Nice to have a character to hate again, haven't had one since Scratch. Never thought I'd hate Kim Rhodes as I love her in Supernatural but Linda Barnes makes it so easy
15 Reviews
Linda Barnes
xx-xx-kate-xx-xx20 December 2018
Annihilator
bobcobb30114 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The case itself was not that bad, but the Linda Barnes character is just someone so easy to hate. In that capacity the show did a good job bringing her in. This is a show that hasn't had that kind of villain in a long time and hopefully she can shake things up.
A good episode, but this show has been hit or miss this season so I expect miss next week.
A good episode, but this show has been hit or miss this season so I expect miss next week.
Of course I hate Barnes. Who doesn't? But...
xiaorho8 September 2021
At first I was so mad at Barnes and how the team suffered. I was frustrated and blamed the writers, producers, directors, any one who came up with such an "idiotic political unnecessary entanglement" in my favorite TV show. But then I came to realize that it is good to feel so strongly again about the team. Having an enemy like that may not be the first, but Barnes was so annoying that it's like the first (Strauss's nothing and she has even redeemed herself). As much as I hate the character brilliantly played, I was pretty excited to see what comes next because of that. And it is good to feel that way again. So I guess it is not a bad move after all!
Linda Barnes Character
ShopperMar9 March 2018
I thought the addition of the character, Linda Barnes, was a horrible mistake. She is nasty and has no idea of what the team is all about. She is destroying the show and should be fired immediately. I have watched this show since its inception and have never missed an episode. In fact, I have rewatched the entire series on Netflix. The show of 3/7/18 was the worst I have ever seen with the addition of this character. I kept hoping she would get shot. She made Erin Strauss look like a saint. Please, please get rid of her ASAP.
Who came up with this?
zsvpjeut24 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I want to know what unaware person came up with this idiotic character, and even more idiotic ending. Someone as dumb as the Linda Barnes would never rise to such a position, much less be able to sell that decision to the director of the FBI. Any one of those team members would be able to get her fired on HR violations alone, and a couple would have easily winnable lawsuits. A video leak to any news channel would render Linda Barnes unable to land a job as a dog walker. This was a really stupid episode. Her character was so bad, she wasn't even worth hating. Any person as smart as these agents are supposed to be could get rid of her in 20 minutes.
Barnes....ugh!
michapace-671586 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Why is Zach and Cody's mom such a b*tch now??
I'm not sure why but couldn't at least one of the team (Rossi maybe since he's a BAU OG) go to the director and set things straight?! Or at least a few team members could go to HR claiming hostile work environment and get her fired? Or at least demoted? If the BAU was such the gem WHY would it need to be changed or restructured? That's ridiculous.
I gave 3 stars bc of JJ. How she kept her cool is beyond me (and I'm hoping kinda that she gets to just b*tch slap Barnes into next week eventually). When she FINALLY stood up to her on the plane I got excited. I just don't understand why no one even tried to tell their side to the director. Baffling. 🙄
I'm not sure why but couldn't at least one of the team (Rossi maybe since he's a BAU OG) go to the director and set things straight?! Or at least a few team members could go to HR claiming hostile work environment and get her fired? Or at least demoted? If the BAU was such the gem WHY would it need to be changed or restructured? That's ridiculous.
I gave 3 stars bc of JJ. How she kept her cool is beyond me (and I'm hoping kinda that she gets to just b*tch slap Barnes into next week eventually). When she FINALLY stood up to her on the plane I got excited. I just don't understand why no one even tried to tell their side to the director. Baffling. 🙄
Linda Barnes almost made me rage quit the show.
lorenzon23 September 2019
Worst character ever. I wanted to slap her every time I saw her. I had to check IMDB to find out how long she stayed on the show and was glad to know that she would only be in one more episode. At the end of "Last Gasp", I did as the members of the BAU did; I cheered that she was finally gone.
I have nothing against powerful female characters and was overjoyed when Emily Prentiss took over from Hotch. But Barnes was just a nasty, pretentious shrew who demoralized everyone around her, including the audience.
I don't know who thought of having such a detestable character on the show but had they kept her as a regular, I'm sure many people would have quit watching. I, for one, will never watch these episodes ever again.
I have nothing against powerful female characters and was overjoyed when Emily Prentiss took over from Hotch. But Barnes was just a nasty, pretentious shrew who demoralized everyone around her, including the audience.
I don't know who thought of having such a detestable character on the show but had they kept her as a regular, I'm sure many people would have quit watching. I, for one, will never watch these episodes ever again.
beginning of the end
kwiebus739 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
They've done it, with this last episode they've made the show i loved from the start till now, and now i hate it, what are these writers thinking, the weak script of a new internal bad guy or in this case bad gal... this episode was irritating at best... instead of destroying the team, they should fire the writers of the show...
Awful
fabianofcarlos-630098 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Well...this was awful. And the reason is: Linda Barnes. What a terrible character.
She doesn't seem to have the minimum necessary skills to be part of an investigation, she just keeps saying stupid things and seizes every opportunity to make matters worse.
Really, it was painful to watch.
Promise annihilated
TheLittleSongbird24 May 2018
'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
Linda Barnes
GlazedMercury18 February 2022
Strauss is nothing compared to Barnes. Barnes is a character that you grow to hate so quickly so easily. This could have been an okay episode, if not for her. I almost quit watching the show when Reid got arrested, but this might be it for me.
Why, WHY???????
djnobeat20 March 2018
Utter crap!
This is the second worst episode I've ever seen in Criminal Minds history.
The only episode worse than this, is "Last Gasp", the sequel to this.
What happened?
Did the producers fire the writers? Did the original writers quit and they hired someone from pre-school?
WTF! I've never seen two soooo stupid CM episodes.
There is so many criminal cases from real life in America. Should'nt be a problem finding stories, but the writers are trying to put some kind of stupid drama into the episodes.
And they utterly fail.
My wife and I have seen CM from the start, but today we're laughing at how stupid the episodes have become.
I'm really, really sorry to see this show fall apart, but it clearly needs some fresh blood on the writing side.
OMG so bad.... :-(
WHY???
hellebenzon-2636711 February 2019
i try not to hate people...
flierpalisa30 November 2023
...but oh that is hard with this linda barnes character. I'm currently rewatching for the somethingth time, and this time i had to skip any episode with her in it. I get truly worked up and want to throw something at the screen every time i see her face or hear her voice.
In some cases, feeling this intense dislike for a character speaks to the actors' ability to act, but i fail to see anything remotely similar in her.
As someone said before me, they almost rage quit because of this character. I wonder if show runners sometimes put in abominable characters to make us thirst for the team dynamics we're used to.
There are limits, however. Linda barnes is just too horrible.
In some cases, feeling this intense dislike for a character speaks to the actors' ability to act, but i fail to see anything remotely similar in her.
As someone said before me, they almost rage quit because of this character. I wonder if show runners sometimes put in abominable characters to make us thirst for the team dynamics we're used to.
There are limits, however. Linda barnes is just too horrible.
My first review
ncarolines12 September 2021
That's how bad this was. Worst. Episode. Ever.
Why did Criminal Minds become one like all the others? So sad.
The team has to be shut down/rearranged etc, and on top of that, it over clouds the case they are working on... I liked the show when it was all about the crime, and not whatever other gossip they could come up with.
Why did Criminal Minds become one like all the others? So sad.
The team has to be shut down/rearranged etc, and on top of that, it over clouds the case they are working on... I liked the show when it was all about the crime, and not whatever other gossip they could come up with.
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