'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. 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, "Wheels Up" and "Killer App" were particularly good. "To a Better Place" was a little disappointing, with a lot of admirable qualities but also an over-familiar and not much special case.
"Lucky Strikes" is another very solid episode, with a lot to like. Its biggest interest point is how it revisits one of the show's best and most harrowing episodes, "Lucky" from Season 3, and sees the return of one of the show's most memorable unsubs. The case, one of the best and most complex ones of the season, is every bit as disturbing as that for that episode (this is not an episode to watch while eating, and Floyd has definitely not lost the chills factor.
The team work, the procedural aspects and how it's all solved evokes prime 'Criminal Minds', there is lots of each and it's all thought-provoking and delightful. It doesn't make the mistakes that many latter season episodes made (i.e. too much unsub, unsub revealed too early, problematically executed cases, too much reliance on convenience, lack of balance, too many soapy personal life subplots, team underuse and not enough procedural/delving into the criminal's mind). In fact, there is a sense that "Lucky Strikes" didn't forget what made 'Criminal Minds' work so well in the first place. The twists keep coming and those towards the end are shocking.
Plenty of room for little character moments within the team, one of my favourite things about 'Criminal Minds' and something that lifts even the lesser episodes. Particularly well done are the touching and sweet Garcia and returning Morgan chemistry (though for a touted return, the appearance was too brief), the concern for Garcia and Luke's (really like him so far this season, same with a surprisingly well-settled Matt) shock and anger when told of what happened to Garcia ten years ago.
Everybody does a great job with the acting, Joe Mantegna and Kirsten Vangsness are the standouts of the regulars and Jamie Kennedy makes the skin crawl as Floyd, showing that when he has good material he can act.
Visually, "Lucky Strikes" is stylish and atmospheric, while the music is haunting without being over-bearing while having presence still, the script is taut with a touch of sweetness and poignancy here and there and the direction is alert and accommodating.
On the other hand, the episode does throw in an "innocent or guilty", for both the past and present crimes, angle to the story that was not necessary and was in danger of undermining what made "Lucky's" case and Floyd so disturbing and memorable and ignoring how overwhelming the evidence was, not to mention how incompetent it would have made everyone look.
While feeling for Garcia and understanding what she was going through, her subplot was a little rushed and overwrought and only just about avoided taking up too much of the episode thanks to the case being so good. Didn't question the "why now?", it was a significant case and trauma for her and on top of that having to deal with such a wide range of emotions and shocks in such a short space of time.
Great to see Morgan again, Shemar Moore acts well and love the chemistry between him and Garcia (which at its best was warm and funny, before it later tended to get overdone and borderline inappropriate). Having said that, his appearance was too brief, he should have had a bigger role and more than a plot device one, and it felt shoe-horned in.
Overall, good episode. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Season 13 so far has not been too bad. 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, "Wheels Up" and "Killer App" were particularly good. "To a Better Place" was a little disappointing, with a lot of admirable qualities but also an over-familiar and not much special case.
"Lucky Strikes" is another very solid episode, with a lot to like. Its biggest interest point is how it revisits one of the show's best and most harrowing episodes, "Lucky" from Season 3, and sees the return of one of the show's most memorable unsubs. The case, one of the best and most complex ones of the season, is every bit as disturbing as that for that episode (this is not an episode to watch while eating, and Floyd has definitely not lost the chills factor.
The team work, the procedural aspects and how it's all solved evokes prime 'Criminal Minds', there is lots of each and it's all thought-provoking and delightful. It doesn't make the mistakes that many latter season episodes made (i.e. too much unsub, unsub revealed too early, problematically executed cases, too much reliance on convenience, lack of balance, too many soapy personal life subplots, team underuse and not enough procedural/delving into the criminal's mind). In fact, there is a sense that "Lucky Strikes" didn't forget what made 'Criminal Minds' work so well in the first place. The twists keep coming and those towards the end are shocking.
Plenty of room for little character moments within the team, one of my favourite things about 'Criminal Minds' and something that lifts even the lesser episodes. Particularly well done are the touching and sweet Garcia and returning Morgan chemistry (though for a touted return, the appearance was too brief), the concern for Garcia and Luke's (really like him so far this season, same with a surprisingly well-settled Matt) shock and anger when told of what happened to Garcia ten years ago.
Everybody does a great job with the acting, Joe Mantegna and Kirsten Vangsness are the standouts of the regulars and Jamie Kennedy makes the skin crawl as Floyd, showing that when he has good material he can act.
Visually, "Lucky Strikes" is stylish and atmospheric, while the music is haunting without being over-bearing while having presence still, the script is taut with a touch of sweetness and poignancy here and there and the direction is alert and accommodating.
On the other hand, the episode does throw in an "innocent or guilty", for both the past and present crimes, angle to the story that was not necessary and was in danger of undermining what made "Lucky's" case and Floyd so disturbing and memorable and ignoring how overwhelming the evidence was, not to mention how incompetent it would have made everyone look.
While feeling for Garcia and understanding what she was going through, her subplot was a little rushed and overwrought and only just about avoided taking up too much of the episode thanks to the case being so good. Didn't question the "why now?", it was a significant case and trauma for her and on top of that having to deal with such a wide range of emotions and shocks in such a short space of time.
Great to see Morgan again, Shemar Moore acts well and love the chemistry between him and Garcia (which at its best was warm and funny, before it later tended to get overdone and borderline inappropriate). Having said that, his appearance was too brief, he should have had a bigger role and more than a plot device one, and it felt shoe-horned in.
Overall, good episode. 7/10 Bethany Cox
