Why did nobody tell me that the episode where Derek left the BAU so damn emotional 😭😭😭😭

I fall asleep watching CM. I’m just starting Reid’s prison arc. So I had a dream that Penelope was getting angry about making sure everyone had their letters for Reid by 3:00. Meanwhile, I couldn’t find a pen. All of a sudden, I’m dating Reid, but we barely started dating when he got arrested. Penelope had given out cards to everyone, and I lost mine.😭 I couldn’t find her for a while, so I grabbed one of Reid’s books, and was writing in the blank spaces of the illustrations. I didn’t know what to say, because we didn’t discuss how we spoke to each other romantically. When I finally found her, I gave her the book (soft cover) and she gave me that annoyed look, and said something like “ you want me to bring THIS HUGE THING to a prison?”

She hated me. Something, something, something, and she didn’t hate me anymore, but was angry the rest of the time.

Then I woke up. The End.

of course when strauss offered him retirement i rolled my eyes because i wouldn’t want to see hotch go. but realistically speaking, should hotch have resigned to be with jack??

like hotch said, jack always needed his dad but at least he had his mom. but now with his mom gone, he needs his dad more than ever. however, all of that is pretty much exiled under the guise of hotch “needing to catch the bad guy” and “continue being the role model for jack.” and im biased so ofc i am happy asf that hotch decided to stay but idk.. he definitely should’ve retired to be with his son 😭

im only on season 5 so idk if he does end up retiring in the future, im only referencing strauss’s offer after haley’s death.

If this were an undercover operation, what do you think she was investigating as ‘Kathy, the acting student’?

sometimes i kinda wish they would tell us what happened to the unsub, kinda like SVU in a way. i wonder if joe ended up going to prison for his involvement or if it was exiled because he was forced into it and just trying to save his family?

they mentioned that he was undercover (idk if he was still active) which makes me think that he probably wouldn’t go to prison for his involvement as a UC.

idk, i sometimes just wanna know what ends up happening to the unsub, especially in cases like this

I would prefer to watch it legally. Pay for a subscription of a streaming site and watch it. I have always loved the show. Finished it when it did air. Been wanting to binge watch it again.

“What did you join a boy band?”

“Where are my clothes?”

“Remind me to have her drug tested.”

What are some of your favorite funny lines from Hotch?

hotch’s speech had me in tears and ughhh poor jack wtf 😭😭 ik it’s a tv show but watching a child lose a parent so young will forever get me.

rip to my girl haley 😭😭

I love all but the Evolution ones

my face is literally drenched in tears and snot 😭 everything about this episode was literally my worst nightmare like was it designed to kill me or something?? do they want george foyet to kill us too orrrr ?????

when i get done with the show and do my rewatch, idk if i can rewatch this episode. but its almost impossible to ignore the plot, its not just a random gut wrenching episode you usually skip— it’s one of the biggest plots 😭

just finished season 8, and there’s references in the finale to the idea of them being more than friends?

curious to hear other interpretations

roommate is gone so i can cry all i want. i just want to get it over with since the anxiety leading up to this episode has probably been worse than what i’ll be feeling in this episode 😭😭

i know this has been discussed a few times on here but i’m looking for some updates opinions?
i liked jj the first few seasons but once she became a profiler she just became so bland and boring, and started to remind me of some made up fan fiction character. like, why did they change her whole job just to make her the “blonde” of the show? and don’t get me started on the whole spencer thing that was just strange.

i’m rewatching criminal minds for the millionth time , and i just noticed something i’d never caught before . was haley cheating on hotch?? i’m talking about the scene where the house landline rings , hotch answers , but nobody says anything , and then a couple of seconds later , her cell phone starts ringing from inside her purse . and before she leaves the room , she grabs said purse ?? hello ?? am i the only one who thinks that’s suspicious , or did i miss something ?

I think Reid undoubtedly had the most difficult job, script wise. Imagine having to memorize all them ‘boy wonder’ words. Phew!

One of the best episodes imo. When I first watched it, years ago, I think I started screaming at the screen. Great story line, hit with the real life possibility of being an innocent prisoner and the political lines? Awww, 10/10. Gets you everytime 👏🏻

Thanks for that, Criminal Minds. I feel better after throwing up 🙄 Maybe continuing to watch this series is my own form of self-torture.

Once AGAIN, everything revolves around Elias?

I was actually happy the death of will(no offense, i just think jj deserves better ), but then got this whole pile of crap revolving around his death, including his mother blaming JJ and SLAPPING her?????

And then there’s Tessa. An incredibly intelligent mechanical engineering PhD student who runs circles around the FBI. When her professor sexually harasses her, she fights back, takes his car, and escapes. Then she encounters Elias’s sadistic uncle, gets kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and brainwashed—and now she’s been conditioned into submission and no longer fights back or escapes?
Fine, they write her as someone who becomes deeply disturbed and turns into a killer. But she goes from being sexually harassed by one man, to being held captive and abused by another, to obsessively following Elias—yet ANOTHER violent man?????
She’s smart enough to outmaneuver the entire FBI, but suddenly becomes gullible enough for Elias to betray her and get her caught?

And what makes the team suspect she’s a woman? She sends a little boy back unharmed?

She can brutally murder innocent people, agree to kill an accomplice’s wife, and abduct a female doctor with the intention of forcing her to swallow spiders to bring back the old Elias. But she’s also so “kind” and protective toward a little boy that her supposed “maternal instincts” give her away as a woman???

Is this really how they’re writing women? She’s highly intelligent and initially knows how to fight back, but an older male sadist breaks her into submission. Then she becomes devoted to another male sadist. She brutally murders people, but still has this burst of “maternal instinct” when a little boy is involved?

And finally, it’s JJ—the female agent Elias previously targeted with AI-generated porn—who goes from being furious with him to being moved by him and believing he’s changed. So SHE gets to risk her life gently talking him out of shooting.
Why does it have to be her?

I started watching Criminal Minds years ago, and I’ve watched every single episode from Season 1 through Season 18. There have been plenty of times when the way the camera lingers on female victims made me uncomfortable, or the writing left me wondering what on earth the writers were thinking. But the things I loved about the show kept me watching. Still, I never expected a season airing in 2025 to be this regressive.

I was watching the season 12 finale where the BAU finally get Spencer out of prison after realising that Cat Adams and Lindsey Vaughan were responsible for everything, then they have to deal with Mr Scratch during the season 13 premiere.

Did they sleep at all during this? If not surely their cognitive functions would be compromised? I guess adrenaline would help get them through
(Also I have no idea how Spencer didn't mentally implode during this time)

There are other times where they are on time-sensitive cases that seem to last days, do they ever get to rest?

I know this is just a TV show and not realistic but it's fun to discuss these things :)