When is the 100th episode not the 100th episode? When IMDb counts #4.25 as one episode, but production company counts it as two. That aside, one really has to ask, how lame is that title? On a sitcom, "100" would work - "30 Rock" has an episode also titled "100", which, fittingly, IMDb counts as the 101st episode.
But I digress. It is disappointing to see that the Reaper arc ends so soon, after only a dozen episodes or so (I don't count "Omnivore" a part of the arc, merely his introduction). There was so much potential for a season long arc, but it seems the showrunners got scared at the thought of possibly losing viewers who, over four years, had become accustomed to *not* having to see every episode.
The opening presents us with a mystery. Clearly, at least two people have died, but who are they? The decision to tell the story through Strauss' debriefing/questioning of the members of the BAU team works nicely, but the various members' recollections of the events are hardly subjective - essentially the fragments are just standard flashbacks. There is wasted potential in not exploring the possibility that the various members see the events in a different light - now they just all fall nicely in line to support Hotch's decisions during the events. We only see their differing reactions to Strauss' questioning.
JJ's husband and son appear for no purpose at all - she could have found out about Foyet's medication without them. And it's always good to see Nicholas Brendon, but his character was last seen in #4.23 and does very little here. It's like a small-time all-star gathering, and it serves only to distract from the main plot, which is lean and mean, but appears to run a little short, hence the fillers.
C. Thomas Howell, who once played the victim of Rutger Hauer's legendary The Hitcher (forget the remake), has been a revelation as the diabolical Foyet. His performance during Foyet's brutal assault on Kassmeyer is just chilling, recalling the classic scene between Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer in RoboCop. And during Foyet's sadistic mental torture of Hotch over the phone Howell is just demonic.
The final act has all the ingredients to make this a classic episode, and it was unexpected to see that the showrunners actually had the cojones to kill of Haley so unquestionably, even if the act itself is only heard, not seen. From thereon, the following segment is almost impossible to fumble: Hotch's search of the house and fight with Foyet only demands basic understanding of directing, editing and scoring (music, that is). And it is *good*. When Hotch actually beats Foyet to death with his bare hands, I almost checked that I wasn't dreaming. Could this be this series' Se7en? The point of no return?
But no. By the episode's end it *seems* Strauss is willing to look Hotch's actions through her fingers. The final scenes almost *seem* to spell that "It's all right now, a happy end". Sure, we are not explicitly told what will happen next: is Hotch going to retire? Past members like Gideon and Elle have retired from less harrowing experiences. If Hotch hops back in the saddle next week without so much as taking a recovery leave, I will lose my hope of this show.
With the lack of clear resolution of Hotch and his son's fate, the clichéd use of *that* Nietzsche quote and the fact that the supposedly brilliant Foyet falls to the old Explaining His Evil Plan to the Hero and Wasting the Opportunity to Finish Him, giving Hotch the chance to gain the upper hand, this potential masterpiece is "just" a 7/10 in the end. It's still better than most crap on TV, but it had the potential for so much more. Watch Se7en instead.
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