Criminal Minds Review: Taboo (Season 12 Episode 3)

Aaron Hotchner is gone for good, y’all. After 11 seasons of his never-wavering, never-changing demeanor, we’re presented with a new team made of old and new faces, and it’s an exciting time for the Criminal Minds team.

For the first time in 11 years, women outnumber the men in the BAU, and that in itself is something to be excited about.

While speaking of his absence is sure to be taboo on the series, Criminal Minds Season 12 Episode 3, “Taboo,” begins in the aftermath of his departure with the team hardly phased by it.

Emily Prentiss therefore returns to the BAU by Hotchner’s request, as he’s sent off on assignment by the director, and they’ll still need help to catch the remaining escaped serial killers that plague the BAU from the prison riot.

Having Prentiss back is such a joy. She’s returned scarcely since her exit in Season 6, after CBS decided to fire both Paget Brewster and A.J. Cook for “budget reasons,” and that time away did her, and the character, well.

This isn’t the Prentiss we saw so many years ago, but a more progressed Prentiss that led Interpol and saw other horrors away from the serial killers. In this way, she’s more relaxed with the team, and the return of a familiar face instead of a new one is refreshing because we don’t have to watch these characters adjust to find their spot in the team. There will always be a place for Emily, Derek, Hotch, and everyone else that has been on the team in the past.

Admittedly, Hotchner’s write-off was a horrible send-off for a character that one could arguably say was the leading protagonist for 11 years. Gibson’s firing left no other option, and at least he wasn’t randomly killed off off-screen. That would’ve been a low blow from the writers, and this exit leads one to believe that it may be possible for Gibson to return one day in the future, though that will continue to be speculation for years to come.

The new team’s refreshing atmosphere adds a new air to Season 12. Though the team will continue to be tormented by Peter Lewis, one of the escaped serial killers that has all of their information/social security numbers/everything, without Hotchner it’ll be a new adventure. The recent seasons of the series have been repetitive and verging on bland, so a change in management should do well to hold the threat in their hands in a much different way. In short, it’s exciting.

Case thoughts:

•  Twisted, twisted, twisted. Who writes these episodes? A guy who is sexually attracted to his biological mother, but thought she was his adoptive sister for his entire life, kills her and buries his other victims alive in cement? His mind became so warped, and there’s no real explanation for it other than he was lied to his entire life, so he took out that frustration by attacking single mothers and his own adoptive mother/biological grandmother. If this is what happens when your family lies to you about their relation, how is Spencer going to take the revelation that Mary Drake is her actual mother on Pretty Little Liars?

What did you think of this episode of Criminal Minds? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Criminal Minds airs Wednesday at 9/8c on CBS.

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Jay Ruymann

Jay is a freelance writer and a Slytherin, who uses Leslie Knope as a role model, suffering from an addiction to coffee and television that is only encouraged by his professional life. While busy slaving away at the day-to-day, he also enjoys a good binge-watch of Parks and Recreation and Pretty Little Liars.