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.

Last Updated: 12/20/2024Network: Paramount+Status: Continuing
Roadkill
star
7.30
1618 votes

#1 - Roadkill

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/6/2009

An unsub who kills with his car is the subject of a BAU investigation.

Directors: Steve Boyum
Watch Now:Apple TV
Paradise
star
7.34
1806 votes

#2 - 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.

Directors: John Gallagher
Watch Now:Apple TV
Today I Do
star
7.36
2573 votes

#3 - 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.

Directors: Alie Selim
Writer: Alicia Kirk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Brothers in Arms
star
7.37
1747 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Holly Harold
Watch Now:Apple TV
Sense Memory
star
7.39
2592 votes

#5 - 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.

Directors: Rob Spera
Watch Now:Apple TV
Parasite
star
7.39
1967 votes

#6 - 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.

Writer: Oanh Ly
Watch Now:Apple TV
'Til Death Do Us Part
star
7.40
1338 votes

#7 - '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.

Directors: Joe Mantegna
Writer: Karen Maser
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Wheels on the Bus...
star
7.40
1977 votes

#8 - 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.

Directors: Rob Hardy
Watch Now:Apple TV
Catching Out
star
7.41
1966 votes

#9 - 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.

Directors: Charles Haid
Writer: Oanh Ly
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Night Watch
star
7.41
1302 votes

#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.

Directors: Thomas Gibson
Watch Now:Apple TV
Nameless, Faceless
star
7.42
2289 votes

#11 - 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.

Writer: Chris Mundy
Watch Now:Apple TV
Blood Hungry
star
7.43
2071 votes

#12 - 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.

Directors: Charles Hied
Writer: Ed Napier
Watch Now:Apple TV
Cold Comfort
star
7.43
1637 votes

#13 - 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.

Directors: Anna Foerster
Watch Now:Apple TV
Hero Worship
star
7.44
1117 votes

#14 - Hero Worship

Season 10 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/2015

When an Indianapolis coffee shop is blown up and a hero emerges from the wreckage, the BAU tries to protect that person and his family while searching for the UnSub before more incidents occur.

Watch Now:Apple TV
The Stranger
star
7.45
2617 votes

#15 - The Stranger

Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/13/2011

The BAU hunts a stalker in San Diego who is targeting college students. Meanwhile, the team comes under Strauss' scrutiny in the wake of the loss of Prentiss.

Directors: Nelson McCormick
Watch Now:Apple TV
Pay It Forward
star
7.45
1758 votes

#16 - 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.

Directors: John Terlesky
Watch Now:Apple TV
Devil's Night
star
7.45
2658 votes

#17 - Devil's Night

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/2010

The team searches for a killer who has struck the past three years during Detroit's raucous pre-Halloween celebrations.

Directors: Charles Haid
Watch Now:Apple TV
Rite of Passage
star
7.45
2303 votes

#18 - Rite of Passage

Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/14/2010

The BAU team heads to Texas to track a serial killer targeting illegal immigrants attempting to make safe passage into the U.S.

Directors: John Gallagher
Watch Now:Apple TV
Epilogue
star
7.46
2275 votes

#19 - Epilogue

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/2011

The BAU search Californias Angeles National Forest after a number of bodies mysteriously turn up in the mountain lakes there. Also, Rossi struggles with an agonizing decision regarding his ex-wife, Carolyn.

Directors: Guy Ferland
Writer: Rick Dunkle
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Angel Maker
star
7.46
1801 votes

#20 - 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.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Watch Now:Apple TV
Conflicted
star
7.46
1656 votes

#21 - 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.

Directors: Jason Alexander
Writer: Rick Dunkle
Watch Now:Apple TV
Tabula Rasa
star
7.46
1718 votes

#22 - Tabula Rasa

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/14/2008

After a suspected serial killer wakes up from a coma, the BAU reopens the case and uses brain fingerprinting to determine if he really doesn't remember the crimes that had been committed four years earlier in Roanoke, Virginia.

Directors: Steve Boyum
Watch Now:Apple TV
Big Sea
star
7.46
2282 votes

#23 - Big Sea

Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/11/2011

When the BAU is called to Florida after bodies are discovered buried in the ocean floor off the Jacksonville coast, the case hits home for Morgan because his aunt fears her missing daughter could be one of the victims.

Directors: Glenn Kershaw
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mixed Signals
star
7.46
1146 votes

#24 - Mixed Signals

Season 13 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/18/2018

The BAU is called to Taos, N.M. to investigate an UnSub who is targeting his victims’ temporal lobes.

Directors: Alec Smight
Watch Now:Apple TV
A Higher Power
star
7.46
1635 votes

#25 - A Higher Power

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/9/2008

The BAU is called to Pittsburgh after an unusually high suicide rate appears to be the work of an Angel of Death.

Watch Now:Apple TV