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I belong in this unit. And all I'm asking you for is the chance to show that.
Prentiss in "The Last Word"

Emily Prentiss is a longtime member of the BAU who first joined the team two episodes after Elle Greenaway resigned from the FBI for good. At the end of Season Seven, she resigned from the BAU and accepted a position with Interpol in London. She was replaced by Alex Blake, who held the position until her own departure at the end of Season Nine. The position was then taken over by Kate Callahan for the duration of Season Ten before her own departure. She rejoined the team in Season Twelve and was then promoted to Unit Chief following the resignation of Aaron Hotchner. For a time, she was placed on administrative leave and suspension, pending an investigation by Assistant Director Linda Barnes; her position taken over by Jennifer Jareau temporarily.

By 2022, Emily has been promoted to Section Chief, a position previously held by the late Erin Strauss and later Mateo Cruz.

Background

Emily Prentiss was born on October 12, 1970, at 7:12 a.m. Due to her mother's diplomatic background, Prentiss traveled a lot when she was a child, living in several Middle Eastern countries and at one point in Rome. In "Demonology", Prentiss reveals that she became pregnant as a teenager in Rome from wanting to fit in. When she went to talk to her priest, he said that if she got an abortion, she would not be welcome in the church. Her friend Matthew Benton encouraged her to go to an abortion clinic, and after the abortion, he helped her find the courage to come back to church. In "Tabula Rasa", Garcia reveals that Prentiss graduated from Garfield High School in 1989 and that she was a goth at the time.

In her first appearance, she recognizes Hotch from one of his first commands: security clearances for her mother, Elizabeth Prentiss, a U.S. diplomat. Her arrival surprises both Hotch and Gideon, as neither of them had signed off on the transfer. Prentiss insists her parents have not pulled strings for her. Ultimately, she joins the team at the end of "The Last Word" on a probationary basis as a replacement for Agent Elle Greenaway.

She is a graduate of Chesapeake Bay University, where she earned her B.A. in Criminal Justice ("Annihilator") and the University of Yale and has been working for the FBI for a little under ten years, primarily in the Midwest. Due to spending her early life with her parents on diplomatic missions to the Middle East, she speaks fluent Arabic and is familiar with that area's local culture. She also speaks fluent Spanish, French, Italian, and some Russian. She appears to be skilled at chess, and it is possible that she is better at the game than Reid. JJ once asked Prentiss how she could handle the stress from being with the BAU, especially since her last position was a desk job. Hotch concurred that she had "never blinked," and Prentiss could only reason that she "compartmentalizes better than most" ("Revelations"). After a bad date in the following episode, she admits to Morgan that she is a "nerd," despite how much she tries to hide it. For this reason, she hasn't had much success romantically. She discovers that she and Morgan share similar tastes in books when they begin discussing Kurt Vonnegut, particularly Slaughterhouse 5.

Personality

Prentiss is very level-headed and calm, sometimes it could be said that she seems to be dealing with the cases in an even more professional manner than some other members of the BAU. However, like Elle before her, Prentiss lets her own emotions get the better of her on a few occasions. She has been shown to react emotionally at the crime scenes and feels a strong surge of empathy for the victims. She also appears highly intelligent and driven. Prentiss is willing to put herself at risk to protect others and has a very sarcastic sense of humor.

On the Job in Season Two

In "Lessons Learned", in her first case with the team, she, Gideon, and Reid travels to Gitmo to question and help interrogate suspected terrorist Jamal Abaza behind the scenes.

In, "Sex, Birth, Death", Prentiss is accused by Hotch of leaking information about a case to a congresswoman. Firmly denying this accusation, Prentiss tells Hotch that she thinks politics "makes people distrustful, hate themselves, tear families apart and damage people," implying that her home life as a child was not pleasant, due to her mother's job.

In "Honor Among Thieves", Prentiss' mother comes to the team for help on a case. By the episode's end, Prentiss invites her mother to dinner, hoping to repair their strained relationship.

