After all, the producers of “Criminal Minds” have managed to get the show through more than ten seasons successfully so far, and it was partly because of their reluctance to rely on such tricks to maintain their popularity.
Quite on the contrary, they’ve always been exploring new ideas and ways to improve the formula in creative ways, so we fully expect that the next episodes of “Criminal Minds” are going to push the story forward in meaningful ways. Not just with regards to Derek and his own personal struggle, but in general.
With about a week left before the next episode airs, fans are understandably excited and we keep seeing some interesting discussions about the next episodes of the show, including the ones that will come after the upcoming 17th one.
There have been rumors about a supposed major development coming up in this season that hasn’t even been hinted at yet, but considering that these rumors are mostly confined to messaging boards so far and nobody is able to bring up any valid source, they should probably not be taken very seriously. Plus, the producers of “Criminal Minds” are definitely not the types to keep their fans in the dark until the very last minute, as they like to play around by dropping some hints every once in a while, so we fully expect that they would do the same here as well.