16 Years Later, ‘Criminal Minds’ Most Devastating Episode Remains the Best 42 Minutes on TV

Published Sep 16, 2026, 11:52 PM EDT

Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a New York–based journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, where she is an Associate Editor, and The U.S. Sun, where she previously served as a Senior Consumer Reporter.

She specializes in network television coverage, delivering sharp, thoughtful analysis of long-running procedural hits and ambitious new dramas across broadcast TV. At Collider, Amanda explores character arcs, storytelling trends, and the cultural impact of network series that keep audiences tuning in week after week.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is bilingual and holds a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies from the University of New Haven.

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Many Criminal Minds episodes are difficult to watch. Some are gruesome, some are genuinely frightening, and others leave viewers staring at the credits in stunned silence, but Season 5, Episode 9, “100,” manages something far more painful: It makes the people hunting monsters feel completely helpless.

The episode, which aired in November 2009 as the series’ 100th installment, concludes the Reaper storyline that had been building since Season 4’s “Omnivore.” George Foyet (C. Thomas Howell) has spent months turning Aaron Hotchner’s (Thomas Gibson) life into a personal nightmare, and by the time “100” begins, the FBI agent has done everything he can to protect his family, but it still isn’t enough. Sixteen years later, “100” remains one of Criminal Minds’ most effective episodes because its violence is almost secondary. The real horror is watching Hotch realize he can do nothing.

‘Criminal Minds’ Makes Hotch’s Worst Fear Come True

Image via CBS

“100” wastes very little time establishing that the BAU is already behind. The episode opens with the team sitting through an internal investigation into Hotch, immediately revealing that something has gone terribly wrong. From there, the story rewinds to show how Foyet found Sam Kassmeyer, the U.S. Marshal responsible for protecting Hotch’s ex-wife Haley (Meredith Monroe) and their son, Jack.

Foyet has always understood that control matters more to him than simply killing people. In “Omnivore,” he manipulated Detective Tom Shaunessy into abandoning the Reaper investigation by offering him a deal. Hotch refuses to play along when Foyet offers the same bargain, making him the Reaper’s new obsession. By “100,” that obsession has become brutally personal.

After attacking Kassmeyer and stealing his phone, Foyet tricks Haley into believing that the people protecting her have been killed. He poses as the replacement marshal and convinces her to let him in. Hotch and the BAU are racing to find her, but Foyet has already anticipated their moves.

Haley’s Death Makes ‘100’ So Much More Than a Serial Killer Story

Image via CBS

Hotch’s relationship with Haley had never been simple. His dedication to the FBI repeatedly strained their marriage, and Haley spent years feeling as though she was raising Jack alone while her husband chased other people’s monsters. Their divorce was painful, but it never erased the fact that these two people loved each other.

As Hotch races toward the house, he is forced to speak with Haley over the phone while Foyet stands nearby. He knows what is happening, Haley knows what is happening, the audience knows what is happening, and no clever escape hatch is coming. Haley asks Hotch to tell their son how they met so that Jack will still believe in love. It is a heartbreaking request because it is simultaneously about her own death and the life she knows she is leaving behind. Hotch tries to stay composed for his son, even as he realizes he's about to lose the woman he once planned to spend his life with. Foyet shoots Haley three times as Hotch and the rest of the BAU listen.

The episode didn't need to show the murder to make it horrifying. The sound is enough. In fact, keeping the camera away from the actual shooting makes Hotch’s helplessness even more brutal. He is an FBI agent who's spent his career learning to anticipate violence, and now all he can do is listen. Hotch is usually the person in the room who keeps everyone else calm. He is controlled, disciplined, and rarely lets his personal feelings dictate his decisions. But Gibson spends much of “100” showing exactly how much effort that composure requires.

When Hotch hears Haley being killed, there is nowhere for that control to go. His eventual confrontation with Foyet releases everything the character has been suppressing. Hotch finds Haley’s body, sees Foyet hiding behind the curtains, and unloads his gun. Foyet survives because he is wearing a bulletproof vest, and the two men then fight hand-to-hand. Even after Foyet surrenders, Hotch continues beating him until Morgan (Shemar Moore) has to physically pull him away. It is an ugly scene, deliberately so. The BAU has spent years asking whether hunting monsters can change the people doing the hunting. Now the show has its answer: Yes, it can.

That question was planted back in the Criminal Minds pilot. Showrunner Ed Bernero specifically wanted the 100th episode to revisit whether someone could spend their life hunting monsters without becoming one. Hotch killing Foyet with his bare hands — rather than the knife used in an earlier draft of the script — makes the point impossible to miss.

Why ‘100’ Still Hurts 16 Years Later

Image via CBS

The brilliance of “100” is that the audience already knows the destination. The opening scenes reveal that Hotch will face an internal investigation, and the episode becomes a countdown to the tragedy we know is coming — a structure that should make the episode less suspenseful. Instead, it makes every scene worse. And while “100” is not without flaws — Foyet’s seemingly endless ability to escape consequences requires a healthy suspension of disbelief, and Haley’s willingness to trust a stranger claiming to be a marshal can feel frustratingly convenient — none of that changes what the episode accomplishes emotionally.

Criminal Minds has killed beloved characters before and since, but Haley’s death permanently changes Hotch. The BAU doesn’t simply solve another case and move on to the next week because their leader has lost someone he loved because the monster he was hunting came after his family.

That's why “100” remains the show’s emotional benchmark. It takes the fundamental premise of Criminal Minds — a group of people who understand monsters well enough to stop them — and asks what happens when understanding the monster isn’t enough.

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  Kirsten Vangsness

  Penelope Garcia

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  Dr. Spencer Reid

Criminal Minds follows the elite team of FBI profilers in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they analyze and track down the country’s most dangerous serial killers and criminals. Led by experienced agents like Jason Gideon, Aaron Hotchner, and later David Rossi, the team delves into the minds of the perpetrators, using psychological profiling and investigative techniques to anticipate their next moves. Each episode features intense and often chilling cases, while also exploring the personal lives and challenges faced by the team members.