Criminal Minds: The Third Season is out-the-box awesome entertainment. This is, by far, the finest season of the show so far, and that is really saying something, since Seasons 1 and 2 are stellar as well. They pull out all the stops for this season, however. First, I must say how disappointed I am that Mandy Patinkin departed the show at the beginning of the season. No disappointment with the show, mind you, just Mandy. He makes viewers love his characters in shows and then he up and leaves for no good reason. Shame on you Mandy. That being said, he apparently did the show a favor because not only did it remain strong, but it got better. Joe Mantegna is brought on several episodes after Gideon (Patinkin) has left, claiming that the death of his dear friend, Sara, at the hand's of crazy Frank from last season just sent him over the edge, unable to carry on in his job. Enter Agent Rossi (Mantegna), a no-nonsense badass with a rock star pedigree. He was one of the founding members of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) and left to pursue a writing and speaking career, which served him well. Now he's back and everyone is trying to figure out why he'd return to the job and give up that star status. But Rossi has an agenda all his own and it relates to an unsolved crime from 20 years before, which unfolds and is subsequently solved during the course of the season.

But Rossi is just the beginning of Season Three's drama. This season is all about deep character development for all of the members of the team. First, there's poor Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson). He has been having trouble in his marriage and when his supervisor decides to remove him from his post and offers him a chance at a desk job, his wife thinks it's the answers to their problems. But Hotch can't leave the job and so Haley leaves him, filing for divorce. Then there's Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) who was basically put on the team to spy on Hotch, but she can't do that and turns in her resignation, only to have Hotchner tell her that he has decided to stay as well. David Rossi is then brought in as the team's leader, sort of as a slap in the face to Hotchner, who will now never rise above his current post. But neither he nor Prentiss care about that - they are members of the team all the way.

We get to delve more into Penelope Garcia's (Kirsten Vangsness) past as there are several pivotal episodes revolving around her. We learn that she was a hacker on the fringe of lawlessness and was recruited by the FBI because they'd rather have her for them then against them. She is targeted by a rogue cop who is killing people only to try and save them and he thinks Garcia is on to him. He flirts with and then dates her, only to shoot her. This episode is fairly heart-wrenching and rough. Its touching that we get to see how much Morgan (Shemar Moore) truly does care for his baby-girl as he protects her from her stalker and would-be killer. Garcia also finds love in a fellow FBI tech, which is a really cute side-story.

JJ (A.J. Cook) has been having a secret relationship with Det. LaMontagne (Josh Stewart), a cop from New Orleans that we met in an episode last season, and things heat up when she finally reveals it to the team and announces she is pregnant. But in a hideous cliffhanger, the team goes up against a group of terrorists in New York practicing on random citizens and the season finale has one member of the team exploding in their SUV... or so we are led to believe.

Aside from all of this character development, the episodes themselves are really innovative and push the bar. All sorts of interesting special guests stars are brought in, including Jamie Kennedy as a cannibal serial killer in "Lucky", Frankie Muniz (the boy can really act!) as a vigilante graphic novelist in "True Night", and Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil: Apocalype) in "Lo-Fi".

This is not the place to get started in Criminal Minds because too much has been invested in building the characters, however its a terrific series, so definitely get the earlier seasons and catch up, then get yourself ready for the season openers of Season 5.