At the end of "No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank", BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss reveals to Prentiss that she arranged for her to join the BAU, contrary to Prentiss's belief that she was accepted on her own merit. Strauss asks Prentiss to sabotage Hotch's career by spying on him and relaying confidences back to Strauss, especially concerning Elle Greenaway's shooting of a suspect and Reid's struggle with Dilaudid. She seems to consider this offer, and the season ends with a cliffhanger.

Season Three

In "Doubt", Prentiss is called by Strauss to see if she has made any progress on finding information on Hotch. Prentiss throws her cell phone in the nearest trash can after hanging up.

In "In Name and Blood", Prentiss decides to resign from the FBI to avoid betraying Hotch. After some convincing from Hotch, she returns to the team for a case; her resignation having never gone through the system due to technical interference from Garcia, and the issue has not been brought up since. Upon her return, Section Chief Strauss remarks that neither Prentiss, Hotch, nor the rest of the team would be able to climb the ladder to the top because of all this, thus putting an end to some of Prentiss's future ambitions.

In "Seven Seconds", Prentiss figures out that the aunt of the victim was the unsub, whom she kidnapped to protect her husband, who was molesting her and interrogates her for the victim's location.

In "True Night", on the plane ride home, Prentiss admits to Rossi that the unsub was the first one she felt sorry for, due to the horrific and tragic events that happened to him months prior.

In "3rd Life", she implied to Hotch that when she was an adolescent, she smoked and dressed inappropriately as a way to rebel against her parents.

In "Tabula Rasa", a high school photo reveals that Emily was a goth.

In the season finale "Lo-Fi", she shoots and kills an armed suspect after the suspect shoots a New York police officer.

Season Four

In the episode "Minimal Loss", she and Reid are held hostage by a religious cult. When the cult leader finds out that one of them is an FBI agent, Prentiss admits her identity, partially to protect Reid, and ends up getting beaten by the leader. Prentiss antagonizes the leader by twice repeating "I can take it" to keep the rest of the team from coming in, knowing that they are listening via bugs and that it would put everyone inside of the building in danger. Later, Prentiss reassures Reid that it was not his fault and asks him not to feel guilty.

In "Demonology", more of Prentiss' childhood is revealed after hearing and learning from an old friend that their childhood friend died, prompting her and the rest of the team to investigate a series of deaths involving exorcisms.

In "A Shade of Gray", during a case involving the murder of a young boy, Prentiss figures out that it was the boy's older brother who had killed him instead of a different suspect.

Season Five

In "Nameless, Faceless," Prentiss is the first to discover that Hotch is missing. She first tells Garcia and then Reid first but not before promising them not to tell the others working on their current case, not wanting them to be distracted. She stays with him the entire time he's at the hospital after Foyet stabs him nine times, even when the rest of the team go to retrieve his ex-wife and son, Haley and Jack.

In "Outfoxed", Prentiss and Hotch visit Karl Arnold in prison to ask for his input on a current case; Prentiss even flirts to Karl to get more out of him. After the interrogation, Karl reveals that he has received communications from Foyet and that he is planning to return to make a final stand against Hotch. Karl reveals several notes featuring Foyet's signature symbol, The Eye of Providence.

In "100," Prentiss began tearing up as she heard Haley being shot three times by Foyet. She's shocked to see Hotch has beaten Foyet to death.

In "The Slave of Duty," Prentiss worried about Hotch before being called in. She became repeatedly disturbed by how the victims were forced to live their final moments in fear and insecurity by the unsub. She personally kicked him to the ground and as she puts her gun to his head, she tells him that when an inmate tries to have his way with him, just play along, as he forced his victims to do.

In "Retaliation", Prentiss is in a car accident while transporting a prisoner to the local police station. Despite sustaining severe injuries, Prentiss manages to escape the police cruiser via the windshield and fire on the fleeing suspects as they escape. Morgan finds Prentiss on the roadside and she is taken to the hospital where she is treated for a concussion and several cuts and contusions. She insists on quickly returning to the job and plays an instrumental role in solving the case.

