The unit has to deal with the militia when they're called to rural Montana to track a killer who's obsessed with his mentor.The unit has to deal with the militia when they're called to rural Montana to track a killer who's obsessed with his mentor.The unit has to deal with the militia when they're called to rural Montana to track a killer who's obsessed with his mentor.
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- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIt is revealed in this episode that SSA David Rossi is Italian-American and 52 years old.
- GoofsWhen Reid brings ammo out from the unsub's house the sheriff says "7.62 millimeter. He's got an assault rifle." There is however no way for him to know this as there are plenty of semi-automatic rifles which use this round, as well as a few handguns.
- Quotes
Dr. Spencer Reid: A popular theory among leading astrophysicists estimates that the hyper-matter reactor would need about 10³² Joules of energy to destroy a planet the size of Earth. Now, Lucas said it took 19 years to build the first Death Star, right? If you look at the universal chronology, there's a tested prototype for Superlaser - where're you going?
Derek Morgan: Take back the last five minutes of my life.
- ConnectionsReferences Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Certainly a lesser episode of when 'Criminal Minds' was in its prime (a lot of Season 1 but especially seasons 2-5, although 5 had a few disappointing episodes) is better than lesser episodes of when the show became particularly hit and miss from Season 6 onwards, particularly Seasons 9 and 11 (their lesser episodes being among the show's worst episodes).
There is certainly enough to make it watchable. "Identity" starts off very tense with an exciting police chase that ends on a quite shocking note. It also has a climax just as suspenseful and exciting, on first viewing it was a little strange but on a further couple of viewings (done to give the episode a fairer assessment) it is the episode's most memorable scene.
"Identity" is a great looking episode. The scenery is simply amazing and like a character of its own, while it's beautifully and atmospherically shot and crisply edited. The music is moody and haunting, and, though Joe Mantegna was still settling into the character of Rossi and isn't looking comfortable just yet, the acting is fine. There are a couple of nice character moments, namely the scene in the bar with Morgan and JJ, when Prentiss, Morgan and Reid were snooping around Rossi's office and in particular Reid questioning the science of the Death Star. The whole stuff with the community was intriguing, and the comment directed towards Reid about looking like a pipe with legs was a funny moment.
Against all this, some of the script is weak, with not enough interaction with the team (when there was some it was great) or profiling, which played second fiddle to a potentially creepy but rather oddly executed concept with the surviving unsub. A shame, considering that both are such a huge part of the show's appeal. There are some nice scenes, but the rest of the episode is a bit bland. This is due to a rather tired and sometimes pedestrian-in-pace story based around an unsub relationship and dynamic not at all unfamiliar to 'Criminal Minds' already (some of those cases a short time ago and a few in a very short time from one another) and with not an awful lot interesting.
Rossi's character hasn't yet settled in after his understandably shaky introduction in the patchy but still good "About Face", which benefited from a case that served the episode and show well. His more old-school and less intuitive approach at this point (it was with "Damaged", with a more personal side to him, when he properly became easier to like and more interesting) takes getting used to and he doesn't feel like an interesting or likable character yet (things he would be later on, and he along with Reid is ironically one of the main reasons why I still stuck with Season 11), rather stiff and not easy to warm to. Personally didn't find the unsub that menacing or memorable either.
Overall, a bit bland but not a bad episode. 6/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 25, 2016
Details
- Runtime42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD