Criminal Minds Evolution (3×01) Swimmer’s Calculus Review

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

There’s just something comforting about seeing the BAU team back in action and to the season premiere’s credit (Criminal Minds 18×01 or Criminal Minds Evolution 3×01), it certainly does not waste any time in getting back to things. The serialized-procedural hybrid version of the classic CBS procedural has taken advantage of the new energy given to it thanks to the freedom of its new streaming home. Leaning on season-long serialized storylines, spawning shorter procedural storylines to fill in the gaps, this format has proven to be quite successful. In terms of this season, its direction remains to be seen but it has plenty of lingering issues to address, following the finale of last season as Voit found himself at the mercy of a pair of men who jumped him in the laundry room of his new minimum security home. In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one at this point, there is more to this story as many have surely suspected this to be yet another angle for him to once again escape and reap havoc. The possible answer to that question will require some more reading but that being said, Swimmer’s Calculus is a great start.

In the midst of everything going on with the BAU, there is still a case and unsub to be had. Adding another dimension to the proceedings is Tyler’s joining of the FBI. Still in training, his prospects were promising, especially being trained by the other members of the unit. Once a body was found washed up on the shores of Ocean City, Maryland, the BAU was there. Merely the latest victim of a serial killer they have been hunting, they immediately took charge of the case. Tyler held his own alongside the other profilers in finding out how the unsub really killed their victims and how they found them. Fixated on watching victims drown, the unsub quickly escalated in abducting a family, instead of one victim at a time. The abducted family quickly learned what happened if they did not cooperate so they soon cooperated by getting into a custom made very long, and very deep pool. In what became a race against the clock, the BAU saved the family before they succumb to the now covered pool, not before the unsub took his own life.

The unfortunate incident with Voit back at the prison would have Rossi in trouble with the OPR (internal affairs) unit of the FBI as they believed he to be somehow involved with his attack. Consistent in his denial, it has done very little to move the needle, now 6-months later. Voit, on the other hand, remained in a coma as a result of his stab wounds and subsequent brain damage after somehow killing his two attackers. Prentiss and Rossi would conduct their own investigation into what happened in that laundry room. Figuring out how Voit killed his attackers, the only matter left was figuring out how they knew who he was, suggesting someone may have tipped them off.

Awaiting his first assignment, Tyler would be placed in Alabama, and not with the BAU (it takes 15-years to even have a chance to join). Meanwhile, perhaps foreshadowing the season-long storyline, the aforementioned unsub may have hinted at a new serial killer network that may or may not be connected to Voit, before he shot himself in the head. Voit himself, on cue, would awake from his coma and grasp the throat of a nurse. From there, one can only expect an escape attempt but whether or not it is a successful one remains to be seen. And how will the serial killer network storyline play out this time around?

While Ryan-James Hatanaka got to show off more as this new version of Tyler, arguably getting more comfortable on the series and within the BAU dynamic, Kirsten Vangsness, and her infectious personality as Garcia came in clutch as always. We are so back.

Score: 82/100

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.