History Headscratchers / Criminalminds

* How did Foyet know which page in Hotch's address book to take? Hayley is listed by her maiden name and Hotch doesn't really seem the type to put smiley faces next to the people who would be convenient targets if a serial killer happened to be looking for one, so how did he know her significance?

** We don't know how long Hotch has been using the same address book. It's possible he wrote down that information when he first moved into the house and hadn't yet memorized its address. Or the house may have originally been Hayley's home before they were married, and he filled it in when they were still dating.

** It's entirely possible that his aim is more accurate with a revolver as opposed to a semi-automatic. I believe it's either implied or said outright (I haven't rewatched the show in a long time) didn't learn to shoot properly with a semi-automatic until after [[spoiler:Emily faked her death.]]

* For "Lucky," since Penelope Garcia is the Techno Queen, you would think that she would have done a background check on her beau [[spoiler: *cough*shooter*cough*]], but no, she ignores Morgan's warnings and goes off to the date anyway. Idiot Ball, or a case of Lapsed character judgement? You decide.

* In "Supply and Demand", the season six finale, it's revealed that [[spoiler:JJ's coming back.]] Earlier in the episode, it's revealed that the FBI's going to have budget cuts. So, if they're having budget cuts, how do they have the money to hire [[spoiler:JJ?]]

* How did Foyet know which page in Hotch's address book to take? [[spoiler: Hayley is listed by her maiden name]] and Hotch doesn't really seem the type to put smiley faces next to the people who would be convenient targets if a serial killer happened to be looking for one, so how did he know her significance?

* In "Mayhem" [[spoiler: the terrorist cell's plan is to set off a bomb in an ambulance to kill someone protected by the secret service. But the bomb doesn't seem large enough, especially since it would be in the underground concrete parking garage while the target was being airlifted off the roof. Were they planning to bring down the entire building?]]
** [[spoiler:They were planning to kill the government official that was having a surgery. So if you think about it, the explosion could have cause enough damage to screw up the surgery, even if doesn't completely destroy the building.]]
** [[spoiler:Maybe branching into WMG here, but we don't technically know that their plan was to kill the target. That's the obvious assumption, but what else about their plan has been obvious? Maybe their plan was still "mayhem." Maybe it was enough that they get the publicity of tricking the FBI into enacting a terrorist attack right under the Secret Service's noses. Maybe the government was attempting to downplay the target's health problems, and the cell would have been satisfied that they had to report how sick they actually are (a President/Vice President/etc. in poor health doesn't exactly instill confidence, especially if they're going to have to be dealing with terrorists). Maybe this was just Step 3 of the plan, with Step 4 being something like "Force the White House to reconsider how safe the hospitals are, forcing them into a different situation next time the President needs surgery, only this one is a situation we can control" just like Step 1 was just a setup for Step 2. Considering we know nothing about the ideology behind the cell, maybe there's no political motive at all and they just want to jack up the price of medication and this is all a smokescreen.]]

* In "Painless", how did the truth about what happened during the bombing never come out? Even if the 'Top Ten Survivors' clique all stuck to the story, why didn't ''other'' survivors come forward and reveal [[spoiler:how the one guy was taking credit for the eventual Unsub's actions]]?
** The whole episode is an obvious lift from UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}}, and the explanation may be a reference to [[spoiler:Cassie Bernall (I am spoilering this in reference to the question.) For years, the famous 'she said yes' account was attributed to her, and the survivor who actually had the exchange with Klebold, Valeen Schnurr, was denigrated for suggesting that some wires were crossed in the telling of the story. The whole issue is well-explained in the book 'Columbine'.]] Clearly, if a similar situation happened in real life, and none of the survivors could corroborate the story, it could easily happen in the world of fiction.

** How was her father not brought before some sort of review board due to giving his daughter electroshock therapy to treat the death of her mother? [[spoiler: I know he was molesting her but that was still a flimsy excuse.]] As Reid himself said, 'There are literally hundreds of therapies to help children cope with the loss of a loved one, electroshock is not one of them'.

*** [OP] I understand about the torture, but there's still an official record showing that he ''was known'' to have used electroshock on his daughter. How was he not questioned ''in detail'' about why he used that form of therapy? [[spoiler: The second she goes through her little mantra like she did with Reid, another therapist would've immediately realised what he did.]]

