Through 15 seasons, the best Criminal Minds episodes delivered some of the most twisted and shocking serial killer cases to ever hit television. The show, though, is not just about the FBI solving crimes through the Behavioral Analysis Unit, catching serial killers, and saving lives. This is a show that remained fully invested in the lives of its characters and the mental stress that working a job like this can place on someone.
From the start with Gideon and Hotchner leading the BAU with JJ, Spencer, and Derek to the additions of Prentiss, Rossi, and Tara, plus the always delightful Penelope Garcia, the character moments are what made the show so popular for so many years. With more than 300 episodes of the original series, Paramount+ brought Criminal Minds back for a revival with most of the final season cast intact. Fans got to revisit those characters, see new cases, and be reminded of just what makes for the best episodes of Criminal Minds.
20 Just Getting Started (S16E1)
The season premiere of Criminal Minds: Evolution picked up three years after the end of Criminal Minds season 15, and it quickly demonstrated how different the lives of the agents were at that point. While the group was still technically a team, they worked cases separately, consulting with one another through phone calls, and budget constraints are in full force, limiting the scope of their investigations.
All the present characters were clearly tired and under a serious amount of strain. It’s one of the best examples of the toll working in the BAU would take on a character, particularly when it came to David Rossi, whose fixation on certain cases has seriously run him down. For how easily the episode demonstrated the wear on the characters alone, “Just Getting Started” is one of the best Criminal Minds episodes.
19 Zugzwang (S8E12)
"Zugzwang" is a Season 8 installment and is a huge Reid episode as a stalker abducts his girlfriend, and it is up to the BAU team to find and save her before it is too late. The unsub here was very twisted, as it was a woman named Diane, played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Michelle Trachtenberg. Diane was someone that damaged Reid more than almost anyone when she killed herself and Reid's girlfriend Maeve at the same time, leaving him broken for most of the rest of the season.
Reid was a fan-favorite character since the first season of the series, and the episodes that center on him tend to be more emotionally focused than others, contrasting his very analytical personality through most cases. The acting from Matthew Gray Gubler in the Reid-centric episodes tends to make them beloved by fans, but the emotional toll of this episode in particular, and its lasting effect on the character, made it one of the best, but also one of the hardest for fans of the series to rewatch.
18 Date Night (S15E6)
Date Night is one of the best episodes of the final season of Criminal Minds. This episode brings back one of the most memorable unsubs for her third season in Cat Adams, played by Aubrey Plaza. She first appeared as a hitwoman that Reid helped bring down. She returned when she set up an elaborate plan to frame Reid and send him to jail. This episode has her preparing for her execution, but she has one more move, as she demands one date with Reid before she dies and has his girlfriend's father and sister kidnapped to force this to happen.
Aubrey Plaza doesn't just play one of the most memorable villains in the series, but one that fans wish would have appeared more often. While Aubrey Plaza is best known for her role in comedies, her dramatic turn in Criminal Minds helped set the tone for her work in The White Lotus. The dynamic between Plaza and Gubler is incredibly fun to watch as Plaza plays one of the few unsubs able to go toe-to-toe with Reid and keep up with his intelligence. Any episode that she appears in is a standout.
17 Believer (S13E22)
"Believer" was the season finale and the 299th episode of Criminal Minds. The unsub here is called The Strangler, someone a former profiler believes the team missed and had been tracking since he quit the FBI. The Strangler is the serial killer and cult leader who targeted Reid along with his followers, a spin-off group from Benjamin Cyrus' old cult that the BAU helped bring down a decade earlier. Reid has to choose between helping a double agent in the group or doing nothing and allowing Garcia to die. It's a tough choice for the very logical Reid.
Because so many criminal minds episodes could be watched as standalone episodes, it's rare to see an episode call back to events from so much earlier in the series. This episode was certainly a love letter to long-time fans who were able to see how much characters like Reid and Garcia had grown, but also able to see how solving one case could affect the world years later. Those connections are what make it one of the best Criminal Minds episodes.
16 Mosley Lane (S5E16)
One aspect of crime dramas that can turn people off is a lot of the cases involve children. A point in Criminal Minds’ favor is that it always handles those stories delicately, just as the writers did with “Mosley Lane,” which is why the audience remembers it fondly. The episode featured a standout performance from Evan Peters early in his career as well.
The episode saw JJ visited by the mother of a missing child when a new, and very similar case, became public knowledge. JJ realized that there was a distinct possibility that the woman’s son was still being held. The storyline involved several kids being raised as a “family” by their kidnappers. It was one about hope for the families of missing people.
15 Mr. Scratch (S10E21)
While Criminal Minds typically explores the psychology of serial killers, this episode went deeper into the power of suggestion. Three different “killers” were all motivated to commit the acts as a result of someone else, making it an incredibly unique Criminal Minds episode. Any time Criminal Minds writers decide to step outside the box, the series is better for it.
