Death watch: Criminal Minds S1-13 now streaming

Update: Criminal Minds is no longer on Showmax. Find your next binge in the full series catalogue here.

If you’re crazy about clever cops taking on dark, bizarre killers, and you’re looking for a binge-worthy series to sink your crime-busting teeth into, our prime suspect is Criminal Minds (2005-current). The FBI’s BAU (Behavioural Analysis Unit) investigates gruesome homicides throughout the United States by analysing the crime scenes and victims to build a profile of the suspect, known as an UnSub (unknown subject), which helps them to catch their culprit.

While there is plenty of back story to dig into for each of the characters, that needn’t put you off if you can’t face the thought of playing catch-up with years and years of episodes just yet. It’s a procedural series rather than a straight drama, so you really won’t be too lost if you jump in wherever.

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The best gore and gonners from Seasons 11-12

The two latest seasons offer plenty to reward your attention.

1. Awake: Season 11, episode 8

The unit heads to Phoenix, Arizona, to investigate the abduction of two men by an UnSub who tortures them by preventing them from sleeping. He goes as far as to staple their eyelids open (yes, literally). Perfect bedtime viewing!

2. Entropy: Season 11, episode 11

The BAU appoints Supervisory Special Agent Dr Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) to take charge when they launch a manhunt of the Dirty Dozen Hit Man Ring. The episode centres on a “date with a death” when Reid goes undercover to meet a Black Widow hit woman named Cat (Aubrey Plaza), who he wants to hire to kill his “pregnant wife.”

Spoiler alert! A series regular will make his exit in episode 18 of this season. So be prepared – especially if you wind up watching from the start and become as attached as we did.

3. Elliot’s Pond: Season 12, episode 6

Actor Thomas Gibson, who has played Agent Aaron Hotchner since the show’s first-ever episode, takes his final bow in this episode when Hotch retires and goes into witness protection after his son is stalked by a deranged criminal.

Behind the scenes, the truth was even juicier. While the show’s last straw was an incident in which Thomas allegedly kicked show producer Virgil Williams, Thomas claims that, “He came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg. We had some choice words, for which I apologised the next day, and that was it. It was over. We shot the scene, I went home – and I never got to go back.”

4. Spencer: Season 12, episode 13

The BAU have to save one of their own in this episode when Mexican authorities arrest Reid on drug possession and murder charges! Reid’s memory is all jumbled up and he can’t even profess his innocence, if he is innocent at all…

Looking back: The most memorable moments from Seasons 1-10

If Seasons 11 and 12’s action piques your interest, why not try these three standout episodes from the first 10 instalments?

1. Legacy: Season 2, episode 22

A seriously evil person abducts homeless people from Kansas City and conducts experiments on them in a meat factory. What makes this episode so chilling is the fact that the homeless people are left barefoot in the pitch-dark factory, and have to navigate an obstacle course as they try to escape without getting their feet sliced right off.

2. Lucky: Season 3, episode 8

Feeling peckish? The cannibalistic Satanist serial killer in this episode will make Hannibal Lecter from the popular horror movie Silence of the Lambs (1991) look like a little baa-lamb. He makes his fellow community members complicit in his crimes by having them unknowingly consume one of his victims!

3. Hopeless: Season 5, episode 4

This episode’s UnSubs kill for the thrill of it. They target random people for kicks, and who needs a graveyard when you can just stash your trophy corpse in the wall of a newly built house? Let the buyer beware!