In one of the most heartbreaking episode’s yet, Criminal Minds took us through the case of two missing children through the point of view of one of the characters. When JJ returns home from a traumatic case, her husband, Will, urges her to talk the case out with him. As they spent all night talking, we see how the case played out and what decisions she had to make.
The case came to the BAU through Hotch, who had previously been consulting on it. Two kids, a boy and a girl, had been kidnapped days apart and then found burned to death. As best as they could, the team tried to catch their unsub before anymore lives were lost.
In between talking about the case, the couple worried over their son Michael, who was ill with the croup. This episode was intense and heartbreaking. It also marked the final appearance of Thomas Gibson as Aaron Hotchner, which did not leave us with an appropriate ending for a character who had been with the show since the first episode.
Next week will mark the return of Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss. Catch up with the case with our top 10 moments from "Sick Day."