‘Criminal Minds’ Recap: Jennifer Love Hewitt Makes Her Debut Hunting A Grisly Killer [Spoilers]

Criminal Minds opened its 10th season with a grisly case and a new face — former FBI veteran Kate Callahan, played by none other than Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Hewitt’s character plays a newcomer to the Behavioral Analysis Unit, replacing Dr. Alex Blake.

[Warning: Spoilers ahead]

In the season opener, Kate Callahan is first introduced to audiences as she’s sweet-talking a child porn peddler then shortly afterward hauling him away in handcuffs. In her first case with BAU she has to help find an UnSub who is known for removing the arms, legs and heads of his victims then leaving their torsos to be found.

It seems as if the BAU squad has found their man early on, as they use the phone registry to find a farm where the UnSub was just about to dispatch another victim. But there is a twist at the very end.

As TV Line notes:

“As the hour draws to a close, we see another jogger — just like the one who managed to flee the UnSub — get asked by a kindly middle-aged passenger for directions before getting grabbed and thrown into a van. What follows is a montage of men — polished, bland, skeevy — ‘shopping’ on a website that puts young women up for auction. And as they refresh their screens, the just-grabbed jogger gets added to the inventory.”

Criminal Minds executive producer and showrunner Erica Messer states that Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character comes to the show with a bit of history.

“Kate is smart, charming and wise for her years,” Messer said. “Her background is criminal psychology, and her passion comes from wanting to make the world a safe place. She’s had a lot of personal loss that makes her a patriot and a nurturing figure to those in her personal and work families.”

Jennifer Love Hewitt added that fans will learn more about her Criminal Minds character as well as the season goes on.

“You will get to know it pretty quickly into the season,” she said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not like a cliffhanger or anything, but it explains a lot about what some of her triggers will be, why she’s so willing to be feisty and finds real disgust in these people that she has to deal with on a daily basis.”

Criminal Minds fans can see more of Jennifer Love Hewitt as Kate Callahan as the season goes on — and possibly more from the still-on-the-loose UnSub.