Episode 1: "The Inspiration - part one"
The BAU start off season 9 by chasing a serial killer who is feeding the head of his first victim to his subsequent kills. Oh, he also rapes them before killing them and placing them in a prayer position after death. Psycho! They think they have the guy, but wait... his fingerprints don't match the crime scene. Only one thing that could mean, twins!
Episode 2: "The Inspiration - part two"
The team continue to hunt for the really bad twin, but in true Criminal Minds fashion, neither is good! One twin takes the other hostage and resumes the killing spree started by the other. Mom gave one up at age two. She lures them both to a church to get the "good" one to kill the bad one. Nope. Mom goes to jail. Original bad twin goes to jail. New bad twin dies.
Episode 3: "Final Shot"
There's a sniper loose in Dallas, TX taking out seemingly random people. Nothing is ever random for the BAU. The sniper is a hired hitman. He's hired by a stalking ex after the woman goes underground to escape his abuse. The coolest part of this episode is the way they showed things from the sniper's point of view, literally.
Episode 4: "To Bear Witness"
A man is creating zombies... no wait, they are living cameras. Whoa. This one was out there even for Criminal Minds. We follow a man who is let loose from whatever binds held him captive and obviously tortured him. He'd had a lobotomy, and eventually it was found that he had a camera implanted in his eyeball. This all turned out to be because one bratty kid was sent off to live in boarding schools, while the sister was brought up at home with love. "Worst case of sibling rivalry I've seen," said Rossi.
Episode 5: "Route 66"
Hotch collapses at the BAU meeting and is rushed to the hospital. The rest of the team are sent to Wichita, KS looking for a teen girl who may or may not have been abducted by her father. Hotch is rushed into emergency surgery (something to do with the stab wounds inflicted by Foyet) and while he's under he has dreams of Haley... and Foyet. Meanwhile, the team finds that the girl is running with her father, but he's shooting and robbing his way across Texas and she doesn't know that. Overall it's a somewhat happy ending with the girl saving her killer father from sure death by not leaving his side during the standoff with the cops. Hotch recovers too!
Episode 6: "In the Blood"
A man on a psychotic break is obsessed with the witch trials at Salem, OR. He's burning women at the stake. The BAU is hot on his trail when he snatches a mother and her daughter after checking out his witch-y book at the library. This episode ended in a death-by-cop method.
Episode 7: "Gatekeeper"
There's a new strangler in Boston, MA and the BAU are out to get him. He blitz attacks his victims and steals their wallets, but it's not about money. He's making a creepy scrapbook of all of his kills. He accidentally kills a girl and things start to devolve quickly. The team figures out he's targeting bad influences on people in a specific apartment building. Wow, that's specific! Turns out the killer lost his 10 year old in a wrestling mishap with a friend. Now his wife has kicked him out as the final stress-er. He takes his pregnant wife hostage, but the BAU rushes in just in time for Reid to deliver the baby!
Episode 8: "The Return"
Derek gets Morgan'ed by his girlfriend. Missing children appear to be doing hit jobs on civilians as terrorist attacks. It turns out someone is abducting young boys and reprogramming them into killing machines. The team deduces that they are targeting police. One boy is caught and repeats the badge number 53699. That gives it away. It's a former cop that is disgruntled from being kicked off the force.
Episode 9: "Strange Fruit"
Human remains are dug up in a Virginia backyard. The suspects are the father and the son since the family has lived in the home for 35 years. Garcia traces the beginning to the clan, and a lie told about a rape. Six clansmen grabbed the father off the street and castrated him when he was young. The man hunted down the six and killed them and a few more people later who wronged his son.
Episode 10: "The Caller"
The team is dispatched to St. Louis, MO for a kidnapping case. "The Caller" is a creepy kid voice that says, "I'm gonna get you." The BAU link it to a cold case and call that father in for an interview. Both kids were found dead within 24 hours of being taken. They profile that they are mercy kills. Then the killer takes the second man's wife. There seems to be no reason why these people would go willingly with the un-sub. Garcia narrows it down to the computer sciences teacher at the boy's school. This one had a cool secret hallway in the un-sub's apartment. Reid had to shoot him to save Blake.
Episode 11: "Bully"
Blake's father calls her and the BAU in (to Kansas City) after a third man is found dead, beaten and left wearing nothing but women's underwear. We meet Blake's brother, Dt. Scott Blake, in the course of the investigation. I'm sensing a Blake theme here. Another man and his wife are found murdered, same MO. Then Blake's brother gets attacked by the un-sub and the man he's interviewing is killed and left in women's underwear. It turns out to be an old classmate, Ronald Underwood, avenging the death of a bullied friend.
Episode 12: "The Black Queen"
We get to go into Garcia's past and the deep dark web where the hackers live (apparently San Jose). The team tries to determine if an innocent man has been convicted of horrific murders. The BAU are up against a team of hackers known as the Star Chamber, specifically they are up against Garcia's old boyfriend/mentor. When more women die with the killer on death row, the BAU gives two profiles. It's a partner this time. A hacker partner.
