Such a great episode! On a base level, there is something *so* disturbing about live human dolls that no matter how many variations of it have been already done, it never loses its creepiness. Combine it with good acting from the actresses of both the unsub and the dolls - harder than it at first thought seems - and brutally effective, if rather unimaginative direction combined with a disturbing score, and you have a winner. The surprise reveal in the plot works also well, even if it is of the "of course that happened to her when she was a child" type staple.
Unfortunately, this episode also shows exactly how inconsistent Criminal Minds is even on its *fifth* season. In the 1990s inconsistency was more of a rule than the exception to it, The X Files (No. Hyphen.) being the worst offender despite pioneers such as Babylon 5 airing simultaneously and showing how a series *should* be done. Almost two decades later, the show-runners of Criminal Minds seem half-stuck in the Reset Button era of TV when most shows, regardless of genre, have matured to ongoing *character* development, whether there is a Mytharc plot (the new BSG, Lost, Supernatural) or not (The Closer, House M.D., The Office, The Wire).
The Plot outline says, "Hotch struggles with his return to work." On Criminal Minds this manifests as Hotch not himself solving anything, just asking questions and giving orders. Yeah, that's a really dramatic struggle alright. Were Criminal Minds *truly* a Reset Button show, each episode could be rated as a completely separate subject, but since they *have* established continuity, the barely-there aftermath of Haley's death on Hotch's life hangs like a loadstone on this series, constantly denying it at least one star. Twenty years ago, this would have been a 9/10, but in the 2010s it is "only" an 8/10 - still, a clear improvement over the previous episodes.
Unfortunately, this episode also shows exactly how inconsistent Criminal Minds is even on its *fifth* season. In the 1990s inconsistency was more of a rule than the exception to it, The X Files (No. Hyphen.) being the worst offender despite pioneers such as Babylon 5 airing simultaneously and showing how a series *should* be done. Almost two decades later, the show-runners of Criminal Minds seem half-stuck in the Reset Button era of TV when most shows, regardless of genre, have matured to ongoing *character* development, whether there is a Mytharc plot (the new BSG, Lost, Supernatural) or not (The Closer, House M.D., The Office, The Wire).
The Plot outline says, "Hotch struggles with his return to work." On Criminal Minds this manifests as Hotch not himself solving anything, just asking questions and giving orders. Yeah, that's a really dramatic struggle alright. Were Criminal Minds *truly* a Reset Button show, each episode could be rated as a completely separate subject, but since they *have* established continuity, the barely-there aftermath of Haley's death on Hotch's life hangs like a loadstone on this series, constantly denying it at least one star. Twenty years ago, this would have been a 9/10, but in the 2010s it is "only" an 8/10 - still, a clear improvement over the previous episodes.