I'll Never Sleep Again After Watching This 'Criminal Minds' Episode (2024)

Call me cliché, but after 17 seasons and hundreds of cases, no Criminal Minds episode has been able to disturb and haunt me as much as the last two from Season 4, "To Hell... And Back." Though many come close, none have truly been able to dethrone this downright terrifying case that leads the BAU across the borders and into hell. The team may have been able to come back, but I am still back in my adolescent years watching reruns after school with my jaw dropped as the series delivers some of its most provoking visuals and an iconic line in this episode. While every case offers a new reason to never leave the house and pray that a home invasion never occurs, this multi-part episode hits the concept of terror at every angle, from the serial killers themselves to the life-changing knowledge forcefully imparted on me.

Criminal Minds

TV-14

Mystery

Drama

Crime

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.

Release Date

September 22, 2005

Cast

shemar moore , Joe Mantegna , Kirsten Vangsness , Paget Brewster , Thomas Gibson , Matthew Gray Gubler , A.J. Cook , Mandy Patinkin , Lola Glaudini , Rachel Nichols , Jennifer Love Hewitt , Aisha Tyler

Seasons

17

Creator(s)

Jeff Davis

Main Genre

Crime

Writers

Jeff Davis

Network

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+

Franchise(s)

Criminal Minds

Showrunner

Erica Messer

'Criminal Minds' Most Devastating Episode Is "To Hell... And Back"

Season 4, Episode 25 begins with a bang, literally, as William Hightower (Sharif Atkins) drives his car into one of the border control stands at the USA-Canadian crossing, in order to gain the attention of the FBI, specifically the BAU. He tells Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) that his sister went missing while she was trying to clean up her life after living on the streets, but he also noticed that other people on the street were going missing. This is reminiscent of a similar episode, S2E22 "Legacy," where another cop who was tracking the homeless population begged for the BAU's help to find the missing. No one believed either man about this, mainly due to the population's transient nature, yet these episodes also give insight into these communities that breaks down some of the associated stereotypes. As the team drives through the streets and notice that, as a general rule, they stay together and look out for each other. It is the only comforting and positive quality in this episode, especially as it takes a turn into outright hellish horror in Episode 26.

The team tracks down the unsubs to an isolated pig farm just across the border, accessible via a river that isn't controlled, allowing the unsubs to cross the border with impunity. Here they find Mason Turner (Garret Dillahunt), completely bedridden, paralyzed, and on life support, yet they also discover ample evidence about the murders taking place here. Cue one of the most haunting revelations accompanied by a sickening visual in all the Criminal Minds franchise: a dumpster filled with grimy shoes. Honestly, when I first saw it, I could barely comprehend the implications, simply because they were just too outrageous to be true. I needed the trusty Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) to spell it out for me, but even then, associating the thought of nearly a hundred lost lives with those soiled shoes was just plain nauseating. Turns out, the mere 10 victims the team had originally believed they were looking for was now increased by tenfold. Though I still question why other pieces of attire weren't also there, well, who cares about credibility when the show was able to make such a memorable, ghastly, and devastating impact using an everyday item?

'Criminal Minds' Scarred Me Using Shoes in "To Hell... And Back"

Depicted through the confronting image of shoes, the serial killer's real body count can finally be estimated. Though, if this episode wasn't eerie enough, who knows how many times that dumpster had been emptied? Their sheer body count may be a generic way to measure how terrifying the case is, but it still cannot be ignored. It is also a testament to how long they had been operating (if you've seen the episode, pun intended), which also allows my mind to linger on thoughts of how many real serial killers are currently operating undetected. It's also saddening to realize that their continued success is based on the fact they are taking people who are unaccounted for: people who are already facing the struggles of where to find their next meal, let alone worrying about a serial killer. The shoes don't only relay their sheer body count, but also their lack of victim type. With a mixed variety of shoes on display, belonging to men and women of different ages, the idea of taking whoever is the most convenient dawned on me in a truly repulsive way.

