Criminal Minds is the ultimate cop show. It illustrates how the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU) works, in order to locate the Unknown Subject (Unsub) and solve the crime at hand. The BAU, after collecting and reviewing evidence, constructs a "profile" of the Unsub, so as to narrow down their search and catch them. What makes it different from other cop shows is that it focuses on the Unsub's mentality, they try to figure out *why* that person was led to committing such crime. It shows how abuse, neglect, untreated mental illness and traumatic experiences in general can make or break a person.
There are mixed opinions regarding this show. I agree that it's a case of copaganda, as most cop/crime shows are. It is often said that it harmfully portrays mental illness and mentally ill people as dangerous. I don't struggle with mental illness so I can't accurately speak on that, but personally this show hasn't led me to adopt those beliefs. On the contrary, it's made me gain more insight on how mental illness and trauma can affect a person, and how important mental health is.
I've been watching this show from a very young age when I definitely shouldn't have, but it's evolved (no pun intended) to become my comfort show. I've borderline memorized the plot of most episodes. I rewatch it all the time while also watching the newer seasons (I'm currently behind though). I'm too far gone now. There's no return.
Jason Gideon : OVERHATED KING. He is the best profiler in the whole show and everyone who says otherwise doesn't pay attention. I have a tumblr post somewhere here in which I explain how much hate when people hate on the early seasons and Gideon, because HE LITERALLY IS THE SHOW. HE WAS THE MAIN CHARACTER!!! His storyline and his decline excellently portray how this job can and WILL ruin people, a storyline which is explored throughout the whole show.
Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : When I was younger, I was a Hotch hater. I was very wrong. Like it or not, Hotch held the team together. Literally, that's why the show fell of when he left. No but genuinely, the team needed authority in order to work normally and Hotch provided just that. His mean and cold/apathetic demeanor was necessary, even if everyone knew that deep down it was all a facade.
Derek Morgan : I genuinely love him so much. His storyline breaks me and the episodes about him are some of my favorite. He is so underrated and he literally does NO wrong. I'm very glad he got his happy ending because that's exactly what he deserved, I sobbed all throughout his last episode.
Spencer Reid : ORIGINAL PRETTY BOY/ WHITE GUY OF THE CENTURY. Where do I even begin with him. I could write an entire detailed essay on this character's traumatic experiences and how they shaped him. I've memorized his lines in the first episode. Every fun fact he's ever told, I tell. I fear I've stolen his personality as well. He is my favorite character EVER. IN THE HISTORY OF CHARACTERS. HE IS BLORBO. I AM A KINNIE. Call it what you want I love Spencer Reid. this picture is so goofy idk why i picked it
Elle Greenaway : I would go to war for her against anyone who TRIES to undermine her. SHE DID NOTHING WRONG. HER REACTION WAS EXTREMELY VALID AND WARRANTED. People who haven't watched the show probably don't understand this. And people don't pay attention to the fact that she hadn't even MADE THE TEAM YET when everything went down. She had so much potential as a character, I wanted to learn about her backstory. I will always mourn what she could've been.
Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : Overhated. Sure that ONE episode in season 14 was questionable but I think she's a great character. I love her backstory and the (sad) storyline they gave her in season 16. Also jemily is real.
Penelope Garcia : THE ORIGINAL BABY GIRL!!! I love her so much, I love how they made her woke in CM: Evolution. Not much else to say, everyone loves Penelope. I channel her energy every time I code lol.
Emily Prentiss : I LOVE HER I LOVE HER I LOVE HER. Emily is such an important character to me, I admire her so much. Every time I'm going through something and I feel like the world is ending, I remind myself that Emily Prentiss has been through much worse and she still came back as strong and determined as ever. She did not back down and neither will I.
Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon returns to the Behavioral Analysis Unit after an extended medical leave, and BAU team leader Aaron Hotchner must secretly evaluate Gideon's performance. Gideon's first case upon his return involves tracking down an unsub (unknown subject) in Seattle before he kills his latest kidnap victim.
When I tell you this is the BEST PILOT EVER you have to believe me. It's such a good introduction to the show, it immediately shows you what makes it different from other cop shows and what makes it worth your time. Every time I watch this I feel the same rush and suspense as if I haven't memorized every single plot twist. It gets better every single time. It's so worth it.
A young girl named Jessica Davis is abducted from a Washington, D.C. area shopping center and eventually found dead. The BAU are called in when a week later, a second young girl, six-year old Katie Jacobs, is subsequently missing in a shopping center in Potomac Mills, Virgina, the mall which is under lock down. The surveillance cameras show no signs of Katie ever leaving the building. The case takes a turn when they find a necklace that Katie was wearing. That necklace gives the BAU more information about who they believe to be the unsub, who did not choose Katie as a target randomly.
The BAU's latest case brings a face, familiar to J.J., into their office - Sarah Hillridge, whose son Charlie was abducted eight years ago when he was eight. Sarah, who believes Charlie is still alive, comes to see J.J. every time the BAU works on a child abduction case, the latest abducted child being eight-year-old Aimee Lynch. J.J. cannot deny that Aimee's abduction bears a striking similarity to Charlie's: the abductions took place in northeast Virginia, the parents were distracted from their own child upon hearing another mother yelling for her own missing child, and the children were abducted in an extremely public location. Upon further investigation, Garcia discovers twelve children in total, all abducted within Virginia in the last ten years, all around the same age, none of the bodies ever found.
The BAU travel to Lafayette Parish, Louisiana to work on the case of Sammy Sparks, a ten year old autistic boy who is seen splattered with blood. His parents, Alison and Charlie Sparks, are missing. They try to decipher Sammy's drawings and his music and piece it to the strict routine by which all the Sparks lived to find the unsub.
Prentiss has disappeared - without her badge and gun - as soon as her BAU colleagues piece together her connection to Doyle. They bring in an old friend, J.J., to use her role in the State Department to provide information on Prentiss' CIA past, and her connection to the international team that profiled Doyle and his role in IRA related terrorism. As they learn more about Doyle, they realize that Prentiss, who they know has gone after him, is up against not only Doyle but his sizable army who will do anything to protect him.
Reid has what appears on the surface to be an Internet arranged blind date at an upscale restaurant with a young woman named Cat. It is, however, a supposed business date, with Reid pretending to be a potential client for her. However, she, being good at her job as an experienced hitwoman, knows that the meeting is a set-up. When Reid and Cat come clean to each other, what results is a thirty minute game of psychological cat and mouse between the two. The outcome is affected by how well Reid and the team have Cat profiled, how well she in turn has calculated the strategic moves in their chess match.
gathered from imdb