'Criminal Minds' Season 15 Episode 3: Prentiss and JJ save the day after they foil a dangerous bomber's plan

This episode featured a really great moment from J.J and Emily Prentiss and it was a pleasant reminder as to why we love this show.
Reid, Prentiss and JJ (CBS)
Reid, Prentiss and JJ (CBS)

Contains spoilers for 'Criminal Minds' season 15 episode 3 'Spectator Slowing'

'Criminal Minds' has so far done a stellar job at writing female characters and they've always been these powerful women who save the day. This episode featured a really great moment from J.J and Emily Prentiss and it was a pleasant reminder as to why we love this show. What starts off as a hunt for a serial bomber blowing up seemingly random people's homes in Tennessee and Kentucky ends in a facedown with the bomber in one of the victims' homes.

Here's a little background first. The BAU was monitoring a couple of bombings in the area, but when the number rises, it becomes their number one priority. The team is unable to find any common ground between the victims, some of whom made it out alive. But, when Rossi and Reid push one of the family members to look at the loved ones of other victims from similar blasts, they find an unlikely connection. 

All of those who had been in the blasts had one family member in a cruise in Canada. On digging further, they find out that five people from the cruise had decided to take the day off, rent a car and see around town. They had stopped at a closed down home that was taped up - which was once a murder scene. A man had run it as a senior citizen home, only to kill its residents and collect the paychecks. Eight bodies had been found in the basement. One of the people who lived in that home after was the UnSub's mother. She had been buried there after being killed. The fact that they had made something so sacred to him into another tourist spot, had made him mad enough to come after them. 

After finding out the details, Rossi and the team realize that Mrs. Kirkland, one of the victims' grandmother had gone missing. The team finds out that she had been the one taking a picture of the home for a fellow tourist and had tripped over flowers presumably laid by the bomber for his mom. One clue leads to another and they end up in Kirkland's home to find her strapped to a chair with a bomb on her lap. The bomber threatens to blow them all up.

Prentiss calls the bomber's bluff when he threatens to blow her and the team up and J.J takes a timely shot, taking him down. She tells the team later, it was because of his intentions to carry on the bombings that she knew the woman wasn't his endgame. It definitely shows the amount of experience Prentiss has and how confident she is in her abilities. 

Catch the BAU in action every Wednesday at 9-10 pm, ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

GET THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT STORIES
STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

MORE STORIES

Titus Welliver and Tom Bernardo address Harry Bosch’s future ahead of the MGM+ prequel.
2026-10-31T18:58:21.000Z
‘It: Welcome to Derry’ uncovers the dagger’s origins and a Stephen King connection in its surprise Halloween special.
2026-10-31T15:59:16.000Z
'Beyond The Gates' received 13 nominations at the Daytime Emmys in its first year
2026-10-31T10:54:38.000Z
Jay Gatsby gets a new career while the familiar Long Island characters enter a modern crime-solving world
2026-10-31T10:27:21.000Z
'Avatar: Seven Havens' released its first season finale named 'The Root of Chakra' on October 30
2026-10-31T09:02:29.000Z
'General Hospital' wins its sixth consecutive 'Outstanding Drama Series' award at Daytime Emmys
2026-10-31T07:32:44.000Z
The Apple TV series relocates a Swedish crime saga to rural Pennsylvania and keeps its prisoner underground
2026-10-31T07:04:20.000Z
Bertha Russell and her family face shifting social dynamics, new rivalries, and personal challenges in the next chapter
2026-10-31T06:09:14.000Z
'Fire Country' introduces a new love interest for CJ in its latest episode
2026-10-31T05:46:21.000Z
Season 20 had already finished filming by the time Paramount+ made its call on the BAU drama
2026-10-31T05:09:12.000Z