Every season of Criminal Minds ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best seasons of Criminal Minds!

After a fourth woman goes missing in as many months, the team is brought in to track down the guy before he kidnaps again. Hotch is asked to secretly evaluate Gideon to see if he is ready to work full time again.

Extreme Aggressor

The team of investigators tries to capture a serial arsonist who has been terrorizing a college campus.

Compulsion

Gideon and his team track down a copycat bomber terrorizing a quiet community.

Won't Get Fooled Again

The BAU team travels to San Diego to stop a rapist and murderer who commits his crimes in the middle of the day.

Plain Sight

The BAU investigates the kidnapping of a U.S. District Attorney's daughter and determines the kidnapper isn't seeking money -- he's after her twin sister.

Broken Mirror

The BAU is asked to identify a killer who is shooting at victims in broad daylight, and the team works with local law enforcement officers to recreate one of the shootings.

L.D.S.K.

The BAU profiles a serial killer who takes families hostage and lives with them as a father figure during what is supposed to be their family vacations.

The Fox

When an undercover cop in Baltimore involved in a mob investigation goes missing, the BAU believes a serial killer rather than organized crime has something to do with his disappearance. The probe leads to several unsolved missing persons cases.

Natural Born Killer

Elle, along with many others, is held hostage on a train in Texas by a paranoid schizophrenic who is convinced that the U.S. government is monitoring him. Hotchner and Gideon are forced to play into the man's fantasy to save the people he has taken hostage.

Derailed

The team investigates the death of one teen, and the disappearance of another , which may be linked to a satanic ritual.

The Popular Kids

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.

Blood Hungry

When a young girl is abducted in broad daylight from a playground in a seemingly safe neighborhood, the BAU team initially believes her father is responsible. When he is able to provide an alibi, the team is forced to look for clues where the girl lives to determine who is really responsible.

What Fresh Hell?

The team travels to New Jersey where several people have been poisoned, one of them fatally with LSD, ten times more potent than the street version.

Poison

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.

Riding the Lightning

A serial killer reappears after 20 years of silence and contacts the BAU with the promise he will kill another victim in the next five days.

Unfinished Business

The BAU team believes a dangerous cult may be responsible for the mass murders of five college students in an empty house.

The Tribe

The BAU unit travels to NYC to investigate a series of murders that appears to have been committed by a vigilante conducting revenge on former criminals who have been released by the justice system.

A Real Rain

Reid finds himself in danger when he falls for a starlet whose stalker has turned into a killer.

Somebody's Watching

The BAU team travels to Mexico to aid in the capture of a serial killer who is targeting elderly women.

Machismo

The BAU works to capture a serial killer who has evaded capture by altering his appearance.

Charm and Harm

The BAU works with the CIA to identify a mole within that organization, whose leaks are putting operatives at risk.

Secrets and Lies

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

The Fisher King (1)

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.

The Fisher King (2)

A young boy who had disappeared a year ago turns up for sale by a child pornographer on an online auction in Cleveland. A former profiler who now heads the FBI's Crimes Against Children Unit asks Hotch and the BAU to help her save the boy's life before it's too late.

P911

The BAU has reason to believe a series of murders might have been committed by two people working as a team after the victims' families receive DVDs after each crime that includes psychological attacks.

The Perfect Storm

The BAU is called to investigate a series of bank robberies after it becomes evident the crimes are not based on money because the robber abuses his victims by forcing them to undress before he leaves the crime scene.

Psychodrama

The BAU investigates a serial rapist who had been attacking young women at religious schools and stopped for six weeks. He has resumed his attacks, but is now targeting a different demographic of women. Elle makes a decision that could end her career with the BAU.

Aftermath

The BAU travels to a small Texas community to investigate the murders of children. Meanwhile, Elle is having readjustment issues after being shot, and Hotch becomes worried about her when she misses a mandatory psych evaluation and isn't answering her cell phone.

The Boogeyman

After a man kidnaps three teenaged girls and locks them in a cellar, he tells them only two of them will live and they must choose which one will die. The BAU team takes the case when the mother of one of the girls travels to Quantico to ask JJ to intercede with the FBI on the girls' behalf.

North Mammon

The BAU travels to Seattle to identify and catch a serial bomber who has been terrorizing the city and targeting centers of automated techology. Working with the author of a science fiction novel that has become a guide for the bomber, the team attempts to determine why certain sites have been chosen as targets.

Empty Planet

The daughter of high-powered diplomats, Special Agent Emily Prentiss joins the team, and she must convince Gideon and Hotchner she deserves the job based on merit and not on her family connections. The BAU is then called to St. Louis to investigate two serial killers who appear to be competing with each other. By setting a trap based on one killer's profile, the team creates a media event by which to capture the second killer.

