‘Criminal Minds’ season 12, episode 6: Thomas Gibson’s Hotch written off show; how?

On tonight’s new episode of “Criminal Minds,” we finally got an answer to a question that so many people wanted an answer to: How is the show going to write off the character of Aaron Hotchner? Thomas Gibson isn’t coming back on the show, and after waiting many weeks, the writers finally decided on a solution during tonight’s episode “Elliott’s Pond.”

Here’s what happened: After Mr. Scartch a.k.a. Peter Lewis starting stalking Hotch’s son Jack, the two ultimately made the decision to enter Witness Protection in an effort to secure his safety. However, after being a part of the program it was simply determined to be far too dangerous for him to re-enter work with the BAU in the future. For the sake of protecting his child, Hotch decided to stay away … and for the sake of the character, we don’t quite blame him. This is dangerous work!

As for whether or not this was a fitting end to the story of Hotch on “Criminal Minds,” that’s a debate that we imagine many fans having at present. It’s easy to try and poke holes in the guy going into this program now given everything else he’s been through over the course of the series, but the reality is that the writers had to address this eventually or risk completely alienating their fans further. Also, they clearly didn’t want to kill off Hotch and punish the character for whatever happened behind the scenes with the actor playing him — and it doesn’t seem possible for him to come back anytime soon.

In a way, this is an ending similar to how Morgan left: With the best interest of someone else in mind. The main difference is that in this case, Hotch is now off somewhere living under a different name, and cannot be in contact with anyone from the BAU ever again. We could still feasibly see Shemar Moore back.

As a result of this move, Prentiss was named the new Director.

Do you think that the show wrote off Hotch in the best way possible? Vote in the poll below, and we’ll be back later with a review for this episode.

To get some other news when it comes to “Criminal Minds,” be sure to head over to the link here! (Photo: CBS.)