The BEST episodes of Criminal Minds

Every episode of Criminal Minds ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Criminal Minds!

Special Agents Jason Gideon and Aaron Hotchner head up the FBI's most elite profiling team, the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the experts in analyzing criminal psychology. With each mind-blowing case, they put their lives on the line as they travel the country, matching wits with the most ruthless criminals on Earth.

Last Updated: 3/7/2024Network: Paramount+Status: Continuing
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Run (2)
star
8.25
705 votes

#1 - Run (2)

Season 7 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/16/2012

As the BAU team continues to pursue the bank-robbing serial killers, the team determines that the suspects have a bigger target in the nation's capital, and with one of the team still a hostage, they must work quickly to diffuse an explosive situation. Wedding bells ring for one of the BAU. Prentiss ponders her future.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Erica Messer
Watch Now:Amazon
100
star
8.13
2121 votes

#2 - 100

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/2009

The BAU team races to help Hotchner find The Reaper and save his family before it's too late.

Writer: Bo Crese
Watch Now:Amazon
The Fisher King (1)
star
8.11
1820 votes

#3 - The Fisher King (1)

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/2006

While on their vacations, each of the team receives a clue from a psychopathic killer challenging them to save his next victim.

Watch Now:Amazon
Penelope
star
8.10
1730 votes

#4 - Penelope

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/2007

As a team member fights for life, the BAU continues the search for an attacker that leads the unit to believe the assailant could be someone close to the investigation.

Writer: Chris Mundy
Watch Now:Amazon
The Replicator (2)
star
8.10
648 votes

#5 - The Replicator (2)

Season 8 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/22/2013

The Replicator zeroes in on the BAU when the killer targets one of the team as the next victim. The team is also called in to investigate a string of deaths in Manhattan tied to apparent ecstasy overdoses. Hotch discovers that his estranged brother is caught in the middle.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Erica Messer
Watch Now:Amazon
200
star
8.09
1544 votes

#6 - 200

Season 9 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/5/2014

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.

Directors: Larry Teng
Writer: Rick Dunkle
Watch Now:Amazon
The Fisher King (2)
star
8.08
1974 votes

#7 - The Fisher King (2)

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/2006

The BAU team continues to unravel the clues given to each of them by a psychopath in order to save his most recent victim. Gideon decides not to focus on the personal aspects of the case. Rather, he tells the team to profile the killer as they would in any other investigation. Reid stays behind to work on a personal connection that could solve the case as one member of the team fights for life.

Directors: Gloria Muzio
Watch Now:Amazon
Demons (2)
star
8.07
1389 votes

#8 - Demons (2)

Season 9 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/14/2014

The BAU continues its murder investigation in Texas, and clues uncover a deep web of corruption that could be the motive for the killings. As one team member's life hangs in the balance, another concerned BAU member must face a sad secret from the past. Garcia is thrust into action to save a colleague.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Erica Messer
Watch Now:Amazon
No Way Out: The Evilution of Frank (2)
star
8.06
1566 votes

#9 - No Way Out: The Evilution of Frank (2)

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/16/2007

When the prolific serial killer Frank returns and murders Gideon's girlfriend, Gideon takes off to find him without telling the team where he is going. The BAU must then profile Gideon as well as Frank to find both of them.

Writer: Simon Mirren
Watch Now:Amazon
Hit (1)
star
8.03
1851 votes

#10 - Hit (1)

Season 7 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/16/2012

When the BAU goes up against a gang of serial-killing bank robbers in Washington DC, the team tries to negotiate the situation unfolding inside the bank, but the stakes rise when one of their own becomes a hostage.

Directors: Michael Lange
Writer: Rick Dunkle
Watch Now:Amazon
Omnivore
star
8.01
1536 votes

#11 - Omnivore

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/2009

Agent Hotchner revisits the first case he worked at the BAU when details come forth that one of the deadliest serial killers in New England's history has struck again after a 10-year hiatus.

Directors: Nelson McCormick
Watch Now:Amazon
Entropy
star
8.00
1395 votes

#12 - Entropy

Season 11 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/2016

The BAU implements an elaborate strategy to try and take down the “Dirty Dozen” hitmen ring, with Reid playing a central role.