In "The Fight", Prentiss is partnered with Mick Rawson, a member of the BAU's Red Cell team while on a case; during which they playfully flirt with each other. She is almost killed by the unsub but Rawson, who was using a sniper rifle from another rooftop, manages to shot the unsub twice and kills him.

In "Exit Wounds", Prentiss is debating on whether she should call Rawson or get a cat. She eventually gets a black cat named Sergio.

Season Six

Prentiss in Lauren

Emily in a flashback in Lauren.

In "Compromising Positions", she risks her life and is nearly killed while going undercover in order to dissuade a mentally-unstable unsub who is in the company of numerous bar patrons and employees, all in danger of being gunned down. When she accidentally gets one of the unsub's facts wrong, he is provoked into shooting her, but she shoots him first, firing her pistol hidden in a purse. Prentiss then watches as he dies.

In "The Thirteenth Step", Prentiss learns from a former colleague at Interpol, Sean McAllister, that Ian Doyle, an apparently highly dangerous criminal, has escaped from his North Korean prison and gone off the grid and apparently killed a man and stole his car. Sean warned her that he might come after her and that everyone is in danger.

At the beginning of "Sense Memory", in her apartment, when the phone rings and the caller ID is unknown, Prentiss lets it go to message and listens to the recording. The caller, presumably Doyle, is completely silent and hangs up. In response, Prentiss sets up some noise-traps near all entrances and exits in the apartment, sits down in the hallway with a gun, turns off the lights, and waits.

When Prentiss returns to her apartment after a case, she finds a package by her door. When she opens the package, it turns out to contain a small, purple-white flower. There is a flashback to some time earlier when she is working in a flowerbed filled with the same flowers, apparently by a mansion somewhere in France. When authorities, presumably Interpol, arrive and drive away with her, Doyle watches her from a balcony. He calls someone and tells the other person to "stay on on top of [it]". As he is arrested by English-speaking authorities, he looks down at one of the flowers that Prentiss dropped.

In "Coda", Doyle resurfaced in D.C., confronting Prentiss and warning her that he will seek revenge on her soon before leaving. Soon after in "Valhalla", he began killing people connected to his case as well as their families. During the investigation, he kills one of Prentiss's former colleagues, Tsia Mosely. It is also revealed that Prentiss, Sean, Tsia, and two other colleagues were part of a team assembled by Interpol that profiled terrorists and helped apprehend them, codenamed JTF-12.

In "Lauren", Prentiss goes after him alone. As she attacks him and his men near The Black Shamrock, a bar in Boston at which he and Prentiss (as "Lauren Reynolds") first met. As she holds a submachine gun at his men, he flanks her and shoots her in the abdomen. She survives, wearing a bulletproof vest, and is abducted and taken to the group's HQ. She is tortured and beaten as Doyle recounts what happened after his arrest: he was taken to a prison in North Korea, where he resisted in interrogation for two years, hoping to see his son, Declan, again. When he was shown a series of pictures of Declan and his legal guardian being executed by a mostly unseen figure, he broke down completely and would remain there for another five years. Unbeknownst to him, the pictures were actually staged by Prentiss in order to save Declan from his father's life. The BAU , having found the photos, notices that the nails of the hand holding the gun are completely bitten down; Prentiss was a compulsive nail biter when nervous. Obtaining the address of the house, they conduct a stealth raid on it, killing all of Doyle's men. As Doyle, furious to learn how he was deceived by Prentiss, begins furiously beating her. She gets the upper hand and knocks him to the floor with a wooden stick. Once she drops it, Doyle grabs it and stabs it into her abdomen. Hearing the gunfire approach, he escapes and isn't seen for the rest of the episode. The BAU arrive and take Prentiss to a hospital, where they are told that she didn't survive. They all attend Prentiss' funeral. Her headstone is marked "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity", the motto of the FBI. In the final scene, JJ is seen approaching a woman (whose face is unseen) in France and giving her passports for three different countries and a bank account in each one. The woman's hands are shown to the viewers to have completely bitten-down nails, implying that it is Prentiss, who is alive and has faked her own death in order to go into hiding from Doyle, thus protecting the rest of the BAU team from him. The rest of the team missed her dearly and struggled to cope with the loss for the remainder of the season.

