I was quite content with Season 1, especially the super-awesome (a bit of hyperbole never killed anyone) final cliffhanger episode "The Fisher King", but then Season 2 began by equally spectacularly fumbling the ball with Part 2 of said episode. After that, it was pretty much downhill from there, with actors coming and going like through revolving doors - in poorly scripted ways, no less. I mean, if Lola Glaudini was going to leave anyway, why not just let Unsub succeed in killing her? That guy was *thorough*, yet failed to notice that Elle was not dead. And so on. Over Season 2 my interest waned, until I stopped the series, but I happened to see this episode by accident. Man, was this of the quality "The Fisher King: Part 2" should have been. It is impossible to explain why it is great without dropping spoilers left and right, so you've been warned. First, the opening scene sets a chilling atmosphere with the corpse that has its face and hands "obliterated", as Hotch puts it. We don't see the corpse, but our minds conjure images lifted from Cannibal Corpse album covers. Then there is the gravitas of tough-guy Fredric Lehne (Marshall Edward Mars from "Lost" and The Yellow-Eyed Demon from "Supernatural"), whose mere presence as father of one of the two girls hints that something is not what it appears. The revelation of his secret is not groundbreaking, but it is handled very well. The red herring that comes from this revelation is simply genius and provides a great, disturbing twist that raises some serious questions about parenting. What the hell have the parents of the boys been doing? What kind of conditions create teens like these? OK, Mr. Silverman appears, but he does not get enough screen time for his role to become an actual character. Riley Smith gives a great performance as the bullying Ryan. Towards the end, the events take on ever darker turns, starting with the brilliantly understated scene where the dead Katie's father approaches Lehne's character Jack and plainly says, "I don't know who you are and what you've done. All I want to know is are you capable of still doing whatever it is that you did." This is a man who has nothing left but revenge. As dark as this is, the final confrontation between Jack and Ryan is truly black stuff, with Lindsay frantically *urging* his father to kill Ryan and Reid trying to talk him out of doing it. Now, in 9 out of 10 times the makers of movies and especially terrestrial TV wimp out and the avenger has a change of heart, deciding to spare the sick ****'s life. Not so here. BANG! As if this were not enough, there is a coda, that shows Jack and Lindsay relocated in the witness protection program - his testimony against the Irish mob having been so valuable he's been given a get-out-of-jail card for the cold execution of Ryan. Now, we are left with a never-ending discussion of revenge-vs-mercy *and* the mind-troubling results of bargains the criminals-turned-witnesses get...
5 Reviews
Solid episode but not spectacular
TheLittleSongbird24 November 2016
"3rd Life" may be a lesser episode of Season 3 (which to me is a solid season and generally among the better ones of 'Criminal Minds'), "Birthright" being another. This said, even a lesser episode of Season 3 is leagues better than the worst of Season 9 and 11, those being among the show's low-points.
It is a solid and intriguing episode but not a spectacular one, that could have been better if some of the story was executed a little bit better. The motive for the unsub's crimes could have been made clearer and more expanded rather than being as vague as it was, so much so that it's hardly surprising that a lot of people missed it and questioned whether the episode provided one at all.
Even more could have been done with the mob lead, while somewhat clichéd it was a fascinating angle, it added a lot to the father character giving him a not-what-he-seems side to his character and was really starting to invest in it so when it was dropped it felt like it didn't amount to much. The US Marshall character was also an annoying, unpleasant and cold character, who didn't seem to give a monkeys for the case, which had real urgency and like a race against time for everybody else.
Much of the story however is very compelling. It begins very suspensefully, making one really care what happened to the girls and which one died and the details of the crime were shocking. Really felt for the parents here, while the climax (the most memorable thing about "3rd Life") disturbed me to the core and raised a number of moral questions. Reid questioning his actions gave a startlingly human side to his character, showing that even geniuses can make mistakes, he was developed very well too. The outcome and aftermath of the climax did seem unsatisfying and unrealistic at first, but after finding out the justification provided which was admittedly missed initially it was much easier to swallow. The father and the chilling character of Ryan were interesting characters, did feel sorry for the father while also being shocked by his past while Ryan is more and better developed than your typical teenage criminal.
Production values are high in quality as always, with a darkness and grit throughout particularly at the start. The music is haunting and melancholic, while the writing is tight and thought-provoking with interesting profiling (the climax dialogue, the team banter and Rossi wanting to play the voice mail with Prentiss protesting being highlights), great banter and the direction is solid, keeping the drama and tension alert while allowing breathing space. Character interaction is very strong here, with the team working really well as a team and the interaction between Lindsay and Ryan gives urgency and tension to the situation.
Acting is excellent. Not just from the leads, with particularly stellar acting from Matthew Gray Gubler but also from the support. Gia Mantegna is very good as Lindsay, while Frederick Lehne brings gravitas to his not what he seems role and Riley Smith's Ryan is chillingly played in a way that's not hammy or low-key.
Overall, solid episode but not spectacular. Proof that even a lesser episode to this particular season fares much better than those of latter seasons. 7/10 Bethany Cox
It is a solid and intriguing episode but not a spectacular one, that could have been better if some of the story was executed a little bit better. The motive for the unsub's crimes could have been made clearer and more expanded rather than being as vague as it was, so much so that it's hardly surprising that a lot of people missed it and questioned whether the episode provided one at all.
