The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 5

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

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

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

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

Director: Charles S. Carroll

Writer: Chris Mundy

The BAU team must profile a serial killer covered in tattoos who commits suicide, but leaves clues to the whereabouts of his last victim.

Director: Rosemary Rodriguez

Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

A series of rolling blackouts in the city of Los Angeles lures a serial killer out of hiding, giving him renewed opportunities to continue his killing spree.

Director: Edward Allen Bernero

Writer: Erica Messer

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.

Director: John Gallagher

Writer: Simon Mirren

The team needs to reunite in order to solve a home invasion case, while Agent Hotchner may have to leave the team.

Director: Charles Haid

Writer: Rick Dunkle

A rash of startling teen suicides in a small Wyoming town is the focus of a BAU investigation.

Director: Rob Spera

Writer: Jim Clemente

The BAU team profiles a serial killer who uses the Internet as his hunting ground, bringing a whole meaning to the term "social networking".

Director: Glenn Kershaw

Writer: Breen Frazier

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

Director: Jon Cassar

Writer: Erica Messer

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

Director: Rob Spera

Writer: Breen Frazier

A serial killer who targets random victims in highly visible places to create a sense of public fear is the subject of a BAU investigation.

Director: Nelson McCormick

Writer: Jess Prosser

A truck driver is kidnapping women and disposing of them in random locations and the BAU must find out his motive in order to catch him.

Director: Rob Hardy

Writer: Kimberly A. Harrison

Garcia plays a crucial role in a case when she travels to Alaska with the BAU team to investigate the murders of several members of a small town.

Director: Charles S. Carroll

Writer: Rick Dunkle

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

Director: Karen Gaviola

Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie

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

Director: John Badham

Writer: Holly Harold

The BAU follows the mental decline of a con artist whose schemes have become so complicated that he begins to eliminate the people involved in them.

Director: Charles S. Carroll

Writer: Oanh Ly

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

Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

Writer: Chris Mundy

The BAU is called upon to profile the past of an ex-convict and help stop him after he escapes from custody and embarks on a violent killing spree.

Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

Writer: Erica Messer

The BAU team travels to San Francisco to investigate the murders of several homeless men and teams up with a separate group of BAU operatives who are working another case they think is connected.

Director: Richard Shepard

Writer: Edward Allen Bernero

The BAU team heads to Texas to track a serial killer targeting illegal immigrants attempting to make safe passage into the U.S.

Director: John Gallagher

Writer: Victor De Jesus

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

Director: Glenn Kershaw

Writer: Oanh Ly