'Criminal Minds' has always been one of my most-watched shows and was a personal favourite for a while. Seasons 1-5 was its best period, Season 4 was especially great. It did get hit and miss from Season 6 onwards, with a mix of good and more episodes and disappointing and less episodes. Season 11 was, apart from about 5 episodes, pretty weak. Season 12 was inconsistent but generally an improvement, its weakest episodes nowhere near as bad as the low-points of Seasons 6, 9 and especially 11.
Season 13 so far has not been too bad at all, pretty good even actually. It is already so much better than Season 11, which started off well actually but quickly went downhill, and has generally settled quicker than Season 12. As far as the previous Season 13 episodes go, only "Submerged" properly underwhelmed. There aren't any classics yet but also no low points, most episodes up to this point were decent to very good.
Despite "Submerged" being a disappointment, it was still a watchable episode. For me "Annihilator", easily one of Season 13's worst, is the season's first less than average episode. Consider it actually a 'Criminal Minds' low point, have not said that about a 'Criminal Minds' episode in a long way, not since Season 11's "Inner Beauty" of which "Annihilator" is the worst episode since.
One of the main reasons for that is that "Annihilator" to me is the first Season 13 episode to completely lose what made 'Criminal Minds' so great, containing most of the faults that made Season 11 so disappointing. The case itself is very paint-by-numbers, is very predictable and has little to it. No tension, no suspense, no emotional investment, no creepiness, there is nothing, culminating in one of the show's messiest showdowns. Worst of it, it and the team's crime solving/procedural/profiling aspects play secondary to other elements of the episode.
Also the unsub is one of the season's least interesting, nothing memorable or special about them. Got little sense of threat, little development and there isn't even the "feeling sorry for them" factor and also with vague motivations, they were not much different from other unsubs with a vanilla personality. One of the main reasons for seeing 'Criminal Minds' is the team interaction and the little character moments, their skills and interaction aren't featured enough and little character moments are also not enough and generally forgettable.
Every one of those elements play second fiddle to something that pretty much single-handedly ruined the episode and the worst thing to happen to the show in some time. That is the character of Barnes, a maligned character among fans for good reasons, was indifferent to her in "Miasma" and hated her here. She has no warmth or personality, is not even good at her job (useless actually and prone to saying face-palming things), really grates on the viewer and she comes over as too domineering. The conflict between her and team takes up too much of the episode, already feels over-stretched and is far too derivative of the conflict between Hotch and Strauss (except worse). It even doesn't look good, unusual for 'Criminal Minds' which is usually slick, atmospheric and stylish, here the production values look direct to video quality.
For all those bad things there are plus points. The music is still neither intrusive yet has enough presence that stops it from being too low-key. The acting from all the regulars is good to great. Love Prentiss and Reid.
Reid also has the highlight moment of "Annihilator", the moment where he stands up to Barnes (in fact everything concerning where she is stood up to). A moment where one is relieved to see the writers having a rare glimpse of good writing here, the rest of the writing is really sloppy and unbalanced, where what the viewer is thinking is said on screen.
Overall, a few plus points but a pretty bad episode, the worst since "Inner Beauty", and the season's first failure. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Season 13 so far has not been too bad at all, pretty good even actually. It is already so much better than Season 11, which started off well actually but quickly went downhill, and has generally settled quicker than Season 12. As far as the previous Season 13 episodes go, only "Submerged" properly underwhelmed. There aren't any classics yet but also no low points, most episodes up to this point were decent to very good.
Despite "Submerged" being a disappointment, it was still a watchable episode. For me "Annihilator", easily one of Season 13's worst, is the season's first less than average episode. Consider it actually a 'Criminal Minds' low point, have not said that about a 'Criminal Minds' episode in a long way, not since Season 11's "Inner Beauty" of which "Annihilator" is the worst episode since.
One of the main reasons for that is that "Annihilator" to me is the first Season 13 episode to completely lose what made 'Criminal Minds' so great, containing most of the faults that made Season 11 so disappointing. The case itself is very paint-by-numbers, is very predictable and has little to it. No tension, no suspense, no emotional investment, no creepiness, there is nothing, culminating in one of the show's messiest showdowns. Worst of it, it and the team's crime solving/procedural/profiling aspects play secondary to other elements of the episode.
Also the unsub is one of the season's least interesting, nothing memorable or special about them. Got little sense of threat, little development and there isn't even the "feeling sorry for them" factor and also with vague motivations, they were not much different from other unsubs with a vanilla personality. One of the main reasons for seeing 'Criminal Minds' is the team interaction and the little character moments, their skills and interaction aren't featured enough and little character moments are also not enough and generally forgettable.
Every one of those elements play second fiddle to something that pretty much single-handedly ruined the episode and the worst thing to happen to the show in some time. That is the character of Barnes, a maligned character among fans for good reasons, was indifferent to her in "Miasma" and hated her here. She has no warmth or personality, is not even good at her job (useless actually and prone to saying face-palming things), really grates on the viewer and she comes over as too domineering. The conflict between her and team takes up too much of the episode, already feels over-stretched and is far too derivative of the conflict between Hotch and Strauss (except worse). It even doesn't look good, unusual for 'Criminal Minds' which is usually slick, atmospheric and stylish, here the production values look direct to video quality.
For all those bad things there are plus points. The music is still neither intrusive yet has enough presence that stops it from being too low-key. The acting from all the regulars is good to great. Love Prentiss and Reid.
Reid also has the highlight moment of "Annihilator", the moment where he stands up to Barnes (in fact everything concerning where she is stood up to). A moment where one is relieved to see the writers having a rare glimpse of good writing here, the rest of the writing is really sloppy and unbalanced, where what the viewer is thinking is said on screen.
Overall, a few plus points but a pretty bad episode, the worst since "Inner Beauty", and the season's first failure. 3/10 Bethany Cox