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‘Criminal Minds’ Finale Ends With Cliffhanger For Unconfirmed Season 12: What Happened To The BAU Team? [Spoilers]

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 22:33 PST, May 4, 2016

Criminal Minds Season 12 may not be confirmed, but Erica Messer decided a cliffhanger to the Season 11 finale was in order. Just what happened in Wednesday night’s episode The Storm?

As promised, team leader Hotch was at the forefront of an investigation. It turned out that he decided to leave out that he had been exposed to potential mind-control substances, and Mr. Scratch decided to inform officials of that. Leaving it out was a big no-no, but it is understandable why he did. Because of that, the Department of Justice arrested him under suspicion of conspiracy.

As TV Line reports, the stepping stones in place led the BAU team back to Antonia Fraser and her son, Asher. Dr. Reid quickly diagnoses Asher with autism, and his sympathetic nature helps him get the full story from him. It turns out that all of this has been put in place to get inmates out of prison.

Hotch is able to convince the Department of Justice that he needs to help his team. Working together, the inmates start to escape but are thwarted by a bomb going off.

Messer had promised that the Criminal Minds finale would not end with a large bomb, with a guess of who would live and die. While there was a bomb, the outcome was quickly revealed. In fact, it looked like the case was finished until the very end. As Messer has said, the cliffhanger was more of a “oh no, we’re just getting started,” to give Season 12 a storyline.

There are still questions over Criminal Minds Season 12. The renewal or cancellation has not yet been confirmed, and it is not likely to happen until later this month. However, Yibada reports that Season 12 is expected to be a go.

CBS and ABC are currently working on a new licensing deal. This is important for the status of the crime drama, as while CBS puts the money in, ABC benefits from it financially. It could be that CBS wants to see some of the profits for a show it has financed for the last 11 years. If this doesn’t happen, there are chances that CBS will pull the plug, despite the ratings still being high.

The licensing deal is expected to come to an end sometime next week, so a decision on the show should come shortly after. There are also hopes that a decision on the spinoff Beyond Borders will also be made, which may not get a Season 2.

Some fans are worried that Shemar Moore’s exit will mean Criminal Minds will be cancelled. The Inquisitr reported that this was a possibility at the time Moore left the show, since it would be very difficult to replace his character. The show struggled with the loss of Paget Brewster initially, although fans are now just happy when they get to see her return, which happened in the episode after Moore’s exit.

If Season 12 is given the go ahead, it will likely return in the last week of September or first week of October. This follows the precedent set in previous years. It may also remain on a Wednesday night, as it has been for some time.

Criminal Minds Season 12 will pick up from the cliffhanger. There are currently 13 prisoners on the loose, and one of those is Mr. Scratch. Could it be that he has a plan up his sleeve for Hotch, whose predicament isn’t fully solved right now on Minds?

[Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]

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