Criminal Minds (TV Series) Distress (2007) User Reviews

Very emotional

[labastida-197-890708 · 9/10 · 18 February 2014]

An amazing episode.

It touches lots of sensible strings with the unsub's situation.

Obviously you can't avoid sympathizing with him and it really reaches you when the inevitable happens.

This makes you wonder how many people may be living like that, stuck on those memories without receiving any help.

Another reason for this episode to be very emotional is that you can see how Dr. Reid's behavior is being affected from what happened to him in last chapter, makes you wonder when is Gideon going to notice it (which of course leaves you guessing that he may have already noticed, being who he is),well, in general, poor dude.

good one guys

Distressing- in a good way

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 10 March 2017]

When on form, and even better at its best, 'Criminal Minds' is one of my most watched and most re-watched shows and is a personal favourite. It is nowhere near as good now, but there are still good to great episodes made every now and then when the show doesn't forget what it's about, but Seasons 1-5 was its prime period.

Season 2 was a mostly solid season for 'Criminal Minds'. Boasting great episodes such as "The Fisher King Part II", "Sex, Birth, Death", "North Mammon", "The Boogeyman", the "No Way Out" episodes, "Revelations" and "Profiler, Profiled", with almost all the episodes missing that very high standard still being strong. The only real odd-one out, meaning barely average, was "Honor Among Thieves", while "Aftermath" was also a lesser episode it was still decent whereas "Honor Among Thieves" even strained average level.

Whether "Distress" is a 'Criminal Minds' episode that one can watch over and over, with a subject matter and the way it's done hard to watch, is up for debate. What cannot be denied is its emotional impact and how well it deals with the subject of PTSD. It's an important and polarising topic to cover, and instead of being heavy handed or talking down to the audience "Distress" covers PTSD with tact and delicately.

"Distress" is similarly one of the better episodes featuring Reid's trauma he suffered during "Revelations" and the episode to cover it in a way that wasn't dragged out or under-exposed and its impact was disturbing in Reid's alarming change in behaviour and moving in the team interaction and how they react. The case itself has tension and suspense but also a harrowing and affecting emotional impact. The portrayal of the unsub was a relative change of pace up to this point with 'Criminal Minds', instead of being irredeemably evil or trying too hard to evoke sympathy while never condoning their actions one genuinely feels sorry for this unsub and fully understands how and why they came to be that way.

The rest of the team interaction is similarly delightful, especially the refreshingly amusing one between Morgan and Garcia and the direct but loyal one between Gideon and Hotch.

Visually, the production values are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, never once being distracting. The direction keeps the momentum going but lets the case breathe, and all of the pacing is spot-on.

The script is thought-provoking, tautly paced and structured and nicely balanced. The story is absorbing and clever in construction, while the acting is very good all round.

Overall, an emotional episode and a great one. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Great Unsub

[lottiemarshalllm · 8/10 · 13 August 2020]

Disclaimer:I am no expert reviewer, I just need a show to binge watch and I'm going to Write a review for every episode I watch.

My favorite episodes are when you either have a decent amount of empathy for the killer or a great amount of hatred and this episode did a great job of portraying someone who the audience would have empathy for.

I thought the crime solving in this episode was particularly well thought out and well written and really showed the intelligence of the team.

Another reason I like this episode is because we get to see a lot of good character moments. Seeing Reid act differently to his team members after his kidnap was a lot more noticeable in this episode than the last.

I really like seeing Gideon get more personal and expressing how each case takes a toll on him as we usually see him as this unbreakable tough guy to some degree.

And this is just a more general, but I really like Emily Prentiss, she isn't afraid to stand up to her other teammates like Reid but also can work well with them like when interviewing the little girl with hotch.

Overall a really good episode that made you feel pretty bad for the killer which is difficult to do.

PTSD

[johngmurray-57968 · 10/10 · 26 August 2021]

This is one of the best second season episodes. People in a low income neighborhood in Houston are getting their necks snapped. The unsub turns out to be a Marine vet who killed a child soldier in Mogadishu. A building implosion triggered his PTSD and he thinks he's back in combat waiting for extraction. The BAU team turn to his wife and best friend (who served with him) for information and help .They try to communicate with him to bring him in safely ,but it ends tragically with his death,one of the saddest in the show's run. Also , Prentiss is appalled by Reid's insensitive behavior towards a witness. The regulars are solid as usual,but special notice goes to the 3 top guest stars. Holy McCallany is by turns scary and poignant as the lost soldier. Joanna Going is heartbreaking as his wife telling of his troubles since coming to the war,and pleading with JJ to help him. Nick Chinlund,who often plays bad guys is strong and moving as he tells Gideon of the incident that damaged his friend. A stellar outing that stays with you after it ends.

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Big overlook

[dawn_dickson · 6/10 · 24 April 2021]

This really was a good episode, and the acting was well done. The plot was fresh, and feeling sympathetic to the unsub was understandable.

However, two glaring plot holes prevented me from rating this higher. First, Reid. We don't actually know how much time passes from one episode to the next. Sometimes it can be months. I'll buy the premise that time has passed while Reid tries to assimilate again, but he's obviously having trouble. The odd reaction isn't from Reid, it's from the big-time profilers he works with, who look shocked when he is agitated or says the wrong thing. Could have done that better.