Watch Now:Amazon
Carbon Copy
star
7.99
1851 votes

#13 - Carbon Copy

Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/27/2013

When victims are found in Philadelphia in a similar style to victims of The Replicator, the stalker who has been tracking the BAU's every move, the team thinks this could be the break they need to try and apprehend him.

Directors: Rob Hardy
Watch Now:Amazon
Red Light
star
7.99
1973 votes

#14 - Red Light

Season 12 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/2017

Derek Morgan brings the BAU a lead in the case against serial killer and escaped convict Mr. Scratch.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Watch Now:Amazon
...and Back (2)
star
7.99
1119 votes

#15 - ...and Back (2)

Season 4 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/20/2009

The BAU tracks a serial killer who chooses junkies, prostitutes and the homeless off the streets of Detroit as his victims and takes them across the border into Canada. An agent's life is in peril.

Watch Now:Amazon
Oedipus Wrecks
star
7.99
322 votes

#16 - Oedipus Wrecks

Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/15/2022

A surprising connection forces Deputy Director Bailey to ask the BAU to take a case involving young D.C. socialites who are bitten by a sadistic UnSub. But when the case turns political, the BAU finds themselves in the crosshairs from a high-powered senator. The team is led to a second shipping container that’s rigged to blow.

Directors: Sharat Raju
Writer: Jayne Archer
Watch Now:Amazon
Mr. Scratch
star
7.98
1202 votes

#17 - Mr. Scratch

Season 10 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/22/2015

When three people implicated in murders claim they were attacked by a “clawed shadow monster” at the moment each crime occurred, the BAU searches for an UnSub who is controlling their minds. Also, the search for the culprit puts one of the team in jeopardy.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Storm
star
7.97
1616 votes

#18 - The Storm

Season 11 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/4/2016

The BAU is shocked when Hotch is apprehended by a SWAT team and suspected of conspiracy, and as the team scrambles to prove his innocence, they suspect a larger plot is on the horizon.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Watch Now:Amazon
Date Night
star
7.97
690 votes

#19 - Date Night

Season 15 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/5/2020

After a father and daughter get kidnapped, a former foe of the BAU returns with very specific demands for Reid that give a whole new meaning to the phrase “wheels up.”

Directors: Marcus Stokes
Watch Now:Amazon
To Hell... (1)
star
7.96
1581 votes

#20 - To Hell... (1)

Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/20/2009

The BAU tracks a serial killer who chooses junkies, prostitutes and the homeless off the streets of Detroit as his victims and takes them across the border into Canada, and an agent's life is in peril.

Directors: Charles Haid
Writer: Chris Mundy
Watch Now:Amazon
Derek
star
7.95
1384 votes

#21 - Derek

Season 11 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/2/2016

When Morgan is abducted, the BAU scrambles to find him and save his life.

Directors: Thomas Gibson
Watch Now:Amazon
Riding the Lightning
star
7.93
1969 votes

#22 - Riding the Lightning

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/25/2006

After interviewing a couple on death row for serial murders, Gideon suspects that the woman is actually innocent. But since she's set to be executed in two days, it's a race against time to prove it.

Directors: Chris Long
Writer: Simon Mirren
Watch Now:Amazon
A Beautiful Disaster
star
7.92
1457 votes

#23 - A Beautiful Disaster

Season 11 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/23/2016

When an UnSub targets the BAU, and the team goes into action to find out who is responsible.

Watch Now:Amazon
Sicarius
star
7.91
466 votes

#24 - Sicarius

Season 16 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/24/2022

As the team hunts an UnSub who severs spinal cords, they uncover a clue from their last case that points to a serial killing network. To figure out how big this network is, Rossi has to convince a reluctant Garcia to do the one thing she doesn’t want: come back to the BAU.

Directors: Nelson McCormick
Watch Now:Amazon
Last Gasp
star
7.90
1290 votes

#25 - Last Gasp

Season 13 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/14/2018

Away from the watchful eye of the FBI’s assistant director of national security, Linda Barnes, the BAU meets in secret to investigate an UnSub who appears to be kidnapping and photographing young women.

Directors: Adam Rodriguez
Watch Now:Amazon