Even more could have been done with the mob lead, while somewhat clichéd it was a fascinating angle, it added a lot to the father character giving him a not-what-he-seems side to his character and was really starting to invest in it so when it was dropped it felt like it didn't amount to much. The US Marshall character was also an annoying, unpleasant and cold character, who didn't seem to give a monkeys for the case, which had real urgency and like a race against time for everybody else.
Much of the story however is very compelling. It begins very suspensefully, making one really care what happened to the girls and which one died and the details of the crime were shocking. Really felt for the parents here, while the climax (the most memorable thing about "3rd Life") disturbed me to the core and raised a number of moral questions. Reid questioning his actions gave a startlingly human side to his character, showing that even geniuses can make mistakes, he was developed very well too. The outcome and aftermath of the climax did seem unsatisfying and unrealistic at first, but after finding out the justification provided which was admittedly missed initially it was much easier to swallow. The father and the chilling character of Ryan were interesting characters, did feel sorry for the father while also being shocked by his past while Ryan is more and better developed than your typical teenage criminal.
Production values are high in quality as always, with a darkness and grit throughout particularly at the start. The music is haunting and melancholic, while the writing is tight and thought-provoking with interesting profiling (the climax dialogue, the team banter and Rossi wanting to play the voice mail with Prentiss protesting being highlights), great banter and the direction is solid, keeping the drama and tension alert while allowing breathing space. Character interaction is very strong here, with the team working really well as a team and the interaction between Lindsay and Ryan gives urgency and tension to the situation.
Acting is excellent. Not just from the leads, with particularly stellar acting from Matthew Gray Gubler but also from the support. Gia Mantegna is very good as Lindsay, while Frederick Lehne brings gravitas to his not what he seems role and Riley Smith's Ryan is chillingly played in a way that's not hammy or low-key.
Overall, solid episode but not spectacular. Proof that even a lesser episode to this particular season fares much better than those of latter seasons. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Solid episode marred by laziness
ralphv124 June 2019
Well, we have to have some kind of setting for the script, so throw a dart at that map across the room and let's see what comes up. I don't know if Chula Vista was chosen that way, but the producers might as well have. The lovely art deco cinema was actually in Los Angeles, but they could have used the art deco Vogue Theatre in Chula Vista. Chula Vista has some nice noir locations. As much as I enjoyed the plot and performances, the fact that they made no effort to justify the setting annoyed and rankled me, and continues to do so after all these years. I forgive the writer for using my name for the duplicitous father, but not for not at least creating the illusion of a real place -- sorry, but throwing random non sequitur locations around higgly-piggly doesn't count. Yes, a small-town attitude, I know, but that's the nature of Chula Vista.
Interesting plot
lottiemarshalllm21 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Disclaimer:I am no expert reviewer, I just need a show to binge watch and I'm going to Write a review for every episode I watch.
I love the dramatic episodes and this one did not disappoint.
I thought this episode was really interesting and I really enjoyed the plotline of them being in witness protection and learning about the fathers past of being in the mob. I don't always love when the agents get too caught up in something that is false about the case like in this episode they thought it was connected to the mob But this episode did it very well and made it very enjoyable to watch.
I felt so bad for Reid standing in that bathroom just trying to talk Jack down from killing someone and ultimately failing. I felt so bad because it's worked for him before trying to talk down killers but it just didn't work this time. But this was the only memorable character moment in this episode which is a bit of a bummer.
I do have to admit it was a little bit slow and took a while to pick up but once the witness protection program was introduced to get better and it got even better after the team had to start hunting Jack so he wouldn't kill more people.
And some minor annoyances in the show was that Lindsay was in witness protection program but her fake backstory was from a popular book that presumably lots of people would recognize is fake. I don't normally pick apart the plot for inaccuracies but this just really bothered me. And also how disturbing it was that when she got reassigned to a new location she took her dead best friends name.
Overall a pretty good episode that maybe took a little too long to pick up but nonetheless was crazy. On a completely unrelated note Lindsey's father Jack looked just like my freshman English teacher and I could not get over it it was so funny to me.
I love the dramatic episodes and this one did not disappoint.
I thought this episode was really interesting and I really enjoyed the plotline of them being in witness protection and learning about the fathers past of being in the mob. I don't always love when the agents get too caught up in something that is false about the case like in this episode they thought it was connected to the mob But this episode did it very well and made it very enjoyable to watch.
I felt so bad for Reid standing in that bathroom just trying to talk Jack down from killing someone and ultimately failing. I felt so bad because it's worked for him before trying to talk down killers but it just didn't work this time. But this was the only memorable character moment in this episode which is a bit of a bummer.
I do have to admit it was a little bit slow and took a while to pick up but once the witness protection program was introduced to get better and it got even better after the team had to start hunting Jack so he wouldn't kill more people.
And some minor annoyances in the show was that Lindsay was in witness protection program but her fake backstory was from a popular book that presumably lots of people would recognize is fake. I don't normally pick apart the plot for inaccuracies but this just really bothered me. And also how disturbing it was that when she got reassigned to a new location she took her dead best friends name.
Overall a pretty good episode that maybe took a little too long to pick up but nonetheless was crazy. On a completely unrelated note Lindsey's father Jack looked just like my freshman English teacher and I could not get over it it was so funny to me.
Fairly good episode.
wkozak2215 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This is a fairly good episode. The story moves along and keeps you involved. The one downside is Reid. As time is getting precious he takes several color pens and is drawing dots and lines to try to pinpoint the suspect's location. Why didn't he just use deductive reasoning?
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
