The saddest episode of season eight of Criminal Minds, “Zugzwang”, is the episode in which Reid’s love interest, Maeve, died at the hands of her stalker, Diane.
Criminal Minds has a 15-season run, which is one of the longest runs for any procedural crime drama on American television. With over 324 episodes in its 15 years, the series has a number of memorable episodes for its cult-following.
Widely regarded as one of the saddest episodes of the series and the saddest episode of season eight, “Zugzwang” was the episode in which Reid lost his love interest at the hands of her stalker, Diane, as a result of the unfortunate and surprising murder-suicide.
Is “Zugzwang” the highest rated season 8 episode?
To affirm the fact that Criminal Minds’ “Zugzwang” is one of the saddest episodes of the series, the episode is the most highly-rated episode in season eight on IMDb.
With a score of 8.6 out of 10, the episode is one of three episodes in that season to have earned a viewer’s rating which is higher than an eight.
The second episode that reached over an eight is the season finale “The Replicator” with 8.2 out of 10, and season eight, episode 10, titled “The Lesson” with a total of 8.1 out of 10 overall viewer’s score.
Criminal Minds: Zugzwang
Season eight, episode 12 was titled “Zugzwang” and it aired in January 2013. This episode is considered one of the saddest as it features the love story of fan-favourite character, Spencer Reid, and his love interest of the season, Maeve Donovan.
Maeve, who Reid had never physically met due to Maeve’s fears that their meetup would put Reid’s life in danger due to her stalker, was finally kidnapped by Diane, her stalker.
Reid found out when he attempted to page Maeve, and a stranger’s voice replied stating, “Zugzwang.”
With the help of the Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU), they made quick work of finding out that Maeve’s stalker was Diane Turner, a former PhD candidate whose thesis was rejected as it was biased.
Diane therefore blamed Maeve for how her life turned out and became obsessed with her. Diane’s identity was discovered after the BAU interrogated Maeve’s ex, Bobby and through insignificant details shared and seen, Reid was able to deduce that it was Diane who kidnapped Maeve.
During the final confrontation, after Diane had already killed Bobby by shooting him in the head, marking her first victim, a disarmed Reid lied to Diane confessing his love for her in an attempt to save his life and that of Maeve’s.
Diane recognised the lie when they kissed, as she did not feel its passion. As a result, while she was holding Maeve as a buffer, she shot herself and the bullet exploding also killed Maeve.
Why was Diane’s thesis labelled biased?
Diane Turner’s obsession with Maeve Donovan started when Maeve rejected her PhD thesis, because it was believed that the sample that she used was biased.
Diane had written a thesis that explored the hypothesis of spontaneous cellular death in suicide patients. However, the thesis was rejected because it used her parents’ suicide as a sample to derive these facts.
Diane’s parents had taken their lives in a double-suicide when she was young for reasons that were not explained in the episode.
It seems that was the first trauma that she experienced, which she carried with her through her life, as not much else is known about her early life.
What is the meaning of “zugzwang”?
Chess players would likely know the meaning of the term. In the Criminal Minds episode Reid explained the term when he was explaining why he believed that Maeve had been kidnapped by her stalker.
The term is a German word which, loosely translated, means, “compulsion to move.” In chess, the term refers to when one player is at a disadvantage as they must make a move, but any move that they make will make their game significantly weaker.
Thus, the term is used to suggest that the player is in “zugzwang”, when any possible move that they make will exacerbate their position.
What was Diane’s obsession with Maeve?
For fans, it was difficult to understand why Diane was so obsessed with Maeve Donovan, especially since it seems that their only relation was that Maeve was responsible for approving or rejecting her thesis.
However, it is believed that it was for exactly that reason that Diane was obsessed with Maeve. Diane believed that when Maeve rejected her thesis, she prevented her from having the life she always desired; Maeve’s life.
Coupled with her mental health issues, which were never overtly highlighted but suggested through her backstory, it is clear that the rejection was the last straw in a series of unfortunate events that happened to her.