Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 5 of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2, called "Conspiracy vs. Theory" and now streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.
The BAU's hunt for the people behind Gold Star picked up in the latest episode as Voit continues to more or less get his way more often than not, as he's just valuable enough to judge it. Add in Emily getting benched after reports of her arrest leaked to the press and Rossi having to face Voit in real life, and this was a tense episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution in the 2024 TV schedule. A brief moment of respite came with an Easter egg nodding at none other than Matthew Gray Gubler's Spencer Reid, which set me thinking about comments from his former cast members about Season 2.
Reid's Easter Egg
The nod to longtime BAU analyst Spencer Reid was easy to miss, if you were more caught up in the tension of Voit on BAU turf than noticing details about the set dressing. But the Easter egg was in plain sight, as Voit sat himself down at Reid's desk, with his nameplate blurry but visible throughout the scene.
That's not exactly the same as Matthew Gray Gubler and his mismatched socks making a surprise appearance, but the character is still with the FBI, but Season 1 of Evolution – a.k.a. Seaosn 16 of Criminal Minds over all – established that he was working on an assignment separate from the rest of the team.
So, it makes sense that he still has a desk of his own in the office, and we can always hope to see Reid again in light of the show's renewal for Season 3 on Paramount+. Some sweet interactions between Gubler and Paget Brewster on social media already made it clear that there's no bad blood between the cast members, and the showrunner has been open that the door is open if scheduling works out for Reid (and Daniel Henney as Matt Simmons) to return.
But even if we shouldn't expect to see Reid in the flesh beyond an Easter egg or two this season, some of what Kirsten Vangsness and Adam Rodriguez told CinemaBlend after poking fun at Zach Gilford's attempt to defend Voit really makes me miss Gubler as his iconic Criminal Minds character. Why wouldn't I think back to this interview after the episode that included a nod to Reid?
What The Cast Told Us
I spoke with the cast of Criminal Minds: Evolution ahead of Season 2, about everything from Tyler's trust issues to JJ's mind-bending stakes to Aisha Tyler explaining what's "dazzling" about streaming on Paramount+. In a joint interview, Kirsten Vangsness and Adam Rodriguez weighed in on what it has been like to continue playing relationships in a serialized streaming show as opposed to how the format worked on CBS, with the Penelope Garcia actress sharing:
Entirely blissful. Like, it's great. It's great. I work [with] the coolest, most interesting, kindest, authentic people who are actually into expanding and being more of who they are. And then you just get to expand as an artist. Even though you're doing the same thing, you're not. It's great.
Adam Rodriguez, who plays Luke Alvez on Criminal Minds, echoed his co-star's excitement and shed some light on his own:
It's really a treat. I mean, I don't know how else. It sounds so simple to put it like that, but we had so much time to play these characters and embody them in one format. And that format is, as much fun as we had doing it in a self-encapsulated way, as an artist that leaves you longing to do more with this character that you embody. And now we're lucky enough for this show to have a second life as a serialized show on Paramount+ now, and to get a chance to take things further and do more with these people that we've created, along with the writers just couldn't be more gratifying. I mean, it's even better than if the show had started this way.
Call me crazy, but Rodriguez's comment about getting "a chance to take things further and do more with these people that we've created" really makes me wish that we could see what could happen with Reid in a serialized rather than standalone season. He generated a lot of the buzz for the fifteenth season (which was also the last on CBS), even though not everybody was rooting for Reid and JJ to get together. How great would it be to get some updates on Reid straight from the man himself in an episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution?
Of course, the latest episode also touched don the elephant in the room of Luke obviously hating that Garcia and Tyler have a romantic history, so the actors' comments have me thinking about a possible future with Reid back in the mix. As they said,
- Kirsten Vangsness: "You feel so much appreciation, and that appreciation is getting us going. We're so thankful we get to do it. Right?"
- Adam Rodriguez: : "Yeah, totally. I mean, it's like you're waiting to get your driver's license, and you finally get your driver's license. And now we're actually able to take the wheel ourselves, and go farther than we have on our bicycles before. And so it's great."
All in all, it's great to see the praise that the stars have for the more serialized show in its move to streaming, and we can enjoy all of the development for both of their characters as the season continues. If we're not going to get Reid in Season 2, more meaty scenes between characters would be more than welcome.
Keep checking out Paramount+ on Thursdays for new episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution. You can also relive all fifteen seasons of the original series on the streamer now.
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