#her interactions w not just the bau but the other people working in the prison..

[maschotch]

I’m so glad someone is appreciating riding the lightening (1x14). I truly believe imo it is the best written episode of the series (not my favorite because damn it’s depressing, still in my top 10 favorite but it’s definitely the best written of the whole series).

It’s the way they introduce these characters in one episode, and you get attached. You don’t want her to be executed at the end, you’re actively rooting for her. But it’s so beautifully bittersweet at the end, because for her, it’s her happy ending in some way. She gets to spare her child a lifetime of misery, so she wins in the end. Even though she dies, the unsub still loses in this episode.

It’s also just the way the episode ends with a way it begins, with the cello scene. Like....FUCK I think it’s the most poetic thing the show ever did. And the way Gideon just sits there, tears streaming down his face.....this and 100 were the only episodes I sobbed to.

There are other aspects to the episode that make it great, like hotch being the one to “battle” the unsub (shit I don’t remember names). It’s a mind game, and a card game too lakjshd but that’s kinda a mind game. Point is, is it builds up throughout the episode, so it’s so satisfying to see hotch be the one to tell him he loses; hotch won the game.

But it also makes sense that Gideon is connected to the woman (WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES OMG??). At this point in the series, Gideon is the one who gets too emotionally involved. It’s his great downfall but also his greatest strength. It’s fitting that hotch deals with the evil, awful unsub and Gideon is the one who connects with the woman who wants nothing more then to have him be the last face she sees.

I have never rewatched it. I probably will one day, but I can safely say, no episode has surpassed it in its brilliance. Sure, other episodes have had better character moments for our favs, but no other episode had its pure genuine quality. It had us on the edge of our seats the whole time for characters we just met 40 minutes ago, but also is the most important episode of season 1 for Gideon, who at the time is our main character. You really get to see the kind, but overly involved side of him that makes him such a compelling character (idc what people say he deserved sm better).

I think this is where Criminal Minds excels. When I think of the best episodes of the series, like the season four finale, I remember them for their haunting endings, the way they don’t try and outdo the past big arc that they had or end in some big, flashy, climactic manner. They’re just stories about people, and all the good and evil they are capable of.

riding the lightning is one of my all time favorite criminal minds episodes for sure. like its not even about gideon or hotch—though they do have their moments. its about sarah jean and the lengths she would go to in order to grant her son a better life. a life she couldnt give him. piecing together through the episode that she’s more innocent than they thought and the realization that she was jacob’s last victim.

the actress was great. the moments between her and gideon were heart wrenching. especially on a rewatch where the inevitable tragedy of it all looms over every word, every action. but through her sacrifice she’s still hopeful. hopeful that her son will have a future because of what she’s doing. her death isnt for nothing. but that still doesnt make it right