by Chloe Pieper–Over the past decade, I have binge-watched many different television shows on Netflix and other streaming services. However, one show that has always been my favorite is Criminal Minds.
Criminal Minds is like any other crime show that you can find, but it is also different. It is rated TV-14 and the network is CBS. This show follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavior Analysis Unit located in Quantico, VA. Behavior Analysis and profiling the crime scenes are how they identify the unknown subject, which is the team’s nickname for the perpetrator.
There have been a lot of well-known celebrities that guest starred on the show. Besides the main actors, these celebrities have played a vastly different role in individual episodes. Luke Perry, Riverdale and Beverly Hills 90210, acted as a minor-loving polyamorous cult leader. Glee actor Jane Lynch played a schizophrenic and dementia-ridden mother to one of the profilers. Jason Alexander, Seinfeld, played as a serial killer who was a professor at the academy. Boy Meets World actor Ben Savage acted as the younger version of one of the profilers.
Freshman Mara Brown said “I like to watch when I am bored or when I need a good thrill. I’ve been watching this show on and off for about five years. My favorite episode is about a child abductor who has been keeping children for more than eight years.
Each episode lasts 42 minutes. In that time we see the crime being committed, the team debriefing in the office or on the jet, more crimes happen, the team builds the profile, the tech analysis gets a hit of a suspect, and then they catch the killer. The unsubs have been seen to have some form of mental illness like dissociative identity disorder, bipolar disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, etc. Other unsubs have had certain paraphillias where there was necrophillia, cannibalism, disembowelment, etc.
Senior Sharon Bassette said, “I have been watching (this show) since I was a child because my mom used to watch it. I like to watch it when I’m bored, need background noise, or something I want to watch but I don’t need to pay attention to. It is one of my favorite shows but Season 2 Episode 15 is by far my favorite out of all of them.”
It seems like death is so close to taking out the team. In some of the episodes, the profiler goes through something traumatic. These events would be kidnapping, being shot, tortured, prison time, given drugs, and losing their significant other. Some of these happen to multiple team members.
So far, I have made it to the middle of season five since I started to rewatch it on January 7. I usually put the show on while doing homework or cleaning my apartment. Netflix only has seasons one through twelve on it and then Hulu has seasons thirteen through fifteen.
Paramount+ offers the complete series for streaming.
Great read, Chloe Pieper!!! You are quite a spectacular writer!!!