Interesting change of pace, but fell short

Carmen Argenziano in Criminal Minds (2005)

James Remar and Roxanne Hart in Criminal Minds (2005)

Roxanne Hart and Rosanna Jean Foss in Criminal Minds (2005)

Prentiss learns from an old friend, John Cooley, that their mutual friend, Matthew Benton, just died from a heart attack. Prentiss had not seen either man in several years, both for different reasons. John also mentions that Matth...

Demonology

Season 4 is a contender for &apos;Criminal Minds&apos; best season, with &quot;The Big Wheel&quot;, &quot;Zoe&apos;s Reprise&quot; and &quot;Conflicted&quot; being three of the best of the entire show. Every season however has had at least one episode that didn&apos;t work and that is the case with Season 4 with &quot;Demonology&quot;.

&quot;Demonology&quot; is a long way from a bad episode, and there are far worse episodes in the show (most of which from the average at best and poor at worst Season 11 where only four episodes were good). At the same time it did fall short.

It is a very well made episode as always, dark, gritty, stylish and audacious as it should be. The theme tune is hypnotic, and some of the music does have a realistically haunting vibe. A good deal of the script is thought-provoking and gripping, with moments of good atmosphere.

Prentiss was always one of the show&apos;s best characters, my favourite being Reid (one of the main reasons, other than my general love for &apos;Criminal Minds&apos;, for still watching it), and &quot;Demonology&quot; did a great job developing her and allowing us to feel empathy for her. This, along with strong writing, is further accentuated by a perfectly pitched performance from Paget Brewster, giving along with Season 5&apos;s &quot;Outfoxed&quot; some of her best acting of the show&quot;.

However, while there is nothing wrong with doing something differently the episode doesn&apos;t quite do enough with it. The case is intriguing and the team are hardly underused, out of character, dumbed down or useless, but while it wasn&apos;t a bad thing keeping things mysterious and having parts open to interpretation too much of the episode did feel too ambiguous and underdeveloped. Not giving a reason for the cause of the nosebleed was agreed lazy writing.

The exorcisms could have been much creepier too, they felt too cheesy and overdone to have enough atmosphere. Also agree that the music at the end really killed the mood, what should have been a harrowing and poignant ending is spoilt by music more at home in a particularly mawkish intimate scene in a sappy romantic comedy. Contrary to another review, Hotch being side-lined was not a good thing. Hotch at this point was not one of the show&apos;s most interesting character admittedly, but the episode did not make the right decision making him practically invisible and giving Thomas Gibson hardly anything to do.

All in all, an interesting change of pace and loved the focus on Prentiss but it fell short. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Season 4 is a contender for 'Criminal Minds' best season, with "The Big Wheel", "Zoe's Reprise" and "Conflicted" being three of the best of the entire show. Every season however has had at least one episode that didn't work and that is the case with Season 4 with "Demonology".

"Demonology" is a long way from a bad episode, and there are far worse episodes in the show (most of which from the average at best and poor at worst Season 11 where only four episodes were good). At the same time it did fall short.

It is a very well made episode as always, dark, gritty, stylish and audacious as it should be. The theme tune is hypnotic, and some of the music does have a realistically haunting vibe. A good deal of the script is thought-provoking and gripping, with moments of good atmosphere.

Prentiss was always one of the show's best characters, my favourite being Reid (one of the main reasons, other than my general love for 'Criminal Minds', for still watching it), and "Demonology" did a great job developing her and allowing us to feel empathy for her. This, along with strong writing, is further accentuated by a perfectly pitched performance from Paget Brewster, giving along with Season 5's "Outfoxed" some of her best acting of the show".

However, while there is nothing wrong with doing something differently the episode doesn't quite do enough with it. The case is intriguing and the team are hardly underused, out of character, dumbed down or useless, but while it wasn't a bad thing keeping things mysterious and having parts open to interpretation too much of the episode did feel too ambiguous and underdeveloped. Not giving a reason for the cause of the nosebleed was agreed lazy writing.

The exorcisms could have been much creepier too, they felt too cheesy and overdone to have enough atmosphere. Also agree that the music at the end really killed the mood, what should have been a harrowing and poignant ending is spoilt by music more at home in a particularly mawkish intimate scene in a sappy romantic comedy. Contrary to another review, Hotch being side-lined was not a good thing. Hotch at this point was not one of the show's most interesting character admittedly, but the episode did not make the right decision making him practically invisible and giving Thomas Gibson hardly anything to do.

All in all, an interesting change of pace and loved the focus on Prentiss but it fell short. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Prentiss learns from an old friend, John Cooley, that their mutual friend, Matthew Benton, just died from a heart attack. Prentiss had not seen either man in several years, both for different reasons. John also mentions that Matthew thought he was going to be killed just like "Tommy V." In searching, Garcia does find someone matching that name in the area who recently died from dehydration. There are similarities between the two deaths but no medical rationale for tying the two together as murders. A third person in the area then dies in a similar way but again no medical indication of an unnatural death or rationale tying the death to the first two. However, Prentiss and Rossi, in particular within the team, are certain the three deaths are related and that they are indeed murders. They have to tread lightly and carefully since the families of the deceased refuse to speak to the FBI - especially Matthew's family who know, and do not like, Prentiss - and since there is no official case as the police have not sanctioned one. The investigation gets more complicated for the team when they find who they believe is the murderer.

bappamtv

Demonology

🎭 Top Cast

🎬 Technical Specs

🏷️ Keywords

🎯 Categories

⭐ Featured Review

💡 Did You Know?

📖 Synopsis