---
title: "Criminal Minds"
year: 2005
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds"
fi1m_id: "criminal-minds"
imdb_id: "tt0452046"
tmdb_id: 4057
wikidata_id: "Q202141"
fi1m_score: 60
critics_score: 62
critics_reviews: 5
published: "2026-09-23T13:21:17.771734+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-23T13:21:18.649970+00:00"
region: "CZ"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Criminal Minds (2005)

Created by Jeff Davis · Crime, Drama, Mystery

## Identity

Criminal Minds

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** criminal-minds
- **IMDb ID:** tt0452046
- **TMDB ID:** 4057
- **Wikidata ID:** Q202141
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452046/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/4057, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q202141

**Fi1m score: 60** · Critics 62 (early) from 5 reviews

*In a sentence:* A jet, a basement, a quotation from a dead writer; repeat 364 times

> Jeff Davis’s procedural about FBI profilers is grim, efficient and nearly identical from one week to the next, and it has run for nineteen seasons on that promise. It is comforting television about horrible things, and we are not sure that is a compliment.

## Synopsis

The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI flies out of Quantico, Virginia, to wherever somebody has started killing. Its senior profiler, Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), is back at work after a case that went badly, watched by his unit chief Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson). Around them: Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), a young genius who talks in statistics; Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), who kicks the doors in; Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini), the newest agent; Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), who runs the databases from her computers; and Jennifer Jareau (A.J. Cook), who handles the press. Each episode brings a fresh town and a fresh unknown subject: a man holding an abducted woman with days left to live. The team builds a profile from what he leaves behind and races it against the clock.

## Review

Jeff Davis created *Criminal Minds* in 2005 and it has outlasted almost everything that was on television beside it: nineteen seasons and 364 episodes since 22 September 2005. The pitch is the tagline. To catch a criminal, you have to think like one. A unit of FBI profilers flies to a town, studies what the killer has left behind and describes him to the local police until he turns into a person with an address. That is the whole of it, and the series has never wanted to be more.

Mandy Patinkin’s Gideon is why the early episodes hold. He plays the profiler as a tired, courteous man who would rather be somewhere quieter, and who looks at a crime scene photograph the way other people look at a crossword. Thomas Gibson’s Hotchner is the opposite pole, a man so buttoned up he seems held together by the suit. Matthew Gray Gubler’s Reid does the exposition, statistics at speed, and Gubler makes a small running joke of the boy’s awareness that nobody asked. Kirsten Vangsness’s Garcia is the one person allowed any colour, in her clothes and her lines, and she works the case from Quantico while the others fly.

Greg St. Johns shoots it in two palettes. The offices and the jet, where people talk, are blue-grey and clean; the basements and motel rooms, where people are hurt, are brown and underlit. The cut from one to the other is the series’ basic move, and the editing, credited to Michael Schweitzer, makes it hundreds of times: a bound woman’s face, then a whiteboard. Vincent Jefferds’s round conference table and the jet’s pale leather seats are the sets you will remember. Marc Fantini and Steffan Fantini supply a string sting for the killer and a soft piano for the closing quotation.

The profiling is nonsense, and the series does not mind. A man is deduced from a knot in a rope to be white, between thirty and forty, recently sacked and cruel to animals as a boy, and he is, every time. What troubled us more was where the camera rests. The victims are mostly women, mostly young, and the series spends more of its time on their fear than on anything else, then calls it procedure. More than once we found ourselves uncomfortable in a way we do not think was intended: an episode would stay with a girl in a cage long enough that we stopped thinking about the case and started wondering who this was for. Then the jet would take off, the strings would come in, and everyone on screen felt better.

And yet. We watched four in a row one wet Sunday, could not afterwards tell you which had been which, and were not unhappy. That is what a formula this rigid buys you: nothing can hurt, because by the closing quotation the plane has landed. The cast turns over as long casts do. Joe Mantegna’s David Rossi arrives as an older profiler with a short fuse; Paget Brewster’s Emily Prentiss becomes the one we would most want on our side; Aisha Tyler’s Dr. Tara Lewis and Adam Rodríguez’s Luke Alvez come later still. Tyler, Rodríguez, Gibson, Cook, Mantegna and Gubler all end up directing episodes, and Vangsness writes some.

The last four seasons are a different animal: ten episodes each, from 24 November 2022, built as one serialised hunt rather than a case a week, with Zach Gilford’s Elias Voit, whose place in things we will leave you to find. It is darker, and the longer episodes suit it. A killer who lasts a season is worth more fear than one caught before the credits.

