TV.com

Criminal Minds Season 8 Episode 3

Through the Looking Glass

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 35

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

8.6

User Rating

232 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: 10/17/12

The team investigates one family's murder and another's disappearance in Kansas, where they have trouble establishing connections between the families. Elsewhere, Hotchner is not prepared for Beth's announcement.

Fan Episode Reviews (7)

An unsub that destroys the lives of happy families

9.5

By 7dixob, Nov 02, 2012

This was a really good episode with an unsub that takes happy families and takes that happiness away from them which is the thing he never had in his childhood.The unsub holds them in a remote location and tears the family apart by making them make insane decisions and twisting there minds to make them feel helpless and makes them reveal there dark truth to the rest of the family.He put them through horrible situations that no family would never think about going through.I was glad to see the unsub was caught and it was strange to here him say that's what the family needed which shows how crazy he was.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 0

Flag
Share Hide
Wonderful episode

9.5

By rivqah, Oct 29, 2012

I've been cynical about recent CM episodes pretty much since the moronic decision to sack AJ and Paget back in season 6. I find myself seeing ways the writers contradict what was earlier said about a character or a plot point. I watch with a critical eye.

But for the first time in months I was completely involved in the episode. Wonderful, psychological, fast paced, and best of all, the writers are having a success in writing Alex Blake. I didn't know they'd be up to task after the mess they made of Ashley Seaver, and I wasn't fond of Blake in the first episode, but then I disliked Rossi intensely in his first episode, and he is now one of my absolute favourites. What she said on the plane pointing out that Reid exhibits symptoms of Aspergers was rude, but it was absolutely the kind of foot in mouth situation real people encounter every day, but we so rarely see in stories. In that respect, it was very good writing. The acting by the guest stars, too, was much better than I've come to expect recently. All in all, fantastic episode.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
2 1

Flag
Share Hide
The Fox - But nowhere near as good.

6.0

By Lady_Lancaster, Oct 28, 2012

I admit that I am difficult to please when it comes to television but this show, at least until Season 5, was always able to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. These days, a truly excellent episode is as rare as a meteor shower, possibly even more so.

I don't have a problem with Alex Blake, she doesn't come across as the know-it-all that eager Agent Seaver always did but I don't agree that Reid has Asperger's Syndrome. Having said that, it was nice that she actually discussed the possibility with him instead of just making a joke about it. I did, however, think it was a bit tasteless to mention it in front of the other team members. Bad writing accounts for that.

The unsub bored me senseless and I found that, apart from the young sons involved, I wasn't all that bothered about the families either. One question I can't fathom is why the second family had a gun loaded with blanks to 'kill' themselves with. One wonders whether the first family were given the same type of bullets or whether the unsub had some kind of change of heart?

On a brighter note, it was great to see Jack. His interaction with Thomas Gibson is terrific. And even better? We MAY just be rid of Beth. I hope we are, I find her boring.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 6

Flag
Share Hide
8x03 - Taking the fun out of dysfunction!

6.5

By JDML23, Oct 24, 2012

I found this episode to be just okay. I wasn't really engaged nor that concerned with the survival of the family. I think the only time I cared was when the kid picked the and got away. There was just so much dysfunction I couldn't help but laugh every time new drama was revealed and the characters hysterical reactions to the news.

A blah episode overall.
DO YOU AGREE?
0 4

Flag
Share Hide
Where are they finding guest actors?

9.0

By goldelpack, Oct 21, 2012

Ok first things first: Blake didn't bother me this time. She more or less blended in whereas in her first appearance I disliked her more than immensely. The rest of our group were balanced and awesome. I love that Garcia is given a bigger role in the cases more and more as time goes on.

Secondly: The case - albeit creepy and such, the facts just didn't make a lot of sense as to why and how he found these families - and how he knew how bad their dysfunction was going to become. Unless he was monitoring lots of families - and all because the family across the street captivated him... and then disappointed him... but I only watched it once so I may have missed some compelling factor. Plus I was distracted by the guest actors - which brings me to my last point.

Except for the young boy - Braydon- the overall acting of the guest actors was abominable. Horrible. Unconvincing. Was there an actor's strike I missed? I'm trying to be specific, but it was so badly acted to me that I can't even be specific. However, that is what stuck out to me most - the lack of acting. It started with the Japanese grandma - then to the family. I despised the mother - blah blah blah.. rather than go on... I just had issues with the acting! But. I did like the episode :)moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 3

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

John Fleck	Arthur Rykov	Guest Star
Gary Grubbs	Detective Oren Carr	Guest Star
Danielle Bisutti	Debra Acklin	Guest Star
Bellamy Young	Beth Clemmons	Recurring Role
Cade Owens	Jack Hotchner	Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Featured Episode Clip

Watch Clips: Criminal Minds

go

TV.com

Free

Something Awful Happened

10/17/12 (04:35)
go

TV.com

Free

The Money Instead of Your Son

10/16/12 (02:52)
go

TV.com

Free

Connecting the Dots

10/16/12 (02:32)
go

TV.com

Free

Just a Train Ride Away

10/16/12 (02:36)

See All Clips

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (0)
ADD TRIVIA
- ADD TRIVIA from this episode.
QUOTES (2)
ADD QUOTES
- Hotchner: "One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Lewis Carroll.
  EDIT SHARE
- JJ: The German author Goethe wrote, "Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their true image."
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (2)
ADD NOTES
- The writers appear to have mangled another quotation here. Goethe's aphorism number 264, found in Maxims and Reflections in the Life and Character section, reads, "A man's manners are the mirror in which he shows his portrait."
  
  Carroll's quotation is slightly abridged. Part of an 1890 letter to Dame Ellen Terry, an actress, it reads, "And so you have found out that secret – one of the deep secrets of Life – that all, that is really worth doing, is what we do for others?"
  EDIT SHARE
- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada October 16, 2012 on CTV
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (0)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.