The BAU is back to work on Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 1, “Gold Star,” and Episode 2, “Contagion.” Even though the wait has been long for fans, only two weeks have passed since Sicarius was arrested.
Not much seems to have happened with the team since then, except Emily’s guilt over Bailey’s death growing and Rossi suddenly seeing Voit everywhere he goes.
It becomes clear extremely fast that Emily’s guilt and Rossi’s unwanted companion will definitely lead them (and maybe the entire team) down the wrong path.
As usual, Criminal Minds: Evolution tries to balance the gruesome and the more wholesome scenes.
On the one hand, we see terrible wounds on different victims. The eyes pulled out of dead people, the blood, the gunshot wounds, and a severed tongue all look realistic. Every scene with a wound is descriptive.
That which we look away from is exactly what Voit wants to look at when working with the team. Exactly what makes these serial killers stand out from the crowd.
On the other hand, the wholesome moments come in flashes, and as viewers, we enjoy them for a short period of time. On “Gold Star,” happiness comes in the form of Penelope’s birthday as they play a game around the table.
Those moments, paired with the times when team members discuss their personal lives and seek each other out for advice, remind us that they are a family. The BAU works so well decades after it started because they care about one another as they do about their families.
The balance between the gruesome and the wholesome makes the show work. It is what allows audiences to stomach such violent scenes because, at the end of the violent tunnel, the team always seems to find their happy place.
During Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 1, “Gold Star,” the sense of urgency the team is experiencing is palpable through the screen. The main thing that gives them away is that they are all standing instead of sitting around the table, going through the evidence.
It’s like they are ready to go and catch Gold Star, as if the task isn’t the hardest one they will have to face after arresting Sicarius.
However, the sense of urgency changes when Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 2, “Contagion,” begins. The most immediate hint is that the team is again sitting around the table discussing the case.
With the second episode, the season feels like the first. The BAU spent all of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 1 chasing after Sicarius. Everything they did was aimed at catching him.
On the surface, it looks like the team will spend the second season chasing after Gold Star. However, things quickly turn back around to Sicarius when the director forces them to work together.
Once Rossi tells the team that the plan is to work with Voit to get information out of him that would connect him to Sicarius, we understand that deep down the show is still about catching Voit and making sure he stays in prison.
When we realize that Voit is working with the FBI, we immediately believe he is playing with them and feeding them information to trick them. However, nothing Voit does is at random.
He allows JJ to believe she is getting somewhere with their conversations before shutting it all down and refusing to talk to her. But even then, he reveals something to the team they didn’t know.
Gold Star is highly connected to the term “social contagion.” These clues will make Voit relevant to the team, forcing them to work with him all season.
But if toying with JJ isn’t enough, Voit goes a step further by getting into Luke’s mind. Even though the BAU thinks they can stay ahead of him, he always surprises them with something new.
Once again, he delivers new information when he tells Luke their profile is wrong and it will get people killed. He introduces the idea of conspiracy theorists.
It isn’t until he whispers something in Luke’s ear that we realize Voit knows much more than he is telling them. But this scene sets the tone for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2. Now, there is a secret that we, too, are dying to know.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 1 “Gold Star,” and Episode 2 “Contagion,” are the perfect introductions to a new season of everyone’s favorite BAU.
It tells us where each team member stands in their personal life, which will undoubtedly affect how they behave at work. This has always been part of the formula that makes the show work well.
If we are to see more of Voit throughout the entire season, we can only hope he continues to deliver those little triggers that make the BAU’s standing shake. That is the only way his appearance on the show will be worth it.
Stray Thoughts:
- The balance between going after Gold Star and introducing new cases is what will keep the audience engaged.
- It will be interesting to see how Rossi deals with seeing Voit everywhere. This definitely seems his way of dealing with his trauma, but it might not be the healthiest.
- The scenes in which the team reviews the evidence and discusses unsubs are still some of the show’s best. They allow us to see more of each team member’s skills.
- Tyler Green being a consultant but keeping information to himself will probably lead to more chaos and dangerous scenarios.
- We need more of Penelope and Tara discussing their work-related romances and how to deal with them. Penelope’s scenes in which she isn’t discussing work-related topics are the most wholesome scenes the show has, and we need more of them.
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Criminal Minds: Evolution streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
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Lara Rosales
Lara Rosales is a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature. She works in PR, hosts a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things), and writes on the internet about TV and movies. Some of her articles can be found on Eulalie Magazine, Geek Girl Authority, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, and Flip Screened.
