Exclusive Criminal Minds Sneak Peek: Reid May Have Just Listened to His Mom Die

Diana Reid might be toast.

After abducting Reid's (Matthew Gray Gubler) mother on last week's Criminal Minds, Lindsey Vaughn (Gia Mantegna) is now just eff-ing with the poor guy. In our exclusive sneak peek of Wednesday's Season 12 finale, Reid is able to briefly chat with a disoriented Diana (Jane Lynch) on the phone -- and when we say "briefly," we mean seconds. No sooner after Reid asks if she's OK does Lindsey shoot up a gasoline-doused car at a gas station and drive away as she watches it go kaboom.

But surely it's a red herring, right? We don't actually see Diana's body anywhere near or inside the car. Plus, when we told showrunner Erica Messer earlier this year that they can't kill off Diana after finally getting Lynch back, she assured us, "We can't do that after [waiting] eight years."
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Or would they? Even if Diana is not in this explosion, other trouble probably awaits. Messer also promised the show's first proper cliffhanger since Season 3. "It isn't a car exploding [like in Season 3], but it is a legit cliffhanger that we haven't done in a really long time, so that's kind of exciting," she teased.

The Season 12 finale of Criminal Minds airs Wednesday at 9/8c on CBS.

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