Photo courtesy of People.com
When CBS’s hit television show “Criminal Minds” left air after 15 seasons, many people thought that this was the end for the beloved series, which featured a rotating cast of characters working to catch serial killers in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
Little did everyone know that the arrival of CBS’s streaming service Paramount+ would also revive the show from the depths of cancellation as part of a larger attempt to bring Paramount+ and CBS into contention with other top platforms like Disney+, according to Deadline.
Before even setting foot onto the audience’s screens, “Criminal Minds: Evolution” distinguishes itself from its predecessors from the get-go with a limited 10-episode run for the first season, which centers around the BAU’s pursuit of a once-dormant serial killer now turned to a murderous mentor to others around the country.
Several core characters who were part of the original “Criminal Minds” series have found themselves in new positions in the show’s universe, including Emily Prentiss (portrayed by Paget Brewster), David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Jennifer Jareau (A.J. Cook), Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) and Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler).
Notably, a few members of the BAU who were present for the conclusion of the initial “Criminal Minds” run haven’t returned to the silver screen: Matthew Gray Gubler’s Spencer Reid and Daniel Henney’s Matt Simmons are absent from the show.
Even with most of the BAU team intact, the characterization is the first of many aspects of the revival that struggle to get off the ground.
Though the returning actors clearly know their characters inside and out from years of experience, they aren’t given much of a chance to flex those acting chops. Instead, they’re handed clunky dialogue and non-sensical characterizations that leave die-hard “Criminal Minds” fans feeling more than a little off-put when they’re blindsided by awkward bursts of emotion and relationship issues (or announcements) that don’t really fit what we know and love.
On top of that, there’s little to no character evolution outside the BAU. The new characters are incompetent at their jobs or poorly acted – sometimes both – which leaves little to appreciate outside the characters we already like.
The show’s main villain, portrayed by Zach Gilford of “Friday Night Lights” fame, had the potential to push the BAU into a new era of behavioral profiling with his intricate network of serial killer followers – but Gilford, too, fails to hold up his end of the burden despite his character’s potential for deep internal conflict.
His reactions fall flat, and so far, with three episodes of 10 in the season already released, he has yet to show any nuance to his performance other than as an expressionless, stone-cold killer.
To be fair to Gilford and the rest of the cast, it doesn’t really feel like they’re being given much to work with script-wise. While the details of the BAU investigation aren’t the issue, the dialogue and pacing, on top of poor wardrobe choices for the returning actors, drag what could have been a great step into modernity for a show that has always felt more authentic in its older seasons.
The most redeeming part of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” is, by a mile, getting to see the characters we’ve spent countless hours with on our screens again. Even with odd character moments, there’s a certain magic to the agents that populate the BAU that other shows don’t quite have.
The story itself is quite solid, with a unique-enough premise and the usual graphic murders and high-stakes profiling, but in the end, it’s a relentless loyalty to the original that will keep eager fans watching “Criminal Minds: Evolution” to the very end and beyond.
