Evolution Won't Stop Repeating Its Most Frustrating Pattern

Criminal Minds: Evolution has spent the majority of the Paramount+ reboot working to incorporate serialized storytelling into the typically episodic series, but in doing so, the show has consistently repeated a frustrating narrative pattern. As Criminal Minds season 19 continues the BAU’s venture into the aftermath of Elias Voit’s (Zach Gilford) criminal career, the team has had to shift their expectations and understanding of what his role has become in their lives. With Voit impacting everything they do, the BAU has had no choice but to incorporate him into their thought processes, which has created a significant shift on screen.

While Voit, who was captured and has developed a sense of empathy after a head injury in prison, has become a mainstay on Criminal Minds, having to account for his behavior throughout each case has become a massive strain on the show’s forward momentum. The BAU consistently revisits Voit in moments where it doesn’t entirely feel necessary, only to have the imprisoned criminal offer a specific nugget of information that only he could have. Typically, Voit’s involvement helps the BAU unlock a crucial part of the case, and if it doesn’t come from him directly, it comes because of him.

Though the identity of Criminal Minds: Evolution has revolved around the fact that Voit is a focal point of the revival, it’s often exhausting from a viewer perspective to have to consider him so consistently. The show’s most frustrating new pattern is making Criminal Minds: Evolution tough to keep watching.

Criminal Minds: Evolution’s Frustrating Pattern Makes The Team Look Less Knowledgeable

As Criminal Minds: Evolution has brought the more serialized story of Voit into their episodic standard, the case-of-the-week is almost always investigated, first, as a part of the larger story. While cases are presented without the idea of whether the big bad, whether that be Voit or the newest UnSub, The Fan, was involved, the BAU almost exclusively looks to tie their cases back to the overarching villain. This can work in some cases. When Voit was at large, there were often crimes that looked like he committed coming across the BAU’s desks, regardless of whether he was at fault.

By pursuing their weekly cases through the lens of potentially having the seasonal villain be part of them, then figuring out that the episodic crimes have more often than not been committed by a completely different UnSub, Criminal Minds: Evolution has the BAU looking less knowledgeable than ever. While it’s up to the team to pursue every avenue, it’s often clear that the case-of-the-week has no connection to the overarching villain, which makes the beat where the BAU discovers this pointless. Viewers should assume the BAU knows more than them, so the choice for them to know less is confusing.

The BAU’s Weekly Cases Shouldn’t Always Relate Back To Their Seasonal Arc

Image via Paramount Press Express

After seasons of seeing how Voit has spun into a massive piece of the BAU’s identity, tying every case back to him or UnSubs who relate to him isn’t fun or fresh. Instead, seeing case after case land on the BAU’s desks only to have them try to fit a square peg into a round hole before having to start their investigation over feels stale. While there are definitely some cases that should harken back to the seasonal arc, having it happen in nearly every episode makes the move expected, rather than keeping the audience on their toes each week.

Instead of having the BAU immediately consider the UnSub they’re working through between cases into the mix every week, having cases that feel inherently different from the seasonal arc would help keep the show fresh. Rather than working within the same framework of their big seasonal UnSub, the BAU’s case-of-the-week should illuminate something for the team that doesn’t seem obvious about their larger case. In tying in details from cases that may not seem to fit into the bigger puzzle, Criminal Minds could make unexpected connections with their cases, keeping viewers from guessing their next move.

Release Date: September 22, 2005
Showrunner: Erica Messer
Directors: Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Rob Bailey, Matthew Gray Gubler, Joe Mantegna, John Gallagher, Douglas Aarniokoski, Guy Norman Bee, Larry Teng, Nelson McCormick, Alec Smight, Charles S. Carroll, Rob Spera, Charles Haid, Diana Valentine, Rob Hardy, Tawnia McKiernan, Bethany Rooney, Karen Gaviola, Sharat Raju, Thomas Gibson, Aisha Tyler, Anna Foerster, Gloria Muzio, John Terlesky
Writers: Bruce Zimmerman, Virgil Williams, Edward Allen Bernero, Janine Sherman Barrois, Chris Mundy, Simon Mirren, Debra J. Fisher, Kimberly A. Harrison, Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin, Karen Maser, Oanh Ly, Stephanie Sengupta, Aaron Zelman, Kirsten Vangsness, Erica Meredith, Andi Bushell, Holly Harold, Alicia Kirk, Jeff Davis, Randy Huggins, Edward Napier, Jayne A. Archer, Chikodili Agwuna