If you've never seen Criminal Minds before, I suggest you watch it. The show is available for streaming on Netflix. It's also regularly aired on CBS. They often play reruns of the show because it's been on television for so long. There are about a million reasons that I love this show, but I decided to narrow it down to my top five reasons. Take a look at the top five reasons Criminal Minds is the best show.
1. Profiling is way too cool.
The show is based on a real unit of the FBI. The Behavioral Analysis Unit actually uses many of the techniques that are seen in the show. The mixture of reality and fantasy is one of the many things that make this show great. Obviously, the show dramatizes certain aspects of the real-life BAU, but it's still thrilling to realize that there are actual profilers in the world. Profiling, itself, is also really intriguing. Only a profiler can predict seemingly insignificant things about a killer. I watched a documentary on the real BAU, and they could predict if a killer stuttered. The profiling is actually very specific, which makes it rather interesting.
2. Garcia and Morgan's banter.
In Criminal Minds, Garcia is the technical analyst of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. She's a very original character though. She's nerdy, but not in a stereotypical way. She's immensely confident and wears her crazy wardrobes proudly. She's also the master of sass and one-liners. One of the greatest aspects of the show is the banter between Morgan and Garcia. It's comic relief from the otherwise dark and gritty show. Sadly, Morgan left in the latest season, but Garcia never lost her wit. Instead of playful banter, she mouths off to Morgan's replacement. Luke Alvez is one of the newer team members the show introduced in season 12, and was dubbed "newbie" by Garcia.
3. The crazy killers/unsubs.
Criminal Minds has it's gruesome moments. It's not always learning about observing profiling skills or listening to Garcia's wit. The major plot line of the show is an FBI team catching serial killers, which means the show contains some rather creepy killers. These killers, or as the show calls them, unsubs, have done it all. From painting with blood to necrophilia, Criminal Minds does not shy away from the disturbing minds of killers. In fact, they do the exact opposite. They get inside the minds of these killers, predict their behavior, and use the behavior to catch them. The name of the show is awfully fitting.
4. The strong female characters.
The female characters are all different and they're all strong in their own ways. Emily Prentiss is an independent woman who has spent her life building up her career. She was a spy before she entered into the BAU, and at one point the actress left the show. While the actress was away, her character was said to be the unit chief of INTERPOL in London. She's a typical example of a strong female, and one many can relate to. JJ is another strong female character on the show. She doesn't seem to draw her strength as much from her career, but from her innate protectiveness. She's very protective of her own son, which is reflected in her character. She sees the victims of the killers as people she needs to protect, and does everything in her power to protect them. Not to mention, these two ladies both have mad fighting skills. Garcia is also a strong female character. She's not strong when it comes to a physical fight, but put her behind a computer screen, and she will be a vital part of cracking the case.
5. The lovably nerdy Dr. Reid.
Dr. Reid is my favorite male character on the show. He's a nerd, but in a very lovable way. There are jokes about how annoying his prattling can get, but his character is never depicted as just annoying. There's depth to his character that not many nerdy characters get. He goes through trial-and-error just like the other characters on the show. The show doesn't treat him as a robot, and it did not make him into an overly confident and arrogant character. He goes through painful situations like having a mother with schizophrenia, and an absent father when growing up. The writers managed to make him abnormally smart, while also still making him human.