The second is just utterly ridiculous. They all know who the unsub is. They know why he's acting this way, as a suffering war veteran who thinks he's in the middle of a war zone. They finally know where he is and move in slowly to bring him in, without harm. Wouldn't you think that the local police and the FBI's BAU Unit could have cleared the area? Instead, smack in the middle of the supposedly well-thought plan to save this man's life, and anyone else he might hurt, a kid rides up on them on a bike, just as a jack hammer goes off. Seriously?

How Quickly They Forget

[spasek · 5/10 · 18 January 2021]

The topic and theme of this episode is actually a good one about a war veteran suffering from severe PTSD to the point where he believes he's still in the war zone. This, of course, leads to him killing people that he perceives to be the enemy.

What is sad is how many war veterans suffer from some form of PTSD and how little the American government has done to help them. It took years for the American government to help the first-responders on 9/11, and only because it was a topic put into the spotlight by people like Jon Stewart.

This episode is also only two episodes since Reid's abduction and torture. Still no mention of him having to go through a psychiatric evaluation (since he is obviously suffering from his own form of PTSD), as well as working along-side some very braid-dead and forgetful peers who quickly forget about his trauma. Prentiss, the least empathetic member of the team, can't understand why Reid is acting the way that he is. And SHE'S a profiler?!? Not a very good one, obviously.

It's funny to me how badly the writers overlook the obvious in the case of Reid as well as using terrible devices to move the plot forward. "Criminal Minds" has always had this problem, which is why it's like CSI...you just have suspend your disbelief in order to go with it.

Two veterans, clearly in their early-mid 40s at least, were a part of the Ranger group in Mogadishu...made up mostly of 18-20 year-old kids. This episode takes place a mere 12 years or so after that battle.

The FBI and SWAT teams close in on Woodridge only to have a construction crew set him off with the sound of a jackhammer just down the street. I guess cordoning off the area was just a "missed item" from the "writers'" minds, eh?

Only poor writers resort to cheap gimmicks to keep a plot moving.

Giving a bad ending to an episode does not make it deep.

[akkosheaven · 1/10 · 15 July 2021]

If i could have a penny for every sniper in this show who shots when they tell him not to shoot i have 2 pennys. That is way to much. They could have saved him but there was like a unrealistic chainreaction of bad accidents who killd him in the end. Its Season 2 and already 2 Episodes got ruined for me because a Target who could have survived died because a sniper did not what he was told to do. I like it a lot when episodes dont have an happy ending. But it has to be done in a original good way.

It's That Gosh Darn Heavy Metal Music Again, Right?

[nebohr · 4/10 · 19 December 2021]

My mom always said: "If you keep making that face it will freeze and stay that way". Hotch. Gideon. Take note.

At 00:38- Hollywood cliche #001: Someone should fall down during a foot chase.

So JJ: we think it would be easy to spot a female narcotics dealer wearing a Victorian era bustle.

A Gulfstream G550 costs around $3,600 an hour to operate.

Who's Leo Nardo De Venchee?

Like, pay attention Emily. Finding a connection between the victims is what the team's been talking about for the last two minutes.

Reid gets rather snippy when he's "jonesing" for another "hit" of "horse", doesn't he? We think he did it.

State the obvious, there, Hotch: "This is a high crime area". So we're thinking that one murder equals low crime area, two equals medium and three murders equals high?

Yay some nobody filler music.

That's some tough love there, mom. Basically throwing your son into prison. He must be a "love child".

So Gideon: Just how does one tell when a homeless person last slept in an abandoned building? Maybe by sampling the waste nearby?

Wow. Someone gives you a plate of home made cookies and you biotches mock them?!

The unsub might be homeless? How would a homeless person have the strength to break a man's neck?

Reid you genius: "All the murders occurred near abandoned buildings". Well, from the establishing shots, we see the entire area has abandoned buildings.

Like, there was no overabundance of sewers, dumpsters or American made cars in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The wife's not giving straight answers. We think she did it. Right?

JJ must be on dope, too. Either that or she's in love with Dana. Look at her dilated pupils.

Once you're homeless your beard stops growing.

Death by cop is the same as murder by cop, right?

Who's Tom S. Pain?

Truly iritating

[nadjanadja-79173 · 3/10 · 6 August 2022]

I find this episode hypocritical. It is portrayed as a tragedy that a murderer, who was a soilder murdering people in a war attack, is finally killed by the FBI. USA was not under attack, they weren't defending themselves or anyone else in the war this soilder participated in. They were attacking (as they usually do) for their own financial gain. And in the course of this attack this soilder killed a boy defending himself and his nation, and the audience should feel sorry for this man? I do not feel sorry for him and he is not a hero. None of those soilders are. They are puppets used by the USA, they have been brainwashed, as the majoroty of the USA population in to believing that they are protecting someone, when all they do is murder people all over the world for their government financial gain. Episodes like these are the reason so many TV series are ruined for me. Shameful. Good bless all of the poor people who died protecting their countries from the invadors.