'Criminal Minds' Season 12 Spoilers: Emily Prentiss Searches For 3 Dead Bodies In First Episode Back; No Fanfare Given Hotch on Exit From Series
Prentiss rejoins colleagues at the BAU but with Hotch no longer around.
The airing of the third episode on Wednesday means that fans will finally get to see Paget Brewster make her much publicized return as Emily Prentiss on "Criminal Minds" Season 12. The character will return to join her colleagues in solving three women's disappearance in the episode titled "Taboo".
Emily Prentiss returns to BAU
Fans are aware that Brewster has once again been made a series regular in "Criminal Minds" Season 12 following the unexpected exit of Thomas Gibson from the show. Brewster's appearance was previously only intended for a multi-episode story arc.
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The promo trailer for the new episode of "Criminal Minds" Season 12 shows Prentiss returning to the BAU to search for the bodies of the women that were later discovered to be cemented over for them to remain hidden. Prentiss is seen telling David (Joe Mantegna) that the perpetrator appears to be jumping through a whole lot of loops in order to hide the bodies.
Meanwhile, Joe is of the opinion that the still unknown suspect seems to be perfecting his technique. He shares this with Luke (Adam Rodriguez) and at the end of the trailer for the "Criminal Minds" Season 12 episode, Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) is seen warning everybody to brace themselves.
Taking some time off from work
Gibson will no longer be making an appearance in the third episode as the previous episode of "Criminal Minds" Season 12 was his last for the series. He was axed because of an onset altercation with a writer/producer of the show while directing the second episode. At first announced to being suspended for several episodes, Gibson eventually got fired from the show.
Gibson's last appearance in "Criminal Minds" Season 12 was done with very little to no fanfare at all. He was in fact barely seen in the said episode that focused mainly on Jennifer "J.J."Jareau (A.J. Cook). The last scene his character Hotch was in showed him giving her advice on taking some time off from work. He then walks away.
Business as usual
In the beginning of the episode though, Hotch was shown leading the BAU team like it was business as usual in "Criminal Minds" Season 12. He even welcomed Luke into his team's fold. It is still unclear how the show will write his character off in succeeding episodes.
The promo for the next episode is similarly cryptic as it is focusing only on the return of Brewster into the cast of "Criminal Minds" Season 12. There has been no mention of Hotch's whereabouts or departure.
Erased from the show
Gibson's incident with the writer/producer happened in July but it was not until September when anything was heard about the incident on the set of "Criminal Minds" Season 12 from Gibson himself. In an interview, he expressed his surprise over the decision to fire him from the show. He said he is hurt that he seems to be being erased from the show. Gibson also added that he feels saddened that the good reputation which took him years to build only took a minute to be damaged.
Whether Hotch's absence will be addressed and if Prentiss will be able to fill the void that his exit has created will hopefully be answered in the next episodes of "Criminal Minds" Season 12 which air every Wednesday on CBS.