The Criminal Minds villain, who became known as Mr. Scratch, would go on to target the group of FBI detectives, appearing in three more seasons of the show. This particular episode set his escape, as well as the escape of even more serial killers, in motion for a longer story arc.
14 Oedipus Wrecks (S16E5)
One of the central issues in Criminal Minds: Evolution is the budget. The BAU is constantly trying to prove that its department is worthy of actually having its own department and budget. This episode, which deals with the son of a senator being a serial killer, examined how politics and funding play a larger role in law enforcement than most viewers would think. The agents didn’t have carte blanche to do whatever they want, and this was one of the best Criminal Minds episodes to capture how they dealt with it. It also featured former Disney Channel star Luke Benward in the role of the senator’s murderous son, really allowing him to show his dramatic range.
13 Entropy (S11E11)
Spencer Reid tends to be the subject of hostage situations a lot, but that’s likely because he’s a fan favorite, and he’s the character most likely to talk his way out of a situation. In “Entropy,” he had to do more than that; he had to outsmart an assassin.
The episode began allowing fans to think Reid was on a blind date. In reality, he was pretending to be a client of an assassin, trying to catch her. Aubrey Plaza as the “Black Widow” assassin was a great guest star and one whose intellect was a match for Reid as later episodes would reinforce. This episode is the beginning of the fascinating dynamic between the characters.
12 The Tall Man (S14E5)
It’s always interesting when an episode is less about the case at hand and more about delving into the backstory of a main character. In this case, it’s JJ. Many of the JJ-centric episodes are family focused, but this one really allows the audience to get to know her better.
When two people go missing in the woods, and a third is found, the team investigate a small town ghost story. In order to better help with the case, JJ goes home to her own small town where her big sister died when she was 11. That aspect of JJ’s past was explored early in the series, but this episode provided more details, fleshing out the character a bit for the fans. 14 seasons into the show and the audience was still learning about a beloved character, making for a great Criminal Minds episode and proving the writers still had tricks up their sleeves.
11 Lauren (S6E18)
This episode was supposed to be the beginning of the end for Emily Prentiss, and the backstory for the character and performance by Paget Brewster makes it one of the best Criminal Minds episodes. Revealing her job before she joined the BAU, the episode is the kind of adrenaline-fueled ride that most crime dramas only dream of achieving.
In it, the team had to band together when Prentiss went missing. As they realized she was tracking a dangerous enemy from her time undercover as a woman named Lauren, they also realized how little they know about her past. Some of the team deal with it better than others. Though this mission was supposed to culminate in her death, fan outrage saw the producers bringing the character back to reveal she faked her death. It didn’t lessen the emotional punch.
10 The Replicator (S8E24)
The main villain of season 8 of Criminal Minds was none other than Mark Hamill who portrayed John Curtis, also known as The Replicator. He was an interesting villain since he was a former FBI special agent with a genius-level IQ who turned into a serial killer. In season 8, he started to create copycat crimes of cases the BAU solved in the past.
There had been few deaths of the main Criminal Minds characters, but that changed in the episode "The Replicator" when Curtis killed BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss as revenge when he was left to take the blame on an older case. This season finale featured a huge loss, a great climactic scene, one of the best guest stars of the show, and it was a perfect goodbye for the season. All of those elements combine to make for one of the best Criminal Minds episodes during the middle of the series' run.
9 Minimal Loss (S4E3)
"Minimal Loss" was just the third episode of season 4 of Criminal Minds, but it ended up being very important, and it even played a big role in one of the best episodes of the entire series with "300" over 10 years later. The episode pulled its inspiration from the 1993 Waco standoff with David Koresh.
Luke Perry starred in the episode as Benjamin Cyrus, the leader of a cult who goes on the defensive when the FBI comes in to investigate claims of child abuse at the compound. The episode saw Prentiss and Reid captured inside the compound when a gun battle begins between law enforcement and the cult members, and the end is twisted when the victims take the side of Cyrus in the fight. It also marks one of the first times Prentiss has to prove herself to the team as she takes much of the heat from Cyrus, endearing her to the audience.
8 Mayhem (S4E1)
"Mayhem" was the season 4 premiere as the BAU investigated the bombing of an SUV in New York City that was carrying a member of the team. This explosion happened in the season 3 finale, so it had a lot to live up to since fans had to wait till season 4 to learn if someone they loved died. It lived up to expectations and more.
This episode was not so much of a search and rescue as it was a nail-biting thriller, with Hotch and NY special agent Kate Joiner forced to keep first responders away after they were injured in the bombing because the attackers targeted first responders. This also started a level of tension between Hotch and Derek that opened the season on a very high note.
