9.2/104,283 votesLoading...#1 - 100
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/2009
The BAU team races to help Hotchner find The Reaper and save his family before it's too late.
Director: Edward Allen Bernero
Writer: Erica Messer, Edward Allen Bernero, Simon Mirren, Rick Dunkle, Chris Mundy, Breen Frazier, Oanh Ly
9.1/103,626 votesLoading...#2 - Entropy
Season 11 Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/2016
The BAU implements an elaborate strategy to try and take down the “Dirty Dozen” hitmen ring, with Reid playing a central role.
Director: Heather Cappiello
Writer: Breen Frazier
8.9/103,944 votesLoading...#3 - Mosley Lane
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/2010
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.
Director: Matthew Gray Gubler
Writer: Erica Messer, Simon Mirren
8.8/103,944 votesLoading...#4 - Revelations (2)
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 2/7/2007
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.
Director: Guy Norman Bee
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.7/103,177 votesLoading...#5 - The Fisher King (2)
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/2006
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.
Director: Gloria Muzio
Writer: Edward Allen Bernero
8.7/103,434 votesLoading...#6 - Penelope
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/2007
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.
Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.7/10315 votesLoading...#7 - ...And Back (2)
Season 4 Episode 26 - Aired 5/20/2009
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.
Director: Edward Allen Bernero
Writer: Edward Allen Bernero
8.7/103,039 votesLoading...#8 - Lauren
Season 6 Episode 18 - Aired 3/16/2011
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.
Director: Matthew Gray Gubler
Writer: Breen Frazier
8.7/103,118 votesLoading...#9 - Mr. Scratch
Season 10 Episode 21 - Aired 4/22/2015
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.
Director: Matthew Gray Gubler
Writer: Breen Frazier
8.6/104,578 votesLoading...#10 - Riding the Lightning
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/25/2006
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.
Director: Chris Long
Writer: Simon Mirren
8.6/103,330 votesLoading...#11 - Zugzwang
Season 8 Episode 12 - Aired 1/16/2013
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.
Director: Jesse Warn
Writer: Breen Frazier
8.6/102,694 votesLoading...#12 - Demons (2)
Season 9 Episode 24 - Aired 5/14/2014
The investigation in Texas reveals a deep web of corruption; Garcia must save a friend.
Director: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Erica Messer
8.6/101,180 votesLoading...#13 - Date Night
Season 15 Episode 6 - Aired 2/5/2020
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".
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/103,409 votesLoading...#14 - The Fisher King (1)
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/2006
While on their vacations, each of the team receives a clue from a psychopathic killer challenging them to save his next victim.
Director: Edward Allen Bernero
Writer: Edward Allen Bernero
8.5/103,506 votesLoading...#15 - Sex, Birth, Death
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 11/29/2006
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.
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.5/103,077 votesLoading...#16 - Lo-Fi
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 5/21/2008
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.
Director: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.5/103,300 votesLoading...#17 - Mayhem
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/2008
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.
Director: Edward Allen Bernero
Writer: Simon Mirren
8.5/102,604 votesLoading...#18 - Omnivore
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/2009
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.
Director: Nelson McCormick
Writer: Andrew Wilder
8.5/102,349 votesLoading...#19 - Run (2)
Season 7 Episode 24 - Aired 5/16/2012
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.
Director: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Erica Messer
8.5/101,545 votesLoading...#20 - Believer
Season 13 Episode 22 - Aired 4/18/2018
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".
Director: Glenn Kershaw
Writer: Breen Frazier
8.4/103,093 votesLoading...#21 - Memoriam
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/2008
As Reid's investigation of a young boy's murder in Las Vegas continues, he discovers possible connections to his own past.
Director: Guy Norman Bee
Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie
8.4/103,377 votesLoading...#22 - Conflicted
Season 4 Episode 20 - Aired 4/8/2009
The team travels to Fort Lauderdale during spring break to find a serial killer who is targeting co-eds on vacation.
Director: Jason Alexander
Writer: Rick Dunkle
8.4/103,083 votesLoading...#23 - Amplification
Season 4 Episode 24 - Aired 5/13/2009
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.
Director: John Gallagher
Writer: Oanh Ly
8.4/102,594 votesLoading...#24 - To Hell... (1)
Season 4 Episode 25 - Aired 5/20/2009
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.
Director: Charles Haid
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.4/103,129 votesLoading...#25 - The Uncanny Valley
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/2010
An unusual personal obsession is at the center of a BAU abduction case. Meanwhile, Hotch struggles with his return to work.
Director: Anna Foerster
Writer: Breen Frazier
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!
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...
Genres:CrimeDramaMystery
Best Episodes Summary
"100" is the best rated episode of "Criminal Minds". It scored 9.2/10 based on 4283 votes. Directed by Edward Allen Bernero and written by Erica Messer, Edward Allen Bernero, Simon Mirren, Rick Dunkle, Chris Mundy, Breen Frazier, Oanh Ly, it aired on 11/25/2009. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Entropy".