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Criminal Minds Season 7 Episode 11

True Genius

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 1/18/12

The BAU travels to San Francisco when a series of murders leads the team to believe the elusive "Zodiac Killer" might have returned as Reid contemplates his own genius capabilities. Meanwhile, Prentiss and Reid attend a seminar on violent crime hosted by the crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (9)

I usually rank all CM episodes a 10/10, but this one was just missing a little.

9.5

By amazing_race, May 20, 2012

Well at first after the opening scenes, I thought this was shaping up to be one of the most epic episodes ever. The killer seemed seriously evil, and revisiting a case from the late 60s seemed exceptionally exciting.

However, while the first half of the episode did impress me a lot, I wasn't too fond of the ending. The last few scenes seemed heafvily anticlimactic, and I think teh wrietrs could've done a whole lot better when mapping out the ending of the case. The last few scenes were not very exciting at all.

In other news, I enjoyed some of the Reid scenes, and particularly the scene with Emily. The birthday scenes at the end were nice, particularly Rossi giving his love! <3 Those scenes were really well done.

All up, still a very good episode for the most part, but I have to say that I found the ending anticlimactic. Hopefully that'll not be the case with the next one! :pmoreless
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I wouldn't want Caleb or Harvey as best friends ...

7.5

By Lady_Lancaster, May 13, 2012

The Zodiac Killer is one of those whose name we have all heard of, even if we don't know all the details of the story. When the team see the handiwork of what they believe to be a copy cat some four-plus decades later, they are quick to realise that either Zodiac has resurfaced or that the person committing the crimes has an intimate knowledge of the case. Turns out, of course, that the latter is correct but the unsub and all which was connected to him take quite a large back seat to the fact that our resident genius, Reid, finds himself questioning his role at the BAU and his life in general. Coming across others wh, like him have a genius-level IQ makes him wonder about who he is and what he is doing. Caleb and Harvey, with their incredibly clever minds are obviously murderers and the young boy at the seminar is going places too but Reid is still Reid and takes a while to realise that the BAU IS where he belongs and for those of us in fandom, that is certainly good news.

The storyline and the plot weren't great, but Reid questioning himself and his role in the world certainly was.moreless
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Greater character development than good plot.

8.5

By AryellaLacerd, Jan 26, 2012

There is a lot to be said about a captivating plot, but this episode unfortunately wasn't it. The goal of this particular story wasn't to be captivating like some of the other episodes we've seen, but was instead written to explore the characters. The Zodiac was a nice twist, but he was mostly symbolic; a representative of the Unsub's own person. This episode was great for another reason entirely.

We see Reid as he struggles with and ultimately accepts his own intelligence and place on the team. We also see a brief window of his potential - two characters with similar IQs who have made millions; one which, as Reid puts it, will "change the world." We see another who has made little use of his gift and Reid, somewhere in between, wondering if he's doing himself justice by working at the FBI.

We see Prentiss and Reid's friendship returning to normal, too. There's been a lot of grumbling about Reid acting childishly in regards to being lied to by some of the people he trusted the most for better part or most of a year, about something so sensitive as a close friend's death, but I'm not going too far into that. Prentiss is obviously making an effort to heal what their predicament broke and the friendship and teasing here was fantastic.

Not only that, but the insight into the dynamics of a friendship, the interactions, between geniuses was compelling. The question, "How does an average person fit in a relationship with a genius?" comes up more than once, and the question of defying expectations does, too. "You don't hear much about prodigies when they're older."

The team's participation in this case was minimal, really, mostly Garcia and Rossi. Hotch was particularly funny in one scene, using that deadpan humor of his. No, the team's participation was supportive - they were there for Reid, didn't question his skill as a profiler or investment in the case as we've seen so often before; they trusted him and his skills.

The whole episode gave off a very strong family vibe; the kind of thing the hardcore fans keep writing about when the story's over. I loved it - it wasn't perfect, you know, but it was fantastic anyway.moreless
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Ms. Reid

10

By AniFreak777, Jan 21, 2012

Okay. This Was By Far The Best Episode EVER! I Mean Reid Was Even More Brilliant That He Was In All The Other Episodes Combined! He Is So The Best Profiler Ever! & I Can't Believe He's 30! He Still Looks Like He Could In His Early 20's! X3

GO DR. SPENCER REID!!!!!!! X3
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True Genius!

10

By CrayCray12, Jan 19, 2012

Ahhh!! I loved it ^_^ Definitely one of the best! Reid couldn't be cuter! I love the serious conversation with Prentiss and the light touch they added at the end, it was so funny
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Joe Mantegna	Senior SSA David Rossi
Thomas Gibson	Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner
Paget Brewster	SSA Emily Prentiss
Shemar Moore	SSA Derek Morgan
Matthew Gray Gubler	SSA Dr. Spencer Reid
A.J. Cook	SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Jeff Newburg	Caleb Rossmore	Guest Star
Claudia Choi	Agent Rebecca Lin	Guest Star
Finn Wittrock	Harvey Morell	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (4)
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- JJ: So how old would Zodiac be by now? The murders took place in the late...60s?
  Garcia: Yeah, December 20, 1968, to October 11, 1969, to be exact. But he was suspected of other crimes and he sent letters and codes to newspapers until 1974.
  Morgan: Well, at the very least the Zodiac would have to be about 60 by now.
  JJ: Yeah, but it doesn't take a lot of strength to pull a trigger.
  Morgan: No, but it takes a lot of skill not to get caught for 40 years.
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- Reid: I don't know why I'm in the FBI.
  Prentiss: I see. You're a genius, but you have the same job as me, Morgan, JJ.
  Reid: Yeah, exactly. No, that's not what I'm saying. It's just sometimes... sometimes I kinda get this feeling like... like maybe I should have done something more with my life.
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- Reid: "There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery, the time when we were happy." Dante Alighieri
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- Morgan: "Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead." Benjamin Franklin
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NOTES (2)
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- Promotional consideration for Patricia Cornwell's thriller Red Mist was provided by Little, Brown and Company.
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- Production on this episode wrapped on November 8, 2011.
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