(S02E20) When this episode started off, I have to be honest - I was bored to death. It was slow, the case didn't feel like something the team would normally take on, and I honestly didn't care too much for the mommy/daughter issues between Prentiss and her mother (played by Kate Jackson). Those sentiments remained for the majority of the episode. But in true Criminal Minds fashion, things changed and the final minutes of the show were just as good as any previous episode. Kudos to the writers for turning around a rather lackluster episode in its ending moments.

(S02E19) Well that was just about the most disturbing episode of Criminal Minds yet. I can't remember a past installment being as graphic as this one. It was an excellent episode, but I'm surprised some of the scenes (especially the opening one) made it through the cut.

It was hard to stomach at some points. That opening scene was downright creepy as the arsonist watched the family burn. While not as graphic, the scene where he tossed kerosene all over that SUV with the family inside was equally hard to watch. This show definitely knows how to push the limits though because as I said, this was a great episode with a well done ending.

(S02E18) You have to give this show credit because it frequently blends so many disparate topics together and it always does it well. Here we had a look at post-Katrina New Orleans coupled with the emergence of a Jack the Ripper copy-cat killer -- two things you probably wouldn't expect to see together.

It was really was one of the more interesting cases that the BAU team has been assigned. I think the only thing that bugged me a little was the way the preview sold the episode as having this massive twist. It wasn't so massive and I figured it out even before I realized it was the twist. That's never good.

(S02E17) This was a bit of a different case for Gideon and the team. For once they weren't really hunting a true criminal, but rather a poor guy who had gone off the deep end largely due to circumstances that were completely out of his control.

It's kind of interesting if you think about it. There's a huge range of cases that this team probably gets called in for and we'll never know about it simply because it might not make for dramatic TV. However, someone suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder definitely fits the bill and it earned the BAU team a trip to Houston.

(S02E16) Not bad, pretty much what I've come to expect from this show even when the episodes are just so-so. To me, this was one of those episodes.

Before I talk about the case, first we have to chat about Reid. I'm already disappointed with the way this story is being handled. It's being played out precisely the same way that Elle went downhill at the beginning of the season just as I predicted it would. Reid is having flashbacks to his kidnapping and torture, he's contemplating using the drugs, and he's becoming snippy and distant with his co-workers. There are a million other ways to handle this, so why go the same route as Elle? I don't think he'll be leaving the show as she did, but it's still disappointing to see the same thing over again with a different character. Here's to hoping I'm wrong and that something fresh is in store for us.

(S02E15) No sense in getting into the circumstances about Reid's abduction. I'm assuming that if you've come back to read this, then you saw the spectacular first part that aired after the Super Bowl.

More than anything else, this episode was all about Reid. It's the first time we really got some explanations about his past, his childhood, and what it was like to grow up in his house. It has me a little worried though. Why's that? Because it reminded me a lot of this season's premiere episode. And we all know what that led to - the downfall of Elle.

(S02E14) I remember reading an article about a month ago (I forget where) about how CBS had chosen Criminal Minds as the follow-up to last night's Super Bowl. The reason I mention it, is that in the article Edward Allen Bernero (the show's EP) said something along the lines of how they weren't planning on making this episode any different from a normal installment.

Well, I have to disagree. This was episode was spectacular and easily exceeded any expectations I had going in. If this didn't "wow" you, then you haven't been watching Criminal Minds enough. Not only was the case one of the most gruesome things the BAU team has ever tackled, but it's only the third time the series has left us with a "To Be Continued" cliffhanger. All that sounds like a bit more than the average episode to me.

(S02E13) Once again, due to an outrageous amount of business trips, I'm playing catch up with my TV viewing. I finally got around to seeing last week's episode of Criminal Minds and I had forgotten how much I missed this show. I had been looking forward to this episode too, especially since it had been bumped from the previous week because of President Bush's address to the nation.

It was a decent episode and for the most part, it's the type of story that I've come to expect from Criminal Minds. That's a good thing though, because with the types of cases this show tackles, you never know what to expect. Who knows what's in store for the post Super Bowl episode.

Maybe it's because they work on such a dark show. Maybe it's because many of the actors on the show have at least some comedy in their backgrounds. But the folks from Criminal Minds really like to yuk it up. At least that's what I got from the "informal" (again, that means "jammed in a far-too-small conference room") session for the procedural. The panel consisted of executive producers Edward Allen Bernero and Mark Gordon, and stars Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster and Shemar Moore.

