Criminal Minds Review: Annihilator (Season 13 Episode 15)

The BAU rages and rallies against a crisis that may be much bigger than they realize on Criminal Minds Season 13 Episode 15, “Annihilator.”

For most of this episode, Linda Barnes’s presence is both enraging and frustrating. The reasons for the former are obvious, but Barnes is frustrating not only because she’s a villain, but because she seems such a one-dimensional one.

Her air of superiority is not backed by skill. Her efforts to manipulate the team are blatant, her attempts at sympathy not remotely believable. And, of course, she has no clue what she’s doing in the field—but upholds her way with near-deadly consequences, lashing out when proven wrong.

All of this appears for a while as lazy writing, with Barnes as nothing more than a figure to be hated. She may still be. Yet creating her as simply a mouthpiece could be completely intentional.

In the final scene of the episode, where Barnes seeks revenge on her humiliation by sending each member of the team to a new position in the FBI, we confirm that all she has is power, but that in that power, she has everything.

It is possible that she’s simply lying, either to the director or the team, about her actions and their results. More likely, though, this corruption includes her entire power structure and goes much deeper than either her or the BAU.

What will that mean? One thing I’m sure of, if only because we’re only halfway through the season and are still getting episode descriptions mentioning cases, is that this “end” of the team as we know it won’t last. We do know, though, that this arc is far from over. What could it all mean?

This entire episode is a mix of strong emotions. There’s lots of anger, of course, but we also get the wonderfully satisfying moments of the team telling Barnes where she can shove it, especially with JJ calling her out on her failures.

The best part of this show, and something that has dwindled in recent seasons with less and less episode time devoted to anything outside the case itself, is the family relationship of this team. We’re finally getting that in full again, and it’s well worth the wait.

Emily and Reid’s scenes are wonderful. They’ll sacrifice everything for their team in a heartbeat, but they also aren’t afraid to tell the other what needs to be said. With them both on the verge of tears as Reid begs Emily to stay and fight, we know when she agrees that this team isn’t going anywhere.

Given all of that, my only issue again is that, with so much else to care about, I barely remember anything about the case. I know that deep emotions (and probably delusions) are involved in the unsub’s motive to commit a brutal quadruple homicide, but we rush through the details.

As far as I can tell, the entire grisly investigation is just a tool to invent more ways to make us hate our new enemy. That all comes to a head with the final confrontation that makes Barnes look so very bad at her job.

The one thing this woman is good at is using her position. How did she get it, anyway? She certainly didn’t climb the ranks with her skills at profiling and in the field. I have a feeling there’s another answer to that question, and that it’s not one we’re going to like.

What did you think of this episode of Criminal Minds? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on CBS.

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