User Reviews

The music in the opening scenes of Ashes and Dust is Boadicea by Enya. Considering the history of Boadicea, especially the fact that she burned 3 Roman cities in Britain to the ground, it is quite an apt selection for this episode.

The episode is quite disturbing. Arsonists are not usually shown so up close and personal with their victims. The haunting music being played while the killer calmly watches his victims burn is chilling.

I found the episode interesting but the opening scenes were far more dramatic than the rest of the programme.

I think the editor was actually cutting to pictures of the 'happy' family rather than the books on the bookcase, showing the contrast between what had been and what was now. Perhaps I'm wrong but I didn't see it as an homage to "Fahrenheit 451".

When you type the name of this episode into google, it immediately presents you the option to search for the music in it. The first scene is nauseatingly beautiful - artistically speaking - and very scary. The way the family tries to get away from the flames and is cut off repeatedly is hauntingly well done.

My favorite Criminal Minds intro.

This has been the most disturbing Criminal Minds episode I have seen yet. Sure, there were other unsubs committing crimes beyond any imagination on this show, however, thanks to the depiction of the crimes, empathising is very easy here as you see both the view of the victims AND the killer very thoroughly.

One of my favorite episodes up to date, it has heart, horror without being disgusting and haunting shots and music.

I think the ending is overly melodramatic. I would have been satisfied with an "usual" solution to the case, which lead to me giving "only" 9/10.

Favorite quote of the episode: "Brace yourselves. I'm gonna teach you the meaning of LUST."

-Tenta

When on form, and even better at its best, 'Criminal Minds' is one of my most watched and most re-watched shows and is a personal favourite. It is nowhere near as good now, but there are still good to great episodes made every now and then when the show doesn't forget what it's about, but Seasons 1-5 was its prime period.

Season 2 was a mostly solid season for 'Criminal Minds'. Boasting great episodes such as "The Fisher King Part II", "Sex, Birth, Death", "North Mammon", "The Boogeyman", the "No Way Out" episodes, "Revelations" and "Profiler, Profiled", with almost all the episodes missing that very high standard still being strong. The only real odd-one out, meaning barely average, was "Honor Among Thieves", while "Aftermath" was also a lesser episode it was still decent whereas "Honor Among Thieves" even strained average level.

Of Season 2, which had its fair share of disturbing and emotional episodes, "Ashes and Dust" is one of the most horrifying and most poignant. It boasts one of the show's best ever opening sequences, truly harrowing stuff with arresting visuals, acting that really adds to the terror of the situation and some of the cleverest and hauntingly mood-enhancing uses of music in 'Criminal Minds' history. Judging from her usual style of music, Enya may have seemed like an odd choice but it works perfectly here. The ending will have people reaching for the tissues, self-sacrifice has rarely wrenched the gut as much as it does here.

"Ashes and Dust" also has the sympathetic character of Evan Abby, a character one immediately feels for. Contrary to another clearly confused review, the unsub's screen time is limited (to me, and my only real complaint of the episode, a tad underdeveloped too) and is actually as far away from sympathetic as you can actually get, one of the most loathsome of the season in fact.

Loved the team character moments and interaction. Seeing more development to Hotch was great, and equally loved his empathy for the case and his interaction with Gideon, who as well as authoritative and intuitive proves to be loyal to easy-to-open-up-to. Reid is impossible to dislike with his geeky charm, and they even reference his addiction for continuity's sake and just enough to not overwhelm the episode. Prentiss and Morgan's humour was refreshing.

Visually, the production values are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, never once being distracting. The direction keeps the momentum going but lets the case breathe, and all of the pacing is spot-on.

The script is thought-provoking, tautly paced and structured and nicely balanced. The story is absorbing and clever in construction, while the acting is very good with marvellous performances from Thomas Gibson and Tom Schanley.

Overall, horrifying, poignant and wonderfully done. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The best yet. Love the heart in this one but then I can be a touch sentimental.

Actually that Enya tune ("Boadecia") was used some years ago in a creepy, campy thriller about shape-shifting, incestuous cat-people called "Sleepwalkers." Another Steven King movie adaptation gone horribly wrong.

This episode of "Criminal Minds" was quite effective and well written. Interesting to see the "unsub" portrayed so positively and to have Agent Hotchner sympathize with him.

The movie "Sleepwalkers" starred Alice Krige who went on to play the Borg queen in "Star Trek: First Contact." It also had cameos by King, Clive Barker, John Landis, Joe Dante, and Tobe Hooper. Mädchen Amick turns in a decent performance, well above the quality of the rest of the flick. Nice to look at, too.

But the haunting Enya tune is creepily effective. That movie also ended with a house on fire. (Sorry for the digression; just trying to satisfy the silly "ten lines" requirement for comments here.

Honestly! Jump out the window in case of fire. Opening scene with the whole family died because they won't jump out of their non-bar one storey house window just completely kill the desired to watch the episode

Just thought it was strange that they had an Enya song (can't be sure of which one) playing through the opening scene. I usually equate Enya with peace and serenity so it was a very strange juxtaposition to listen to her song as fire spread around a room, people crawled through the smoke in panic, even the killer manifests himself before the strains die away. Did anyone else find this strange? Of course there is the interesting fact that we have a man dressed in a fireman suit in the house, and the editor seems to continually cut to scenes of the bookshelf burning in between shots of the family in distress. It seemed very reminiscent of "Fahrenheit 451" to me. Of course, I could be just reading too much into it. Intentional homage, or over-analysis?

My mom always said: "If you keep making that face it will freeze and stay that way". Hotch. Gideon. Take note.

Like, they live in a single story house. With plenty of windows. Yet they decide to crawl the length of the house through the flames towards the front door. Genius.

Oh. By the way there is a window right beside the front door.

Want to do the lame round robin briefing? OK lets do it.

So, like, wouldn't it make sense to look for the target car in the neighborhood of the EDF meeting? My wife nodded her head.

It's funny how, in Hollywood, flames can actually leap onto objects.

Please tell me just how does one shake a police tail when there are hundreds of police cars all with radios.

At 39:50- The US Navy used AFFF to extinguish fuel fires.

Who's Gone D?