Criminal Minds: Evolution is knocking at our door, with a premiere that will debut before the month’s end.
And Paramount just dropped a tantalizing trailer that has me deeply annoyed and yet undeniably intrigued.
You know, the magic that is Criminal Minds, I guess!
(Paramount/Screenshot)
The series has been great so far, and having the show return in this way has been such a thrill, but one of the biggest frustrations with this iteration of Criminal Minds has been the overuse of Voit.
I adore Zach Gilford like nobody’s business, but there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.” When it comes to Voit and the never-ending Sicarius situation, it has bogged down the series in many ways.
But then Criminal Minds Season 18 introduced a different angle with Voit losing his memories and basically nuking him as a traditional threat. Instead, they started angling for Voit as something akin to their own pet serial killer.
And we were supposed to start seeing his layers, and sympathizing with the devil, and all of that good stuff. I mean, sure. Gilford is charismatic enough to pull off these things, so that even when you don’t want to care about Voit, you still do a bit.
(Parmount/Screenshot)
But he’s also the thing that often hamstrings the series, and that isn’t going away anytime soon. Why? Because Sicarius has been out of commission for a while.
And apparently, as the trailer teases, without him guiding things, the rest of the Sicarius network is running rampant, and there’s no one to keep them under wraps. We got a taste of that before; now, it’s more insular.
Yes, this poises Voit as the man who stands between civilized serial killing and psychopathy and utter chaos. Because, you know, Voit had structure, strategy, and self-control, which prompted others to do the same.
But a neutered Voit? Bring on the unpredictability!
And there’s plenty of it. This season is already teasing an absolutely stacked list of guest stars that will likely be of the killer persuasion, and for that alone, I’m absolutely hype.
(Parmount/Screenshot)
Justin Kirk, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jeri Ryan, Clark Gregg, Paul F. Tompkins, Cress Williams, Kofi Siriboe, Dash Mihok, and Nicholas Gonzalez — like The Hunting Party, Murder in a Small Town, and Elsbeth, this approach to bringing in some familiar faces to play the most depraved roles delights me.
And, of course, the year’s hottest “It Boy,” Connor Storrie, from the critically acclaimed, cultural juggernaut that is Heated Rivalry, will guest star, too. And the trailer gives us SO MUCH of his character in a stroke of marketing brilliance by Paramount.
Never waste a great opportunity!
But mostly, the trailer centers on Voit, as this man who stands between the BAU and the Sicarius network, and if you think he doesn’t have his own agenda amid all of this, then you’d be sorely mistaken.
That’s the thing, though. Even if the BAU succeeds in making Voit their pet serial killer, he’s always that man who can screw them over at any given moment.
(Paramount+/Screenshot)
A great deal of the plot revolves around his memory loss, and now it’s about the possibility of his trying to make amends. But can a leopard really change its spots? And should we keep the afore-mentioned leopard?
What if he gets off his leash and mauls everyone we hold dear? Yes, I’m running with this analogy, but you get me, right?
Voit has a copycat killer, because of course he does, who is trying to emulate his crimes since he’s radio silent. Are they paying homage to him or simply trying to take over?
We’ll just have to see. But, naturally, as Tara put it, Elias is a living resource, and that means that they’re going to use the hell out of him to play this twisted game of figuring out which killer from the network is doing what.
(Paramount/Screenshot)
Eliciting Voit’s help is as good as stroking his ego in the process.
Rossi, the Voit Keeper, is right there to give us those cryptic comments about how he can see Voit’s wheels turning in his head. It’s to give us the impression that the BAU will still be steps ahead of Voit even if he tries something.
But, like, that’s been the entirety of the Evolution saga. No disrespect to my gang, and all, but Voit has been running circles around them. It’s cute that they think they have a handle on this, but we know they don’t and won’t.
There’s a reason you can’t have a pet serial killer.
And there’s a bigger reason you don’t turn said serial killer into a profiler. That’s where we are now. It seems the new season will basically have Voit becoming a full-on profiler himself.
Essentially, it all comes down to it takes a psychopathic serial killer to know one.
(Courtesy of Paramount+ (Exclusive Clip Screenshot))
And that, my friends, is how you squeeze another season out of Elias Voit.
The new season has him going from psychopath to profiler. Meanwhile, the unit goes from his hunters to his allies in a fight against a common enemy: The Fan.
NOT to mistake for Cross Season 1‘s infamous Fanboy, I might add.
But if Connor Storrie is the specific person playing Voit’s Fan, dammit, they’ve got me again. Anyone who has seen his performance in Heated Rivalry knows that he’s an incredible young talent, transformative in a role.
Nevertheless, I’m annoyed that they’ve found yet another way to push Voit to the center of the series and have the BAU basically operating as his virtual sidekicks.
(Paramount/Screenshot)
But I’m also intrigued.
The new season puts this new version of Voit against a true fan trying to emulate him, or succeed him, and Voit being on the other end of HIMSELF?
His ego won’t be able to deal, and that’s a delicious prospect!
What happens when you need a bad guy to catch a worse guy?
Or, as the trailer teases, “Evil is contagious.” And that virus Voit spread is about to bite him in the ass. Good times!
Criminal Minds: Evolution returns May 28 on Paramount+!
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