This week on "Criminal Minds," fans saw multiple child abductions carried out by an UnSub known as "The Sandman." Episode 17, which has the same name as the UnSub, focuses on how this perpetrator takes children away from their homes while their parents are sleeping.

True to his name, the Unsub "sprinkles sand in his victim's eyes," but that wasn't the only horrible thing he did. The episode is "pretty brutal," as promised by showrunner Erica Messer, "but amazing." It somehow ended in a cliffhanger and paves the way to the next story, "A Beautiful Disaster."

Messer already told TVLine to expect the "cliffhanger element" as it is meant to lead to the episode directed by Matthew Gray Gubler and titled "A Beautiful Disaster." Based on the preview for next week's show, it's going to focus more on Derek Morgan's (Shemar Moore) story.

In the upcoming episode, Derek continues to look into his abduction, and it appears that it will have consequences on his personal life. As seen in the trailer, Savannah (Rochelle Aytes) was seen being rushed to the emergency room. Derek is in despair and Hotch (Thomas Gibson) instructs him to stay out of the case, but he insists he doesn't' want to just sit around and do nothing about it.

It's unclear what really went on but it's speculated that somewhere along the line, Derek gets into deeper trouble as he pursues his assailant. A gun is presumably pointed at him and could go off at any time.

At the end of the clip, he was seen in tears as he is on the other line with Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness). Will this be the end of a major character in the series? How many times will Derek have to be in grave danger?

Last year, Gubler, who plays Spencer Reid in the series, teased about the "special episode" he directed. He told Zap2It that it will feature the "departure of one of the regular team members."

Next week is dubbed as the series' "most powerful episode," so fans will just have to tune in then to get the answers to the questions. Catch "Criminal Minds" every Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET on CBS.