‘Criminal Minds’ season 12, episode 2 review: JJ focused episode breaks our hearts

Last time on “Criminal Minds” we saw Mr. Scratch come back into play and he is tormenting Hotch as usual, but tonight this is our last episode with Thomas Gibson, so we aren’t sure how this is going to play out. There is a lot of speculation as to how Hotch is going to leave the show, but the one thing we don’t want to see is him dying at the hands of Mr. Scratch (or any other UnSub for that matter). We understand that if Hotch was ever to leave his job, it would probably be in a body bag, since he is the job, but we selfishly want there to be an open for his return in the future.

Tonight’s episode is all about JJ and her family. We start the episode off with Luke doing his best to be there for the team and is asking after JJ’s injuries (she has a burnt hand). How did she burn her hand? It has to do with the case of the week that ends with children being trapped in a fire that she is trying to rescue. She is able to save one child, but is too late to save the other and it breaks her down.

When she gets home she hears water running and Will is trying to use the steam in the shower to break up their sons sickness. Their baby is sick with the croup and he didn’t call JJ to tell her, so she’s upset, but there’s more to it then that. He gently pushes her into telling him what happened and it’s the case of the week that involves killing children that really got to her.

We love Will and JJ moments, these two are so adorably cute, especially when he hasn’t slept all night, it’s 4 am and he’s wanting to make her coffee, feed her and talk about what happened on her case. He’s a man in love and he wants to help her get these horrible thoughts out of her head to help her get some rest. It’s a very selfless love and on a show that is as dark as “Criminal Minds” can be, episodes like this are a nice reminder that there are happy moments in this universe.

This was a very JJ focused episode and we know that Thomas Gibson only filmed 2 episodes, so this was the last one with him… or is it? Gibson lost his job on the show after this episode was filmed so was anything filmed afterwards to give the character a proper ending or will his end come off screen?  Guess we are going to find out next week. Episode grade: B+

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