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The Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 2

Every episode of Criminal Minds Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Criminal Minds Season 2!

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An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 1 - The Fisher King (2)
    8.7/10(3422 votes)

    #1 - The Fisher King (2)

    S2:E1

    The BAU team continues to unravel the clues given to each of them by a psychopath in order to save his most recent victim. Gideon decides not to focus on the personal aspects of the case. Rather, he tells the team to profile the killer as they would in any other investigation. Reid stays behind to work on a personal connection that could solve the case as one member of the team fights for life.

    Director:Gloria Muzio
    Writer:Edward Allen Bernero

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  2. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 2 - P911
    7.9/10(2599 votes)

    #2 - P911

    S2:E2

    A young boy who had disappeared a year ago turns up for sale by a child pornographer on an online auction in Cleveland. A former profiler who now heads the FBI's Crimes Against Children Unit asks Hotch and the BAU to help her save the boy's life before it's too late.

    Director:Adam Davidson
    Writer:Simon Mirren

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  3. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 3 - The Perfect Storm
    7.7/10(2376 votes)

    #3 - The Perfect Storm

    S2:E3

    The BAU has reason to believe a series of murders might have been committed by two people working as a team after the victims' families receive DVDs after each crime that includes psychological attacks.

    Director:Félix Alcalá
    Writers:Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

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  4. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 4 - Psychodrama
    7.4/10(2515 votes)

    #4 - Psychodrama

    S2:E4

    The BAU is called to investigate a series of bank robberies after it becomes evident the crimes are not based on money because the robber abuses his victims by forcing them to undress before he leaves the crime scene.

    Director:Guy Norman Bee
    Writer:Aaron Zelman

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  5. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 5 - Aftermath
    7.6/10(2583 votes)

    #5 - Aftermath

    S2:E5

    The BAU investigates a serial rapist who had been attacking young women at religious schools and stopped for six weeks. He has resumed his attacks, but is now targeting a different demographic of women. Elle makes a decision that could end her career with the BAU.

    Director:Tim Matheson
    Writer:Chris Mundy

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  6. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 6 - The Boogeyman
    7.8/10(3001 votes)

    #6 - The Boogeyman

    S2:E6

    The BAU travels to a small Texas community to investigate the murders of children. Meanwhile, Elle is having readjustment issues after being shot, and Hotch becomes worried about her when she misses a mandatory psych evaluation and isn't answering her cell phone.

    Director:Steve Boyum
    Writer:Andi Bushell

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  7. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 7 - North Mammon
    8.1/10(2780 votes)

    #7 - North Mammon

    S2:E7

    After a man kidnaps three teenaged girls and locks them in a cellar, he tells them only two of them will live and they must choose which one will die. The BAU team takes the case when the mother of one of the girls travels to Quantico to ask JJ to intercede with the FBI on the girls' behalf.

    Director:Matt Earl Beesley
    Writer:Andrew Wilder

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  8. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 8 - Empty Planet
    7.6/10(2512 votes)

    #8 - Empty Planet

    S2:E8

    The BAU travels to Seattle to identify and catch a serial bomber who has been terrorizing the city and targeting centers of automated techology. Working with the author of a science fiction novel that has become a guide for the bomber, the team attempts to determine why certain sites have been chosen as targets.

    Director:Elodie Keene
    Writer:Edward Napier

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  9. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 9 - The Last Word
    7.8/10(2473 votes)

    #9 - The Last Word

    S2:E9

    The daughter of high-powered diplomats, Special Agent Emily Prentiss joins the team, and she must convince Gideon and Hotchner she deserves the job based on merit and not on her family connections. The BAU is then called to St. Louis to investigate two serial killers who appear to be competing with each other. By setting a trap based on one killer's profile, the team creates a media event by which to capture the second killer.

    Director:Gloria Muzio
    Writers:Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

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  10. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 10 - Lessons Learned
    8.3/10(2786 votes)

    #10 - Lessons Learned

    S2:E10

    Gideon, Reid and Prentiss travel to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate the leader of a terror sleeper cell being detained there after a chemical weapons dispersal device is discovered during a raid at a suspicious house. Working with Reid, Emily's fluency in Arabic proves to be useful as they scrutinize the suspect.

    Director:Guy Norman Bee
    Writer:Jim Clemente

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  11. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 11 - Sex, Birth, Death
    8.5/10(3720 votes)

    #11 - Sex, Birth, Death

    S2:E11

    The BAU is called to investigate a series of murders of prostitutes in Washington D.C. and Reid suspects a teenager he met asking for his help is guilty of the crimes. The case becomes complicated when a congresswoman, who about to make a speech to praise the city's lower crime rate, threatens to take away the case if Hotchner calls a press conference to discuss it.

    Director:Gwyneth Horder-Payton
    Writer:Chris Mundy

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  12. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 12 - Profiler, Profiled
    8.1/10(2930 votes)

    #12 - Profiler, Profiled

    S2:E12

    Morgan is arrested as a serial killer after he goes home to Chicago to visit his family. Because the detective making the arrest had used a profile provided by Gideon, the team travels to Chicago to help the local authorities find the real killer and exonerate Morgan.

