Criminal Minds Evolution (2×09) Stars and Stripes Review

For our review of the last episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution, click here.

Now that all the cards are on the table, it’s time to set up the endgame in this penultimate episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2. Spending most of its time building the Gold Star case from the bottom to the top, it’s time to start seeing some of that work pay off as the BAU aims for the top of the conspiracy. That being said, it was never going to be easy sailing as far as that was concerned. Meanwhile, after mercy killing her longtime companion Damien, Jade had to fend for herself as she tried to make sense of the new information she learned over the course of their time together. As the truth behind how they came to be began to trickle in, cracks appeared to form within her as she started to second guess the basis of her programming. Picking up where the last episode left off, she was caught speeding while fleeing the scene by a state trooper (David Gridley) who recognized her as a wanted fugitive. Appearing to surrender, what looked to be the end of her wasn’t as one of the two remaining, and still yet to be identified, Gold Star assassins saved her. Dana Howe (Nikko Austen Smith) showed up just in time but instead of killing the trooper, Jade left him alive (except for his eyes) to deliver a message to the FBI, she was going home and warned them against pursuing her.

Voit, on top of everything else, was set to be transferred to a minimum security prison where he will serve a lighter prison sentence and also have a greater chance of escaping. The kill kit he gifted for Damien and Jade led the latter to a bunker full of dirt on the BAU, connecting them to the conspiracy. Essentially putting targets on their backs, Jade and Dana would need help. Aiming at the top of the conspiracy, the BAU got a hit, finding Aida Ltd, a nefarious private security contractor at the center of the shady financial dealing. Trying to understand the pathology of the Gold Star members to figure out what Jade meant by going home, they connected the kill kit, the bunker, and nearby proposed Gold Star training site. Seemingly falling for whatever Voit had planned, he was sure to rub it in Rossi’s face as she was being transferred.

Bringing in Frank Church (Tuc Watkins), the CEO of Aida Ltd., his malignant narcissism was overbearing and his reach proved to be powerful as he blackmailed the FBI into keeping Gold Star under wraps using the white paper to connect them. Profiling him as someone who would not accept failure and who would want to try again with a new program, they tracked Mila Sandoval (Josie Nivar) a missing teen girl and potential program target to the new Aida Ltd. facility, which was at the edge of a Delaware forest. As Jade and Dawn arrived at the facility, it felt different thanks to her newfound perspective. The puppetmaster, Jade was Church’s favorite but she had questions as her memories of her abuse trickled back. Seeing herself in Mila, they formed a bond as her story somehow mirrored Jade’s, finding out the truth firsthand.

Getting a search warrant for the facility, Jade, meanwhile, freed herself from her captors and had a plan of her own to team up with Mila to free the kids on the premises. Church, and those running the facility, were no so fond with the FBI showing up at their front door, setting up the scene similar to that with cults. Threatening them if they tried to enter with plenty of guys with guns, his plan started to spiral upon news that the kids were gone.

Finally entering the facility, Jade revealed her endgame by setting explosives throughout the dormitory before triggering the detonator with her inside in the episode’s final moments.

Setting up a showdown between the FBI and Church and Aida Ltd., something big is going to happen, maybe not on the facility grounds but to the even higher ups that let it happen. Also, Voit inevitably has a plan to escape captivity which may very well be the more serious threat to contend with. It’d be a crime to write off Zach Gilford after all he’s done and as an aside, Liana Liberato was the highlight of the episode as Jade. Her arc, and its potentially tragic end, was a satisfying full circle.

still courtesy of Paramount+

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.