Criminal Minds Evolution (3×10) The Disciple Review

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

This season has all come to this, as the BAU have contended with yet another (or the same) serial killer network, the untimely death of one of their own, and an allegedly reformed Elias Voit. Slowly setting up the pieces over the course of the season, it remained unclear as to how it would come together but however the final outcome, Voit would end up playing a part as the end of the last episode made clear when he and Ochoa were abducted from the hospital. As the episode title suggests, it is all about the disciple, the figure behind the new network and someone with a connection to Voit’s past. Establishing that fact last week, the team essentially honed down on a potential suspect thus taking away some of the mystery from this finale. Along those lines, viewers looking for fireworks may be disappointed by its rather conventional execution, leading to an underwhelming conclusion that just scrapes by. Giving some closure, without committing to it, it is unclear where next season will go moving forward but the series should hopefully be given a chance to move on.

To set the stage, viewers are given more backstory to detail Voit’s relationship with Cyrus as it relates to how it sets up Cyrus’ relationship with the disciple. However, it wouldn’t take long for the disciple to introduce themselves to him. As far as the BAU was concerned, the key to finding Voit was to dig deeper into the disciple and their connection to him and Cyrus (the episode would meanwhile afford them flashback scenes to dive deeper into their complicated connection). Meanwhile. all they wanted to do was to trigger him in order to bring out Sicarius as a means to bring their family of acolytes molded by Cyrus back together. Those wondering about Ochoa, she was also held captive. Her would be role in the disciple’s grand plan was unclear. Whatever that was or wherever it was going, Voit appeared to merely be playing along. Ultimately, the BAU’s investigation into the disciple easily led them to where Voit and Ochoa were behind held. Lending to the theory that he was playing along, the FBI proceeded quite easily, having found Ochoa alive and unharmed.

With the disciple captured without incident, Voit’s growing guilt and self-loathing continued to mount, resulting in him confessing to the Sicarius murders. As the Sicarius saga appeared to be over, his last act of redemption was to use his position with the disciple to share the location of the remaining killers on the network for which they were quickly apprehended. That being said, as the rest of the BAU celebrated a case finally cleared and Voit was now on his way back to prison, the fact that he is still alive inevitably means that he is not done in terms of participation in the series moving forward, ending with a shot of his concerned face as his Sicarius side was just one trigger away.

Rushing through the conclusion of the season, the episode deserves some credit for giving Voit some closure as he accepts the consequences of his crimes as Sicarius but it brings not much else in the way of tension or intrigue, doing most of the work in last week’s penultimate episode. This finale was the legwork, all played out in a conventional way that fails to match the intensity of the season up to this point. One can’t help but think that the addition of the ‘disciple’ character only inflates the plot, while leaving Voit on an island as that storyline resolves. Sure, Tyler is on the team permanently, Rossi goes to therapy, and Tara and Rebecca are getting married, but those are barely footnotes. With the revival staying in the same lane, for the most part, through its first three seasons, with another on the way, here’s to hoping that next season could begin with a more of a clean slate narratively.

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.