The WORST episodes of Criminal Minds
Every episode of Criminal Minds ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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.
#1 - Homesick
Season 17 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/13/2024
The BAU is called to Houston to investigate the "Moving Day Murders" and track a ritualistic killer with a twisted method of subduing his victims. JJ convinces Sydney Voit to allow her estranged husband one last meeting to say goodbye to his girls before they are put into witness protection. Tyler goes rogue with the Gold Star investigation by cloning the phone of a person of interest. Prentiss receives intel that she could be in the crosshairs of conspiracy theorists.
#2 - Night Lights
Season 14 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/2/2019
The BAU team heads to Portland, Ore., to investigate a chilling abduction that may be linked to a local couple who were killed in their home a week earlier.
#3 - Twenty Seven
Season 14 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/14/2018
It’s literally a race against the clock for the BAU to capture the vigilantes behind a series of attacks taking place every 27 minutes in the nation’s capital. Prentiss and Unit Chief Andrew Mendoza lead the effort to identify the Unsubs and what’s motivating them.
#4 - Spencer
Season 12 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/15/2017
When a BAU member gets in trouble in Mexico, the team enlists the services of the International Response Team for their help.
#5 - Tara
Season 18 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/26/2025
When the team works to hunt down the person who shot Tara, they discover "The Disciple" deliberately had them chasing their tails. While undergoing critical surgery, Tara gets to the root of her relationship issues.
#6 - Roadkill
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/6/2009
An unsub who kills with his car is the subject of a BAU investigation.
#7 - Paradise
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/22/2008
The BAU joins the manhunt to catch a serial killer who conceals the manner of his crimes by staging car accidents.
#8 - Brothers in Arms
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/10/2008
The BAU team hunts for a serial killer who targets members of the police department in Phoenix, Ariz., a case that hits close to home for Morgan, a former cop.
#9 - The Anti-Terror Squad
Season 12 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/9/2016
The BAU investigates if bullying may be the link between two high school students who are the sole survivors after both of their families are killed.
#10 - The Night Watch
Season 11 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/2015
When the BAU investigates incidents of bodies being incorporated into macabre graffiti art in Detroit, they suspect an elusive-yet-notorious street artist could be the UnSub. Also, Dr. Lewis struggles to balance her relationship with her fiancé and her work.
#11 - 'Til Death Do Us Part
Season 11 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/2015
When brides-to-be in Savannah are killed on the eve of their nuptials, the BAU suspects a jilted UnSub is at work.
#12 - 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.
#13 - Parasite
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/2010
The BAU follows the mental decline of a con artist whose schemes have become so complicated that he begins to eliminate the people involved in them.
#14 - Today I Do
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/16/2011
The BAU is called to upstate New York to investigate mysterious disappearances. Also, Prentiss gets some disturbing news about one of her former Interpol colleagues.
#15 - Sense Memory
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/9/2011
The team investigates unusual murders in Los Angeles, and more information about Prentiss' past arises.
#16 - Blood Hungry
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/2005
While Gideon is stuck at the office on crutches, the rest of the team travels to Tennessee to track down a killer who disembowels his victims and supposedly eats their organs.
#17 - The Wheels on the Bus...
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/21/2012
The BAU team goes in pursuit of a missing school bus full of children outside the Washington, D.C. area, and it becomes a race against time for them to bring them home safely.
#18 - Cold Comfort
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/11/2009
The mother of an abducted child works with the BAU to apprehend a serial killer who kidnaps, murders, and embalms his victims.
#19 - Conflicted
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/8/2009
The team travels to Fort Lauderdale during spring break to find a serial killer with multiple personalities who is targeting co-eds on vacation.
#20 - Inner Beauty
Season 11 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/13/2016
The BAU searches for an UnSub who is purposely disfiguring victims. Also, Rossi has an awkward reunion with his ex-wife, Hayden Montgomery, who kept his daughter, Joy, a secret from him for nearly 30 years.
#21 - The Angel Maker
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/2008
A series of murders is linked to a serial killer executed a year earlier, and the BAU team must find the link between the dead killer and the new spate of crimes.
#22 - Pay It Forward
Season 8 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/10/2013
When a time capsule in a small Colorado town is opened twenty-five years later and contains a gruesome discovery, the BAU investigates the crime and find a possible link to the death of a local police officer.
#23 - Catching Out
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/29/2008
The BAU investigates a series of murders that appear to be connected to a killer who jumps trains and chooses his victims based on their proximity to the railway.
#24 - A Good Husband
Season 12 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/8/2017
The BAU team is called in to investigate when male victims are found with no way to identify them.
#25 - Nameless, Faceless
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/2009
As Rossi, Morgan and JJ profile a killer who is targeting an emergency room doctor, Prentiss realizes that Hotch is missing.