Season Seven

In "It Takes a Village", she reunites with the team when they are forced to team up with Doyle in an effort to save Declan from a trio of international criminals seeking revenge on Doyle. Although they are successful in saving Declan, Doyle is shot and mortally wounded by the trio's leader, dying as Prentiss watches in shock.

In "Proof", Prentiss and JJ received the cold shoulder from Reid because he was not informed that she was still alive after Doyle supposedly "killed" her, viewing that as betrayal. She eventually made amends with Reid, telling him that she regretted every moment of not letting him know but that it was necessary in order to protect herself and more importantly, the team. She reminds him that while he lost one friend, she lost six. Reid forgave her and they became friends again.

In "Dorado Falls", Morgan lies to Prentiss and tells her she had to undertake recertification training. When she confronted near the episode's end, he told her that he didn't want to lose her again and needed some reassurance. They agreed to ten hours of training.

In "Unknown Subject", Prentiss started to deal with her traumatic experience caused by Doyle. This is particularly evidenced by her personal connection with Regina Lampert, a victim of a serial rapist whom she later abducts, tortures, and tries to kill in revenge.

In "A Thin Line", Prentiss and Morgan have disagreements about an FBI training session. Prentiss is shot in the arm by the unsub before being shot down by Morgan. She is temporarily injured and forced to wear a sling. Morgan feels guilty that Prentiss was again hurt on his watch and tries to apologize to Prentiss. After gently teasing him, Prentiss tells Morgan that what happened to her was not his fault, it was just part of the job.

In "Divining Rod", Prentiss places a sealed bid on a house in the upscale DuPont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. When her bid is accepted, Prentiss seems reluctant to go forward with the purchase.

At the beginning of "Hit", Morgan joins Prentiss on an inspection of the DuPont Circle house. She shares with Morgan her doubts about going through with purchasing a home. When the team is called in to work a bank robbery and hostage situation, Clyde Easter contacts Prentiss to help identify one of the robbers, an international criminal. Clyde also offers her a position at Interpol, as chief of the London office. She appears to consider the offer.

In "Run", Prentiss risks her life to defuse a bomb attached to William LaMontagne, Jr. At JJ and Will's wedding, Prentiss confesses to Morgan that she is unable to feel comfortable in her old life after her near-death encounter with Doyle and subsequent period of hiding. She admits that she is strongly considering Clyde's job offer. At JJ's reception, Prentiss is shown looking mournfully at the rest of the team before joining each of them to dance. It is implied that she will leave the team and accepted the job at Interpol.

Season Eight

In the Season Eight premiere "The Silencer", Morgan and Garcia come back from England, where Morgan was on temporary duty, after visiting Prentiss. They say she has settled in nicely.

She is possibly referenced in "Magnificent Light", when Morgan and Garcia discuss about a friend of the former's, who comes from England, and Garcia makes a comment that "[they] like England, remember?"

Prentiss is mentioned in "The Replicator" during a conversation between Hotch and Senator Cramer after Strauss' murder by the Replicator himself.

Season Nine

Prentiss was mentioned in "To Bear Witness", when Garcia reveals that she had to ask her for assistance in finding any potential past victims of an unsub who performs lobotomy on his victims; this led to the discovery of a victim in Berlin, Germany.

In "200", Prentiss returned to the United States and assisted the BAU after JJ was abducted. She was also able to meet Alex Blake for the first time.

Season Ten

In "X", it is revealed that after Blake's departure from the BAU, Hotch had tried reenlisting Prentiss to the position, but she declined; her reason, according to Rossi, she just doesn't want to come back.

She is mentioned in "The Forever People" when Spencer calls her to pull extra background intel on Tivon Askari in order to help JJ dealing with her past.

