‘Criminal Minds’ season 9, episode 5 preview: A tragic, poignant Thomas Gibson scene (video)

As a character, Hotch is about to go through the wringer on “Criminal Minds” season 9 Wednesday night. Is he about to lose his life? While the needle is pointing to “no”, he will be in enough of a near-death situation that he will do more than just see his life flash before his eyes; he will also get a glimpse at what never really was.

This episode marks the return of not just his late wife, but also the man responsible for killing him. Therefore, it will feel in some ways like an episode better suited to air on Wednesday night; Hotch is going to learn something about himself, but in the process experience a pretty insurmountable amount of pain.

This has to be the sort of hour of television that Thomas Gibson loves to play, since you have to wonder what the feeling is like to suddenly work with other performers who we have not seen in quite a while, especially when you have two people who are such different extremes. One of these people is clearly someone that you love and want to root for, and the other is someone that you are obviously conditioned to hate, and for good reason considering just how vile he is.

This episode is going to be one of many “Criminal Minds” installments over the coming weeks that prepare fans for the milestone 200th episode, and the whole theme of season 9 is getting to know these characters more. For those of you who feel like Hotch is a mystery despite how long the character has actually been around, we figure that you will enjoy this episode perhaps more so than anyone else.

What do you think about this video, and how excited are you to see what will be coming up Wednesday night? Click here if you want to see another preview for this episode, and we will have a little bit more to share very soon.

Photo: CBS