Criminal Minds has felt like it has been in a state of tumult for a while. The show lost Shemar Moore toward the end of last season. While the long-running CBS drama capably weathered that storm, it soon dealt with another when longtime actor Thomas Gibson was fired from his role. In the weeks since, the BAU has worked to bring Paget Brewster's Emily Prentiss back into the fold in a larger role and things have started getting a little bit closer to normal. Now, it looks like we'll finally get a chance to look into the background of one major Criminal Minds character. This week's episode is going to be Tara-centric, and Aisha Tyler recently explained why Wednesday's big TV outing is going to be especially important:
This is the first case on the show that's hit [Tara] personally. And you see how it affects her and how she goes about not just solving the case but learning more about her and her relationships with her brother and her father. We spent a lot of time talking about who Tara is, what her experiences have been and what brought her to the FBI and generally with profiling, and a lot of that comes together here.
If you don't know much about tonight's big episode, the logline and early promos from CBS have revealed that Tara will meet up with her brother Gabriel during Wednesday's episode "Scarecrow." Only her brother won't be her actual brother. Tara will quickly realize that this man is just someone with intimate knowledge of herself and her family and as we've seen, courtesy of TV Guide, her real brother has been kidnapped and confined. Per usual with Criminal Minds episodes, we're assuming it will be up to the BAU to save him.
While we haven't learned a ton about Tara Lewis since she joined the team last season, we do know that she is a forensic psychologist. Prior to joining the BAU, she actually worked with a imprisoned criminals to ascertain their mental capabilities and whether or not they were fit to go to trial. She has interviewed a lot of serial killers and is helpful to the team in that capacity, but we don't really know much about her family, including her brother.
Criminal Minds occasionally delves into the family lives of its characters. That's how we know so much about Rossi's daughter and Spencer Reid's mother. These side characters act as touchstones that help us to understand why the members of the BAU ended up in the positions they are currently in. Often, family has to be sacrificed for the good of the job, although J.J. and her husband have made things work, even she has missed big moments with her kiddos on the series. Maybe this Tara-centric episode will help us to see what she has sacrificed, too.
We'll find out soon enough. Criminal Minds will air tonight at 9 p.m. ET, only on CBS. Next week looks to be the show's midseason finale, and we're guessing it is going to be a doozy. If you'd like to see when your favorite shows are returning at midseason, head here.
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