‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Episode 4 Spoiler-Free Review
Image Source: Tell Tale TV
Contains spoilers for episodes 1-3!
The newest episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution has dropped, and we have a lot to cover! I want to give a trigger warning for episode four as it does include some scenes of animal abuse. While I will not be discussing those scenes in this review, I did want to give fans a heads-up before tuning in for the episode.
In last week’s episode, a bombshell was dropped on fans during the final moments. One of the unsubs they were following (and eventually captured) revealed that he was not working with the network. In fact, he discovered that the ringleader, a.k.a. Sicarius, of the network had murdered his sister years earlier, and he had infiltrated the network in order to catch him. We also learned that this Unsub was Garcia’s informant that had sent her the locations of all the boxes. Last week also shed light on Sicarius and his motivations. It turns out he is a serial killer that operated cross-country for decades, only stopping recently for reasons that are still unclear. He has an uncontrollable desire to murder, and since he no longer feels like he can, he created this network so that he could watch others commit the crimes he wished he could commit himself. In the final chill-inducing moments of last week’s episode, we watched as he finally cracked and took a victim that resembled his abusive next-door neighbor and brutally murdered him in a truly horrific fashion.
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Image Source: IMDB
This week’s episode picked up right where last week’s episode left off. As we watch Sicarius clean up the crime scene, a new character emerges from the shadows. This new character changes everything we thought we knew about Sicarius, his motivations, and his “rules”. An interesting twist to this week’s episode is that it followed more of the format of a classic Criminal Minds episode as opposed to the format of the previous three episodes of Evolution. Sicarius was only present in the first few minutes and then the episode focused on what the Unsub they had in custody could tell them, a new string of murders, and the team. This gave fans a chance to catch their breath as the previous three episodes have been not only gruesome but fast-paced and packed with information. Fans got their first cognitive interview of the new show, and it made this one of the most emotional episodes of the series so far.
As the BAU hunts down a murderous duo who are targeting security officers that respond to alarm systems, they finally start to take Sicarius seriously. In the previous episodes, we have watched as the beloved team gets their profiles wrong over and over again because they have refused to adjust their profiles to include the wildcard, Sicarius. When they finally do that, it seems to make all the difference. Unfortunately, they do not get the resolution they had hoped for as they are hit with their first red herring of the series.
The main star of the episode was Garcia and the person she has become since we last saw her. She shined tonight and gave one of the most honest and strong monologues of the show. We also got to see more of her relationship with Alvez which was explored in Criminal Minds but never felt genuine. In this week’s episode, we saw them as a real unit and one that was reminiscent of her days with Derek Morgan. Although this relationship is more platonic than her relationship with Morgan, it added humor and a bit of light to the overall heavy tones of the episode.
As if JJ has not suffered enough during the run of Criminal Minds, she is dealt a devastating blow in the final moments of the episode. So far the series has seen JJ struggle to balance her home and professional lives and this week’s episode seemed to hint at a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, that all comes crashing down. It will be interesting to see how this is interwoven with the serial killer network’s storyline throughout the rest of the season.
All-new episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution are available to stream Thursdays on Paramount+.
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