Throng

Thursday 19 June, 8.30pm

As the third season of Criminal Minds starts, the elite team of FBI profilers investigate a serial killer who is targeting women on the campus of a small midwestern college.

Criminal Minds revolves around a team which analyses the country's most twisted criminal psyches, anticipating their next moves before they strike again.
Leading the team is academic Jason Gideon (Mandy Pantinkin), the FBI's top behavioural analyst with his right-hand man Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson). Also on the team are Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), the daughter of high-powered diplomats who recently joined the team and must prove her worth; Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), an expert on obsessional crimes; Jennifer 'J.J.' Jareau (A.J. Cook), a confident young agent who acts as the unit liaison for the team; and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), a computer wizard who helps research the cases.

The other star in the profiling team is Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), a classically misunderstood genius whose social IQ is as low as his intellectual IQ is high.

Gubler, who plays Reid, is quick to point out that there aren't very many similarities between himself and his character; but they've both had a bit of luck. "He's a genius and I'm technically and functionally retarded. In the show, Reid was sort of hand-picked from college. He's in the FBI, but he didn't strive to achieve that or have any intention of doing that. Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) recruited him and I feel kind of akin to that because I had no real intention of being an actor or being on a show. I've sort of fallen into it. Reid makes the most of it and so do I. It's fun and quite an honour."

Gubler does admit to having a few personality quirks - like Reid. "My grandmother told me at a very early age that it was good luck to not wear matching socks, which I've come to interpret as bad luck to wear matching socks because the one time I wore matching socks in ten years was when I was acting in this movie called The Life Aquatic. We were doing a moment where Bill Murray is leading us in exercises and somehow I managed to sprain my ankle on camera. It actually wound up being in the movie. I attribute that entirely to me wearing matching socks."

Gubler says that there are some particularly interesting storylines coming up for Reid in the new season. "I've heard some pretty exciting stuff! I've heard I have an archenemy coming up. He's a kid I went to school who is one I.Q. point smarter, a little bit taller, better looking. He lives in New Orleans and plays jazz."

Tonight, the team investigates a campus serial killer. After shutting the campus down, Gideon, Hotch and the team create a detailed profile of their suspect, but when the killings on campus continue after they take the person into custody, the team begins to doubt themselves.