're fine if there's nothing else on TV but I'll probably never pine for a new episode every week. While the episode was okay, don't get me wrong there, it just didn't quite live up to the expectation. Though I'm not going to judge just yet... I absolutely hated the first two Private Practice episodes. To me, it was physically painful to sit through them, BUT; though I don't pine for a weekly episode, I find it rather good as it is now. I do hope the show won't dissapoint, I love Criminal Minds so much and would hate to have something like a bad spin-off shadow the brilliance.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

Thomas Gibson

Thomas Gibson

Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Joe Mantegna

Joe Mantegna

Senior SSA David Rossi
Matthew Gray Gubler

Matthew Gray Gubler

SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
Shemar Moore

Shemar Moore

SSA Derek Morgan
Paget Brewster

Paget Brewster

SSA Emily Prentiss
A.J. Cook

A.J. Cook

SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau
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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

Jason Brooks

Jason Brooks

John Vincent Bell

Guest Star

Jason Wiles

Jason Wiles

Ben McBride

Guest Star

Alexa Nikolas

Alexa Nikolas

Jane McBride

Guest Star

Jayne Atkinson

Jayne Atkinson

Section Chief Erin Strauss

Recurring Role

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Season 5 Episodes

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Ep 23
Our Darkest Hour
Ep 22
The Internet Is Forever
Ep 21
Exit Wounds
Ep 20
... A Thousand Words
Ep 19
A Rite of Passage
Ep 18
The Fight
Ep 17
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Retaliation
Ep 10
The Slave of Duty
Ep 9
100
Ep 8
Outfoxed
Ep 7
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Ep 6
The Eyes Have It
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Cradle to Grave
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Ep 2
Haunted
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