The essential episodes of Criminal Minds
Watch these 15 in order and you've got Criminal Minds — each pick states its reason.
- 01
CRIMINAL MINDS revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again.
- 02
When Morgan is arrested for murder in his hometown of Chicago, the BAU team must profile him and delve into his past in order to prove his innocence.
- 03
The team unites to determine if Garcia's life is being threatened by a serial killer.
- 04
When the team is sent a videotape from a serial killer detailing one of his crimes, they discover a hidden message asking them to help him stop his murderous ways.
- 05
The BAU team races to help Hotchner find The Reaper and save his family before it's too late.
- 06
While JJ attempts to reunite a family whose daughter has mysteriously disappeared, her BAU family braces for the loss of one of their own.
- 07
Survivors of a Boise high school massacre return to remember the event 10 years later, but the BAU team is called in when a new killer with a similar style targets the survivors. Also, Hotch is worried that his son, Jack, may be a victim of school bullying.
- 08
When Reid discovers that his girlfriend has been kidnapped by her stalker, he and the BAU team band together to find her before it's too late.
- 09
When JJ is kidnapped, the BAU delves into her time at the State Department to find clues to her disappearance and uncover a secret mission that now puts her life in danger. To help with their search for JJ, the team calls upon Prentiss to help in the crisis.
- 10
The BAU helps Rossi's journalist daughter, Joy, investigate the disappearance of a college student. Also, the team is alarmed when Giuseppe Montolo dies in prison after he warns Morgan about the "Dirty Dozen," an underground group of hitmen, and JJ returns from maternity leave.
- 11
When Reid discovers former FBI Special Agent Owen Quinn locked inside a storage unit, the BAU questions the credibility of Quinn's bizarre accounts of searching for an UnSub that he named "The Strangler".
- 12
Rossi questions his actions in the aftermath of a near-death struggle with a serial killer who appears to have outsmarted the BAU.
- 13
Rossi will go to any lengths to prove that Elias Voit is Sicarius. But Voit turns Rossi into his own worst enemy, putting his future at the BAU in jeopardy.
- 14
Following the slayings of the 5-man strike team, the BAU travels to Salt Lake City to investigate a series of killings with the same brutal M.O. As the Team attempts to link the lastest victims, Rossi and Prentiss spar over whether they are dealing with the same UnSub who took out the strke team. Meanwhile, Rebecca joins Lewis and Tyler Green on a stakeout. Tyler breaks into a shell company storefront and uncovers a new lead on Gold Star.
- 15
The team investigates a network killer who buries his victims alive, and Tara confronts Rebecca's ex who has recently re-entered her life. Ronald Graber delivers a message from his Disciple to Voit.
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