candelach

Nothing in this episode matches the Kelly/Steve history introduced in previous episodes

From the very title of this episode, which is both explained incorrectly and mispronounced, everything about this episode made me tear out my hair in frustration. The show has repeated continuity errors over the seasons, but to have such blatantly jarring ones just a few episodes apart really insults the audience's intelligence. Reid said he was reaching out to a geneticist because of his headaches, suddenly in this episode he says they "met" when she wrote him a letter complimenting one of his articles. He never knew her full name, yet they conversed through letters. Maeve is initially portrayed as somewhat of an agoraphobic, afraid to leave the house because of her stalker, which works as explanation as to why she is always at home, readily available for Reid to reach by way of phone booth. So how did she come to these letters? What good to pseudonyms do when the address is your home? In 8x10 at the restaurant, Reid says the reservation is under his name. Suddenly in "Zugzwang" she was the one to make the reservations, because the writers needed a way for the fiancé to find her. So much bad writing in this, it also makes it hard for the actors to do their job and portray the characters authentically. Also there are too many similarities to the Lila Archer case in episode 1 for this storyline to work. I wish CM had ended with Season 6.

Without spoiling - hair plays a part in this episode but every actress is wearing a wig when they make a point of discussing that it is their actual hair. Down the line of this series Spencer Reid's statistics have become grossly misinformed. It happens in this episode too: Reid is feeding the team false information - trichophilia has nothing to do with hair removal.