Criminal Minds

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Fandom
Name: Criminal Minds
Abbreviation(s): CM
Creator: Jeff Davis
Date(s): Sep 22, 2005 – April 13, 2020
Medium: Television Series
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: at IMDb
at Wikipedia
Official CBS Site
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Criminal Minds was an American crime show about a team of profilers in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, which specializes primarily in catching serial killers. There were 323 episodes over 15 seasons and the show had two spin off series: Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. As of 2023, there is a revival of the original show, called Criminal Minds: Evolution. It has been renewed for a second season.

Canon

The show first began airing on 22 September 2005 and was renewed for a 15th and final season in 2019. The final line up of the BAU was:

  • Emily Prentiss, played by Paget Brewster: As of of Season 12, the BAU's Unit Chief, taking over from Hotch. Was not part of the main cast from season 8 - season 11, but returned later.
  • Spencer Reid, played by Matthew Gray Gubler: youngest member of the team, and a certified genius with "an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words a minute." Original member of the team.
  • Jennifer Jareau, played by A.J. Cook: Also known as JJ, the team's communications liaison until season 7, at which point she begame a profiler. Original member of the team.
  • Penelope Garcia, played by Kirsten Vangsness: The team's tech geek. Original member of the team, but started as a recurring character in season 1.
  • David Rossi, played by Joe Mantegna: one of the founders of the BAU and popular author. Came out of retirement in season 3 to rejoin the BAU
  • Luke Alvez, played by Adam Rodriguez: Used to be part of the FBI Fugitive Task Force, joined the team in season 12
  • Tara Lewis, played by Aisha Tyler: profiler and forensic psychologist, member of the team as of season 11
  • Matt Simmons, played by Daniel Henney: originally a character on the Criminal Minds spin-off series Beyond Borders, which only lasted two seasons. Originally introduced as a guest star in a crossover episode in season 10, he later became a full member of the BAU in season 13.

Past main characters are:

Important recurring characters are:

Fandom

The fandom is notable for having a lot of femslash as well as slash and het, partially due to the fact that the women in the main cast are usually as well-developed as the men in the cast. Character/Reader fics are also incredibly popular. While Spencer Reid is by far the most popular character (possibly because he's an extreme Woobie), all the main characters have active fans and enthusiastic fan fic-writers.

The fandom can be found in different iterations on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr and in 2020 it gained popularity on Tik Tok despite the show having ended earlier that year. This may have something to do with the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic Criminal Minds was the third most streamed show in the US.[1]

Notably, everyone in the current team has been shipped with someone else on the team. Popular pairings include Spencer Reid/anyone (though especially Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid and Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid), Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss, Emily Prentiss/David Ross, Aaron Hotchner/David Rossi, Aaron Hotchner/Derek Morgan, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss, and Penelope Garcia/Derek Morgan. Penelope Garcia is a popular character just for being generally awesome, but she's shipped less often than the other team members. Some fans believe that this is due to some type of prejudice since Garcia is a plus size and cute character, who is not afraid of being sexy or bamf.

Tropes

  • Casefic: Like many fandoms based on procedural television, quite a few pieces of fan fiction take the form of a case story.
  • Clooney the dog: In the episode "Secrets and Lies" it is revealed that Derek Morgan has a dog named Clooney; though the dog was never again mentioned on the show, he is quite popular in fanfic.
  • Everyone is Gay: As mentioned above there is a lot of slash and femslash in the fandom and it is not uncommon to have multiple secondary couples among the team alongside the ship that is the main focus.
  • Fix-it: There were some storylines considered contentious in the fandom and so Fix-it fics are popular around certain narrative arcs.

Notable Fanworks

Fan Fiction

Fan Art

Fan Vids

Archives & Communities

Fan Fiction Archives

Fanzines

LJ Communities

Resources

References

  1. ^ https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/netflix-and-disney-streaming-figures-reveal-the-most-watched-shows-and-movies-in-2020/
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