Criminal Minds Exclusive: Linda Barnes' Micromanaging Has a Deadly Cost

Things are getting even more tense on Criminal Minds as Linda Barnes (Kim Rhodes) also starts to pick what cases the now-diluted BAU team will take.

That used to be J.J.'s (A.J. Cook) job, but Barnes has her own ideas about what kind of unsubs the team should be taking down. The problem is that all of Barnes' decisions come from a "What will the press say about this?" point of view, which isn't very sympathetic to the victims of the murders Barnes is passing on solving.

Things get testy when she passes on a case involving a bank robber because she believes most Americans would side with the unsubs. The second case involved an "Angel of Death" killer who was murdering elderly people. Barnes doesn't like that case because it's "divisive" and "Who is going to care who murdered that Mexican grandma?" Um, yeah. That's what she said to Alvez (Adam Rodriguez), the team's only Latino member.

Criminal Minds' Adam Rodriguez Says You'll Laugh at the Team's Darkest Moment

Luckily, J.J. has got a spine of steel and informs Barnes that 26 people have died since Barnes basically sidelined the team. The decisions about what cases to take are killing real people and Barnes needs to get on board.

Will she though?

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on CBS.

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