The Criminal Minds Episodes That Have Fans Scratching Their Heads

The dark crime procedural "Criminal Minds" was one of the most popular shows airing on CBS before its series finale in early 2020. For more than 15 years, the series enthralled fans with stories about some of the sickest minds imaginable and the extraordinary people on the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit who work day in and day out to identify them and take them down. 

From strange villains who appear in one or two episodes (looking at you, "Womb Raider") to those who take quite a bit longer to nail down (that means you, "Boston Reaper"), each episode of "Criminal Minds" delves deep in the psyche of a so-called unsub and the twisted machinations of their mind. After watching more than 300 episodes, however, it becomes clear to any viewer that some episodes are easier to understand than others. 

In fact, a Reddit user recently posed the question of what the most confusing episodes of the series were, and plenty of fellow "Criminal Minds" fans were happy to give their input on the matter.

Reddit user fernandabrigoni kicked off the conversation on Reddit with the headline "Episodes you don't understand," while also providing a possible answer to the question. They suggested Season 9, Episodes 23 and 24, respectively titled "Angels" and "Demons" in an obvious nod to the novel "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, as two of the most convoluted episodes of "Criminal Minds." The two-part finale involves a huge conspiracy and a preacher framed as a murderer.

Other responses delved into more specific complaints about storylines that seem unresolved or simply don't make sense to viewers. ProfessionalStorm694 shared that Season 1, Episode 21, titled "Secrets and Lies," confuses them because of the CIA mole storyline. This answer was the most upvoted response on the thread, so many clearly agree. Fellow Reddit users like sammysummer worked to explain how they understood confusing story points in this episode and others. The user explained how in "Secrets and Lies" the mole "had sold out his country and was colluding with the terrorist," but was doing it for the money and "nothing more." When a coworker at the CIA discovers the mole's actions, the coworker is killed, but not before he initiates a "profiling review" that eventually leads the team on "Criminal Minds" to discover and stop the mole.

Other offered answers included firework434's suggestion of the episode "Blood Relations" from Season 9, and yasminbayad's statement of "the envelope one," which fellow Reddit users deduced to be Season 1, Episode 13, titled "Poison."