The Last Word

Season 2, Episode 9, Aired
EDIT

Episode Summary

The daughter of high-powered diplomats, Special Agent Emily Prentiss, joins the team, and she must convince Hotch that she deserves the job based on merit and not on her family connections. The BAU is then called to St. Louis to investigate two serial killers who appear to be competing with each other. By setting a trap based on one killer's profile, the team creates a media event by which to capture the second killer.

moreless
8.8
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
328 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate It

Watch Online

Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
VUDU
Buy/Rent

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (21)

See All

  • New Profiler and great storyline with two serial killers!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By JPPT1974, Jan 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    Elle is out and Emily is in as there is a new profiler as well as not one but two serial killers on the loose. The team must try to accept Emily as a member after what went down with Elle as the serial killer calls themselves the Hollow man. As they call on the media to help out with capturing the two who are ironcially competitng with one another. Great storyline and character development.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    2 0

  • Enter Emily Prentiss, confused.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Finnegan77, Jan 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    I was excited to get my first glimpse - and let's face it, it wasn't much more than a glimpse - of new BAU Agent Emily Prentiss in this episode. Backstory please? Just how did this woman finagle a place on the BAU with neither Hotch nor Gideon approving her transfer? She claims parents in high places had nothing to do with it, but how can no one know she's coming? Perhaps just another example of government bureaucracy at work. I look forward to the excellent CM writers fleshing out her character during the rest of the season.

    The adventure itself certainly could have been taken right out of Phoenix, Arizona, where locals had been dodging two serial killers in 2006 - one sexual and one shooter. I loved the puzzle at the heart of this show - that Dr. Reid solves oh-so-capably, I might add. Jason O'Mara - quite good and extremely twisted and eerie as the serial killer who just can't let a dead body go to waste. CM did a good job flying under the radar with this type of offender - "visiting" eh? The interrogation scene with Gideon was awesome - twist the knife some more, Oh Great Profiler! My only complaint is with the plan to catch the Hollow Man. Setting up a bogus press conference is all well and good, but were we really hoping this guy would be dumb enough to target JJ at the police station? He was smart, smarter than Mill Creek, so couldn't he wait until she left the station? He had to attack her in the middle of a room full of armed agents? I don't know, maybe this is an example of "stupid criminal tricks" and is more realistic than I imagine, but sheesh!moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    2 0

  • Not bad, not good, not nothing

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    By IgnatzNiemand, Jan 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    For a moment I thought that the two serial killers were, in fact, only one person with split personality. It would have been interesting, the guys disconcerted after capturing one of the killers and finding out that the other is gone forever.
    But they decided that not, that were two guys... not bad but the resolution seemed to be very rushed, very deus ex machina.

    The classified ads idea was good, though. And the new agent could be cool

    I hope next episode is better. Pleasemoreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 1

  • It has been said,'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree.The wounds remain. In time,the mind,protecting its sanity,covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But,it is never gone.- R. Kennedy. Elle never came out of the trauma she experienced.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By bleach7, Jan 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    Now I think now that CM cast is more complete with Emily joining the team. I am not a big fan of Elle character. I think she serves it right that she was cut out of the show because she does not trust her team. I now see each cast stand out not just Reid. I beginning to see Gideon as Gideon not Greg of D&G show. They have each set of capabilities and strength but they one thing now in common - heart. They have a big heart not just mind.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 2

  • good episode...

    8.7
    "Great"
    By Fwirrel, Jan 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    The team is called in to investigate double serial killers in one city. It turns out that the serial killers were competing with each other and were talking through the newspaper. One of the killers lured middle class women and killed them, then burried them in the forest and came back to "visit" them. It was really creepy. He put lipstick on his dead victums...ick! The other one just killed prostitutes and wanted attention. The team annoyed him by ignoring him. They used the two killers against each other and caught them both in the end. Anyways, it was an interesting idea and a pretty good episode.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Paget Brewster replaced Lola Glaudini in the series. The two actors worked together previously on the comedy Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Edit

    • The character of Emily Prentiss was named for Special Agent Emily Vacher, the real-life agent who worked in the Cybercrimes Unit for the Albany division of the FBI.

      Edit

    • Dayne Johnson, Department Head-Makeup Artist, makes an uncredited appearance in this episode as the person who applies make-up to the female police officer pretending to be dead as a lure to catch the unsub.

      Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Paget Brewster joins the cast as Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss in this episode. She replaces Lola Glaudini's position in the credits and is added to the group photo at the end of the credit sequence. Edit

    • The music featured in this episode was "Field Below" by Regina Spektor.

      Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES

    • Reid: When Mill Creek kills, the Hollow Man shoots another prostitute.
      Morgan: So, one doesn't want to be outdone by the other. Sounds like sibling rivalry to me.
      Hotchner: They've been killing independently of each other for a year now.
      Gideon: With each kill, they're learning something... from the other.

      Edit
    • Gideon: (to the Mill Creek Killer) If killing those women made you an artist, the things you did to them after they were dead, what does that make you? I mean, really, it doesn't seem very artistic, does it? Edit

    • Jim Meyers: This is all just a guessing game, isn't it?
      JJ: No, it's behavioral analysis.

      Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The two unsubs communicate via the newspaper by calling themselves Sunny and Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. This book is a controversial novel written by J.D. Salinger in 1951. Edit
    • Reid mentions only three known instances where two different serial killers operated out of the same city at the same time. During 1977, both David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) and Paul Bateson were killing in New York City. In Phoenix, Arizona, in 2006, authorities were searching for both the Baseline Killer and a serial shooter. From 1991 to 1996, two different people were killing independently in New Orleans, leaving bodies in swamps. Police suspected that Russell Ellwood killed as many as 15 of the victims, but believed that another killer was responsible for the others. Edit
    • The serial killer called himself Hollow Man because he uses hollow point bullets, but Hollow Man is also the title of a 2000 movie starring Elisabeth Shue and Kevin Bacon. It's about a scientist who invents a formula to make himself invisible but then tests it on himself and becomes deranged and violent when the invisibility can't be reversed. The Hollow Men is also the title of a T.S. Eliot poem that contains the well-known lines, "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." Edit

Show Forums

See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Criminal Minds Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

  • Lie To Me

    Available Episodes: 48

    Source: FOX

  • NCIS

    Available Episodes: 200

    Source: CBS

  • Numb3rs

    Available Episodes: 118

    Source: CBS

  • Bones

    Available Episodes: 135

    Source: FOX

  • Psych

    Available Episodes: 88

    Source: USA

Season 2 Episodes

See All
Ep 23
No Way Out (2): The Evilut...
Ep 22
Legacy
Ep 21
Open Season
Ep 20
Honor Among Thieves
Ep 19
Ashes and Dust
Ep 18
Jones
Ep 17
Distress
Ep 16
Revelations
Ep 15
The Big Game
Ep 14
Fear and Loathing
Ep 13
No Way Out (1)
Ep 12
Profiler, Profiled
Ep 11
Sex, Birth, Death
Ep 10
Lessons Learned
Ep 9
The Last Word
Ep 8
Empty Planet
Ep 7
North Mammon
Ep 6
The Boogeyman
Ep 5
Aftermath
Ep 4
Psychodrama
Ep 3
P911
Ep 2
The Perfect Storm
Ep 1
The Fisher King (2)

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
BROWSE | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use