Gibson started off the comedy by lifting a jar of candy from the table and offering them to the gathered crowd. "They're wah-fer thin," referring to a classic bit from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

(S02E11) I don't want to call this the best Criminal Minds episode ever. There's only been 33 episodes thus far, so who knows what's in store. I'd like to say it was the best. But how about this instead:

This was far and away my personal favorite Criminal Minds episode yet. I can't say a bad thing about it.

It prominently featured Reid, had a great and well thought out case, and it marked the reunion of Anton Yelchin and Paget Brewster. Yelchin... man, this kid can act. Checking out his IMDb page, and I'm ticked that I missed an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent that he guested in a few months ago. If he turned in half the performance he had here then it would have certainly been worth watching.

(S02E10) Great episode. It felt a little bit generic (most crime dramas have already had the "terrorist" episode by now), but Criminal Minds still managed to put it's own twist on the story.

This was the first episode where we got to see what Agent Prentiss is all about. She's good. Very good. She seems to have an almost Dr. Reid level of knowledge. Not to mention literacy and fluency in most forms of Arabic. I love Paget Brewster, but it still feels like she's acting in the role of Beth Huffstodt, you know? I'm sure she'll adjust her acting style for this part. But right now I'm agreeing with what a few commenters said about her last week. She needs to tone it down a little. She's still a bit too enthused.

(S02E09) I was really looking forward to this episode because it introduced Paget Brewster's new character Agent Emily Prentiss. But she was barely in it! We got an introduction and she showed up at the end of the episode, but she had no involvement with the case at all. I guess we'll have to wait until next week to see what she's made of. She's got skills, that much we know. At the end of the episode, she impressed Hotch by profiling a case that had just been delivered to him. She knows what she's talking about. Here's the only thing I don't get. She claims her two parents (they're both US diplomats) didn't pull any strings to get her on the BAU team. But if that is indeed the case, then how come neither Hotch nor Gideon were notified of her appointment to the team? It doesn't make sense unless she got the job through unconventional means right? Regardless, she does belong and I'm looking forward to see if I like her better than Elle.

(S02E08) I feel like a traitor for saying this because I really did like her character, but I'm loving the show with Elle no longer around. Am I crazy or is it a lot better? JJ and Garcia are both getting move involved with the cases as a result and the overall tone of the show is lot more upbeat. Even jovial at some points. Despite the grim circumstances of this episode (a serial bomber), there was a lot of joking around. I liked it.

Morgan and Gideon had a laugh at the expense of Reid ("Ever talk to someone who wants to continually show you he's smarter than you?") and there were tons more sexual innuendos between Morgan and Garcia than usual. The phone conversations between those two are always funny, so the more the better. I'm just really digging the direction the show is taking and I hope it keeps up once Paget Brewster joins the cast in next week's episode.

(S02E06) So long Agent Greenaway. Elle is no longer employed with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. It was kind of slow though, wasn't it? I was hoping for a more, I don't know, intriguing or exciting close to Elle's story. Maybe she admits to killing in cold blood or does something to partially redeem herself? Nope. Instead, she blew off work, skipped a psych evaluation, and went to visit her father's grave. Lots of soul searching I guess. She was close to her father though. If you remember the season premiere, she spoke with him in her dream.

But at the end of the episode, it was clear her head was no longer in the game. I'm not sure that Hotch fired her but there was some sort of understanding between them. He didn't want her on the team anymore and she didn't want to be there. So she handed in her gun and badge. I wasn't a big fan of her attitude though. I didn't like that she felt as though the team wasn't behind her (not true) and the crack about Hotch never smiling (also not true) was just mean-spirited even though she delivered it sarcastically. I was initially against Lola Glaudini leaving the show and I'm not sure if the writers did it on purpose, but I feel good about it now. I'm looking forward to what Paget Brewster can bring to the table. Alrighty, on to the rest of the episode.

(S02E05) This is the kind of episode that Criminal Minds needs to have every couple of weeks. It's fine to have some installments that are all about a case and only a case. But every now and then, we need the case to impact the team members somehow. Think Six Feet Under and how the opening death scene often related to the rest of the episode. If this show wants some serious longevity, like 5 or 6 seasons instead of 2 or 3, we need stuff to happen to our beloved BAU team.

Now we've known for a few weeks that Elle is being written out of the show and up until now, we've had no indication as to how that would be done. Well we do now and hats off to the writers for not taking the easy route and just killing her off or having her transfer. They've given Elle a really good final story-line and I'm looking forward to it's conclusion next week. At least I assume that next week is the conclusion... I wonder who her replacement will be?