* In "Red Light" it was never explained how [[spoiler: Cat and Lindsay met, particularly given that Cat has been in jail for nearly two years in Iowa while Lindsay operates primarily in border states. Lindsay's dad was relocated to Wisconsin, a bordering state of Iowa, by WITSEC, but Lindsay left the program and headed south three years before Cat met Spencer.]] This may later be explained by the "mole in the BAU" theory, but as of this writing it's a plot hole.

** Are we sure she did? The only proof we have is Cat's word and a fuzzy flashback of Reid recalling Lindsay impersonating Maeve. Cat's a proven liar, and Reid's already had very flexible memories concerning this exact period of time influenced by what he believed or wanted to be true. Cat probably told Lindsay to impersonate Maeve in order to manipulate him, specifically so Cat could later tell him it facilitated a rape, but considering how pissed off Lindsay was when she found out about Cat's pregnancy, Cat clearly didn't tell Lindsay about that part of the plan. Cat gains nothing from actually raping Reid; she only has to briefly convince him that she did. Why risk her relationship with Lindsay (which was essential to the plan) by tossing in a sex crime if she didn't have to?

** If I remember right, her father, Arthur, had a her stay in a hospital that he runs called "New Lives" after he declared her mentally incompetent, so she either figured out where he kept the medicines and how to get to them ([=ECT=] is administered after the patient is sedated or, sometimes, "rowdy" patients are sedated) or she had training as a nurse (not farfetched, given what we see),if she wasn't reading her father's medical books in her spare time.

*** If it helps anything, a lot of times when the police look for a suspect, they go by process of a elimination and, in the case of the ethnicity of an [=UnSub=], they're not so much being correct, they're going by likelihood, also, make note of how that's ''early'' in their investigation, they change their inferences later in the investigation when there's more evidence. Now that I think about it, they're usually looking for someone whose [=MO=] fits their investigation and going by the details they did have about the perp (like what their ethnicity and age range were).

** To Maeve's credit, Reid and the BAU can't go after every last stalker of their loved ones, not without legal problems, no, after all, there's [[BeingPersonalIsntProfessional a trope for that]], and, from we did see in that episode, the BAU did have their hands full with that one.

*** If it helps anything, a lot of times when the police look for a suspect, they go by process of a elimination and, in the case of the ethnicity of an [=UnSub=], they're not so much being correct, they're going by likelihood, also, make note of how that's ''early'' in their investigation, they change their inferences later in the investigation when there's more evidence. Now that I think about it, they're usually looking for someone whose [=MO=]fits their investigation and going by the details they did have about the perp (like what their ethnicity and age range were).

* In season twelve, if Cat and Lindsay weren't planning on getting Cat pregnant by forced sperm donor, ''why did Lindsay rape Reid at all?''

* In "Red Light" it was never explained how [[spoiler: Cat and Lindsay met, particularly given that Lindsay has been in jail for nearly two years in Iowa while Lindsay operates primarily in border states. Lindsay's dad was relocated to Wisconsin, a bordering state of Iowa, by WITSEC, but Lindsay left the program and headed south three years before Cat met Spencer.]] This may later be explained by the "mole in the BAU" theory, but as of this writing it's a plot hole.

* The whole ending for Demonology bothered me to no end. In a show that at least tries to pretend some semblance of realism trying to do something that might hint at there being real demons or whatever seems fairly jarring not to mention the fact that it would actually justify the murdering priest.
* A minor thing but in Seven Seconds what happened to Jeremy after his parents were arrested? His aunt and uncle don't seem all that concerned about him (justified as they were focused on Katie) but did they take him in later? Or did they abandon him to foster care due to what his parents did?
* Another minor thing but in Mosley Lane it's revealed that the oldest kidnap victim (a teenage boy who been held by the kidnappers since he was a young child) had helped kidnap more kids (by driving the get away car I think). I have always wondered was he charged (by the police) for his role in the crimes?

* How did Samantha Malcolm, the [=UnSub=] of 'Uncanny Valley' get a stun-gun? She's a woman known to be mentally disturbed and legally incompetent in a state that has restrictions on the item in question. You need a permit to own one.

* In If The Shoe Fits JJ is angry at her mom for telling JJ's son about Rosaline and makes a point that she discussed telling him with Will. Yet she never bothered to tell her mom about the decision to not tell the kid ?