Spoiler Alert: In order to effectively communicate what happens in a typical episode of Criminal Minds, I am using episode 16 of season 1, “The Tribe” to provide concrete examples. If you don’t want to know what happens, stop reading now!
The What:
Criminal Minds takes humanity’s darkest fears and plasters them on network television for the world to watch. The show revolves around a team of agents in the Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI as they profile serial killers—or as the BAU calls them, UnSubs (Unknown Subjects) in order to determine why the killers kill and how to catch them. Each episode begins with some sort of inspirational quote, followed by an image of the will-be victim doing some normal activity (like putting a child to bed, driving, or socializing at their place of work). In the episode “The Tribe,” the camera shows five young adults partying at seemingly secluded house; little do they know their lives are about to be taken from them.
Read More: “The Tribe,” is it really like the Manson family?
After introducing the victims, the unsub makes his presence known (the unsub is very rarely a female, so I will use “his” to describe the unsubs throughout this post). Although the audience never really sees the unsub kill his first victim, we know a murder has occurred because the police either find a dead body or get a call because someone else found a dead body. Once multiple murders occur in an “unusual” way, the local police force calls the BAU. For the record, by unusual I am not trying to say that any murder is usual. But for the show’s sake, unusual means multiple murders either with the same victim type, the same abnormal kill type (like drowning), or the same evidence at the crime scene. After the BAU gets called in, the local police force briefs them about the incidents. Then the case begins…
First: crime scene. Is there any DNA evidence at the scene? Not normally—the audience would get pretty bored if the unit caught the killer in the show’s first ten minutes. Did the criminal leave anything behind? If this is the case, the killers always do so intentionally. These criminals are not first time killers—they know how to clean up after themselves. When a serial killer leaves something behind at a crime scene in the show—be it a coded note or a design on a wall—they do so expecting detectives to find it. In “The Tribe” nothing is left behind, per say, but the murders all mimic Native American war rituals and take place on sacred apache land. This information (provided by local officers) gives the BAU their first hint: the killer(s) knows something about Native American culture .
Three agents and a local officer inspecting the crime scene
Second: victim profiling. What do all the victims have in common? All blonde women, all attend the same theater class, all resemble the killer’s abusive mother? The victim type, as the BAU agents call it, says a lot about a killer. It can tell detectives where the criminal has been and in some cases, sheds light on why they committed the crime (if the victims all looked like a despised family member, for instance, the BAU could probably deduce why the killer picked those victims). The BAU also looks at how often unsubs execute their victims. Do they kill a person every week, every day, every hour? Maybe they killed one person every year on the same day for ten years, and that date is coming up so police want to stop the kill before it happens. How often the unsub kills lets the BAU know how long they have to catch the criminal before he takes another life. The five victims in “The Tribe” were all freshmen from the same University, Mason. Also, because there were five of them in one place from one time, the agents deduced that there had to have been more than one unsub. The BAU has two more clues: there is more than one unsub and they have some connection with Mason University.
Third: the profile. The BAU delivers a profile of the killer based off of evidence at the crime scene and victim type. These profiles typically include the killer’s age range, gender, race, kill tactic, and whether or not the BAU expects them to kill again. Police officers and detectives then use this information to catch the killer. They do research, make television statements, and search for witnesses in order to force the unsub out of hiding. During the profile briefing in “The Tribe,” Reid explains that although the unsubs had clear knowledge of Native American rituals, they were not Native Americans they mixed rituals from all different tribes, which no Native American would have done. Morgan follows by explaining that this pack of unsubs shares a singular vision more powerful than any individual’s personal beliefs. New clues: The unsubs will not be Native American and they will strongly believe in whatever mission they’re trying to accomplish.
Fourth: the result. At the end of every episode, the good guys win (unless the episode has two parts, then it may take double the time to catch the unsub). The BAU arrests the criminal wherever he may be, one of the agents delivers a quote, and the show ends. Sometimes, if the audience is lucky, we get a little glimpse of why the killer committed the murders. Maybe one of the agents interrogates him or maybe he starts explaining why he killed in the hopes of defending himself. The average episode, however, ends with the BAU feeling accomplished: another case closed. “The Tribe,” like all other episodes, ends with the unsubs in custody.
Agent Hotchner and local officer sitting beside an unsub waiting to be picked up.
The Where: CBS Network Television. The show itself takes place all over the country—wherever a community requires BAU presence— but the unit headquarters are in Quantico, Virginia.
The When: 9/8c. Criminal Minds premiered in 2005 and is currently in its tenth season.
The Who: Criminal Minds is tailored to an audience over the age of 18 because of sexual content and extreme violence. The “who” within the show changes as the seasons do. That being said, nine characters have a strong presence throughout: Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner aka Hotch (portrayed by Thomas Gibson); Supervisory Special Agents Derrick Morgan (Shemar Moore), Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), JJ Jareau (A. J. Cook), Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini) who is replaced by Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster); Senior Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) who is replaced early in the show by David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), and technical analyst Penelope Garcia (Kristin Vangsness).
From left to right: Agents Reid, Prentiss, Morgan, Hotch, Rossi, J.J, Garcia. Not Pictured: Gideon and Elle
Want to read The Why? Click here!
Criminal Minds for Anyones Mind 