It's in my top five post-Gideon episodes of the show.
I also love Prentiss, and this climax to the little mini arc that focuses on her and her past is so satisfying to watch of you get to the end. It has a kind of epic feel with great direction, editing, and a cinematic score, and I get chills at the beginning of the final scene and the biggest smile at the very end, every single time I catch it in syndication.
As to the biggest gripe I see in the other reviews, I am usually the first to point out badly-written and irrational or inconsistent character behavior (I did my wordy best to eviscerate Walker, for example) but in this case I really believe they did a pretty good job setting up her precarious situation and the mental state, actions and motivations that arose from from it. Her choices aren't the ones us normal folk might make, but for someone in her position and training they do seem within the realm of not just the possible, but given the unrealistic, almost fantasy-level parameters these characters have operated in since the very beginning of the show, even likely.
The details surrounding the end I love so much IS a very unlikely one, but I forgive it not only because it's full of intrigue and surprise, but because I am well aware that *this is a show, not real life*. So much in this particular show is and always has been outright absurd (the FBI doesn't run the way this show depicts, and it would never let any of these people do any of the drama-inducing things they do, etc.) so of course you have to suspend disbelief to get through a lot of it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That's part of the fantastic journey we all live out watching just about anything that has been edited (aka, not a live stream of real life).
If you want a well-crafted episode with lots of heart, intrigue, and a few satisfying twists and turns, then this episode has you covered.
I also love Prentiss, and this climax to the little mini arc that focuses on her and her past is so satisfying to watch of you get to the end. It has a kind of epic feel with great direction, editing, and a cinematic score, and I get chills at the beginning of the final scene and the biggest smile at the very end, every single time I catch it in syndication.
As to the biggest gripe I see in the other reviews, I am usually the first to point out badly-written and irrational or inconsistent character behavior (I did my wordy best to eviscerate Walker, for example) but in this case I really believe they did a pretty good job setting up her precarious situation and the mental state, actions and motivations that arose from from it. Her choices aren't the ones us normal folk might make, but for someone in her position and training they do seem within the realm of not just the possible, but given the unrealistic, almost fantasy-level parameters these characters have operated in since the very beginning of the show, even likely.
The details surrounding the end I love so much IS a very unlikely one, but I forgive it not only because it's full of intrigue and surprise, but because I am well aware that *this is a show, not real life*. So much in this particular show is and always has been outright absurd (the FBI doesn't run the way this show depicts, and it would never let any of these people do any of the drama-inducing things they do, etc.) so of course you have to suspend disbelief to get through a lot of it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That's part of the fantastic journey we all live out watching just about anything that has been edited (aka, not a live stream of real life).
If you want a well-crafted episode with lots of heart, intrigue, and a few satisfying twists and turns, then this episode has you covered.