Episode 13: "The Road Home"
This is the sad story of a man falling down. He's a vigilante spree killer in Cleveland, OH. Garcia figures out it's Clifford Walsh, whose family was killed in a home invasion by a drugged up kid. The kid only got 10 years in prison, but died there. Walsh is transferring his hatred toward anyone involved in his families' case. They get their man... but JJ gets kidnapped at the end.
Episode 14: "200"
JJ is taken hostage and so is Section Chief Cruze. They are being held by a terrorist group out for revenge for a case Cruze and JJ worked together in Afghanistan. Both are tortured at length, but eventually rescued by the team. JJ takes a coupe of weeks off and is back on the job by the next episode.
Episode 15: "Mr. and Mrs. Anderson"
This is the tainted story of a husband and wife who are seeing a marriage counselor to improve their bond. However, they find that killing random women helps more. The team figures out that this couple has been killing since 1994, with a four year break. They were separated at that time. They need to find a way to drive a wedge between the couple. They confront the wife with the fact that he'd been killing on his own while they were apart.That does the trick!
Episode 16: "Gabby"
A mom wins a trip and leaves her daughter with her untrustworthy cousin. While gone, the cousin gives the little girl away to strangers. She claims it was because she was molested by the cousin's father while they were growing up. Gabby is found, alive, with an icky family claiming to have saved her.
Episode 17: "Persuasion"
The BAU is called in to solve a string of murders where the women end up drowned in the middle of the desert. During the investigation we are invited into the sewer tunnels of Las Vegas where people have their own laws (honor among thieves). One man is in charge, Caesar, who takes orders from "The Doctor". Problem is The Doctor is an imaginary entity living in Caesar's head. He's ruthless. Turns out he's actually a magician who lives in the tunnels and has the power of suggestion down to an art form.
Episode 18: "Rabid"
A young boy watches his little brother die at home of rabies. As an adult he infects people with the deadly disease by letting them bite one victim after the next. He then video tapes them going insane and dying. Then one woman escapes. That's all it takes for the team to track down this nasty killer and save the last victim.
Episode 19: "The Edge of Winter"
Morgan interviews a young lady in a mental hospital after she witnesses some brutal attacks by her captors. She manages to escape and tell her story, but things are not as they seem. As Morgan gets her to reveal more she finds out she is the accomplice she's been describing as doing the killing and cleaning up. This is a very good episode and reminds me of the original Criminal Minds episodes (when Gideon was there).
Episode 20: "Blood Relations"
This episode, directed by Mathew Gray Gubler, is about a folk legend called the Mountain Man. Legend has it that if you go in the Appalachian Mountains and say, "I hate the Mountain Man" three times, he'd pop up behind you and kill you. Well, there really is a mountain man. A brother and sister got together and had a baby. Oops! He was gravely deformed and taken in by an aunt. He's now killing the family that shunned him. He escapes into the woods. One of the few that got away from the BAU team.
Episode 21: "What Happens in Mecklinburg"
A frat party goes terribly wrong and people are getting abducted that were associated with it. When one woman's sister is gang raped, forced to drink till she had alcohol poisoning, then left in her yard, it's payback time. She beats her captives with pipes and forces one to drink acid before letting him go. She really goes nuts after signing papers to take her sister off of life support. The team is able to take her into custody without her hurting anyone else or herself.
Episode 22: "Fatal"
The team goes out to California to look for a serial killer who likes to poison his victims with arsenic and watch them die. He feels he was ripped off out of life because he didn't get to go to Greece as a young man and now has cancer with 3-6 months to live. They catch him just as he poisons his last victim and explain that had he gone on his trip 20 years ago the van crashed and all inside were killed. He would have died with them. Boy is there egg on his face!
Episode 23: "Angels"
In the first part of the two part season ending, the team is called to Briscoe County, TX to investigate the murders of prostitutes being posed and shot in the head then carved on their back. The police department seems to be run by all Barney Fifes. There is a preacher/pimp that seems to run the entire town and is the main suspect. It's never that simple though! Someone is setting up the preacher. There is a major firefight in which we see Reid and Morgan get shot. To be continued!
Episode 24: "Demons"
Morgan wakes up almost immediately, but Reid is still in and out of consciousness after being shot in the neck.He recovers after surgery. Blake stays with him while the rest of the team track a bad deputy, Owen McGreggor, who is the un-sub. Now they find that at least some of the sheriff's department is dirty. With no one to trust they set out to find Owen themselves. Meanwhile at the hospital, another attempt is made on Reid's life, but Garcia shoots the would-be killer. At the end, Blake decides it is too much for her (the BAU, the violence, something) and just walks away.
I was a little disappointed with the finale. They touted that we would see the loss of an agent, then they made way to many red herrings, only to let the expendable cast member go. I didn't want to see anyone else go, but still.
So that wraps up Criminal Minds season 9. What was your favorite episode? Do you think the show is getting better as time goes on? Let me know in the comment section below!
You may also enjoy:
The Four Scariest Killers of Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds: The Reaper Vs. Hotch
Criminal Minds: Morgan Vs. The Prince of Darkness
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