Criminal Minds: Evolution, the review: the revival of the series that anticipated Mindhunter

A large horizontal case instead of those of the week, the return of a large part of the original cast and the heart of the BAU to be saved are the ingredients at the heart of the revival series Criminal Minds: Evolution, streaming from January 18 on Star di Disney+ by appointment weekly.

Revivals are a strange subject on television, especially in these pandemic years. Among all, there is a very unique case and it is the one that we will talk about in our review of Criminal Minds: Evolution, in fact the sixteenth season of the crime procedural that has filled the schedules of CBS, Fox Crime and Rai2 for 15 years, and which is now changing home and format. There serie it had ended – complete with a finale – in February 2020 in the USA, just before the worldwide uproar broke out. Since then there has been persistent talk of a possible return of the show, which had a hardcore fan base, in various guises and with various possible original cast members on board. In the end, a new revival / new season series was born that takes advantage of what has happened in recent years, in front of and behind the scenes. Available from January 18 on Star di Disney + with a weekly appointment (in the USA it goes on Paramount +), let’s immerse ourselves in the evolution of the original series.

Evolution

Criminal Minds then evolves into Criminal Minds: Evolution, a title chosen not by chance because in addition to moving house (from generalist TV to streaming) the series maintains a large part of the cast, with some absences, it changes format slightly but not its identity and its heart. At the base remains the study and hunting for serial killer fearsome of the United States, sometimes new sometimes silent, by the BAU, the Behavioral Analysis Unit, a special team composed of FBI psycho-criminologists, who must develop a psychological and behavioral profile of serial killers, called SI ( Unknown Subject – in original Unsub, or Unknown Subject) to stop them before they strike again. A generalist Mindhunter well ahead of his time who also built his own fandom base in Italy. A work born thanks to the rich archive compiled in 35 years by US profilers. To take care of the revival Erica Messer, the showrunner of the last seasons of the mother series, from which most of the cast also returns. There is no longer the case of the week with occasional forays into the horizontal plot of the BAU and the characters, but one big case that the team will find themselves having to follow. Instead, there will not be greater violence or profanity as often happens in the transition to streaming but simply a much greater and more dangerous threat to foil.

Top 10 TV series serial killers

New serial killers, old profilers

Taking advantage of the absence of the series during the pandemic, which gave birth to this revival (perhaps a misnomer since it’s only been two years after all), an SI created a network of dormant serial killers in lockdown to wake up once the world came back to life. Now that they are acting one by one, the team is left with a series of interconnected cases and a real race against time to prevent mass murders across the United States. New entry in the cast Zach Gilford as this mysterious and disturbing SI, on which more and more shocking details are gradually discovered.

The agents who return from the last seasons of Criminal Minds are: David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), JJ Jareau (AJ Cook), Penelope Garcia (the beloved Kirsten Vangsness), in the revival called by first name instead of last name by the characters, Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler), Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) and Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster). We will not see Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Matt Simmons (Daniel Henney) again for the moment, due to concurrent commitments of the two actors, but the characters are nominated and the door is left open for their eventual return.

Criminal Minds: Evolution 2, the series has been renewed for a new season

In the heart of the BAU

Criminal Minds: Evolution does a similar but different thing done by CSI: Vegas. In the latter case, the cases of the week maintained the procedural identity of the mother series, also because it continued to air on CBS and not on the streaming platform, but in parallel a strong horizontal case was used which was also the reason for the return of some historical cast members (few). In this case, however, the team has returned almost all in full force to face a greater threat and all its energies are therefore channeled into the maxi-network of serial killers, without the need for the weekly resolution. Another common aspect is the questioning of the foundations of the agency at the center of the two shows.

There the forensics of Las Vegas and its apparently flawless past, here the safeguarding of the BAU and its survival under the new administration (represented by the deputy director played by Nicholas D’Agosto). The maxi case also proves to be an opportunity for the team to demonstrate why the special section exists and is necessary, especially in today’s world. A sort of meta-television game to demonstrate in turn by Erica Messer the need for a revival for a series so loved in the world. An operation that has also proved fruitful in this, given that the revival has already been renewed for a second season (which in fact will be the 17th of the original series) and a return of the cast is expected with perhaps some surprises in addition to CSIwhich has had to give up some big names.