The Last Word

Gideon, Reid and Prentiss travel to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate the leader of a terror sleeper cell being detained there after a chemical weapons dispersal device is discovered during a raid at a suspicious house. Working with Reid, Emily's fluency in Arabic proves to be useful as they scrutinize the suspect.

Lessons Learned

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.

Sex, Birth, Death

Morgan is arrested as a serial killer after he goes home to Chicago to visit his family. Because the detective making the arrest had used a profile provided by Gideon, the team travels to Chicago to help the local authorities find the real killer and exonerate Morgan.

Profiler, Profiled

Gideon is pitted against the scariest and most evil murderer in his entire career. When the BAU confronts the sadistic killer in a remote diner in the Nevada desert, the local authorities want to move quickly and make an arrest. But Gideon bides his time as he attempts to persuade the man, who has sworn not be captured, to reveal the whereabouts of a woman he is holding hostage.

No Way Out (1)

The BAU is called to investigate after a wealthy couple is murdered in their home following a Super Bowl party.

The Big Game (1)

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.

Revelations (2)

The BAU becomes involved to prevent a possible race riot when the murder of four young black women in a mostly white New York suburb appear to be hate crimes.

Fear and Loathing

The BAU travels to Houston to investigate a series of murders that have occurred near construction sites and abandoned buildings. Because the murders appear to be random, the team believes the killer could be a homeless person. Meanwhile, everyone is noticing an apparent change in Reid's behavior.

Distress

A case involving a serial killer believed to be copying Jack the Ripper takes Gideon to New Orleans after three victims are found with their throats cut. Once thought to have been killed in Hurricane Katrina, the discovery of a fourth victim in the French Quarter confirms the murderer is still alive. All the evidence and files had been lost in the flood, so the only clue the team has is the word "Jones" that the lead detective wrote on the wall just before he drowned. Meanwhile, Reid meets up with an old rival as he continues to struggle with the aftermath of being held hostage.

Jones

A serial arsonist who targets the homes of upper-middle-class families as they sleep is investigated. The BAU determines the arson victims are linked together through corporate development companies that have been accused of building on contaminated land.

Ashes and Dust

Elizabeth Prentiss, a foreign ambassador and SSA Emily Prentiss' mother, seeks the aid of the BAU when a Russian immigrant is kidnapped and held for ransom.

Honor Among Thieves

The BAU is called to investigate after the bodies of missing people are discovered in a remote region of the Idaho wilderness. The gruesome find also leads the team to determine the unsubs have been hunting humans for sport.

Open Season

When homeless persons begin going missing mysteriously from the streets in Kansas City, a local detective calls the BAU to investigate the disappearances.

Legacy

When the prolific serial killer Frank returns and murders Gideon's girlfriend, Gideon takes off to find him without telling the team where he is going. The BAU must then profile Gideon as well as Frank to find both of them.

No Way Out: The Evilution of Frank (2)

The team investigates a serial killer who is targeting women at a small college in Flagstaff, Arizona. The BAU shuts down the campus, creates a detailed profile of the unsub, and arrests a suspect. However, the team members begin to have doubts about themselves when another woman is killed while the suspect is in custody.

Doubt

In Milwaukee, a series of women have been found murdered with their hearts crudely removed. The BAU is assigned to the case, but they are short three members: Gideon, who is missing, Hotch, who is on suspension and Prentiss, who resigns her commission to join the Foreign Service. Supervisor Strauss steps in as lead, but she doesn't handle herself well in the field.

In Name and Blood

The BAU travels to Portland to assist local authorities in investigating the disappearances of people who are new to the city and have no strong social ties.

Scared to Death

When home invasions involve the murder of entire families, the BAU is called to Denver to identify the killers who possibly have been abused while in foster care.

Children of the Dark

The investigation turns to the family as the BAU and local authorities race against time to locate a young girl who has disappeared from a local shopping mall.

Seven Seconds

The team gains a new, familiar member and some growing pains while trying to find the latest victim of a killer who puts up wanted posters of his victims before he abducts them.

About Face

The team is called to Montana to investigate the case of four kidnapped and murdered women. When another woman disappears, the search leads to a man who apparently has assumed the identity of his dead partner.

Identity

A team member's life is put in jeopardy when the BAU investigates serial killings in Florida that appear to involve the occult and satanic worship. Garcia believes she has met her dream man, but her first date with him doesn't go exactly as she had expected.

Lucky

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.

Penelope

The BAU and local authorities in Los Angeles investigate gang-related serial killings that might possibly involve a famous comic book artist.