Every ardent Criminal Minds fan is probably numb to the phrase "sexual sad*st" -- every time I hear it, my mind automatically thinks "ah, here's another way the show can do the most messed up forms of torture and link it to childhood abuse." It's still horrifying to witness what a twisted mind conjures up, but there is something more egregiously sobering about a serial killer driven by logic (or science in Mason's case), not emotion. Personally, I find the idea of long-distance serial killers or ones that use biochemical weapons to be particularly terrifying, mainly because they usually don't have specific preferences, while with sexual sad*sts, I can sit back comfortably knowing that I'm not blonde. While the Turners target the homeless population, their MO of pretending to be a drug dealer where people cash in their welfare checks broadens the victim type to even people who are trying to clean up, or people just generally struggling. As such, it doesn't matter if I'm not blonde; if I end up falling on hard times, I'm automatically in the victim pool.

'Criminal Minds' Terrifyingly Made Me Pity the Serial Killer

The actual perpetrators of this case and the parasitic relationship between them also do a number on our emotions. Things take a turn into the bizarre with the introduction of Mason, whose paralysis makes it impossible for him to perform these atrocious acts. The profilers slowly deduce that there is a partner, Lucas (Paul Rae), who absolutely has the looming physicality to abduct and murder the victims, but there is evidence of stunted development through childlike pictures, indicating that he may not fully comprehend what he's doing. As such, it becomes clear that Mason is the brains of the operation without ever lifting a finger and Lucas is the laborer who follows orders blindly. It makes for an ominous pairing, especially when I realized that Mason is essentially walking Lucas through various experiments so he can cure his incurable paralysis. As I mentioned before, it is this icy, scientific, and unemotional approach to mission-based killing that is truly chilling, as Mason is able to rid himself of empathy and mercy by treating the victims as lab rats, not humans. It has all the torture you would expect from a sexual sad*st, but none of the childhood trauma you can comfortably link it back to.

Lucas is mainly acting out of guilt since he caused his brother's paralysis by pushing him off a roof. But his display of emotions makes him far more of a sympathetic character, and thus the ending far more haunting. Both brothers' death scenes happen simultaneously, as the frames cut between the two contrasting scenes. Mason is pitilessly shot by a distraught and determined William, but as the camera steadily hones in on Mason's creepy smile, sympathy proves elusive. Meanwhile, with shaky camerawork mimicking Lucas' fear and confusion, his death is frantic and almost accidental, leading to a bitter and hollow feeling as if too much death has occurred on this hallowed farm. Criminal Minds never really makes any moralistic judgments, it simply hands the viewer a steaming pile of moral quandaries and leaves it up to us to sift through it or not. And it's these sympathetic sort of episodes that tend to leave an impression, from a father trying to find a mother for his daughter, to an abused woman trying to recreate her doll set. It's a more profound sense of horror that never fails to make me curse humanity for inflicting this continuous cycle of pain.

'Criminal Minds' Ruined Pigs for Me

If you have watched this episode, you probably know what I saved for last. Criminal Minds has delivered some of the most stomach-curdling quotes, with one of the most dastardly being, "So is Tracy Lambert" in S3E8, "Lucky." But, for me, that cannibalistic quote pales against a simple fact I would have preferred to remain ignorant of, particularly because it changed how I saw a certain animal forever.

Usually, it is a pleasure whenever our beloved Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) appears on-screen, but if only I muted the line he delivered with perfectly ominous stoicism: "pigs are omnivores." Even the usually composed and unrattled Hotchner couldn't bring himself to spell it out, as he asks Reid "how long it takes" and drifts off in gestures. Criminal Minds unravels all the hard work Charlotte's Web did in making the pig into an adorable and cuddly character. Now I can only picture them with blood on their muzzles. In case you were wondering, a 2020 study found that they can eat human teeth and bone as well. "To Hell... And Back" is literal nightmare fuel, encompassing everything I find horrifying in a Criminal Minds case and wrapping it up in a frayed and grotesque package.

Criminal Minds is available to stream now on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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