Criminal Minds season 13: Is there merit to splitting up BAU?

On Wednesday night’s new episode of Criminal Minds, one of the things that we’re seeing is the possible unraveling of the BAU as we know it. With the team under investigation, it’s absolutely possible that season 13 could deliver one of the biggest surprises of the year as everyone from Reid to Prentiss could be forced to go their separate ways.

As crazy as it may sound, is it possible that this could be the best thing possible for this series? We do think that there is a reasonable chance of that.

For starters, when you are a show that has been on the air for as long as Criminal Minds has, you in many ways live and die by the twist. It benefits this series greatly to be delivering almost constantly some epic surprises that you don’t see coming. We don’t imagine that there are many anywhere near as epic (or shocking) as one that causes the BAU to divide up. It could cause all of the characters to assess further who they are as people, what they’ve been through, and also where they want to go moving into the future. It throws them out of their comfort zone.

For viewers, there’s merit in pushing us a little bit out of our standard rhythm, as well. Perhaps we’ve gotten a little bit spoiled over time with the pattern of Criminal Minds, which is basically all about watching the BAU take down an UnSub meticulously over the course of the hour. It’s something that we’ve seen on the show on repeat for years. Seeing some sort of alteration where the team can’t just fly on their plane over to some random city to take down a bad guy would be welcome. What if they all had to work a little more under wraps in order to ensure that their work was successful? Or what if they end up risking their careers by wanting to go back into the field?

We already know that there’s stakes anytime that the BAU choose to take on a case and confront a criminal in the field; what we want to see now are a different sort of stakes, one in which we see their occupations in jeopardy just because of them trying to do their original job. That’s what happens sometimes when you are under investigation. Your original intent gets a little bit muddled and you aren’t quite treated the same as you should be.

Do you think that we could see the splitting up of the BAU happen on Criminal Minds season 13? Be sure to share some of your thoughts on that subject below! Also, be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want to get some other insight regarding the series. (Photo: CBS.)