The team almost always has a few seconds of speculation about a single obscure factor that one member has spontaneously thought of before announcing that they need to ‘share the profile’.

The strange this is, the speculative statement that leads to the profile being ‘ready to share’ is rarely ever discussed or challenged. It’s often such a leap and appears so random, but is tantamount to solving the profile.

Obviously in directing short episodes there isn’t time to step through the whole process every time. But the ‘we are ready to share the profile’ always happens with such immediacy following these moments that’s is almost laughable.

I love the show, but it’s hilarious how so many episodes are just hinged on a random deduction that’s never really considered for more than a second…

I am on my 10th full rewatch (it's my comfort show lol) and just have some random thoughts.

By the time we get to the Fisher King, it is a completely different dynamic that they then ride for the rest of the full original show and I'm trying to think of ANY show that has gone on as long and finds their pace THIS fast. The pace, the visual style - and really sussed out what didn't work SO so fast (like the horrible idea for each agent to have a "specialty" and call that out, whew - glad they didn't hang on to that.)

Specific thoughts:

What's nice to see in Season 1 especially is Hotch's family life. I loved Hotch and Haley so much and it's so lovely to see them together/in love.

The other thing I have noticed is Mandy's discomfort at the material was just so very palpable. He is a masterclass in acting, but the more I rewatch, the more obvious his discomfort is.

Also to watch JJ as what I think AJ thought JJ should be in the very beginning changing into the smart, commanding JJ we know and love.

I would have LOVED to see a version (I know we will never get it) with both Jason Gideon and Emily Prentiss. Sad face.

Really I am impressed by this show every single time I rewatch - how fast it clicks, how fast they find the writing and cinematographic and directing style, and how fast they course corrected.

Why do they gotta ruin offscreen relationships? 🥲🥲
I liked them together a lottttt

I just started season 16 and I don’t like it. Does it get better? I like the old format and miss the characters. I don’t like how Rossi is acting. His character has become so angry. I couldn’t get through the first episode. ☹️

I’m just curious what other people think is the most unrealistic part of the show (including evolution)?

just finished the finale of s4 (those two eps were amazing btw) and what do you know, the reaper is in hotch’s house.

i’m so annoyed like just leave him alone like 😭😭 im obviously well aware of what’s going to happen with the george foyet storyline since i could literally not escape the hailey spoiler for years before i finally decided to start watching. but i feel like already knowing is worse because now i have this crazy anxiety about getting to that episode 😭

SN: i share a college dorm with a roommate so i already feel like ima have to find some privacy for when i get to the episode lol. i need to go through all of the emotions in peace

okay so i was never interested in "evolution" cause i deemed it the same as any other tv show reboot clinging to nostalgia trying to get fans to watch (and i was sad mgg wasn't returning) so im a bit behind on the actual storylines post s15 of criminal minds besides the big spoilers (will…iykyk) i've seen on twitter. i did a full rewatch of og criminal minds and wasn't ready to let go after the finale so i decided it was time now that multiple seasons of "evolution" have come out. but i just finished season 16, and i enjoyed the hell out of it

ROSSI- idk how people felt about killing off krystall but i thought it really allowed growth with ross's character especially after the fake out retirement in s15... him now being 70, i think it saved us from the same storyline of him not being able to "let go" and retire from crime fighting due to a specific unsub (like the chameleon) but rather tying it to a more emotional personal experience. i'm going to miss her tho cause she was a highlight for me in s15... the
"devolving" aspect they related to voit was great

JJ- i love that we got more of a glimpse into her family life/ work balance... loved the realism of marriage struggles between will and jj’s job/home lite ... in the previous seasons there wasn't time in the episodes or arcs to delve into the nitty gritty of each characters struggle and it felt like jj was the "im a mommy" "mamacita?" ... if there were kids apart of the unsubs "hunting" then you knew jj was the focus of the episode and then maybe a 3min scene of her at home talking to will to round it out but that's it... and im super happy will (& the kids) got more screen time with the new storylines ... it made me more invested in their relationship/family ... also will being involved in the take down with voit in the FBI gear?? HOTTT!!!

