Zugzwang

Ending was the only part worth watching in this episode. The rest was simply poor and very, very trivial. Well, Michelle Trachtenberg was nice, and did everything she could to look psychopathic. Matthew Gray Gubler delivered his part as gracefully as usual. But. The plot was a disaster, so predictable and plain, and totally unbelievable! It was stupid from the beginning, when Reid first heard about stalker and did not do anything about it, but it got much more stupid with all the soapy garbage like "you will never have HIM" or "and now tell her you don't love her". I wanted to hide under my bed from all these pathetics. I love the show, and season 8 is good, and I will just try to wipe this episode out of my memory.

"Zugzwang" has often been described by 'Criminal Minds' fans as one of the worst episodes of the show. To me, it is a lesser episode, and one of the most frustrating ones too.

The episode as always does look great, 'Criminal Minds' has always been a well-made series, with plenty of gritty but classy style and atmosphere, and "Zugzwang" is no exception. The music is haunting and devastatingly melancholic.

A lot of the writing is tight, very thought-provoking and genuinely emotional, one really does feel for Reid here. The stalker/kidnapping story-line dominates the episode, but that doesn't mean that profiling and criminal psychology are completely side-lined, though they have been much more interesting before.

In "Zugzwang", the team dynamic is always enjoyable and the characters well-established, Maeve finally getting some meat to her character which Beth Riesgraf does quite well with. The acting is very good on the most part, with Matthew Gray Gubler especially being a revelation, his heart-break and devastation is emotionally devastating.

Generally "Zugzwang" was quite decent, though it does kick off with a very strange and awkwardly sappy dream sequence. Also, although there was very little to complain about with the acting, this reviewer didn't really care for Michelle Tratchenberg here, she seemed rather bland and evokes neither menace or sympathy.

But the biggest let-down is the badly botched, no let's rephrase that as slap-in-the-face ending, which is emotionally manipulative, implausible, ridiculous, forced and a cheap way of not only writing out a character that seemingly fans were not warming to but reminding us that Reid can't be happy (or that's how it felt).

In conclusion, a decent episode marred badly by the worst ending in 'Criminal Minds' history. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Feel ashame for a favorite TV show. The word "Zugzwang" means something else, that Read (doctor Read!) sad in there. "Zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move", pronounced [ˈtsuːktsvaŋ]) is a situation found usually in chess, but also in various other games, where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move when he would prefer to pass and make no move. The fact that the player must make a move means that his position will be significantly weaker than the hypothetical one in which it was his opponent's turn to move. Sorry for creators of otherwise great show... P.S. season 1 + 7 at least... (got from wikipedia.org) I was disappointed by that actually stupid mistake... :(

It's bad enough that the writers messed up the concept of zugzwang, but to have Dr. Reed do it is inexcusable. Doesn't anyone do fact-checking any more?

I cry my eyes out! I could not believe it! I was so in to the story that everything took me by surprise, it was something different, I did not expect it to end like that. I totally turn my brain off, somehow I connected with Reid, I was feeling everything that they were feeling. The story, the characters, the anticipation, everything was different but so enchanting that it consume me completely, I was amaze with the change in personality of the main character in the story because he is always so present and in this episode he was lost, this shows that love can do a lot of different things to your body, mind and soul. I definitely enjoy the episode but no more sadness please!