I blame ita and Vortex completely. The rest of you are accessories, so don't think you're off the hook either. Like I needed another show to watch....

I feel your pain, MFNlaw! I think the show is hella sick sometimes, but not worse than SVU, which I only watched for the Munch.

Well, no one has to tell me about "Omnivore." Holy shit, this show goes to some dark and twisted places.

I have a feeling this is not over. I just can't figure out if Morgan or Hotch is going to feel more pain.

Can someone give me a rundown of the most important episodes, i.e. the ones I need to watch for character development and important plot points?

I don't know titles offhand, but the episode descriptions should tell you which ones give character stuff -- they go to Chicago and deal with Morgan's past, there are a couple of shows in Vegas that have stuff from Reid's childhood.... Of course, I just went looking for titles and feel like you need to watch them all because they are all awesome. Two parters are generally excellent. The Fisher King (1 and 2) are just great, Profiler, Profiled is the Morgan one, The Big Game/Revelations are holy crap (and the ones following have ongoing character stuff), Lucky/Penelope are OMG, The Instincts/Memoriam are the Reid childhood ones, Omnivore is key... seriously, just watch them all.

Um... Demonology, which is on ion tonight is fabulous for Prentiss background. The two-parter at the end of S3-- Lo-Fi and Mayhem

One of the places where CM really shines too, is with the guest stars. Minimal Loss shows off Luke Perry in serious crazycakes fundie mode and Masterpiece is fabulous with Jason Alexander as a seriously creepy-assed serial killer. True Night has Frankie Muñiz as a comic book artist and Paradise has Wil Wheaton going really dark places.

Or what Jesse said-- just watch all of 'em.

And Jesse is the last part of the triumvirate of EVOL.

Thanks! You've narrowed it down to Seasons 1-5, then.* Why do I always come to things late?

*knows that there are 5 seasons in total.

edit: Barb, I watched it. The writers don't believe in anyone being happy, do they? Good stuff, but it doesn't look like anyone gets a break, ever.

Seriously, I could maybe (MAYBE) tell you a few to skip....

Seriously, I could maybe (MAYBE) tell you a few to skip....

Nah. I trust you. If I need to watch all of them, I will sit down and watch all of them. I'm sure it will be a terribly dreadful experience, what with the lack of teh pretty on-screen. Couple that with all of the shiny, happy people... oh wait. That's Bizarro-world CM, where they carry PEZ dispensers instead of guns.

edit: Barb, I watched it. The writers don't believe in anyone being happy, do they? Good stuff, but it doesn't look like anyone gets a break, ever.

I know, but it's SOOOO gut-wrenching in a good way. (I love Emily, she's my girl.)

Well, like you maybe don't care quite as much about Season 1, since two of the characters are gone now, so what do you care about what's his name's Big Story, unless you especially like Mandy Patinkin...

Yeah, but tangled up in Jason's story is Frank (Keith Carradine) another classic crazy-cakes serial killer.