The Last Word
- Episode aired Nov 15, 2006
- TV-PG
- 42m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
2.2K
YOUR RATING
Two serial killers send the BAU to St. Louis, and a new team member reports for duty.Two serial killers send the BAU to St. Louis, and a new team member reports for duty.Two serial killers send the BAU to St. Louis, and a new team member reports for duty.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the first episode to feature Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss.
- GoofsWhen Reid discovers that the two unsubs have been communicating with each other through the newspaper classified ads, the camera zooms in on one of the ads. But the ad shown was the message that Reid writes later in the episode when he is posing as the Hollowman to lure the Mill Creek Killer to a false dumpsite.
- Quotes
Jason Gideon: [questioning a surviving victim of the Mill Creek Killer] Was he handsome?
Victim: Yeah, he was. Actually, that's why I stopped.
Jason Gideon: When did his demeanor change?
Victim: After I refused to go to his car. He grabbed my arm so hard, I thought that it would break. I don't know, I've been watching the news about all these women being abducted. And... I just started screaming.
Jason Gideon: You trusted your instincts. Because of that, you're still alive.
- ConnectionsReferences Manhunter (1986)
- SoundtracksField Below
by Regina Spektor
Featured review
Two serial killers in one story, plus the introduction of Emily Prentiss
Season 2 was a mostly solid season, with the only average at best episode being "Honor Among Thieves" and particularly great episodes being "The Fisher King Part II", "Revelations", "Profiler, Profiled", "North Mammon" and "The Boogeyman".
"The Last Word" is notable for the introduction of Emily Prentiss. Although her screen time is short and not much is known about her or how she came to get the job in the first place, there is comfort knowing that she went on to become one of 'Criminal Minds' best and most popular characters and there is nothing really that annoyed me about her, much warmer personality than Elle. Paget Brewster holds her own.
Another interest point is the storyline involving two serial killers competing with each other. A great job is done with the two, especially the genuinely creepy "Mill Creek Killer", and with the contrasts between their crimes. The story here has a good deal of tension and suspense, a highlight scene being the interrogation scene with Gideon really knowing how to twist the knife in and making one feel uneasy.
Visually, "The Last Word" is as stylish, classy and atmospheric as one would expect, while the direction is solid and the music haunting and melancholic. The script provokes thought and structured with enough tightness, and the team work, character interaction and profiling are great. As are the embedded references.
The acting all round is great, Mandy Patinkin as ever showed great authority and in support Jason O'Mara is suitably eerily twisted.
My only complaints with "The Last Word" are a slightly rushed ending and the team's all too risky plan of capturing "Hollow Man", the killer's behaviour also being the opposite as to how he behaved in the rest of the episode. Instead of being as smart and perhaps even smarter than the killer he was competing with he acted very dumb.
In summary, very solid episode if not one of my favourites. 8/10 Bethany Cox
"The Last Word" is notable for the introduction of Emily Prentiss. Although her screen time is short and not much is known about her or how she came to get the job in the first place, there is comfort knowing that she went on to become one of 'Criminal Minds' best and most popular characters and there is nothing really that annoyed me about her, much warmer personality than Elle. Paget Brewster holds her own.
Another interest point is the storyline involving two serial killers competing with each other. A great job is done with the two, especially the genuinely creepy "Mill Creek Killer", and with the contrasts between their crimes. The story here has a good deal of tension and suspense, a highlight scene being the interrogation scene with Gideon really knowing how to twist the knife in and making one feel uneasy.
Visually, "The Last Word" is as stylish, classy and atmospheric as one would expect, while the direction is solid and the music haunting and melancholic. The script provokes thought and structured with enough tightness, and the team work, character interaction and profiling are great. As are the embedded references.
The acting all round is great, Mandy Patinkin as ever showed great authority and in support Jason O'Mara is suitably eerily twisted.
My only complaints with "The Last Word" are a slightly rushed ending and the team's all too risky plan of capturing "Hollow Man", the killer's behaviour also being the opposite as to how he behaved in the rest of the episode. Instead of being as smart and perhaps even smarter than the killer he was competing with he acted very dumb.
In summary, very solid episode if not one of my favourites. 8/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•92
- TheLittleSongbird
- Feb 4, 2017
Details
- Runtime42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD
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