Criminal Minds Season 13 Finale: What We Know So Far
04/16/2018 | By Mace Parker
As the Criminal Minds Season Finale fast approaches, we have compiled a list of all known teases, hints and everything we know so far about the Season Finale cliffhanger.
*WARNING* THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. EPISODE SYNOPSIS When Reid discovers former FBI Special Agent Owen Quinn (James Urbaniak) locked inside a storage unit, the BAU questions the credibility of Quinn’s bizarre accounts of searching for an UnSub that he named “The Strangler." LIVES WILL BE IN JEOPARDY Multiple sources tell TVLine that, given that Season 13 ends with a heart-in-your-throat cliffhanger, there is every reason to believe that the show will be renewed. And if it’s not, there are going to be millions of pissed-off fans lamenting the lack of closure. (Matthew Gray Gubler echoed the “great cliffhanger” tease, then proceeded to basically tell me which lives will be in jeopardy, but I’ll keep that to myself. For now.) The Season 13 finale will be a two-hour affair that sees the team heading to New Mexico to tackle an unsub that has a thing for drilling holes in his victims' heads. However, the second hour is when the real action kicks off when Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) is pulled off sabbatical after he's emailed the alleged location of a former FBI agent's body. What Reid finds instead kicks off a high-stakes search for the truth and ends with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger that leaves multiple agents' lives in danger. - (TV Guide) TO BE PERCISE, TWO LIVES WILL BE IN JEOPARDY What can you tease about the season finale's case and the cliffhanger? Should we expect as many lives to be in danger as last season's car crash? "I don't want to give away too much. There's definitely a cliffhanger. ... There's some psychological elements to it that's going to play with our fans' minds, and there are two very, very important characters that are in the mix. I don't want to give too much more away, but there will be some questions that arise." - (Daniel Henney Interview) THE EPISODE ITSELF IS UNPREDICTABLE Can you say anything about this former FBI special agent, Owen Quinn, with the bizarre account? "I can't say much. He worked in a different department than the BAU. ... He's got himself in a situation, a very, very, intense situation, and we stumble across that situation and we start to put the puzzle pieces together and find out that he is involved in something very sticky and very heavy that not even his department fully knew about and that brings us together with that department, and we try to figure out what's going on. But there's a big flip twist turn, like Garcia would say, that no one is going to be able to predict." - (Daniel Henney Interview) "IT'S A REALLY FUN CLIFFHANGER" Next week is the double-episode season finale. What can you preview about the cases? "It's so cool. We have the neatest guest stars on this one. I'm so excited about it. James Urbaniak is in it. A lot of things happen..." "Then the second episode ['Believer'], one of our agents in the FBI is locked up, and we are having to determine if he's the bad guy or not. We've got Karen David in the season finale from Galavant and James Urbaniak from so many different things. It's a Breen Frazier episode and it's so good and ends in a cliffhanger. ... I can tell you that I worked a lot of days for that last episode, so if that gives any indication. All of us worked a lot during that last episode. It was really fun, and I think it's a really fun cliffhanger. " "And what's so cool and amazing and magical is that it's episode 299, so I can't even believe that. I'm the luckiest person in the world." - (Kirsten Vangsness Interview) GARCIA AND REID MAY BE INVOLVED IN THE CLIFFHANGER Can you say if Garcia is involved in the cliffhanger? Because last year, almost everyone else was in the car crash and then there was Garcia and Reid. "That's true. You're making a really good point. [Laughs] I can't tell you, but that is interesting that everyone else was involved in that cliffhanger. That's all I can say. " - (Kirsten Vangsness Interview) THE SEASON FINALE The actual season finale then guest-stars James Urbaniak (Difficult People, Review) as a VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) agent whom Reid is led to find in a storage unit, triggering a mystery that will keep viewers guessing until the final moments. “We haven’t really been able to do anything like this, where an FBI agent has been missing, and then when he’s found, presumed dead, we see that he learned how to survive as a victim for over a year,” says Messer. “This guy was trying to solve a case not with profiling skills but VICAP skills, and his almost-naivete got him caught, by serial killers.” But as the BAU dives ever deeper into the case, we realize, “There’s an even bigger thing at play…,” Messer warns. That “bigger thing” will leave two agents in harm’s way as the season cuts to black — a perhaps not-so-bold move for CBS’ No. 3-rated drama, which if renewed would open Season 14 with no less than its 300th episode. - (Erica Messer Interview) SNEAK PEEKS CONCLUSION
Given that the season finale is episode 299 and the cliffhanger will lead into the milestone 300th episode, this can only mean that episode 300 will focus on the two characters in danger in the season finale. This narrows down the list of potential victims. Since the 100th episode focused on Hotch and the 200th episode focused on JJ, the 300th episode focus may be on 2 of the only remaining original cast members/characters: Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) and Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler). We know that Reid plays a big part in the season finale and also the fact that he may have been keeping secrets from the team (and we all know how that ended when JJ did the same in season 9) which almost certainly confirms he'll be involved in the cliffhanger. But how Garcia will fit into the cliffhanger still remains a mystery. We do know that her and Reid (the only two remaining original cast members, excluding JJ) were safe at the end of last season and the fact that Kirsten teased that she worked a lot of days on the last episode and there may have been a reason her and Reid were safe last season tells us that they have a high chance of being in danger at the end of the season finale. Then again, Reid has been through so much in the last two seasons so he may be safe. But it's Criminal Minds and the writers love to hurt Reid and put through horrible and dangerous situations. Then again, it's supposed to be unpredictable so we may just be entirely wrong. So we're just going to have to tune in to find out. Catch the two-hour season 13 finale of Criminal Minds on Wednesday, April 18 at 9/8c on CBS.
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