Criminal Minds Looks to Replace Mandy Patinkin

When it was announced this summer that Mandy Patinkin would not be returning to the crime drama Criminal Minds the question of replacing him was lost on most viewers who saw Mandy Patinkin's character (Agent Jason Gideon) as the most central figure to the show. While Shemar Moore and Thomas Gibson have prominent roles, the show revolved around how the other characters worked with Agent Gideon and his ability to close a case. With CBS announcing before the summer was over that Joe Mantegna would be taking over the work duties of Gideon the real question was left unanswered.

This week, like many shows Criminal Minds had its season premiere. The show revolved around an interesting storyline that had more to do with the last ten seconds of the show that any case the show has worked through. The show is set around a Behavioral Analysis Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thomas Gibson who plays the role of Agent Aaron Hotchner, leads this band of uber-smart crime fighters who basically profile then pursue some of the most outlandish criminals a fiction writer can create.

The premiere episode is set on a college campus where two, brunette-haired females have been tasered then stabbed to death. The team arrives on the ground and begins the process of uncovering who the unsub (perpetrator) is. After a while a lack of credible evidence and a copycat killer forces the unit to release the suspected. It is later realized that Agent Gideon did this with the belief that they would run into each other and things would hash themselves out without further damage to the morale and safety of the students on campus. When the copycat stabs the primary perpetrator and then commits suicide, the viewers see the brevity of their decisions as Agent Hotchner is placed on two weeks unpaid suspension for the decisions that were Agent Gideon's but Hotchner's responsibility. We also see throughout the show, bits and pieces of commentary from Gideon who in the final scene of the show is sitting in a dark room alone, holding a gun prepared to blow his brains out.

While we do not see the actual suicide by Agent Gideon, it was an interesting way of removing him from the show. What is difficult to understand is how emotionally unstable the writers of the show want to lead us to believe. Unlike prodigy Dr. Spencer Reid, Gideon is the most stable of the unit and for him to kill himself brought an interesting twist to the show. It would have been more believable if they had, had him killed by one of the unsubs from last season. But the storyline aside, what the season premiere provided was an indication of how central Mandy Patinkin's character is to the show. If it was Shemar Moore's character, there would have been some loss amongst viewers, but the show certainly would have been to move on.

The same cannot be said yet with the loss of Agent Gideon. Even in the season premiere, he fleshed out the perpetrator. And when everything shook out with the copycat leaving two more victims in an empty courtyard of the university, Agent Hotchner said to Agent Gideon, that Gideon knew that things were going to transpire the way the did. That is what made Gideon special and the question remains if Mantegna's character can replicate that level of connection with the viewers as well as the team. Will he solve crimes the same? Will his look of stoic disdain, yet blind compassion connect with viewers like Mandy did? That remains to be seen.

What CBS is facing with this issue is similar to how ER and NBC started navigating changes in its cast when George Clooney left the show when the show was experiencing its greatest popularity. How will Mantegna respond? With Agent Gideon killing himself (or giving them impression of such), the looming cloud over Criminal Minds is, will Mandy Patinkin be guilty of killing the show.

Is Mandy Patinkin the unsub of the Criminal Minds series? Only time will tell.