‘Criminal Minds’ season 12, episode 11 preview: The case at the heart of ‘Surface Tension’

“Criminal Minds” is returning to CBS tonight after a brief hiatus, and with “Surface Tension,” the BAU is going to be facing one of their most challenging cases of the season: A body with unusual markings that suggests that there could be many more where it came from. It’s one thing for there to be a serial killer on the loose, and you’re only adding to the trouble when this said killer is a little more subtle and you don’t realize it right away. That means that they can inflict a whole lot more damage without you being aware of precisely what it is that they are doing.

The sneak peek below is all about identifying the M.O. of this UnSub, and then preparing to take on whatever this person is planning to do next. It’s a familiar scene in that you see one that is fairly similar in most episodes, but it’s still important for the sake of setting up the key pieces on the chessboard before looking ahead to whatever the future is going to be for the case.

So what about Reid? We know that he’s missing in action during this preview, but we know that Matthew Gray Gubler will be returning following his recent absence to be a big part of this episode. We’ll be seeing his track down his mother (Jane Lynch) after she is let go from her Alzheimer’s trial. This move will set him down the road of a powerful story arc, one that will carry over in one way or another into “Spencer,” the huge episode for the character later this month. Lynch is also poised to come back again later this season, so that’s something that is also exciting to look forward to.

Our curiosity is trying to figure out whether or not Reid’s story will collide at all with this case-of-the-week, and if they do, how that will happen. We should find out in a matter of hours!

Interested in getting some further news regarding Lynch’s appearance on this episode? Then be sure to head over to the link here right now. (Photo: CBS.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx8zwewboFk