Criminal Minds · Story guide
The Reaper episode guide
Ten episodes: nine from season 4, episode 18 to season 5, episode 10, and an epilogue in season 9. A Boston serial killer from the first case Hotch worked at the BAU surfaces again after ten years, and the next stretch of the show is built around him. Watch them in order; the core five are listed under Before you start.
Ten episodes from seasons 4, 5 and 9. The core story is five of them: S04E18, both halves of the season 4 finale (S04E25–26), S05E01 and the 100th episode (S05E09). S05E02, S05E05 and S05E08 connect them; S05E10 and S09E05 are aftermath. S04E25 is here only because its case runs straight into S04E26, where the story returns at the very end. Left out: S05E06, which confirms a change S05E05 already made; episodes with a passing reference and nothing more; and a brief callback in the original series finale. Most of these hours still give a case of the week most of their time. This is a route through one story, not a stand-in for seasons 4 and 5.
Episode titles and later-season context are visible here. The watch-path reader hides future details by default; you can switch that off for a rewatch.
The episode order
Selected for the story described above. Notes explain each episode’s place without retelling the plot.
Season 4 3 episodes
- S04
E18Omnivore
Start here. The killer from Hotch’s first BAU case resurfaces in Boston after ten years, and the old investigation turns out to have been keeping a secret. Everything that follows depends on how this hour ends.
Also in The Essentials - S04
E25To Hell...and Back (1)
Part one of the season-four finale. Its Detroit case has nothing to do with the Reaper, but it runs straight into part two; the halves first aired back to back.
Also in The Essentials - S04
E26To Hell...and Back (2)
Part two closes the Detroit case. The arc comes back in the closing minutes and the season ends on a cliffhanger, so have season five ready.
Also in The Essentials
Season 5 6 episodes
- S05
E01Nameless, Faceless
The season-five premiere picks up from that cliffhanger while the team works a new case. It settles what happened and sets the terms for the next eight episodes.
Also in The Essentials - S05
E02Haunted
A standalone case takes most of the hour. It is here for how Hotch is carrying the premiere’s events, and how closely the team is watching him.
Also in The Essentials - S05
E05Cradle to Grave
Another standalone case. A visit from Section Chief Strauss changes how the unit is run, and that change holds through the 100th episode (S05E09).
Also in The Essentials - S05
E08Outfoxed
The team asks an imprisoned killer for help with a case, and he has something to say to Hotch. It sets up the next episode directly; watch the two together.
Also in The Essentials - S05
E09100
The 100th episode, and the one the arc has been building towards. It is told through the team’s accounts to an internal review, and the Reaper story gets the whole hour.
Also in The Essentials - S05
E10The Slave of Duty
Aftermath. Hotch takes leave to think about his future while the team works a case without him. The arc’s main run closes here.
Also in The Essentials
Season 9 1 episode
- S09
E05Route 66
An epilogue four seasons on: a Hotch-centred hour that returns to this story. Seasons six to eight sit in between and the team has changed, so treat it as optional.
Also in The Essentials
Viewing questions
Which Criminal Minds episodes are the Reaper episodes?
These ten, in order: S04E18; the two-part season 4 finale (S04E25–26); S05E01, S05E02, S05E05, S05E08, the 100th episode (S05E09) and S05E10; and S09E05 as an epilogue. For the shortest version, watch the core five: S04E18, S04E25–26, S05E01 and S05E09.
Where does the Reaper story start?
Season 4, episode 18, first aired March 18, 2009. The original case predates the series and that episode explains what you need, so nothing earlier is required. Knowing the team helps, and so does knowing where Hotch’s marriage stands by season 4; season 3, episode 15 covers it.
How many Reaper episodes are there?
Five carry the story. This guide adds three connecting episodes and two of aftermath, for ten. Other lists run from five to about a dozen, depending on how much setup and aftermath they count.
Do I need the episodes in between?
Not for this story. The six episodes between S04E18 and the finale are standalone cases, and the season 5 episodes left out are cases of the week with a passing reference at most. You lose the team’s ordinary working life, not the Reaper story.
Does the Reaper story continue in later seasons?
The story itself is over by the middle of season 5. S09E05 is the one later episode that returns to it at length, and it is here as an optional epilogue. Later references are brief.
Spoiler answers
These answers reveal later events. Open only when you want the spoilers.
Who is the Reaper?Spoilers
George Foyet, played by C. Thomas Howell. Season 4, episode 18 introduces him as the only person to survive the Boston Reaper’s original attacks; by the end of the episode the team has worked out that the survivor was the killer all along, and he gets away. TVmaze credits Howell as Foyet in seven episodes: S04E18, S04E25, S04E26, S05E01, S05E09, S09E05 and S15E10. The last two are visions, not new chapters of the case.
What happens at the end of season 4?Spoilers
In the closing minutes of the second half of the finale (S04E26), Foyet is waiting inside Hotch’s apartment, and the season cuts away with Hotch’s fate unknown. S05E01 shows that Foyet stabbed him repeatedly and left him at a hospital. Hotch survives. To keep them out of Foyet’s reach, Hotch’s ex-wife Haley and their son Jack go into witness protection.
How does the Reaper story end?Spoilers
In the 100th episode (S05E09), framed by Section Chief Strauss’s inquiry into Hotch’s conduct. Foyet’s letters to Karl Arnold, the imprisoned killer Hotch and Prentiss question in S05E08, lead the team to him, but he escapes. He kills the U.S. marshal guarding Hotch’s family, poses as a marshal to reach Haley, and kills her while Hotch listens on the phone. Jack survives, hidden in a chest. Hotch reaches the house, and in the fight that follows he beats Foyet to death, even after Foyet has given up. The review panel finds his actions acceptable in the circumstances. Edward Allen Bernero, who directed the episode, has said it goes back to a question the pilot asked: whether hunting monsters turns you into one.
Where does the Reaper story leave Hotch?Spoilers
S05E10 opens on Haley’s funeral. Hotch takes leave and weighs leaving the FBI: Strauss offers him retirement, and Haley’s sister Jessica offers to help with Jack when work takes him away. The episode ends with Rossi predicting he will come back to the team, and he does. The injuries last longer than the case: in S09E05, complications from Foyet’s stab wounds leave Hotch fighting for his life, and he sees visions of Haley and Foyet. Foyet’s last appearance is among the figures in Reid’s hallucinations in the original series finale (S15E10).