Against the genre’s own standard it sits mid-table. [*Cracker*](https://film.one/tv/cracker) (1993) gave the profiler a gambling habit and let him be wrong; [*Mindhunter*](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter) (2017) did the same job slowly and made it sad. *Criminal Minds* is the one you put on because it is on. Keep the sound a little low, keep something in your hands, and skip any episode that opens in a basement, which is more of them than you would think. It carries a 15 and earns it.

*Fi1m score 60, published 23 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Criminal Minds worth watching?**

*Criminal Minds* is worth watching if you want a crime procedural that does the same thing well every week, and we scored it 60. Mandy Patinkin's tired, courteous Gideon carries the early episodes, and the rigid formula makes it easy to watch several in a row. We found it comforting television about horrible things, and we are not sure that is a compliment.

**Where can I watch Criminal Minds in Czechia?**

*Criminal Minds* is streaming on Disney+ in Czechia. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Criminal Minds, and is it suitable for children?**

*Criminal Minds* carries a UK 15 and earns it, so it is not for children. Most episodes involve a killer holding an abducted victim, usually a young woman, and the series spends more time on her fear than we were comfortable with, often in underlit basements and motel rooms. Teenagers used to crime drama will manage; the squeamish should skip any episode that opens in a basement.

**How does Criminal Minds compare to Cracker?**

*Criminal Minds* is the tidier, more repetitive of the two, and [*Cracker*](https://film.one/tv/cracker) is the better drama. Both follow a profiler describing a killer from the evidence, but Robbie Coltrane's Fitz gambles, drinks and is wrong often enough to matter, where the FBI team is right every time by the closing quotation. Choose *Cracker* for a difficult central character; choose *Criminal Minds* for something you can put on without paying full attention.

**What should I watch after Criminal Minds?**

After *Criminal Minds*, try [*Cracker*](https://film.one/tv/cracker) (1993, Fi1m 85): Robbie Coltrane’s Fitz profiles killers between bets, and is wrong often enough to matter. Then [*Mindhunter*](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter) (2017, Fi1m 83): The same job done slowly, in the 1970s, with the swagger taken out; and [*Forbrydelsen*](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2007) (2007, Fi1m 84): One murder over twenty episodes, in a Copenhagen that never dries out.

### Reviews we read (5)

- **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The critic presents Criminal Minds as a slick, juicy and often gratuitously graphic US procedural about FBI profilers, noting its generic nature alongside shows like Without a Trace but highlighting its entertaining, fabulously unpleasant detail in cases of abduction, stalking and murder. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/06/tvandradio.guide)
- **Variety**, Phil Gallo (61/100, inferred): The critic finds the show reaches saturation point in the police procedural genre but notes a few strengths including Mandy Patinkin's magnetism, eerie episodes, and a smartness it wears on its sleeve. The main complaint is that it draws too heavily on other recent hits like CSI and Law & Order: SVU for its style and tropes, and the protagonist's profiling skills are unrealistically on the money. [Read](https://variety.com/2005/film/awards/criminal-minds-1200521662/)
- **Collider**, Jay Snow (B): The revival 'Criminal Minds: Evolution' is reviewed as darker, twisted, and better than the original, with the critic noting the expanded storytelling, longer episodes, and serialized elements around a group of killers as a strong return for the series. [Read](https://collider.com/criminal-minds-evolution-review/)
- **/Film**, Kira Deshler (70/100, inferred): The critic ranks the seasons of the long-running procedural from worst to best, noting its dedicated fanbase and the shift to a Paramount+ revival with 'Criminal Minds: Evolution.' They highlight how the show's quality varies with cast changes and storylines across its 15 original seasons. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1160104/every-season-of-criminal-minds-ranked-worst-to-best/)
- **The Ringer**, Michael Baumann (30/100, inferred): The critic finds Criminal Minds a formulaic and mediocre procedural that is not very good as television but still binge-worthy as comforting background noise during uncertain times. They single out its repetitive, low-stakes structure and occasional standout episodes for both complaint and reluctant praise. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/10/tv/social-distancing-diaries-criminal-minds-cbs)

