History CriminalMinds / TropesAToD

* CanadaEh: "To Hell..."/"... And Back"
** A special nod to Reid's claim that once you cross the border from Detroit there is nothing but forest. So [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor,_Ontario Windsor]] [[CanadaDoesNotExist does not exist]].

* DropTheHammer: "The Angel Maker" and "To Hell and Back".

** "The Edge of Winter" -- [[spoiler: The [=UnSub=] [[StockholmSyndrome utterly broke]] one of his kidnapping victims, to the point where she aided him in killing his victims and cleaning up afterward. The episode takes place in a mental institution (her story told through flashback), and it's unlikely that she'll ever recover.]]

* DyingKiller: The Unsub of "Fatal" received a cancer diagnosis too early in his retirement to actually take his do-over trip to Greece, which made him snap and start killing random people based on his obsession with fate and Greek mythology.

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Kyle Murphy]] dies this way after [[spoiler: his older brother Danny shoves plane parts down his throat]] in "A Shade of Gray."

* DisappointedByTheMotive: Although there's other examples throughout the series, "Hopeless" is an incredibly powerful one because the discovery that the killers of the week are not slaughtering entire families because of some desire to take their anger out on the world or some weird sexual disposition or even because they are literally damaged individuals but because they ''think that it's fun'' makes the whole BAU decide to just walk away and allow the cops to unleash their anger on the killers and let a mass SuicideByCop happen.
* DisobeyedOrdersNotPunished: ''"Elephant's Memory"'', Reid violates protocol to try and talk down a Spree Killer whom he empathizes with, deliberately putting himself between the killer and a police sniper. Reid is successful, but Hotchner does read him the riot act for endangering others, though Reid ultimately isn't punished any further.

* DaylightHorror: Mass murderers have no problem attacking in the middle of the day as often as they attack at night.

* CatchPhrase:

* CatScare: "The Angel Maker"; it even gets lampshaded when the soon-to-be victim actually finds her cat ("Geez Bo, you scared me half to death... such a cliche"). Also, in "Sense Memory," a paranoid Prentiss is startled when her new cat, Sergio, jumps in her lap.
* CeilingCorpse: In one episode, the [=UnSub=] kills three people in a fit of rage and lies down to go to sleep; [[DroolHello when he feels a blood drop in his face]] and opens his eyes again he sees the bodies of his victims stuck above him on the ceiling, blood pool and all. [[labelnote: Context]]The victims are hallucinations haunting him, and all he wants to do is sleep, but they keep him awake until he kills someone.[[/labelnote]]
* CelebrityParadox: Justine Ezarik appeared in the Season 6 episode "Middle Man" as one of the murdered exotic dancers. She was later mentioned in the Season 10 episode "Hashtag".
* CensorshipBySpelling: PlayedForDrama in "100". Hotch is on the phone with his wife Haley after learning that she and their son Jack are held in hostage by [[spoiler: George Foyet]] ,aka The Reaper.
-->'''Hotch''': He's just trying to make you angry.\\
'''The Reaper''': Well she should be! She's gonna ''(covers Jack's ears and lowers his voice)'' D-I-E because of your inflated ego!
* CentralTheme: Why do people do terrible things?
* CharacterBlog: Garcia's [[http://twitter.com/Garcia_BAU Twitter account]]. Several of the team members also have Facebook accounts.

** While it is not a coma, [[spoiler:Morgan]] goes through a similar experience when he disassociates from being tortured. Later he passes out from the pain and returns to the world he was imagining, which helped him figure out how to stay alive.

** Though it's not an adventure per se, [[spoiler:Garcia says that she heard David Bowie's song "Heroes" playing when unconscious after being shot. This prompts her to question if Bowie is actually god.]]