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The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 3

Every episode of Criminal Minds Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 3!

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 3 Ratings Summary

"Doubt" is the best rated episode of "Criminal Minds" season 3. It scored 7.6/10 based on 2194 votes. Directed by Gloria Muzio and written by Chris Mundy, it aired on 9/26/2007. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "In Name and Blood".

  • Doubt
    7.6/102,194 votes

    #1 - Doubt

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/2007

    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.

    Director: Gloria Muzio

    Writer: Chris Mundy

  • In Name and Blood
    7.9/102,293 votes

    #2 - In Name and Blood

    Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/2007

    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.

    Director: Edward Allen Bernero

    Writer: Chris Mundy

  • Scared to Death
    7.6/102,283 votes

    #3 - Scared to Death

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/2007

    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.

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • Children of the Dark
    7.9/102,190 votes

    #4 - Children of the Dark

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/2007

    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.

    Director: Guy Norman Bee

    Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie

  • Seven Seconds
    8.3/102,501 votes

    #5 - Seven Seconds

    Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/2007

    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.

    Director: John Gallagher

    Writer: Andi Bushell

  • About Face
    7.5/102,172 votes

    #6 - About Face

    Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 10/31/2007

    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.

    Director: Skipp Sudduth

    Writer: Charles Murray

  • Identity
    7.4/102,155 votes

    #7 - Identity

    Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/2007

    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.

    Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton

    Writer: Oanh Ly

  • Lucky
    8.2/103,161 votes

    #8 - Lucky

    Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/2007

    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.

    Director: Steve Boyum

    Writer: Andrew Wilder

  • Penelope
    8.7/103,422 votes

    #9 - 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

  • True Night
    7.8/102,558 votes

    #10 - True Night

    Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/28/2007

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

    Director: Edward Allen Bernero

    Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

  • Birthright
    7.7/102,237 votes

    #11 - Birthright

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 12/12/2007

    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.

    Director: John Gallagher

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • 3rd Life
    8.0/102,424 votes

    #12 - 3rd Life

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 1/9/2008

    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.

    Director: Anthony Hemingway

    Writer: Simon Mirren

  • Limelight
    7.5/102,224 votes

    #13 - Limelight

    Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 1/23/2008

    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.

    Director: Glenn Kershaw

    Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie

  • Damaged
    7.9/102,947 votes

    #14 - Damaged

    Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 4/2/2008

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

    Director: Edward Allen Bernero

    Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

  • A Higher Power
    7.4/102,279 votes

    #15 - A Higher Power

    Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 4/9/2008

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

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

    Writer: Michael Udesky

  • Elephant's Memory
    8.3/103,127 votes

    #16 - Elephant's Memory

    Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 4/16/2008

    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.

    Director: Bobby Roth

    Writer: Andrew Wilder

  • In Heat
    7.6/102,358 votes

    #17 - In Heat

    Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 4/30/2008

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

    Director: John Gallagher

    Writer: Andi Bushell

  • The Crossing
    7.6/102,192 votes

    #18 - The Crossing

    Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 5/7/2008

    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.

    Director: Guy Norman Bee

    Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

  • Tabula Rasa
    8.1/102,885 votes

    #19 - Tabula Rasa

    Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 5/14/2008

    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.

    Director: Steve Boyum

    Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie

  • Lo-Fi
    8.5/103,067 votes

    #20 - 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