Criminal Minds Review: Last Gasp (Season 13 Episode 16)
Criminal Minds Season 13 Episode 16, “Last Gasp,” seems determined to make me want to tear out my hair — at least until the final minutes.
After the events of Criminal Minds Season 13 Episode 15, “Annihilator,” I believe there’s something bigger going on behind the presence of Linda Barnes. I stand by that now. However, I also stand by what I said before that episode: she is a flat character with no qualities besides being despicable.
Let’s count just a few of her objectively negative qualities. She assumes she’s always right, yet has no clue about profiling or fieldwork. When proven wrong, she does not admit fault and instead lashes out like a child. She prioritizes good press over people.
Oh, and she may literally be a sociopath who is totally okay with someone dying in a case she ignores.
Linda Barnes is too error-prone and petty to actually be evil in that way, and yet she is so unceasingly mean that even a single attempt to show a past moment of humanity falls short. While Kim Rhodes plays her character as brilliantly as the situation allows, it’s just infuriating and tiring.
As to everything else — what is it like seeing the team broken up and in completely different roles? Well, given that it’s nearly impossible to believe they’ll be stuck that way for long, it’s really not that bad at all.
There are a few awkwardly funny moments that, besides showing how terrible Barnes is at reassignments, help to assure that there is no way her plan will work. Emily’s new partner, Garcia’s lazy replacement, and the actors Rossi consults are all there for comic relief — and, strangely, it works.
Not everyone is miserable. Reid, once painfully awkward in front of any group of people, is doing well at teaching. True, most of his students are potentially there just to look at their attractive professor, but can you blame them?
In what remains of the BAU, JJ, Matt, and Luke hold down the fort as well as they can. And Tara, in a situation with clients who aren’t friends, enemies, and lovers all at the same time, would be a great mediator.
We feel the most for Garcia. A world without her knick-knacks is one that’s clearly doomed. Still, her scenes give us the understated hero Anita, who distracts their boss long enough for our team to save the day. I’d love to see her back in the future.
What we’re really all here for, of course, is the satisfaction when Barnes is finally taken down. Is it more than a little convenient that the team just happens to save the daughter of a senator who can undo all of Barnes’s wrongs? Sure, but we’ll take what we can get.
My only criticism here is that it happens too quickly to enjoy it as much as I’d like to. Barnes seems almost passive as she lets go of her fight. Nothing more seems to come of her involvement in the past case.
It is possible that the speedy wrap-up is intentional and that we should be suspicious of what it means. I don’t know whether Barnes will return, and I don’t think the team will be threatened as a unit again.
But something that seems too good to be true often is, and there may be more lurking down the line.
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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Caitlin Wyneken
Caitlin is an elder millennial with an only slightly unhealthy dedication to a random selection of TV shows, from PBS Masterpiece dramas to some of the less popular series on popular networks. Outside of screen time, she's dedicated to the public sector and worthy nonprofits, working to make a difference in the world outside of media.