‘Criminal Minds’ Season 14 Finale Puts 2 Characters in Grave Danger in Clip

The Behavioral Analysis Unit is once again in grave danger in a sneak peek of Criminal Minds‘ upcoming season 14 finale on Wednesday.

The sneak peek of the finale, titled “Truth or Dare,” (which you can watch here from Entertainment Tonight) shows the team members getting ready to celebrate Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) wedding to Krystall (Gail O’Grady). But before they can get there, they head to Los Angeles to investigate a series of fatal shootings in broad daylight following violent car crashes.

The plot thickens when Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and JJ (A.J. Cook) find themselves in grave danger as hostages with an armed suspect.

The rest of the BAU scrambles, as Rossi, Lewis (Aisha Tyler), Simmons (Daniel Henney) and Detective Murad (Marco Sanchez) search for a way to get Reid and JJ to safety without putting their lives in any more danger than they’re already in.

“We’ve got two of our best agents in there,” Rossi says desperately in the sneak peek. “We need to trust that they’ll keep things under control until we can find a way in.”

However, Rossi may be thinking too optimistically, especially for a season finale episode. The episode will mark the finale installment before Criminal Minds embarks on its final season later this year. Showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer told ET that during season 14, it was important that the show dive into the core characters’ lives outside of the workplace.

“As we knew that we were getting on in years, we started asking, ‘Can we tell these stories with a personal twist?’ We don’t always get the opportunity to do that because in a 22[-episode] order, that’s a massive amount of work to do and not everybody is going to get their shot at their story,” she said. “This year, we were really able to do it.”

For example, she relished in being able to tell the story of Rossi and Krystall’s love story, as well as the relationship between JJ and Reid.

“With Rossi, introducing Gail last year as Krystall and knowing that they really sparked, we wanted Rossi to get it right this time, so we knew from the beginning of season 14 that we wanted the season to end with his wedding,” Messer previewed. “We weren’t sure if that was going to be the series or season finale, and when we found out it was a season finale, we ran with it. Of course, JJ and Reid have a lot going on. It’s been nice to dive into these final 10 episodes knowing it’s the final 10, but making sure every single one has an impact on our heroes in some way.”

In fact, Messer said she’s already started planning for the show’s farewell.

“By the time I found out, there was enough time for us to properly do a season finale and then we knew that we’d have 10 episodes to wrap up the series,” Messer said. “I think a lot of people on this end still feel like we could keep going. I know I said that when we celebrated our 300th, ‘Here’s to 400!’ because I do feel like there’s an endless supply of stories to tell here. At the end of the day, it’s good versus evil and it’s an amazing group of heroes who have been invited into living rooms since 2005. I still believe that, but I also understand it’s a business. As far as that goes, we were treated with incredible respect.”

Criminal Minds wraps up season 14 on Wednesday, Feb. 6. on CBS at 10 p.m. ET.