‘Criminal Minds’ season 12 spoilers: First look at ‘Seek and Destroy’

We’ve certainly seen the BAU on “Criminal Minds” tackle some problems in California before, but specifically home invasions in San Diego may be a little bit of old mixed with the new.

Today, CBS released the photo above, which is the first one from the upcoming January 11 episode entitled “Seek and Destroy.” First and foremost, we’ve still gotta say that it is somewhat crazy to see Paget Brewster back in some of these images, given that there was certainly a time in which we thought she would never come back on the show. Prentiss is leading the team now, and unfortunately for her and the entire BAU, it does not exactly seem as though crimes are starting to cool down in the country at all.

Granted, we wish CBS was telling us a little bit more about this episode beyond what they are right now, which is precisely what we referenced earlier — upscale home invasions in Southern California. The intrigue of the story probably comes in determining whether or not the UnSub is acting out with some sort of financial gain in mind, or has some other secretive motive here that is a little more dark and sinister than one that is being made superficially apparent.

We also do wish we were getting a little bit more in the way of photos released for some of these upcoming episodes, mostly because of our uncertainty regarding how much of Spencer Reid we’re going to get. Judging from the end of this past episode, it’s possible that he is being briefly written out; however, at the same time we know he’s got some important stories coming up, including one that will feature the return of Jane Lynch in the flesh as his mother.

For more on some of the various questions we’ve got regarding Spencer, all you have to do is head over to the link here. (Photo: CBS.)