The Big Game

The Big Game
Airdate	February 4, 2007
Written by	Edward Allen Bernero
Directed by	Gloria Muzio
EPISODE GUIDE
Previous:	"No Way Out"
Next:	"Revelations"

"The Big Game" is the fourteenth episode of Season Two and the 36th overall of Criminal Minds.

Summary

The BAU pursues a religious killing team in Atlanta that sets up computer webcams to record their murders and post them on the Internet. As the team closes in on the unsubs, Reid faces a life-threatening situation.

Guest Cast

• Keisha Alfred - Gayle Gentry
• Brian Appel - Agent Grant Anderson
• James Van Der Beek - Tobias Hankel
• Cullen Douglas - Doctor Tony Wilson
• McKinley Freeman - Agent Franks
• Todd Grinnell - Dennis Kyle
• Phinneas Kiyomura - Another Darts Player
• Dean Lemont - Agent Travis Green
• Meredith Monroe - Haley Hotchner
• Wolf Muser - Samuel
• Jim Nantz - Himself
• Jaime Ray Newman - Lacy Kyle
• Tyler Olson - Handyman
• K'Sun Ray - Young Tobias Hankel
• Gina Garcia Sharp - CSU Tech Agent Gina Sharp
• Phil Simms - Himself
• Samantha Smith - Helen Douglas
• Bill Smitrovich - Detective Farraday
• Don Swayze - Charles Hankel
• Karl T. Wright - Ken Gentry

Referenced Criminals

• Dick Hickock and Perry Smith
• Ted Bundy

Music

• "Push It" by Rick Ross

Bookend Quotes

• Jason Gideon: Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family, "I didn't have anything against them, and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it."

Trivia

• This episode marks the first of only three times in the show's history where a real-world criminal is cited as one of the episode's bookended quotes. The others are:
  • Season Thirteen
    • "To A Better Place" - Serial killer Carl Panzram is quoted by Prentiss saying: "I believe the only way to reform people is to kill them."
  • Season Fifteen
    • "Family Tree" - Serial killer Ted Bundy is quoted by Everett Lynch saying: "We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow."
• This episode was a special broadcast chosen to air after CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI. It attracted 26,200,000 viewers (according to Nielsen preliminary numbers), which is the highest amount of viewers for a Criminal Minds episode in the show's history. Appropriately enough, the episode is titled "The Big Game".
• Edward Allen Bernero made an uncredited cameo in this episode, appearing as a man in the bar the BAU are gathered at.
• Phinneas Kiyomura, the actor who played one of the darts players, previously appeared in an earlier episode of Criminal Minds, starring as a medic in the Season One episode "Derailed."
• James Van Der Beek and Meredith Monroe previously starred together on the WB breakout hit "Dawson's Creek" from 1998 to 2003.
• K'Sun Ray, the actor who plays the young Tobias Hankel through flashbacks, was arrested for breaking into a store in 2011.
• This episode marked the first onscreen usage of the term "baby girl" by Derek Morgan when referring to Garcia.

