Regarding the cliffhanger, Joe Sparenberg, who postulated his theory on January 3rd, 2015, made an excellent point! Season 2 Episode 1 could've been a partial cross-over with one of the team members having potentially sent Penelope an emergency signal to contact Hotch and fill him in en-route to the potential crime scene where Beth was being held, and the shot we heard was Hotch shooting that condescending bastard rogue prison guard in the head at center mass (he was SWAT at one time lol) ...since there have been no official resolution theory statements by any cast/crew, I'll assume that's what happens. Perhaps Beth goes into a bit of PTSD after that and it could've been woven into the storyline and depicted in an accurate, practical way. (P.S. it could've been Mick set up with a sniper riffle, and took the shot to Beth's kidnapper; after all, there was a window in his place and they made a point of showing it from what would be Beth's Point of View)