True Night

The new sheriff in Fredericksburg, Virginia, requests the BAU's assistance in the investigation of a series of mutilation murders that appear to mimic similar crimes that had occurred over two decades earlier.

Birthright

When one teenager is found murdered and her best friend is abducted in Chula Vista, California, the BAU assists local authorities in determining whether the Witness Protection Program is involved.

3rd Life

After the contents of a self-storage unit purchased at an auction take the BAU to Philadelphia to investigate a series of murders, the local agent becomes the center of the case. To catch the killer, the team must profile the items inside the unit.

Limelight

Rossi travels to Indianapolis to continue his investigation into the two unsolved murders that have plagued him for 20 years.

Damaged

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

A Higher Power

The BAU is called to West Bune, a small town in Texas, to investigate what appears to be spree killings that involve a teenaged boy and his girlfriend.

Elephant's Memory

The BAU is called to Miami to investigate a serial killer who appears to have a conflicted sexual identity.

In Heat

The team members try to identify a stalker before he can attack a woman who is being stalked in Silver Spring, Maryland. Meanwhile, Hotch and Rossi are called as consultants on a possible battered woman syndrome murder case in Boston.

The Crossing

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.

Tabula Rasa

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.

Lo-Fi

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.

Mayhem

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.

The Angel Maker

Reid and Prentiss are taken hostage when they go under cover to investigate possible child abuse at an underground cult.

Minimal Loss

The BAU joins the manhunt to catch a serial killer who conceals the manner of his crimes by staging car accidents.

Paradise

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.

Catching Out

While investigating the abduction of a young boy in Las Vegas, Dr. Reid starts to have dreams that might help reveal buried memories from his childhood.

The Instincts

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

Memoriam

When a narcissistic psychopath confesses he has killed seven people and more will die, the team must locate his latest victims before it is too late.

Masterpiece

Agents Prentiss and Todd go undercover to profile a serial killer who uses skills of persuasion to lure women into danger.

52 Pickup

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.

Brothers in Arms

The team investigates a serial killer who shoots luxury car owners on Southern California's freeways.

Normal

The BAU team suspects a member of an affluent community in Atlanta is responsible for the disappearance of a local young woman and that the suspect may have worked with an accomplice

Soul Mates

The BAU team becomes involved in the case of a family working together to abduct young girls.

Bloodline

The mother of an abducted child works with the BAU to apprehend a serial killer who kidnaps, murders, and embalms his victims.

Cold Comfort

The team pursues a copycat serial killer who is recreating the techniques used by past famous murderers.

Zoe's Reprise

The team searches for a female suspect who uses her professional skills as a high class call girl to lure and kill high-powered executives.

Pleasure Is My Business

Agent Prentiss has a personal connection to one of the victims in a series of deaths with religious overtones.

Demonology

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.

Omnivore

The BAU team must track down a serial arsonist who instills fear in a small town by setting fire to community meeting places and killing several residents in the process.

House on Fire

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

Conflicted

When profiling a series of child abductions and murders, the team discovers that one of the cases may not be the handiwork of the serial killer they apprehended.

A Shade of Gray

When the team is sent a videotape from a serial killer detailing one of his crimes, they discover a hidden message asking them to help him stop his murderous ways.

The Big Wheel

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

Roadkill

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.

Amplification

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.

To Hell... (1)

...And Back (2)

As Rossi, Morgan and JJ profile a killer who is targeting an emergency room doctor, Prentiss realizes that Hotch is missing.

Nameless, Faceless

The BAU must determine what caused a disturbed man to murder several people at a pharmacy before he harms anyone else.

Haunted

The BAU investigates a case in Rossi's hometown that involves both his personal and professional life.

Reckoner

A group of suspects with a pack mentality who kill for the thrill of it are the subjects of a BAU manhunt.

Hopeless

The team hunts a suspect who impregnates young women and has them give birth before murdering them.

Cradle to Grave

The BAU team tracks a serial killer who keeps the eyes of his victims as souvenirs.

The Eyes Have It

The BAU team investigates the mystery behind a trail of murders that all seem to align with the tour schedule of a rock star.

The Performer

The BAU team is tracking down a family annihilator, but needs to take a break from the case to get advice from "The Fox", who is an horrific killer from the team's past. "The Fox" surprises the team with a ominous message for Agent Hotchner.

Outfoxed

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

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 most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of the BAU who returns to help the team solve new cases.

The Best Seasons of Criminal Minds

The Best Seasons of Criminal Minds

Season 2

Season 4

Season 16

Season 3

Season 5

Season 1

Season 7

Season 9

Season 15

Season 18

Season 6

Season 8

Season 17

Season 14

Season 10

Season 11

Season 13

Season 12