‘Criminal Minds’ season 12 wishlist: More Aisha Tyler, longer arcs, and other hopes

Last night, “Criminal Minds” ended season 11 with a finale that was certainly exciting, and also very intense thanks to the release of many criminals back into the world. The big cliffhanger at the tail end was learning that many notorious killers, including Mr. Scratch, had escaped, and the BAU would have to redo some of their work in ways that they have not done so before.

Is this a worthy tease for season 12? We think so, especially since it didn’t really alter the finale much and it also didn’t make you have to sit here wondering if a main character is going to die. There’s too much of that elsewhere. In this article, we’re going to chronicle some other things we’d want to see.

1. More Hotch – It was almost weird in the finale seeing all of a sudden more of his home life, given that it has been so nonexistent for much of the season. Given that we do consider him the lead of the show, we would like to see a little more of Thomas Gibson away from the job. We know you don’t want to distract too much from the cases, but just a few minutes every few episodes would suffice.

2. Bring Aisha Tyler back – We know that she’s constantly doing a billion or so things, but she was a really nice addition to the team as Tara Lewis. She was the sort of recurring guest star who kept being brought back because nobody wanted to see her go. Hopefully, there’s a way to at least bring her back in a similar capacity, even if she’s not a series regular.

3. A major villain – Maybe these escaped prisoners will fit the bill, but we’d love to see the Dirty Dozen mold replicated again since it made for some really great storytelling. In particular, “Entropy” may be our favorite episode of all season 11.

4. More returns from the past – We’d love to see Shemar Moore come back for another episode as Morgan, or have Paget Brewster give Prentiss one more go. We’re sure that there will probably be a new character added somewhere, but seeing a few familiar faces will be nice.

5. Movement towards the end – We don’t want season 12 to be the end of the show, but we do think that we’re now at the point in the series where you do have to start asking whether or not these characters want to do this the rest of their career. You have to start building towards the end; that way, when it comes it’s less of a mad scramble.

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