If I'm looking at this calendar correctly, it's been 3 whole weeks without a new episode. The good thing is, there will be no more breaks until the season finale on May 26. Criminal Minds came back with a strong episode in "A Thousand Words."
The unsub kills himself, leaving behind many clues, some clippings on the wall and most notably, the tattoos of his body for each victim. Since he's dead, the team has to extrapolate purely from what he's left them. I was hooked immediately by the concept that the serial killer could be so close, giving them all these clues and yet be so distant after killing himself.
The case takes another turn when they learn the killer has a partner. We see the partner, a pregnant woman, getting a letter from the unsub and breaking down. She has another woman chained and is struggling to cope with her partner's loss and her own mental state. Eventually, the team traces a tattoo to prison where they uncover an abusive family. The female unsub gives birth, but dies soon after. The team comes in to save the day. All of this leads to the main point of the episode: in such horrific cases, environment is the largest cause.
Score: 9.0/10
