"The Replicator" is the twenty-fourth episode of Season Eight of Criminal Minds, and the second of the two-part season finale.
Summary
The Replicator zeroes in on the BAU when the killer targets one of the team as the next victim. The team must now struggle against his endgame as the stakes grow higher.
Guest Cast
- Brian Appel - Agent Grant Anderson
- Jayne Atkinson - FBI Section Chief Director Erin Strauss
- Nicholas Brendon - Analyst Kevin Lynch
- Mark Hamill - John Curtis
- Breanne Hill - Strauss Child #1
- Teresa Huang - Doctor Weiss
- Jordan Ledford - Strauss Child #3
- Emma Marcus - Strauss Child #2
- Mark Moses - Senator Cramer
Referenced Criminals
- Adam Worth, The Napoleon of Crime
- Gary Ridgway, The Green River Killer
- Amerithrax
Music
- "Ashes Like Snow" by Lily Kershaw
Bookend Quotes
- David Rossi: "Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise." H.G. Wells
- Aaron Hotchner: "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life." Richard Bach
Trivia
- Lily Kershaw previously sang the ending song of the two-hour Season Seven finale Hit and Run, "As It Seems". She also portrayed Kelly Shane in the two-hour Season Four finale To Hell...and Back.
- There was an original plan to have the episode end in a cliffhanger with the team trapped in the room where Blake was held captive, and that the Season Nine premiere episode would focus on capturing the Replicator. The idea was dropped due to the fact that five out of the seven main actors' contracts ended with the season, plus the showrunner Erica Messer's and all the writers'. Also, the possibility of the show not being renewed for a ninth season if the negotiations failed was too real and, in that case, CBS and ABC Studios wanted for the series to have a real series finale (although the show was indeed renewed for a ninth season).
- Mark Hamill and Joe Mantegna, the actor who portrays Rossi, previously guest-starred together in a 1998 episode of the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons.