"Criminal Minds" Season 9 Finale

*Warning: This post does contain many spoilers to "Angels" and "Demons"

    Over the past couple months, I have become rather addicted to CBS crime show, "Criminal Minds" and about a month (give or take) before the two part season finale for season nine aired, there were already rumors spreading of my favorite character, Spencer Reid, dying. The worst part about this was the amount of evidence to back the rumor up. At the time, only Joe Mantegna (Agent David Rossi), Thomas Gibson (Agent Aaron Hotchner), AJ Cook (Agent Jennifer Jareu), and  Kristen Vangsness (Penelope Garcia) were confirmed to have signed their contracts with CBS for the tenth season leaving Shemar Moore (Agent Derek Morgan), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Dr. Alex Blake), and Matthew Gray Gubler (Dr. Spencer Reid) out of the definite return.

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   Then came the promo. "Criminal Minds" is well known for their dramatic previews and season nine was no exception except this time, they threatened that two agents will "go down" and then showed images of Spencer falling backwards and Morgan on a floor, bleeding. Needless to say, the entire fandom was freaking out now. About a week later, part one ,"Angels", aired and I don't think I have ever felt so scared by something. The case the episode focuses on is pretty average for the show- prostitutes are getting killed with weird marks on their backs (haven't we seen that one a million times?) there's also this extremely enthusiastic cop who I believed for a good half of the episode was the unsub but then they turn it around and the deputy is revealed to have committed the crime but has been trying to frame the preacher (who has had a history with violence) all along. The team then ends up at a Mexican restaurant where there are reported sightings of the preacher who they know isn't guilty but need to take him in for questioning. Things then go awry as he begins to shoot all the law enforcers outside believing they are there to arrest him and as he is just about to hit Blake, Spencer dives in front of her and takes the bullet himself. There is a cry of "Reid!" and he's being dragged aside by Morgan who then gets shot in the arm and collapses. Part one ends with Spencer and Morgan in questionable condition and a "to be continued".  After the credits though, they did show the promo for part two, "Demons" which looked equally as terrifying for Reid as they showed the killer walk into the hospital he is in and him screaming,
"Garica! He's got a gun!" and Penelope holding what looks like, Spencer's gun. The one thing I did find a little strange though was the wording. Instead of using "leave forever", they had to put in "You won't believe which agent will say goodbye forever." I mean that's a pretty awkward choice of words that gives off the meaning that this agent will not be killed but voluntarily depart from the BAU. This lead me to believe that it would be Spencer quitting his job. I mean this man is the only agent who is constantly getting hurt to the point where about nothing good works out for him. His job has led him to get kidnapped and addicted to drugs, have his first and only girlfriend killed, and not be able to see his single, schizophrenic, mom. He has much more reason to leave than Morgan or Blake (the only issue she had was the occasional fight with her husband over traveling so much).

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    "Demons" begins with Spencer being rushed off to the hospital with Derek in the ambulance reassuring him. A few minutes later, we see that he is in recovery (I let out a sigh of relief at this point but not for long). We take the focus off of Reid for a bit and delve more into the possibility of the unsub being at the crime scene when the shots were fired for the bullets that hit Morgan weren't the same as what shot Spencer. The team looks farther into the possibility and soon discover it was the deputy all along and while he isn't looking, Derek snaps a picture of him and sends it to Garcia who immediately confirms that he is at the nurse's desk and runs to Spencer's room to shut the door.

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   Once they are "safe" a nurse hooks Reid up to an IV with medicine he is allergic to and then realize this "nurse" has a gun where Garcia grabs Spencer's gun and saves his life for the second time. It then continues onto an adorable scene where he has to convince her that what she did was right and that she saved the day. Skipping over an entire side plot about Dinah (the head of the prostitute ring) and her son, the team makes it back alive and everything seems perfectly fine up until we figure out the who agent is saying "goodbye forever" which turns out to sadly be Alex Blake.
    As much as I hate admitting it, I'm pretty happy Blake is the one to be leaving. I'm not saying this from a Prentiss fangirl point of view but the fact that the show wouldn't be the same if Morgan or Reid left. Don't get me wrong, Alex had a very nicely written backstory and I looked forward to the cute conversation she had with Spencer but she didn't have much personality or character and I would no doubt be more heartbroken if anyone else left.
   All in all, this season finale has caused me probably more stress than it should have and I am over the moon that my baby, Spencer Reid, and Morgan (I love him and would seriously miss the conversation with Garcia if he left) came out alive. I think that now since "Supernatural" and "Criminal Minds" (the only two shows I have been watching) won't be back for a couple months, I should spend this time watching "Arrested Development" because Michael Cera.