Warning! Spoilers ahead for the Season 2 finale of Criminal Minds: Evolution, “Save the Children.” Read at your own risk!
The Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 finale was high stakes as it saw Paget Brewster’s Emily Prentiss being held hostage as the BAU team tried to locate and rescue her while also taking down the final piece to the Gold Star program. The episode also went in an unexpected route with one character that shocked me, however, it’s actually going to be a good thing come Season 3.
Criminal Minds: Evolution already went in a surprising route when it brought on the concept of a season-long unsub for Season 1, with Zach Gilford’s Elias Voit and his network of serial killers. Then it was shocking when he was announced to return for Season 2 as Voit was somewhat helping the BAU, or at least forced to help them from prison. Between this, workplace romances and more the series went into uncharted territory, and executive producer and showrunner Erica Messer told Us Weekly that it will only continue next season:
To put him in jail and have [the agents] go consult with him felt like something new that we had never done before. So, we have a challenge for next season to keep him around. But that’s the plan – to keep challenging ourselves.
Throughout Season 2 of the Paramount+ revival, Voit reveled in his power as the team reluctantly went to him for help due to his knowledge of Gold Star and how killers think. It was already a change from the original Criminal Minds since unsubs usually last just an episode or a small multi-episode arc. Since Voit was helping the team for Season 2, the series already had some challenges, and it only furthered with the finale. Voit didn’t help the BAU out of the goodness of his heart; he’s been doing it under certain conditions, and that didn’t change with the latest episode.
Voit had pressed that he wanted to be moved to the general population rather than solitary, and after he gave the BAU what they needed with Gold Star, North Star, and rescuing Prentiss, he got what he wanted. However, at the very end of the episode, he was attacked in the prison’s laundry room, and it was as shocking as ever as it confirmed that more Voit was definitely on the way.
Now, bringing him back will give Criminal Minds: Evolution the chance to dig deeper into one storyline for Season 1, as the showrunner said:
It felt like the minute Voit said Gold Star at the end of Season 16 [of Criminal Minds], of Season 1 [of Criminal Minds: Evolution], he led us on a new quest. We had to go down that route because he had this deal with the [BAU] director and we had to prove we didn’t want his help. But Voit had a network of killers, and we never really solved that. So, this season will be a bit more diving into that space. And because we have Voit, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel on what that badness is. He’s given it to us this whole time.
Season 2 was definitely a change of pace from the original run and there was no telling what would happen with Voit and the BAU. Considering he’s quite the manipulator, each episode has been twisted and unpredictable, on top of the whole Gold Star problem. When it came to the finale, the show upped the ante. It was found out that Deputy Director Doug Bailey's younger brother, Pete, was the last piece of Gold Star and kidnapped Prentiss, which was likely something viewers didn't suspect.
I don't know who I was expecting for North Star, but it was certainly not Bailey's brother, who was convinced Prentiss was responsible for his death. His story did make sense, though, and made it all the more intriguing, especially since Voit knew it all along.
Having an unsub that won't leave plus other killers into the mix is a challenge in and of itself, but Messer welcomes it since there’s enough room for reinventing and doing something new:
It definitely has challenges. I welcome them at this point because it just keeps us reinventing. We’re just always reinventing. And Zach has certainly presented that challenge for us because this is somebody who technically should have been gone after the first season. Once we arrested him, we should just be done. But we weren’t.
It sounds like the show will be touching on the serial killer network more, it should be interesting. What is known is that fans have not seen the last of Elias Voit, and there is no telling what could come from that prison attack. While it shocked me, I think it also set up a super interesting story for Season 3 that I'm excited to see.
For now, though, those with a Paramount+ subscription can watch all 17 seasons of the Criminal Minds series while waiting for the third season of Criminal Minds: Evolution.
