BY CHRYSTINA PHILLIPS
CBS’s long-running crime drama, Criminal Minds, reached a milestone this week: 200 episodes. For all of the fans who have been here for every episode, it’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since the show began. It is a show about human behavior.
In the 200th episode, airing Wednesday Feb. 5, when J.J. (A.J. Cook) is abducted, the BAU takes a look into her time at the State Department to find clues to her disappearance and they uncover a secret mission that puts her life in danger.
“The fact that we’ve had 200 stories to tell, and hopefully at least 200 more, it’s a series unlike others where human behavior has endless possibilities.” said show-runner and Executive Producer, Erica Messer.
One of the things the show’s producers really wanted to do with the 200th episode was to have a story about one of its heroes. They did this with the 100th episode, and that was a pretty amazing journey for the character, Hotchner (Thomas Gibson).
“They went back to a time when [Jennifer Jareau (A.J. Cook)] was not in the BAU. What happened in that missing year? How did she change?” Messer added.
It was an event from the past that affected their present. Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) made her much-anticipated return on Wednesday’s milestone episode. Brewster’s character’s appearance was her first since leaving the show for a second time in 2012.
“It was bittersweet coming back [this time],” Brewster said in an interview with TVGuide. “I do miss those guys and it was great to just see them again. We have the same jokes with the crew and ways of working. The moment I got there, it felt like I never left. And then part of me is like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have!'”
The writers wanted the 200th episode to tell a big story, and, in my opinion, they definitely did just that!
