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The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 1

Every episode of Criminal Minds Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 1!

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
Networks:CBSParamount+

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Extreme Aggressor" is the best rated episode of "Criminal Minds" season 1. It scored 7.8/10 based on 3645 votes. Directed by Richard Shepard and written by Jeff Davis, it aired on 9/22/2005. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Compulsion".

  • Extreme Aggressor
    7.8/103,645 votes

    #1 - Extreme Aggressor

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/2005

    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.

    Director: Richard Shepard

    Writer: Jeff Davis

  • Compulsion
    7.6/103,072 votes

    #2 - Compulsion

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/2005

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

    Director: Charles Haid

    Writer: Jeff Davis

  • Won't Get Fooled Again
    7.6/102,984 votes

    #3 - Won't Get Fooled Again

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/2005

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

    Director: Kevin Bray

    Writer: Aaron Zelman

  • Plain Sight
    7.7/102,752 votes

    #4 - Plain Sight

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/2005

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

    Director: Matt Earl Beesley

    Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

  • Broken Mirror
    7.8/102,858 votes

    #5 - Broken Mirror

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/2005

    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.

    Director: Guy Norman Bee

    Writer: Judith McCreary

  • L.D.S.K.
    8.3/103,386 votes

    #6 - L.D.S.K.

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/2005

    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.

    Director: Ernest R. Dickerson

    Writer: Andrew Wilder

  • The Fox
    7.9/102,769 votes

    #7 - The Fox

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/2005

    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.

    Director: Guy Norman Bee

    Writer: Simon Mirren

  • Natural Born Killer
    7.5/102,637 votes

    #8 - Natural Born Killer

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/2005

    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.

    Director: Peter Ellis

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • Derailed
    7.8/103,429 votes

    #9 - Derailed

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/2005

    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.

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • The Popular Kids
    7.5/103,084 votes

    #10 - The Popular Kids

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/2005

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

    Director: Andy Wolk

    Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

  • Blood Hungry
    7.1/103,185 votes

    #11 - Blood Hungry

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/2005

    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.

    Director: Charles Haid

    Writer: Edward Napier

  • What Fresh Hell?
    7.4/102,380 votes

    #12 - What Fresh Hell?

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/11/2006

    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.

    Director: Adam Davidson

    Writer: Judith McCreary

  • Poison
    7.3/102,449 votes

    #13 - Poison

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/18/2006

    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.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Aaron Zelman

  • Riding the Lightning
    8.6/104,557 votes

    #14 - 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

  • Unfinished Business
    7.7/102,449 votes

    #15 - Unfinished Business

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 3/1/2006

    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.

    Director: J. Miller Tobin

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • The Tribe
    7.6/102,664 votes

    #16 - The Tribe

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 3/8/2006

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

    Director: Matt Earl Beesley

    Writer: Andrew Wilder

  • A Real Rain
    7.6/102,438 votes

    #17 - A Real Rain

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 3/22/2006

    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.

    Director: Gloria Muzio

    Writer: Chris Mundy

  • Somebody's Watching
    8.2/103,631 votes

    #18 - Somebody's Watching

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/29/2006

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

    Director: Paul Shapiro

    Writer: Edward Napier

  • Machismo
    7.2/102,571 votes

    #19 - Machismo

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 4/12/2006

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

    Director: Guy Norman Bee

    Writer: Aaron Zelman

  • Charm and Harm
    7.6/102,367 votes

    #20 - Charm and Harm

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 4/19/2006

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

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • Secrets and Lies
    7.6/103,041 votes

    #21 - Secrets and Lies

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 5/3/2006

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

    Director: Matt Earl Beesley

    Writer: Simon Mirren

  • The Fisher King (1)
    8.5/103,395 votes

    #22 - 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