Season Eleven

Prentiss reappears in "Tribute", when she enlists the help of the BAU in catching an international copycat serial killer. She had become personally involved in the case since 2015, when the unsub began killing London prostitutes in an emulation of Jack the Ripper; her efforts to apprehend him failed and resulted in the death of an undercover police officer, Detective Inspector Louise Hulland. It is revealed that she has been in a relationship with a man named Mark for some time. She is also having recurring nightmares about Louise's death, which she had personally witnessed. Prentiss eventually gets closure in the case when she and the rest of the BAU corner the unsub, who she shoots and kills.

Prentiss is mentioned in "The Storm" by Timothy Ritchie for Hotch's participation in faking her death during the Ian Doyle investigation.

Season Twelve

When Hotch had to leave on temporary assignment in "Taboo", Prentiss volunteered to rejoin the BAU during his absence.

A few weeks later, during "Elliott's Pond", it is revealed that Hotch, in reality, had resigned from the FBI and gone into witness protection with his son Jack to avoid escaped serial killer by proxy Peter Lewis, who had been actively stalking Jack. He had also named Prentiss his successor as BAU Unit Chief.

In "Scarecrow", Prentiss recruits Stephen Walker to join the BAU to assist the team in the manhunt for Scratch.

In "Spencer" Prentiss announced to the team about Reid's arrest in Mexico, prompting them to fly to extradite him back to the States as well as prove his innocence.

Season Thirteen

Picking up from the ending of "Red Light", in "Wheels Up", Prentiss and the team is involved in a deadly car crash caused by Scratch and as a result, is drugged, abducted, and tortured by him for Hotch and Jack's location. She is rescued by Alvez and Reid.

In "Killer App", Prentiss talks to Alvez about his last encounter with Scratch on the roof.

In "Cure", Prentiss is placed under administrative leave pending an internal review by the FBI's Assistant Director of National Security, Linda Barnes, at the end of the episode.

In "Miasma", Barnes questions Prentiss' leadership and brings up several events; from Reid's false imprisonment, to the Roswell, New Mexico case and Stephen Walker's death at the hands on Scratch. With newfound confidence and encouraging words from Rossi, Prentiss calls Barnes out on the true nature of the review: Barnes wants to be the next FBI Director and is on a power trip. When Barnes wants Prentiss to give up either Reid or Rossi, if not both of them, she refuses; "standing by her team and the actions they've taken." Barnes not only suspends Prentiss from indefinite active duty, but will be personally overseeing the BAU as part of her investigation.

In "Annihilator", after Reid refuses to go with Barnes on a case, he visits Prentiss at her apartment, who's preparing to leave the team again and head back to Interpol. Reid talks her out of it, reminding her of the people she and the team saved over the years and helps the team over the phone. It is revealed that Prentiss deleted the recorded conversation she and Reid had when he was arrested in Mexico. After the team returns to the bullpen after completing the case, Barnes reinstalls Prentiss but will be reassigned.

In "Last Gasp", Prentiss has been reassigned to an OPR unit within the FBI and dislikes her partner for his obnoxious behavior and odd body odor. The team gathers at her apartment for a case that Barnes did not approve. Nevertheless, the team manages to save the latest victim, who happens to be the daughter of a prominent senator, who makes Barnes reinstate Prentiss as Unit Chief and gives Prentiss hiring authority after being told of JJ's termination. Prentiss and the team reunite and celebrate after Barnes is told to keep her hands off the BAU.

Season Fourteen

Picking up from the ending of "Believer", Prentiss and the team are left in distress when Reid and Garcia are kidnapped by the Believers.

In "Innocence", Prentiss is worried about Garcia, especially after seeing her broken unicorn mug in the trash. Garcia admits to Prentiss that she's still struggling with being abducted and her recently strained relationship with Carlos after forgiving the man who killed their parents. Prentiss glues the mug back together and she and Rossi bring Carlos in to help Garcia cope as well as better their relationship.

In "Twenty Seven" she is asked on a date by SA Andrew Mendoza after working together on the case.

In "Flesh and Blood" they have their first date. The date is in her apartment and when Andrew arrives, he finds Emily cooking and with comfortable clothes. The cooking doesn't result, so they order a pizza. The evening is interrupted by a case. When the case is over, she asks Andrew for breakfast in her apartment. Although she has cooked to prove she's not a terrible cook, they kiss and leave the food for later.

