Precinct TV
Fansided

Criminal Minds ended the series just right

By Alexandria Ingham

"And in the End" -- Following an explosive face-to-face encounter with Everett Lynch, a.k.a. "The Chameleon," Dr. Reid suffers from a brain injury and, while experiencing hallucinations, is visited by ghosts from his past. Also, the BAU makes a shocking discovery about Lynch that affects Rossi personally, and the entire BAU team comes together to celebrate Rossi's retirement, on the series finale of CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Written by executive producer Erica Messer and series star Kirsten Vangsness. Pictured (L-R): Stephen Bishop as Andrew Mendoza, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, Matthew Gray Gubler as Dr. Spencer Reid, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, Josh Stewart as Will Lamontagne, Jr., and A.J. Cook as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"And in the End" -- Following an explosive face-to-face encounter with Everett Lynch, a.k.a. "The Chameleon," Dr. Reid suffers from a brain injury and, while experiencing hallucinations, is visited by ghosts from his past. Also, the BAU makes a shocking discovery about Lynch that affects Rossi personally, and the entire BAU team comes together to celebrate Rossi's retirement, on the series finale of CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Written by executive producer Erica Messer and series star Kirsten Vangsness. Pictured (L-R): Stephen Bishop as Andrew Mendoza, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, Matthew Gray Gubler as Dr. Spencer Reid, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, Josh Stewart as Will Lamontagne, Jr., and A.J. Cook as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /
facebooktwitterreddit

It’s always hard to end a series. It’s hard to make it perfect for everyone. Criminal Minds got the ending with the team just right.

It’s never easy to bring a series to an end. You just have to ask Game of Thrones that. It’s always impossible to get it Six Feet Under good. But Criminal Minds did a great job at bringing the series to a close. In fact, for me, the ending was just right.

Caution: There are spoilers in this post for the Criminal Minds series finale.

Something I feared would happen was that the show would end with the entire team breaking up. While I knew there could be some who would move on, I feared that the show would feel the need to see everyone on their way. That seemed all the more likely at the start of the two-hour finale.

More from TV Crime Dramas

In the end, the show backtracked. Rossi didn’t retire, Prentiss didn’t get the job as the first female head of the FBI (I’ve got my complaints about that), and JJ didn’t show any signs of moving to New Orleans. There was a mention of Reid consulting and teaching, but the team stayed together.

At least, most of the team. What was supposed to be Rossi’s retirement party turned into Garcia’s farewell party. She decided to hang up her keys as the tech guru of the BAU and accepted a position with a non-profit not too far from her friends. She’ll still be in touch but will no longer work with them day-to-day.

But that’s what made it such a great ending. The BAU is still together. In fact, at the very end, they had a case they needed to head off to. All but Garcia went off, allowing Garcia to turn off her screens one last time and walk out of the office.

Life goes on. When TV shows bring everything to a complete close, it usually feels disingenuous. There’s an element of knowing that some of the team members would have stayed. Some of my favorite series finales have been the imperfect endings, like Angel‘s still in the middle of a battle or Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s heading off to a new hellmouth. The fight still goes on.

Six Feet Under is the only one that I’ve accepted fully closing things off. That’s because we get time lapses. We don’t see it end with the group splitting up, but time jumps forward to see how each of the main characters died. Their stories completed but at separate times.

“Face Off” — It has been a year since Rossi nearly died at the hands of Everett Lynch, a.k.a. “The Chameleon,” and he has developed some new theories, with inspiration from his former partner, Jason Gideon (Ben Savage). The BAU team sets out on an epic hunt to capture Lynch, in the cliff-hanger to the series finale episode of CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 19 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia Photo: Screen Grab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“Face Off” — It has been a year since Rossi nearly died at the hands of Everett Lynch, a.k.a. “The Chameleon,” and he has developed some new theories, with inspiration from his former partner, Jason Gideon (Ben Savage). The BAU team sets out on an epic hunt to capture Lynch, in the cliff-hanger to the series finale episode of CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 19 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia Photo: Screen Grab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. /

It wasn’t possible to do something like that with Criminal Minds. Instead, we got a series finale where none of the main characters died (although we questioned Reid for a split second) and it was pretty much just business as usual. It felt real and honest, showing us that the writers actually cared about the characters, thought carefully about what they would do, and wanted to tell a realistic story.

However, one thing brought a spark to the Criminal Minds series finale, and that was Garcia’s words. She thanked them for reminding her that there is good out in the world, which is something the show has always done despite the dark and twisted cases.

Next. Why Criminal Minds shouldn't see the entire team break up. dark

What did you think of the Criminal Minds series finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Home/TV Crime Dramas