When does Gideon die in Criminal Minds? Details explored 

Jason Gideon was an instantly recognizable character on Criminal Minds and have made his mark ever since the airing of the show's pilot episode. Played by actor Mandy Patinkin, Jason Gideon occupied the rank of Senior Supervisory Special Agent on Criminal Minds and led the Behavioural Analysis Unit or BAU at the FBI.

It is owing to his preparation of criminal profiles that the Bureau was able to apprehend dangerous criminals and serial killers. Gideon was, at a point, single-handedly responsible for carrying the show to command the kind of audience appreciation that it did.

Here's everything you need to know.

Jason Gideon was murdered off-screen on Criminal Minds

The murder of the character Sarah weighed down heavily on Jason Gideon, who considered himself somehow responsible and, as a result, began losing confidence in his own skills of criminal profiling. The final nail in the coffin moment arrived when Gideon decided to let go of a suspect, which soon spiralled into the death of the suspect as well as a young woman. Gideon lost faith in himself after this incident on Criminal Minds. Owing to his mishap, Hotchner had to face suspension.

A particularly moving scene was portrayed in the episode In Name and Blood when Spencer Reid visited Gideon's cabin only to find a letter written by Gideon addressed to him, along with Gideon's gun and badge. Gideon was then seen at a Nevada diner. When asked by the waitress about where he was headed, Gideon answered that he wasn't sure of his destination. While he proceeds to leave the diner, the voice-over narrates the final lines of the aforementioned letter:

"I guess I'm just looking for it again. For the belief I had back in college. The belief I had when I first met Sarah and it all seemed so right. The belief in happy endings."

Gideon was finally murdered off-screen on the Criminal Minds season ten episode titled Nelson's Sparrow after being shot to death by serial killer Donnie Mallick.

Mandy Patinkin regretted working on Criminal Minds

Although the CBS TV show made Patinkin almost a household name, he would later come to regret appearing on the show. In an interview with Deadline, he had outlined the chief reason behind his exit from the show being the genre of the show itself. Patinkin claimed that he regretted being part of a show that regularly used violence and gore for narrative purposes:

"The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place. I thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality.”

He added:

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"I’m not making a judgment on the taste (of people who watch crime procedurals),” he said. “But I’m concerned about the effect it has. Audiences all over the world use this programming as their bedtime story. This isn’t what you need to be dreaming about.”

Criminal Minds is available for streaming on Paramount+.

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