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Criminal Minds: The Complete Series DVD review and details

By Brittany Frederick

"Date Night" -- After a father and daughter get kidnapped, a former foe of the BAU returns with very specific demands for Dr. Reid that give a whole new meaning to the phrase "wheels up," on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Rachel Leigh Cook returns as Maxine. Pictured (L-R): Daniel Henney as Matt Simmons, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, A.J. Cook as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, and Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia Photo: Screen Grab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
"Date Night" -- After a father and daughter get kidnapped, a former foe of the BAU returns with very specific demands for Dr. Reid that give a whole new meaning to the phrase "wheels up," on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, Feb. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Rachel Leigh Cook returns as Maxine. Pictured (L-R): Daniel Henney as Matt Simmons, Aisha Tyler as Dr. Tara Lewis, A.J. Cook as Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, and Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia Photo: Screen Grab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. /
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Criminal Minds: The Complete Series is now available on DVD; see our review and find out the details about this DVD box set from CBS Home Entertainment.

With Criminal Minds having come to an end in February, Criminal Minds: The Complete Series and Criminal Minds season 15 have both arrived on DVD for TV crime drama fans to own. But are they worth adding to your collection?

CBS Home Entertainment—the home video sister company to CBS, which aired the show for almost a decade and a half—released the box sets this week. Both are DVD-only; there will be no Blu-Ray release, so that might turn off some fans.

But Criminal Minds: The Final Season will appeal to completists or anyone who wants to see how the long-running crime drama ended, both on and off-camera.

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On-screen, the 10-episode final season includes the BAU tangling once again with Everett Lynch (Michael Mosley of Longmire), and a series finale that brings back a few familiar faces. Perception alum Rachael Leigh Cook has a recurring role as Maxine, who becomes romantically involved with Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler).

But the Criminal Minds season 15 DVD release also takes pains to show fans the behind-the-scenes details of the series’ swan song, albeit with plenty of spoilers if you weren’t watching the episodes as they aired.

There are two documentaries, the retrospective “Heart & Soul” featuring cast and crew interviews talking about the run of the series and the fact that it’s ending, and “The Finish Line” which shows the making of the final season specifically.

CBS also includes video of the cast’s table read for the series finale, “And In The End,” so you can see everyone’s reactions before they stepped on set to film the episode. Some of this was already posted on the show’s YouTube channel in February, but now fans will get to see the whole thing.

A handful of deleted scenes and one extended scene round out the special features on the set that includes English SDH subtitles for the hard of hearing.

If you’re buying Criminal Minds: The Complete Series, you’ll get all 15 seasons in one economically priced box set (Amazon currently has it for $132.49, which is less than $10.00 per season). That’s a steal! But there are a few things to complain about.

For one, the complete series is presented in full screen format only—no widescreen, even for the seasons that have been individually released in widescreen.

Also, there are no additional special features to entice you to buy the full series. All of the bonuses from individual seasons (including season 15) are here, but there’s nothing unique to the complete set.

Next. Why the Criminal Minds series finale was perfect. dark

So unless you’ve been holding out to purchase the whole show, you’re better off picking up the last season on its own; you’ll get better video presentation and the same special features. But either way, the conclusion to one of TV’s longest-tenured crime dramas is worth owning. Both sets are available now through Amazon and all major retailers.

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