Criminal Minds Episodes

Season One Extreme Aggressor • Compulsion • Won't Get Fooled Again • Plain Sight • Broken Mirror • L.D.S.K. • The Fox • Natural Born Killer • Derailed • The Popular Kids • Blood Hungry • What Fresh Hell? • Poison • Riding the Lightning • Unfinished Business • The Tribe • A Real Rain • Somebody's Watching • Machismo • Charm and Harm • Secrets and Lies • The Fisher King, Part 1 Season Two The Fisher King, Part 2 • P911 • The Perfect Storm • Psychodrama • Aftermath • The Boogeyman • North Mammon • Empty Planet • The Last Word • Lessons Learned • Sex, Birth, Death • Profiler, Profiled • No Way Out • The Big Game • Revelations • Fear and Loathing • Distress • Jones • Ashes and Dust • Honor Among Thieves • Open Season • Legacy • No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank Season Three Doubt • In Name and Blood • Scared to Death • Children of the Dark • Seven Seconds • About Face • Identity • Lucky • Penelope • True Night • Birthright • 3rd Life • Limelight • Damaged • A Higher Power • Elephant's Memory • In Heat • The Crossing • Tabula Rasa • Lo-Fi Season Four Mayhem • The Angel Maker • Minimal Loss • Paradise • Catching Out • The Instincts • Memoriam • Masterpiece • 52 Pickup • Brothers in Arms • Normal • Soul Mates • Bloodline • Cold Comfort • Zoe's Reprise • Pleasure Is My Business • Demonology • Omnivore • House on Fire • Conflicted • A Shade of Gray • The Big Wheel • Roadkill • Amplification • To Hell and Back, Part 1 • To Hell and Back, Part 2 Season Five Nameless, Faceless • Haunted • Reckoner • Hopeless • Cradle to Grave • The Eyes Have It • The Performer • Outfoxed • 100 • The Slave of Duty • Retaliation • The Uncanny Valley • Risky Business • Parasite • Public Enemy • Mosley Lane • Solitary Man • The Fight • A Rite of Passage • ...A Thousand Words • Exit Wounds • The Internet Is Forever • Our Darkest Hour Season Six The Longest Night • J.J. • Remembrance of Things Past • Compromising Positions • Safe Haven • Devil's Night • Middle Man • Reflection of Desire • Into the Woods • What Happens at Home • 25 to Life • Corazón • The Thirteenth Step • Sense Memory • Today I Do • Coda • Valhalla • Lauren • With Friends Like These... • Hanley Waters • The Stranger • Out of the Light • Big Sea • Supply and Demand Season Seven It Takes a Village • Proof • Dorado Falls • Painless • From Childhood's Hour • Epilogue • There's No Place Like Home • Hope • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • The Bittersweet Science • True Genius • Unknown Subject • Snake Eyes • Closing Time • A Thin Line • A Family Affair • I Love You, Tommy Brown • Foundation • Heathridge Manor • The Company • Divining Rod • Profiling 101 • Hit • Run Season Eight The Silencer • The Pact • Through the Looking Glass • God Complex • The Good Earth • The Apprenticeship • The Fallen • The Wheels on the Bus • Magnificent Light • The Lesson • Perennials • Zugzwang • Magnum Opus • All That Remains • Broken • Carbon Copy • The Gathering • Restoration • Pay It Forward • Alchemy • Nanny Dearest • #6 • Brothers Hotchner • The Replicator Season Nine The Inspiration • The Inspired • Final Shot • To Bear Witness • Route 66 • In The Blood • Gatekeeper • The Return • Strange Fruit • The Caller • Bully • The Black Queen • The Road Home • 200 • Mr. & Mrs. Anderson • Gabby • Persuasion • Rabid • The Edge of Winter • Blood Relations • What Happens in Mecklinburg • Fatal • Angels • Demons Season Ten X • Burn • A Thousand Suns • The Itch • If the Shoe Fits • Boxed In • Hashtag • The Boys of Sudworth Place • Fate • Amelia Porter • The Forever People • Anonymous • Nelson's Sparrow • Hero Worship • Scream • Lockdown • Breath Play • Rock Creek Park • Beyond Borders • A Place at the Table • Mr. Scratch • Protection • The Hunt Season Eleven The Job • The Witness • 'Til Death Do Us Part • Outlaw • The Night Watch • Pariahville • Target Rich • Awake • Internal Affairs • Future Perfect • Entropy • Drive • The Bond • Hostage • A Badge and a Gun • Derek • The Sandman • A Beautiful Disaster • Tribute • Inner Beauty • Devil's Backbone • The Storm Season Twelve The Crimson King • Sick Day • Taboo • Keeper • The Anti-Terrorism Squad • Elliott's Pond • Mirror Image • Scarecrow • Profiling 202 • Seek and Destroy • Surface Tension • A Good Husband • Spencer • Collision Course • Alpha Male • Assistance Is Futile • In the Dark • Hell's Kitchen • True North • Unforgettable • Green Light • Red Light Season Thirteen Wheels Up • To A Better Place • Blue Angel • Killer App • Lucky Strikes • The Bunker • Dust and Bones • Neon Terror • False Flag • Submerged • Full-Tilt Boogie • Bad Moon on the Rise • Cure • Miasma • Annihilator • Last Gasp • The Capilanos • The Dance of Love • Ex Parte • All You Can Eat • Mixed Signals • Believer Season Fourteen 300 • Starter Home • Rule 34 • The Tall Man • Innocence • Luke • Twenty Seven • Ashley • Broken Wing • Flesh and Blood • Night Lights • Hamelin • Chameleon • Sick and Evil • Truth or Dare Season Fifteen Under the Skin • Awakenings • Spectator Slowing • Saturday • Date Night • Ghost • Rusty • Family Tree • Face Off • And in the End...