Finally caught up with Criminal Minds.

It took a whole month, but I'm finally caught up with all 5 seasons of Criminal Minds. This show has always intrigued me from when I saw it a couple of years ago. So I decided to finally sit down and watch it all. Let me tell ya, this show is excellent. There are a lot of people who do not like it still, but it's one of those shows that you get, or one that you don't. And I get this show.

It basically revolves around the F.B.I. and its Behavioural Analysis Unit. A unit comprised of 5 members known as profilers. These guys specialize in analyzing the way serial killers think. Notice that I say serial killer and not just a plain murderer. They take a deep look into the history, the crime scene and the victimology and they develop a suspect pool just from that. They look at the smallest details and they figure stuff out. It's pretty realistic. It's not like they have super psychic abilities and predict everything, they make mistakes. The suspect is known as the "Unknown Subject" or simply the "unsub".

This show, in my opinion, easily bests CSI. CSI focuses much on the science, but science can only prove stuff. The real CSI, of course, is not inferior as they do contribute to some of the aspects in criminal behaviour analysis, but the "profilers" really do a lot of the investigation. Criminal Minds focuses on the psyche of the criminals and how they think, thus being able to predict their next move. It's very interesting.

The format of the show is quite formulaic at times. Problem, analysis, search for suspect, suspect hits another victim, they catch the suspect before killing the victim. This does NOT ALWAYS happen though, mind you. And even in the formulaic layout of the show, each criminal is different and very interesting. The different motives, mentalities, mental afflictions, real references to real serial killers (at that point I research the serial killer). They also say an abundance of very insightful quotes from different prominent people from the present and as far back as biblical times.

This show is quite simply brilliant and so much different from other crime dramas. The insight into human psyche and the limits of what the human brain can do is easily addicting.

The pacing and direction are very well done. Old characters leave, new characters come. Continuous episodes (on going from previous episodes) I could compliment it all day. So just go and watch it.

I definitely recommend this show to anyone. It's awesome.


Current cast of Criminal Minds.
(L to R: SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA Derek Morgan, SSA and BAU team leader Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, SSA David Rossi, BAU team liaison Jennifer "J.J." Jeraux and FBI technical analyst Penelope Garcia)

Go watch Criminal Minds,

Alan