The Criminal Minds: Evolution revival on Paramount+ has seen quite a few changes from the original series, which makes sense. Moving from CBS to streaming is a big change, as it gives the show more freedom to include practically anything, such as NSFW dialogue and a much darker tone on top of the longer episodes. Now, the show is going into uncharted territory with a workplace romance.
Surprisingly, throughout Criminal Minds’ original 15-season run, the CBS drama never really touched on a workplace romance, aside from JJ and Reid’s “Will they/won’t they?” potential romance, as well as Garcia and Alvez's situation. It also doesn’t include Morgan and Garcia's relationship since that was mostly just for fun. However, once Evolution brought on vigilante Tyler Green, played by Ryan-James Hatanaka, there was something between him and Kirsten Vangsness’ Penelope Garcia that couldn't be ignored.
With Tyler now working with the BAU as a consultant, this will give Evolution yet another first for the overall Criminal Minds series. Showrunner Erica Messer told TVLine why now was the right time to include a workplace romance, and it really is all thanks to Hatanaka and Vangsness:
It really opened up when we saw the chemistry between R-J and Kirsten. It gave us an interesting bit of a triangle with Alvez (Adam Rodriguez), even though we do feel Alvez and Garcia are really good pals and almost siblings in that sense.
That’s not to say that the rest of the cast doesn’t have amazing chemistry. If they didn’t, the show wouldn’t have gone 17 seasons. However, there is something undeniable about Hatanaka and Vangsness’ chemistry, not to mention the fact that it also gives the show a fun love triangle with Adam Rodriguez’s Luke Alvez.
Fans have also been wanting more of “Garvez.” However, with Tyler now in the picture, Garcia's love life is a bit more complicated, especially since Tyler won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The showrunner elaborated on why they decided to dive into this story, saying:
Bringing a romantic relationship into that workspace is something that we never did on the CBS version, so once we jumped off that cliff and did it in Season 16, we thought, ‘Now what? What if he stays around and becomes a consultant on the team?’ That character can do things that the rest of the team can’t really do with their badge and guns.
It sounds like things will be getting interestingly complicated for some at the BAU, and that’s aside from Elias Voit being in the FBI’s custody.
It is fun to see how much Criminal Minds is able to expand and explore with this revival on Paramount+, and I'm here for a little workplace romance.
However, that doesn’t always mean it will work out in the end, as workplace romances can get a bit complex. It doesn’t help that Tyler Green has been both a good and bad guy, and there’s no telling which side he’ll be leaning on throughout the new season.
Luckily, Paramount+ subscribers won’t have to wait very long to find out what happens with that love triangle. The highly-anticipated second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution premieres on the 2024 TV schedule this Thursday, June 6 with the first two episodes. It’s hard to predict just what will go down between Garcia and Tyler, as well as Alvez, so fans don’t want to miss a single second.
