Criminal Minds Review: Ex Parte (Season 13 Episode 19)

Criminal Minds Season 13 Episode 19, “Ex Parte” gives us a very personal hostage situation—and a case that keeps you on the edge of your seat for an hour straight.

If there’s anything to be said about the unsubs in this episode, it’s that are part of a small handful of people who make Linda Barnes look like a saint in comparison.  Well, and that they are, unfortunately, figures who have become very familiar as of late.

The good news is that these desperate murderous racists play nearly as much of a role in their own downfall as our team.

The bad news is what they put everyone through until then.

Given this show’s track record when it comes to female love interests, I am very thankful that Kristy was at least spared. After Haley, after Maeve, I don’t always trust how the women in the life of main characters will fare.

Still, the two murders of innocent employees we did see were brutal, to say the least. One woman killed after heroically calling out her captor—I hope the other hostages remember what she did– and another chosen at random, dragged away, and shot.

We don’t see the murders happen on screen, but that doesn’t help much. Having their bodies be delivered to authorities on an elevator is plenty gruesome enough.

It’s difficult to do an episode that keeps you in a state of anxiety from start to finish, but we certainly get that here. The hour would be intense even without a loved one of a team member caught in the middle, but that ratchets it up to another level.

And speaking of Kristy, she’s just wonderful under pressure. No less terrified than anyone around her, she still has the presence to take action, even that backfires later on.

We do have to stretch the believable a bit in the team managing to save her at the last possible second with words that somehow both aggravate and disarm one of the hostage takers. But how good is she at delivering those words?

I am very glad that Matt and Kristy talked about her needing additional support after an incident like this. Hopefully, he goes right alongside her. I’m hearing mixed sentiments about Kristy preventing him from killing her attacker, but hey, it’ll save some paperwork.

Of course, the record we’ve seen of accurately maintaining PTSD is nearly as good as that of protecting female love interests, so we probably won’t see it on screen. At least, I don’t see there being time in these final few episodes of the season.

A few other notes:

• Rossi not batting an eye in the face of the lead racist scumbag is wonderful to watch. Goodbye, Larry. You won’t be missed.
• It smooths out eventually, but does the hostage takers’ dialogue at the start of the episode seem painfully cliché to anyone else? We do learn pretty quickly that they’re nowhere near as skilled as they think, though, so maybe that makes sense.
• The twist with the two security officers being left alive is small, but well-executed. 

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

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

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