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The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds

Every episode of Criminal Minds ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Criminal Minds!

The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds

An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's...

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  1. 10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Swimmers Calculus

    S18:E1

    When bodies wash up on the Maryland shoreline, the BAU races to find the UnSub. After surviving a prison attack, Elias Voit has been placed in a medically induced coma while Rossi is investigated for the incident.

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  2. 9.2/10(4.4k votes)

    #2 - 100

    S5:E9

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

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  3. 9.1/10(3.7k votes)

    #3 - Entropy

    S11:E11

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

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  4. 8.9/10(4.0k votes)

    #4 - Revelations (2)

    S2:E15

    In this conclusion of a special two-part episode, finding the serial killer becomes critical to the BAU when the team realizes Reid is being held captive and a live feed of him being tortured is shown on the internet. Meanwhile, Reid's troubled childhood is revealed in flashback sequences as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

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  5. 8.9/10(4.0k votes)

    #5 - Mosley Lane

    S5:E16

    The BAU is called by local authorities in Ashburn, Virginia, to profile a predator who may have been abducting children for at least eight years.

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  6. 8.7/10(3.3k votes)

    #6 - The Fisher King (2)

    S2:E1

    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.

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  8. 8.7/10(3.5k votes)

    #7 - Penelope

    S3:E9

    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.

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  9. 8.7/10(390 votes)

    #8 - ...And Back (2)

    S4:E26

    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.

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  10. 8.7/10(3.1k votes)

    #9 - Lauren

    S6:E18

    As Prentiss faces off against Ian Doyle, JJ receives a call and returns to help them find Prentiss and capture Doyle before it's too late.

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  11. 8.7/10(2.8k votes)

    #10 - Demons (2)

    S9:E24

    The investigation in Texas reveals a deep web of corruption; Garcia must save a friend.

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  12. 8.7/10(3.2k votes)

    #11 - Mr. Scratch

    S10:E21

    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.

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  13. 8.6/10(4.7k votes)

    #12 - Riding the Lightning

    S1:E14

    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.

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    Director:Chris Long
  14. 8.6/10(2.7k votes)

    #13 - Omnivore

    S4:E18

    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.

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  15. 8.6/10(3.4k votes)

    #14 - Zugzwang

    S8:E12

    When Reid discovers that his girlfriend has been kidnapped by her stalker, he and the BAU team band together to find her before it's too late.

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    Director:Jesse Warn
  16. 8.6/10(1.2k votes)

    #15 - Date Night

    S15:E6

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

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  17. 8.5/10(3.5k votes)

    #16 - The Fisher King (1)

    S1:E22

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

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  18. 8.5/10(3.6k votes)

    #17 - Sex, Birth, Death

    S2:E11

    The BAU is called to investigate a series of murders of prostitutes in Washington D.C. and Reid suspects a teenager he met asking for his help is guilty of the crimes. The case becomes complicated when a congresswoman, who about to make a speech to praise the city's lower crime rate, threatens to take away the case if Hotchner calls a press conference to discuss it.

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  19. 8.5/10(3.2k votes)

    #18 - Lo-Fi

    S3:E20

    The BAU faces one of its toughest cases when the team is called to New York City to determine if a series of random shootings is the work of one serial killer or a team of killers working together.

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    Director:Glenn Kershaw
  20. 8.5/10(3.4k votes)

    #19 - Mayhem

    S4:E1

    When an SUV carrying members of the team explodes, the rest of the team fights to save them and catch the terrorists responsible for the bombing.

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  21. 8.5/10(2.4k votes)

    #20 - Run (2)

    S7:E24

    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. Also, wedding bells ring for one of the BAU, and Prentiss ponders her future.

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  22. 8.5/10(1.6k votes)

    #21 - Believer

    S13:E22

    When Reid discovers former FBI Special Agent Owen Quinn locked inside a storage unit, the BAU questions the credibility of Quinn's bizarre accounts of searching for an UnSub that he named "The Strangler".

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  23. 8.4/10(3.2k votes)

    #22 - Memoriam

    S4:E7

    As Reid's investigation of a young boy's murder in Las Vegas continues, he discovers possible connections to his own past.

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  24. 8.4/10(3.4k votes)

    #23 - Conflicted

    S4:E20

    The team travels to Fort Lauderdale during spring break to find a serial killer who is targeting co-eds on vacation.

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  25. 8.4/10(3.1k votes)

    #24 - Amplification

    S4:E24

    When a new type of chemical warfare is released into the open air, the BAU must act quickly to find the source before any more innocent people are exposed.

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    Writer:Oanh Ly
  26. 8.4/10(2.7k votes)

    #25 - To Hell... (1)

    S4:E25

    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.

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    Director:Charles Haid

Best Episodes Summary

"Swimmers Calculus" is the best rated episode of "Criminal Minds". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Bethany Rooney and written by Breen Frazier, it aired on 5/8/2025. This episode scored 0.8 points higher than the second highest rated, "100".