"Internal Affairs" is the ninth episode of Season Eleven of Criminal Minds.
Summary
After an undercover DEA agent is murdered and two others go missing, the BAU joins the NSA to investigate an underground Internet drug syndicate that is possibly involved in the crimes. Meanwhile, Hotch uses the investigation as an opportunity to bring the team closer to finding the Dirty Dozen hitmen ring.
Guest Cast
- Thomas Bell - Security Guard
- Andrew Borba - Tony Axelrod
- Christian Cage - DEA Agent Mark Bowers
- Erin Cardillo - Jillian Carter
- Shalaina Castle - DEA Agent Sarah Miles
- Orson Chaplin - DEA Agent John Portman
- Tom Everett - NSA Director Brian Cochran
- Elizabeth Grullon - DEA Agent Adrienne Mitchell
- Jake Lucas - Jake
- Lyn Mahler - M.E. Talia Rice
- Travis Myers - Bartender
- Jorge-Luis Pallo - DEA Agent Matt Lopez
- Rick Ravanello - Bernard Graff
- Adam Reeser - Arvin Cole
- Richie Stephens - Jacob DuFour
- Aisha Tyler - Doctor Tara Lewis
- Eugene Young - Simon Kahn
Referenced Criminals
- The Silk Road
- The Sinaloa Cartel
- The Juárez Cartel
- The Gulf Cartel
Music
- "I'll Be By Your Side" by Cathy Heller
Bookend Quotes
- Aaron Hotchner: "The enemy is within the gates. It is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality, that we have to contend." Marcus Tullius Cicero
Trivia
- The episode was originally scheduled to air on November 25, 2015, but its time-slot was moved down to a week later.
- Despite being credited in the opening sequence, Matthew Gray Gubler, the actor who portrays Reid, doesn't appear in the episode, just like the previous one.
- This is, in fact, the fourth episode in which a main character has not appeared despite his or her actor or actress being credited as usual. The first episode was Broken Mirror, in which A.J. Cook and Kirsten Vangsness do not appear as JJ and Garcia, respectively, despite being credited. The second was 25 to Life, in which Thomas Gibson does not appear as Hotch.
- In a list of Libertad Cartel members compiled by the DEA, the names Chester Hardwick and Anita Milworth can be seen. The first name was previously used in the Season Three episode Damaged for a prolific serial killer, while the second name was used for the mother of a budding serial killer.