Season Fifteen

In "Rusty", Prentiss is now maintaining a long-distance relationship with Mendoza. They have struggled with the relationship, but Andrew wants to make it work while Emily keeps creating barriers between them. In the end, he is having dinner with his daughter Keely and Emily shows up in his place. They make amends and Keely and Emily first meet.

In "Family Tree", Deputy Director James Barbour tells Prentiss that she is shortlisted to be the next FBI Director.

In "Face Off", in the aftermath of Everett Lynch killing his mother, Roberta and six SWAT agents, Barbour tells Prentiss in her office that her name has been withdrawn from the FBI Director shortlist, but is still the BAU's Unit Chief.

In "And in the End..." Prentiss and Mendoza are looking for a house in Denver though she's still keep her D.C. apartment for comfort.

Evolution

As of "Just Getting Started", Prentiss has been promoted to Section Chief, where she wrangles with the ambitious Deputy Director of the FBI for funding and resources while helping her team (now lead by Rossi) investigate a network of serial killers that they believe was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes

Emo prentiss

A high school photo of Prentiss, found by Penelope Garcia. Prentiss does not remember this.

  • According to Reid, she was born on October 12 at 7:12 a.m. ("Cold Comfort"). He is, however, cut off by Prentiss before he can say the year. "[N]ineteen-se-" can only be heard by viewers.
    • Garcia says that Prentiss graduated from Garfield High School in 1989 ("Tabula Rasa"). This places her birth year anywhere from 1970 to 1972. Due to her birthday being October, she was likely born in 1972.
      • During her funeral, her tombstone can be seen. The date of birth listed on the tombstone is October 12, 1970. ("Lauren")
  • At the age of fifteen, she was impregnated (the father being implied as childhood friend John Cooley) and had an abortion in Italy ("Demonology").
  • Her mother is an ambassador and she spent her childhood traveling all over the world.
  • She lived in an expensive Georgetown apartment while in college and "was determined to make it", so she worked as a waitress on the weekends, but she sucked at her job and accepted her mother's money to pay for it; both pretended that it wasn't even happening. ("The Performer").
  • Has a black cat named Sergio that appeared in "Sense Memory". After her "death", Garcia took care of him until Prentiss returned in "It Takes a Village." Prentiss would later use Sergio as an excuse to her psychiatrist that she is recovering, stating that she dates him. When she leaves to London Garcia keeps him.
  • Prentiss has two tattoos which Ian Doyle asks her about before he brands her with a clover. ("Lauren")
  • JJ, Reid, and Garcia are the few to call Prentiss by her first name, Emily. The others just call her Prentiss, though Morgan called her Emily a few times.
  • She mentioned she quit caffeine to help her relax more. ("Dorado Falls")
  • After Morgan had mentioned Prentiss had to live in Reston, Virginia for a while, Garcia confirmed that she had rented a big house in a cul-de-sac there before they met her to be closer to Declan. Later Ian Doyle also confirmed that she likes cul-de-sacs. ("It Takes a Village")
  • She once dated a golfer who owned a total of twelve putters. ("From Childhood's Hour")
  • Her grandfather retired to the French Alps mountains and lived there until he died. There was a 10-year stretch where he didn't come down off the mountain. He had no electricity, no running water, and his food supplies came from the land. Emily spent time with him whenever she and her mother were in France, which was often. ("Open Season")
  • When feeling disillusioned and/or frustrated about a case, she likes to go to the shooting range ("Tribute," "Profiling 202").
  • Prentiss is revealed to be a terrible cook on occasion. ("Flesh and Blood")
  • Prentiss has left and rejoined the BAU twice, a record for a main character in this show.

Appearances

Appearances

Episode
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Total
Season 1 0
Season 2 15
Season 3 20
Season 4 26
Season 5 23
Season 6 18
Season 7 24
Season 8 0
Season 9 1
Season 10 0
Season 11 1
Season 12 20
Season 13 22
Season 14 15
Season 15 10
Evolution 10

Please go to here for color coding.

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