    Director:Glenn Kershaw
    Writer:Edward Allen Bernero

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  13. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 13 - No Way Out (1)
    8.4/10(2807 votes)

    #13 - No Way Out (1)

    S2:E13

    Gideon is pitted against the scariest and most evil murderer in his entire career. When the BAU confronts the sadistic killer in a remote diner in the Nevada desert, the local authorities want to move quickly and make an arrest. But Gideon bides his time as he attempts to persuade the man, who has sworn not be captured, to reveal the whereabouts of a woman he is holding hostage.

    Director:John Gallagher
    Writer:Simon Mirren

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  14. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 14 - The Big Game (1)
    8.2/10(2718 votes)

    #14 - The Big Game (1)

    S2:E14

    The BAU is called to investigate after a wealthy couple is murdered in their home following a Super Bowl party.

    Director:Gloria Muzio
    Writer:Edward Allen Bernero

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  15. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 15 - Revelations (2)
    8.9/10(4199 votes)

    #15 - Revelations (2)

    S2:E15

    In this conclusion of a special two-part episode, finding the serial killer becomes critical to the BAU when the team realizes Reid is being held captive and a live feed of him being tortured is shown on the internet. Meanwhile, Reid's troubled childhood is revealed in flashback sequences as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

    Director:Guy Norman Bee
    Writer:Chris Mundy

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  16. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 16 - Fear and Loathing
    7.5/10(2514 votes)

    #16 - Fear and Loathing

    S2:E16

    The BAU becomes involved to prevent a possible race riot when the murder of four young black women in a mostly white New York suburb appear to be hate crimes.

    Director:Rob Spera
    Writer:Aaron Zelman

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  17. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 17 - Distress
    7.7/10(2457 votes)

    #17 - Distress

    S2:E17

    The BAU travels to Houston to investigate a series of murders that have occurred near construction sites and abandoned buildings. Because the murders appear to be random, the team believes the killer could be a homeless person. Meanwhile, everyone is noticing an apparent change in Reid's behavior.

    Director:John F. Showalter
    Writer:Oanh Ly

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  18. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 18 - Jones
    8.1/10(3321 votes)

    #18 - Jones

    S2:E18

    A case involving a serial killer believed to be copying Jack the Ripper takes Gideon to New Orleans after three victims are found with their throats cut. Once thought to have been killed in Hurricane Katrina, the discovery of a fourth victim in the French Quarter confirms the murderer is still alive. All the evidence and files had been lost in the flood, so the only clue the team has is the word "Jones" that the lead detective wrote on the wall just before he drowned. Meanwhile, Reid meets up with an old rival as he continues to struggle with the aftermath of being held hostage.

    Director:Steve Shill
    Writer:Andi Bushell

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  19. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 19 - Ashes and Dust
    7.7/10(2494 votes)

    #19 - Ashes and Dust

    S2:E19

    A serial arsonist who targets the homes of upper-middle-class families as they sleep is investigated. The BAU determines the arson victims are linked together through corporate development companies that have been accused of building on contaminated land.

    Director:John Gallagher
    Writer:Andrew Wilder

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  20. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 20 - Honor Among Thieves
    7.1/10(2943 votes)

    #20 - Honor Among Thieves

    S2:E20

    Elizabeth Prentiss, a foreign ambassador and SSA Emily Prentiss' mother, seeks the aid of the BAU when a Russian immigrant is kidnapped and held for ransom.

    Director:Jesús Salvador Treviño
    Writer:Aaron Zelman

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  21. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 21 - Open Season
    7.9/10(2658 votes)

    #21 - Open Season

    S2:E21

    The BAU is called to investigate after the bodies of missing people are discovered in a remote region of the Idaho wilderness. The gruesome find also leads the team to determine the unsubs have been hunting humans for sport.

    Director:Félix Alcalá
    Writers:Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer

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  22. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 22 - Legacy
    8.2/10(2515 votes)

    #22 - Legacy

    S2:E22

    When homeless persons begin going missing mysteriously from the streets in Kansas City, a local detective calls the BAU to investigate the disappearances.

    Director:Glenn Kershaw
    Writer:Edward Allen Bernero

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  23. Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 23 - No Way Out: The Evilution of Frank (2)
    8.3/10(3217 votes)

    #23 - No Way Out: The Evilution of Frank (2)

    S2:E23

    When the prolific serial killer Frank returns and murders Gideon's girlfriend, Gideon takes off to find him without telling the team where he is going. The BAU must then profile Gideon as well as Frank to find both of them.

    Director:Edward Allen Bernero
    Writer:Simon Mirren

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Season 2 Ratings Summary

"The Fisher King (2)" is the best rated episode of "Criminal Minds" season 2. It scored 8.7/10 based on 3422 votes. Directed by Gloria Muzio and written by Edward Allen Bernero, it aired on 9/20/2006. This episode is rated 0.8 points higher than the second-best, "P911".