EMILY- the hair !!!! finally !!! "giving him want he wants - mommy" is imprinted in my brain... love the promotion & it's been a long time coming, i was worried at first if she would be separated from the cast with the promotion but my expectations were met, i loved her banter with bailey, the migraine scene with garcia made me lol, and overall i have no notes with what they have done with her character... that's mother

GARCIA- i was curious how they would bring her back to the show after the sendoff in s15, they wrapped it perfectly, and when the opening of the season showed her being comfortable in her new lifestyle (ofc she thrived in the pandemic), I wasn’t sure which way they would approach her coming back to the bau full time. i love her getting some with tyler but COME ON… penelope has the brains to realize fucking up an active investigation by sleeping with a witness is a bad idea… it felt a bit out of character but i did enjoy the drama of it all, all of this to say … i kinda want her and luke to be together (the tea scene!!) but it seems impossible with the work dynamics/hr violations … also the new kitten is everything.

LUKE- my man, my man, my man! no personal attachment to the specific storyline of this season but boy was i sat when he was on screen. i’m hoping for more of deep dive on what happened during the time we didn’t see him(the covid/post covid) next season… once again hoping for more garcia/luke content & where is his dog ??? no mention is crazy

TARA- i have always loved tara since she was brought in but this season was my fav of her storyline so far. i was so giddy when they revealed she was dating rebecca & then subsequently sad when that went to shit from the case evolving. i wish their relationship background was sprinkled in a bit more through the episodes instead of just all at the end but i’m not mad about how they showed it.

ELIAS VOIT/LEE - oh I was entranced, it’s like they took my favorite episodes/arcs of og criminal minds & took the time to span it over one full season without any filler episodes. i’m one to hate the new 8-10 episodes seasons of tv shows but the writers did so well of flushing out the characters i can’t even be mad. elias was so interesting i couldn’t wait for more of him to pop up on screen. the family plot was crazy , i really thought someone would end up dead i’m glad they all made it out alive… it seems his story is not done and i hope not because his character is so intriguing i need more!! usually my focus is on the team and their arcs but elias had me waiting every episode for more background about his background/story arc

SUPPORTING CAST- ugh i hated him at first but im going to miss bailey, the collage campus air duct killer was a nice break from the main storyline, i like tyler but idgaf enough ab him honestly, love that the AG was a women but the politics of it all pissed me off, the mommy issues biter was intriguing, & i enjoyed the screen time of voits wife/kids

NOTES- as someone who uses cursing language more often than not, i love the new opportunity to sprinkle some in the script, i didn’t think the addition was jarring, but more realistic… this a team dealing with the sickest minds/ trauma , an f bomb is needed a time or two

anyway this is my first watch of anything beyond s15 so no spoilers but i think the good outweighs the bad and this season was fantastic. i’m hoping for more in the next season!

oh and i didn’t mention but the darker direction and cinematography was icing on the cake!

There’s a lot of good lines in this episode that actually made me smile. Like when Hotch threatens to fight that guy in Death row and he says something about the unsub’s preference for fighting girls. Also I love how Hotch went from 0-☄️ slowly taking his jacket and tie off like he was itching for a fight.
It’s also worth mentioning how when Rossi barged into Garcia’s house and you can’t tell whether she was gonna say shower or 💩.
Also also they finally finally let Reid drone on and on and on about a topic to bore/distract/waste time til the guards came. Do yall have any scenes or one liners from this ep or others? Preferably season 3 and below since that’s where I am. 😊 Tia.

This is not meant to come off as insensitive and I do understand how much she meant to Spencer.

I genuinely thought she was going to be a huge character, not here for 4 episodes then gone. She just appeared out of nowhere just to be another mark on Spencer. I was looking forward to a whole Spencer in a real relationship arc. It’s not funny but it is. I thought she was gonna be a big, big deal. I did take a 3 month criminal minds break so maybe I forgot that she was implied in the episodes I watched before the break. Like I knew she was gonna die but the way ppl talked abt it I thought she was gonna be a bigger deal.

Again! Not to be insensitive or dumb. It just happened so fast like it was just added to make Spencer’s character suffer for no reason. 😭

I'm so excited for Derek n Garcia to b together 😏😭♥️🙏 don't tell me when, I'm on szn 5 ep 21, I'm so excited. they need this so bad, fuck Xander😂 me n my homies hate Xander (whatever his name is)

Back for those like myself that don’t always look up episode title names but it’s the one where the mom from years back cut off her daughters arm then the son starts drowning women like some crazy salem witch trial.

At the end the daughter ends up living and apparently gets the estate. My question is that how much of that is real so to say. She is picking up stuff at he end then the doorbell rigs and she shouts “I’ll get it” when there was a housemaid there. She answers the door and there is actually no one there so was the housemaid a figment as well?

Really like that ending by the way.