## Details

- **Created by:** Jeff Davis
- **Creator:** Jeff Davis
- **Director:** Glenn Kershaw, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Rob Bailey, Matthew Gray Gubler, Joe Mantegna, Edward Allen Bernero, Douglas Aarniokoski, Nelson McCormick, John E. Gallagher, Guy Bee, Larry Teng, Bethany Rooney, Alec Smight, Rob Spera, Charles S. Carroll, Sharat Raju, Tawnia McKiernan, Diana Valentine, Rob Hardy, Charles Haid, Aisha Tyler, Thomas Gibson, Karen Gaviola, Steve Boyum, Gloria Muzio, John Terlesky, Adam Rodríguez, Anna Foerster, Michael Lange, A.J. Cook, Laura Belsey, Hanelle Culpepper, Matt Earl Beesley, Jesse Warn, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Christoph Schrewe, Simon Mirren, Bobby Roth, Michael W. Watkins, Zach Gilford, Tim Matheson, Leon Ichaso, Anthony Vietro, Dermott Downs, Richard Shepard, Constantine Makris, Adam Davidson, Jackeline Tejada, Andy Wolk, Kevin Bray, J. Miller Tobin, Lily Mariye, Anthony Hemingway, Paul Michael Glaser, John Showalter, Steve Shill, Oz Scott, Rachel Feldman, Paul Shapiro, Carlos Bernard, John Badham, Kevin Berlandi, James Takata, Skipp Sudduth, Jason Alexander, Jan Eliasberg, Jesús Salvador Treviño, John T. Kretchmer, Ernest Dickerson, Peter Ellis, Robert Lieberman, Guy Ferland, Alrick Riley, Jon Cassar, Elodie Keene, Heather Cappiello, Rosemary Rodriguez, Marcus Stokes, Chris Long, Thomas J. Wright, Ali Selim
- **Writer:** Erica Messer, Breen Frazier, Bruce Zimmerman, Virgil Williams, Rick Dunkle, Janine Sherman Barrois, Edward Allen Bernero, Sharon Lee Watson, Chris Mundy, Simon Mirren, Christopher Barbour, Kimberly A. Harrison, Jim Clemente, Debra J. Fisher, Erik Stiller, Andrew S. Wilder, Oanh Ly, Karen Maser, Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie, Stephanie Sengupta, Aaron Zelman, Erica Meredith, Kirsten Vangsness, Chikodili Agwuna, Sullivan Fitzgerald, Carlton Gillespie, Jayne A. Archer, Jeff Davis, Charles Dewey, Andi Bushell, Edward Napier, Alicia Kirk, Randy Huggins, Holly Harold, Stephanie Birkitt, Judith McCreary, Matthew Lau, Mark Bruner, Heather Noël Aldridge, Dania Bennett, Ticona S. Joy, Katarina Wittich, Michael Udesky, Charles Murray, Roger Hedden, Victor De Jesus, Bobby Chacon, Haben Merker, Jess Prosser, Ryan McGonnigal, Jason Bernero
- **Story:** Danny Ramm, Rick Dunkle, Chris Mundy, Edward Allen Bernero
- **Teleplay:** Rick Dunkle, Chris Mundy
- **Cinematography:** Greg St. Johns
- **Editor:** Michael Schweitzer
- **Music:** Steffan Fantini, Marc Fantini
- **Production design:** Vincent Jefferds
- **Producer:** Glenn Kershaw, Erica Messer, Debra J. Fisher
- **Cast:** Mandy Patinkin as Jason Gideon; Joe Mantegna as David Rossi; Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss; Thomas Gibson as Aaron Hotchner; Adam Rodríguez as Luke Alvez; Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia; Lola Glaudini as Elle Greenaway; A.J. Cook as Jennifer Jareau
- **Release (Czechia):** 22 September 2005
- **Genres:** Crime, Drama, Mystery

## Where to watch in Czechia

- Disney+: streaming, hd

*Checked 2026-09-23.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Cracker* (1993), Fi1m 85: Robbie Coltrane’s Fitz profiles killers between bets, and is wrong often enough to matter — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/cracker.md)
- *Mindhunter* (2017), Fi1m 83: The same job done slowly, in the 1970s, with the swagger taken out — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter.md)
- *The Fall* (2013): Gillian Anderson hunts a Belfast strangler who gets equal screen time; unnerving
- *Forbrydelsen* (2007), Fi1m 84: One murder over twenty episodes, in a Copenhagen that never dries out — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2007.md)
- *Manhunter* (1986), Fi1m 84: Michael Mann’s profiler film, all neon and dread, long before the Hannibal franchise — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/manhunter.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds