Ep 1. It Takes A Village

The Criminal Minds season 7 premiere episode titled "It Takes a Village" takes the BAU team to California, where a rash of child abductions has taken place in the last few months. Children are disappearing without a trace, and the local police force is desperate for help. In this episode, the team has to try to solve the case before more children fall victim to the unknown abductor.

The episode opens with the BAU team already on the scene, and Garcia is playing a key role during this investigation. She is helping the team with her technical expertise to find any leads on the kidnapper. The team soon discovers that all the children who were taken went to the same school. After pulling the school records, they find that all the children were adopted from different countries. Garcia immediately spots the pattern and informs the team that all the children have been taken on the anniversary of their adoption.

The team realizes that the abductor is targeting specific children with a motive that is still unknown to them. While working on the case, the team meets a man named "Buckley," who helps them with their investigation. Buckley is a child advocate who's been working with the adoptive parents of the missing children. He provides the team with crucial information, including the fact that some of the adoptive parents had trouble adjusting to their new family members, some had financial troubles, and others had personal issues.

With this information, the team starts to dig deeper into the adoptive parents' lives, trying to find any connection between them and the kidnapper. They soon discover that one of the adoptive fathers had lost his job and was in desperate need of money. He had started selling organs on the black market, and when he didn't get enough buyers, he turned to children.

The team tracks him down, but they still don't have any idea where he is keeping the kids. But, with time running out, they have to find him quickly. The team takes an unconventional approach with the case and decides to play a risky game of "Let's Make a Deal," offering the kidnapper amnesty for his crimes in exchange for the location of the children.

With the clock ticking and the team running out of options, the kidnapper finally agrees to show them where the children are. The team arrives at the location but is in for a shocking surprise. The kidnapper has already sold off all the children. The team is devastated but quickly goes into action to try to find them.

The rest of the episode is a race against time as the team tries to track down all the buyers and retrieve the children before it's too late. The team finds themselves dealing with international obstacles as they try to locate buyers in foreign countries. The team splits up to maximize their time and help as many children as possible.

"It Takes a Village" is an intense and emotional episode that shines a spotlight on child abduction. The episode highlights the importance of adoption and the challenges adoptive families can face. As usual, the team's dedication to their job and their determination to save lives is unwavering.

The episode ends with the team successfully tracking down all the buyers and retrieving every single one of the children. The team is thrilled with the positive outcome, but the emotional strain of the case is evident on everyone's face. The show's writers have done an excellent job of highlighting the danger of child trafficking while keeping the audience on the edge of their seat.