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Criminal Minds Season 6 Episode 13

The Thirteenth Step

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AIRED: Jan 26, 2011

8.0

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Episode Summary

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As the BAU goes to Montana to track down two young lovers who are on an interstate murder spree, Prentiss receives alarming news from an old friend.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (14)

Terrible

2.5

By Belinda_k, Sep 06, 2012

What a terrible episode, I usually love this show but this episode was bad, it was badly written and badly acted by both the guest actors. I don't know what happened to the writers, they usually make the show seem a bit realistic but not here, I was very disappointed. Easily the worst episode of the entire series.
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Poor imitation of Natural Born Killers

2.0

By newench, Oct 25, 2011

I love Criminal Minds but this episode was terrible. It was a total ripoff of Natural Born Killers. What happened to the writers on this one? I kept waiting for it to get better but it got worse as the episode went on. The guest actors were terrible as well. Certaibly not the caliber of writing and acting that Crimial Minds usually has. Come on Criminal Minds, come up with something that hasn't already been done better if you want to keeo your fans watching. If this season continues like this episode, you are going to lose lots of viewers.moreless
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What happened to the writers?

4.0

By Jenni208, Oct 16, 2011

I saw enough reviews making comments about the writers that I decided to research it a bit. Indeed, there have been many changes on the CM writing team. This season has shown us 4 new writers (one of whom wrote this episode and had the unfortunate task of writing the first episode w/o JJ as her very first CM episode to write). One writer has been there since the middle of season 5, two since season 4 (Breen Frazier and Rick Dunkle, who generally seem to do good work), and only 3 have been there since the beginning (Ed Bernero - the executive producer, Simon Mirren, and Erica Messer). Deb Fisher - who used to be Erica Messer's writing partner - left after season 4, as did Andrew Wilder who wrote some of my favorites: Normal, Lucky, and Elephant's Memory. It appears that Oanh Ly, Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin, and Chris Mundy also have not returned to the writing team for season 6 which is disappointing. Whatever the deal is with these new writers, they don't seem to understand the characters or the essence of the show as well as the former ones did. Episodes like this one are evidence of that, IMO, for many of the same reasons other reviewers have already stated.moreless
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A couple of killers go on a murder spree bringing with them smutty scenes, little of the BAU and overly gorey murders.

4.0

By StephanieLaba, Oct 16, 2011

This is the first episode I have rated below a rating of 8, so for me to rate it at a 4 means something definitely went wrong. The only good qualities I could grasp at were the little of the BAU we saw (and the lack of Seaver) and the glimpse of the season-story arc in the form of Prentiss' past.

Far too little of our much-loved characters was seen. Don't get me wrong I welcome the occasional episode where the audience is allowed to concentration on the unsub and their series of events (Eg. 'Normal'). However I feel the writers got this balance very wrong in this episode.

As other reviewers have stated they arrived at the profile very very quickly with little solid evidence to back it up. No plot line, the writers definitely had an off day, and it seemed they couldn't be bothered to put any method in how the BAU got to their conclusion.

The scenes of the murders were very grotesque and violent, even by Criminal Minds standards. Didn't put me off but could see how it might other viewers. And the same goes for the intimate scenes between the killers, seemed over the top and most was unnessecary and just sleazy.

This episode just lacked the cleverness of which I expect of Criminal Minds, seemed to contain no psychological side to it which is usually key to delivering the profile.

I am looking forward to delving deeper into Emily's past yet wonder if it too will be a let down like the disappearance of Reid's hallucinations? I really do hope the writer's deliver more next time!moreless
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Wow - killing for the fun of it. That's just awful...

10

By amazing_race, May 31, 2011

I really enjoed this episode, as I though t it was much better than its predecessor 'Corazon'. This was defintely a very evil storyline, with a couple on a killing spree just for the fun of things!

I thought the case was very interesting. It might have lacked some good old-fashioned profiling, but it still had its strengths, including a very evil unsub(s).

Also, the ending to the episode is quite interesting, seeing something interesting begin to develop in Emily Prentiss' life. Hope they build well on this!

All up, a great episode, which I would highly recommend! I enjoyed the ending, and I can't wait till next week! Keep it up, guys!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Thomas Gibson	Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Joe Mantegna	Senior SSA David Rossi
Matthew Gray Gubler	SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
Shemar Moore	SSA Derek Morgan
Paget Brewster	SSA Emily Prentiss
Kirsten Vangsness	Analyst Penelope Garcia

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Adrianne Palicki	Sydney Manning	Guest Star
Jonathan Tucker	Ray Donovan	Guest Star
Deirdre Lovejoy	Agent Bates	Guest Star

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Featured Episode Clip

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Behind the Music

1/28/11 (03:22)
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The Thirteenth Step

1/24/11 (01:15)

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Episode Photos

The BAU team on Criminal Minds from the ...

© 2010 CBS Corporation
Ray (Jonathan Tucker) and Sydney (Adrien...

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Ray (Jonathan Tucker) and Sydney (Adrien...

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Sydney (Adrienne Palicki) on Criminal Mi...

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (3)
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- This episode was reminiscent of Natural Born Killers (1994), in which two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers who are glorified by the mass media.
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- Whether coincidence or intentional on the part of the network, "The Thirteenth Step" was the thirteenth episode of the season.
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- In the Alcoholics Anonymous program, the 13th step is a derogatory term that loosely refers to "hitting on newcomers." The phrase is most commonly used to refer to men who have several years of sobriety who make a habit of trying to date or take advantage of women new to A.A., but is not always limited to men.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Garcia: How's it going, stranger?
  Prentiss: Oh, I'm a little tired. I went salsa dancing last night.
  Garcia: Oh my god, like I need another reason to find you amazing.
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- Rossi: Where's Seaver?
  Prentiss: She had to take a test at the Academy.
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- Prentiss: William Glasser wrote, "What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today."
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- Prentiss: Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "What really raises one's indignation against suffering is not suffering intrinsically, but the senselessness of suffering."
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NOTES (4)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Czech Republic – May 22, 2012 on Prima family
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- In Australia, this episode aired directly following "Sense Memory" rather than before it due to its increased AV15+ rating for high levels of violence.
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- In an unprecedented move, CBS added a disclaimer at the beginning of this episode that read, "Due to violent content, viewer discretion is advised."
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- This episode was originally scheduled to be aired on January 19, 2011.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.