Criminal Minds and Seeing the Killer In You
The moral case for coming to terms with what terrible things you might do if given the opportunity.
People like to believe that they're good.
That they always have a good reason for doing the things that they do. That they would never do anything that wasn't something other people would see as good. It's only other people who do bad things. Usually the people they don't like, often those who have already done a terrible thing. Those people are the bad people and they're part of the good people who would never do it. This creates a convenient idea in people's heads that they can separate themselves from bad people. A dividing line. However, this is probably what those who were doing terrible things thought of themselves before they did what they did. It's only once they did a horrible thing that they realize how thin that line is when it comes right down to it.
Maybe the worst thing one person can do to another is to kill them. It's so terrible that even people who steal or do drugs or whatever else they might do will try to stay away from someone who murders others. In large part because by associating with them, they run the risk of becoming the next victim, which most people would rather avoid. However, what often leads someone to murder another isn't all that uncommon. The reason people kill can be as simple as being stolen from or cheated on. It can even be so they can get something from someone else. Becoming a murderer isn't actually that difficult. The only thing you really need is to find yourself having a particularly bad day. The kind of day where everything goes wrong. We've all had a day like that, even if we don't necessarily want to admit it. We like to believe we'd never go there... but we would. All it really takes is enough of a reason.
Criminal Minds is very much about what drives a person to do such a terrible thing like murder someone else. The Behavioural Analysis Unit, lead by Gideon, Hotch and ultimately Prentiss and Rossi, as played brilliantly by Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster and Joe Mantegna, are all about trying to figure out why someone decides to kill. Seeing into the minds of those who decide to kill requires them to see their own ability to do it if they had the chance. It would be convenient to believe that there was something special or unique about people who do terrible things. But the truth is they're just like anyone else. They have parents and siblings and children just like you do. They have jobs and relationships that aren't that much different from the ones you're in.
Much as you might want to believe that you're different, unfortunately you're not. Coming to terms with this fact is a painful thing to realize, but doing so has its benefits. Once you realize that murderers are just like you, it's easier to understand why you would do it, and ultimately find a way to avoid becoming that yourself.
Do yourself a favour and explore the killer within you by checking out Criminal Minds as soon as you can.
You can check out Criminal Minds and the sequel series Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount Plus.