7 Penelope (S3E9)
"Penelope" was a hard watch because possibly the most beloved character on Criminal Minds, Garcia, fought for her life after she was the target of the new unsub. It was sad and horrifying since she was the one who saw the good in people, and it was her happiness at going out on a date only to end up shot by a serial killer that hurt her almost as much as the injuries that almost took her life. Everyone who watched Criminal Minds knew the close brother-sister relationship between Derek and Garcia, so watching him try to contain his fury as he hunted down the unsub was great. The performances in the episode and the emotional connections between the team members make it one of the best Criminal Minds episodes to date.
6 Damaged (S3E14)
"Damaged" is a Rossi-centric episode and followed him as he set out to finally solve a case that haunted him for 20 years. Someone killed a couple, leaving their three children without parents, and the murder went unsolved for two decades. Through the years, Rossi continued to check in on the kids and made sure they had everything they needed.
It was the regret from this unsolved case that brought Rossi back to the BAU to begin with. In this episode, the team was called in to investigate a similar case, and Rossi eventually got a lead to his cold case. He then sadly learned his years of assistance has continuously reminded the kids of their parents' unsolved murder. In a truly touching moment, Rossi finally captured the killer and lets the kids know, so they can finally have closure. It is, like the season 16 premiere, one of the best Criminal Minds episodes to showcase Rossi's heart and commitment to the job.
5 300 (S14E1)
10 years after the BAU stopped a cult leader named Benjamin Cyrus, his followers returned for revenge in the 300th Criminal Minds episode, making for one of the best follow-up episodes Criminal Minds ever did. The group now followed a new cult leader named Benjamin David Merna who restarted it with one of Cyrus' wives. He was also known as The Strangler—a serial killer with 299 victims.
In this episode, The Believers kidnaped Reid and Garcia, and this is made even worse when the cult actually has members within the FBI. The plan was for Reid to be the 300th victim to make a point. As a 300th episode, this had it all, from callbacks to the previous 299 episodes to a mystery that had its origins over 10 years before.
4 Revelations (S2E15)
Spencer Reid is one of the most interesting characters on Criminal Minds, a brilliant young man who had trouble dealing with his own insecurities and whose own mother was institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia. Much of his neuroses were explored in "Revelations" in season 2 when he was captured by split-personality serial killer Tobias Hankel.
The BAU frantically tried to find Reid when a live feed of Hankel abusing the agent aired. Meanwhile, Reid was drugged and stuck in a flashback to his childhood. This episode saw Reid forced to kill his captor, knowing that inside the multiple personalities was someone who needed help and this changed him for a long time. It also made audiences see James Van Der Beek as more than just the guy from Dawson's Creek as he knocked his role out of the park. It was a tense hour that is easily one of the best Criminal Minds episodes.
3 The Fisher King (S2E1)
"The Fisher King" was a two-part case, the season finale of season 1 and the season premiere of season 2. At the time, the show rarely did multipart episodes. It marked the best two-parter of Criminal Minds. The case surrounded a man named Randall Garner who was badly burned in a fire that took almost his entire family and ended up institutionalized at the same asylum that housed Reid's mother Diana. Despite his clear mental illness, he was released and set his sights on Reid and his partners in the BAU. Through season 1, he stalked the BAU members and then started to torment them. This ended with him shooting Elle as a season-ending cliffhanger. Elle lived, and it was Reid who finally found Garner, who could only watch as the killer blows himself up.
2 100 (S5E9)
The most demented, dangerous, and hated villain in Criminal Minds history is easily The Reaper. Portrayed by C. Thomas Howell, he had killed 20 people and was the unsub on the first-ever case that Hotch worked as a BAU senior. No leads came, and The Reaper stopped killing but 11 years later, the lead investigator in the case called Hotch and said that he was dying and believed The Reaper would start killing again.
Through seasons 4 and 5, The Reaper made Hotch's life a living hell. This started in "Omnivore" and launched one of the biggest and best cases in Criminal Minds history. It ended in "100" and resulted in one of the most horrifying moments in the show's history when the team had to answer for Hotch killing The Reaper after he murdered his ex-wife Haley. The sequence in which Hotch knows that Hailey is about to die, but can do nothing but listen to what happens on the phone is one of the most harrowing in the entire series.
1 Masterpiece (S4E8)
Jason Alexander turned in one of the most chilling and despicable villains in Criminal Minds history and made his mark in the best Criminal Minds episode. He was Henry Grace, a narcissistic serial killer who believed he was born to be a master killer. Rossi captured his brother William, another serial killer, and this ruined Henry's life, which made Rossi someone he wanted to destroy and "Masterpiece" gave him the chance.
He admitted to killing seven missing women the BAU had been hunting and that there were five others, including three children, that would die if they didn't find them and one would die every two hours if they didn't. The thrilling conclusion saw Rossi interrogating Henry and hearing in horror that his entire BAU team died in a trap Henry laid. However, the twist was they knew what he was doing and saved everyone with no casualties, and Rossi chillingly told Henry he would be there when they execute him for the other murders. The episode featured one of the best mysteries and the best twists in Criminal Minds.