Tabula Rasa

While 'Criminal Minds' is a personal favourite show of mine, some seasons are better (some much better) than others.

Seasons 1-4 are mostly great and Season 5 had some high-points, before becoming hit and miss Season 6 onwards, with apart from three or four exceptions a particularly disappointing Season 11. There are many good to great episodes, as well as several outstanding ones, while others range from bad to average.

"Tabula Rasa" is one of my favourites from the early seasons, and one of Season 3's best episodes alongside the emotional and very relatable "Elephant's Memory" and the tense and non-stop suspenseful "Lo-Fi", also was really impressed by "True Night" and "Seven Seconds". Will even go so far to say that it's one of the best 'Criminal Minds' episodes.

The only minor complaint actually is the side-lining and under-use of Rossi, who was settling well at this point but he properly became interesting in "Damaged" and more so in Season 4 with "Masterpiece" and "Zoe's Reprise", but that is easily overlook-able because everything else is so masterfully done.

Particularly great here is the story and script. The story is riveting throughout, starting with an opening that is the very meaning of adrenaline-rush all the way to one of the show's most unforgettable and haunting endings. In between, there is some great profiling on Matloff. This sees the team working as a team and actually doing investigating, rather than conclusion-jumping or relying too conveniently on Garcia's computer to provide the answers, and Matloff is one of the show's most well developed and interesting criminals in my opinion, in struggling to understand who he was and what he did.

Also present are some nice little character moments within the team or with the supporting characters (the chemistry is brilliant), particularly loved the more mature and empathetic Reid's scenes with the vengeful father (one does understand his feelings here), as well as finding out more about how Reid joined the team and the first appearance of "baby girl", well before the flirtatious banter started getting too much. Other than the ending, the scenes with Matloff really resonated and the profiling-analysis scene in the courtroom with Hotch is one of the best ever scenes on 'Criminal Minds'.

Regarding the script, that was very cleverly structured, tightly paced and thought-provoking. Making one think and feel deeper than any episode before, especially with the whole questioning who Matloff is and is he guilty. The twist is one one doesn't see coming and is nail-biting. The production values are high in quality once again and the music suits the mood and tone of the episode well. Direction is solid.

Matthew Gray Gubler and Thomas Gibson especially stand out of the regular actors, due to their very strong scenes. Eric Lange is really quite brilliant as Matloff, one of those characters who one actually felt sorry for and for a while unsure about. Very different from the irredeemably evil unsubs often present on the show, and after seeing episodes that try to make one feel sympathy for the criminal but fail (mainly due to lack of development or their crimes being too awful and gratuitous) it was great to see an instance where it is done very well (one of the show's supremely successful attempts actually).

In conclusion, a 'Criminal Minds' classic and a Season 3 highlight. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Hi mr sikowitz king of murder!!!!! great job everyone