Elsbeth Introduced An Insufferable New Character, But I Loved What He Brought Out Of Carrie Preston's Character

Spoilers are ahead for Episode 13 of Elsbeth Season 2, called "Tearjerker" and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.

The main nemesis of Elsbeth this season was set up as Michael Emerson's Judge Milton Crawford, but that hasn't meant some roadblocks along the way who just aren't as bad as the Moriarty to her Sherlock. "Tearjerker" introduced a new cop by the name of Detective Rivers (Braeden De La Garza), who Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) had to bring on board as a favor for the NYPD captain who had reopened the baseball bat murder case. For the characters, Rivers was a pretty terrible addition to the team in the 2025 TV schedule. For me, he was a great for the leading lady (Carrie Preston) and Wagner.

Rivers immediately made a bad impression on Elsbeth and Kaya on the first crime scene of the day, but he unfortunately outranked Kaya and couldn't really be held back by Elsbeth with her consent decree unless he did something truly egregious. That didn't take too long, though; after he'd spent most of the episode jumping to conclusions and complicating the case, his sexist comments to Chloe (Jordana Brewster) finally went too far, and Elsbeth put her foot down to stop him, and Wagner kicked him out of the interrogation room.

And Wagner likely would have kicked him right out of his unit if he had the opportunity, but he got some unwelcome news: Rivers is the nephew of the chief of detectives. and Wagner was stuck with – in his words – a "nepo-detective." So, it seems that Rivers may be around to stay for at least a bit longer, and I'm not sure I see him becoming as endearing as Lt. Connor, who previously was a problem for Kaya and Elsbeth.

Elsbeth really did a great job in making a really frustrating character, and I'm on board with having him back simply because Rivers being so terrible brought out the best in the leading lady and Captain Wagner.

For one, we don't always see Elsbeth enforcing her actual consent decree role, since her usual coworkers generally don't really need the kind of oversight that Rivers did, and she often is just playing pseudo-detective along with the rest of the team. This time, she was out in full force, telling Rivers to stop interrupting her, calling him out for stealing ideas and hunches that weren't his, and not tolerating his appalling treatment of Chloe. She didn't hold back from speaking her mind about Rivers to Wagner.

And she had Wagner's full support, with this episode really reminding me of how that Elsbeth/Wagner friendship has been one of the best evolutions from the first season. Even after learning that he couldn't really just get rid of the nepo-detective, he had a tongue-lashing for Rivers that left the cop chastened. Wagner told him:

Will Rivers be a changed man if/when he's back in the field with Kaya and Elsbeth? I hope that he learned his lesson at least somewhat and won't cause as many problems for Elsbeth and Wagner as he did in "Tearjerker," but I can appreciate a good bad guy on this show, and he was a pretty great bad cop in this episode. Elsbeth and Wagner showed why they are not to be messed with, and it was fantastic in that way.

It remains to be seen if Rivers will be back in the very next episode, but fans can look forward to Elsbeth getting a bit more Charmed soon. Check out the preview for the ep featuring none other than Alyssa Milano:

Elsbeth 2x14 Promo "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" (HD) ft. Alyssa Milano - YouTube

Watch On

Keep tuning in to CBS on Thursdays for new episodes of Elsbeth. Next week's installment will be a family affair of sorts for Carrie Preston. Her real-life husband, Michael Emerson, will be back as Judge Crawford, while Ben Levi Ross will be back as her on-screen son Teddy. You can also revisit every episode of Elsbeth so far via Paramount+.