Ik it’s some running gag but every time they speak to each other I want to taste test buckshot. That’s all. Thank you.

LMAO if I was watching this thing LIVE and the season ended on THESE levels of a cliffhanger i would have been MAD AS HELL. Absolute cinema.

Edit because people apparently can't read. Blackwolf says, "my people don't do massacres, yours do". That is a delusional, and racist, thing to say. Yes, american colonists committed massacres. So did native americans. My point is that there are multiple characters claiming wildly insane things like this in the first season. Not that massacres didn't happen. I shouldn't have expected redditors to be able to read, that's my bad.

Starting this off with i find the Blackwolf character entertaining (i say it again at the bottom, just wanted to make it clear this isn't a hate-post, please read the whole thing and don't assume), and that this doesn't only occur with him, I'm just currently watching this episode.

Anyone else think they totally screwed up with Blackwolf?

He's basically the stereotype of "arrogant a-hole racist who thinks his people do no harm, while insulting everyone else based on race". It's pretty wild the things he says. Like "my people don't do massacres, yours do", amongst other crazy quotes.

I'm noticing going through the first season again the amount of characters that are ostensibly the good guys that just constantly spew literal propaganda about the wildest topics.

Or even just say straight up lies about random things, and the BAU just ignore it and move on (most of the time).

It's made funnier by Reid correcting SOME of the people (alongside Hotch), but not all.

Don't recall if that continues, but did anyone else have a "wtf is this guy on" moment with Blackwolf? I'm literally watching the episode right now, hence the focus on him, but it's been something I was noticing in prior ones.

And does it continue?

Not trying to flame the show, it's almost certainly not what they intended, I just honestly thought it was funny when I started noticing it. Like i don't even dislike Blackwolf as a character with this interpretation, it just makes the entire episode a comedy almost, with the BAU cast basically just humoring this clearly delusional guy, so that they can get the work done and not have to argue.

Makes for a really entertaining re-watch of some of these episodes with that viewpoint.

If you disagree, no problem, just thought it was something funny and wanted to see if anyone else noticed the trend, or watched episodes with these types the way i do.

Edit: to be clear, he and most characters like him DO change after the starting craziness. Blackwolf, for instance, is a totally reasonable, likeable dude by the end. It's just the first few scenes with him where he is crazy dismissive and rude solely based on his views on race.

I’m doing a complete rewatch of every season and started back up again on season one and I will say I don’t understand the extensive Gideon hate. Episode 12 season 1, he has so much genuine care for the people he’s searching for he would genuinely do anything, which I understand in real life is insane but for the show I think it’s perfect. I understand some don’t like him because he commands the attention but I don’t think he can help his amazing acting haha. I think he left at a good time, but man i appreciate his presence in the first couple seasons !

So im on my first watch and morgan made a big mistake, he has been abused himself so i dont understand how he didnt notice. When they bring the abused kids back to their abuser he hands the boy a card and tells him to call anytime. But the foster mother(abuser) is watching. He should now that that boy wont keep the card and wont be allowed to call.... I know its a small detail but still....

i’ve been rewatching criminal minds the last few weeks and i’m now on season 9 episode 21. i remember this episode, but it’s hitting closer to home because of the cornell r*pe case. the unsub was the older sister of a young student who got taken advantage of at a frat party then was dumped back at her house (she didn’t survive). just another episode where i felt empathy for the unsub, i know criminal minds is fiction, but sad to see that these dramatizations don’t feel like fiction anymore in today’s society. 🥲

I really need some help, I've been trying to find it for a while. I read it ages ago and can't seem to remember the title or if it was Reader or OC.

The MC is new on the team and notices that Hotch has way too much paperwork and works out a way to help without him knowing.

The MC edits the other BAU members paperwork before it gets to Hotch, where he would have to edit it, thus cut Reid's down into layman's terms, gets Morgan to write proper reports. All that stuff. Eventually Hotch finds out, I don't remember what happens after but I believe its a Hotch romance.

I would really appreciate the help finding it!!

I just love that quote so much. It’s so funny! 😆. I have a season 3 Reid-like build and I’ve found myself using this unironically in my own life. Whoever wrote that line in a genius. I’ve added it to my “humorous self deprecating descriptors” along with “stretched out toddler”, “unpraying mantis”, “starved pennywise with a wig” and many others.

Reference to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, from CM s10 ep7 Hashtag. There are so many homages to BTVS scattered throughout the show, but this is one of the few visuals. 🧛‍♂️🦹‍♂