Warning: SPOILERS for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 10.Criminal Minds: Evolutionwill have no choice but to finally make a decision about Elias Voit’s (Zach Gilford) future. Voit is easily one ofCriminal Minds’ most terrifying unsubs, but he remained a pivotal character long after being apprehended. When it seemed likeCriminal Minds: Evolutionwould finally move on,the overarching plot would always lead back to Voit.
Voit’s amnesia inCriminal Minds: Evolutionseason 3threw an interesting wrench into the plot, with the killer slowly re-learning of his identity and criminal history. Yet, the prolific murderer had somehow gained a sense of morality after his prison attack, leaving him horrified by his former self. Consequently, Voit ironically became one ofthe Behavioral Analysis Unit’s greatest assets.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Ends With A Major Voit Cliffhanger
Though Redeemed, Voit’s Character Still Has Violent Urges
Indisputably, Voit was the most instrumental part of the BAU’s success inCriminal Minds: Evolutionseason 3, episode 10. Voit alone sent Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) encrypted messages, lowered Tessa’s (Jordana Spiro) guard, and saved Dr. Julia Ochoa’s (Aimee Garcia) life. After taking down the Disciple, Voit even gave the BAU a full confession of his old crimes as Sicarius.
Though aCriminal Minds: Evolutiontrailer suggested Voit’s rehabilitation was fake, the highly-anticipated scene— Voit attacking a fellow inmate on a prison bus— turned out to be a mere daydream. While the redeemed unsub looks utterly hopeless, the sequence has dangerous implications:the killer within Voit still exists, even if he’s kept on a leash. Eventually, Sicarius could even return.
Criminal Minds: Evolutionseason 3 wasted Voitby giving him such an anticlimactic final battle followed by a morose last act. The crime drama took great pains to set up Voit’s redemption arc, slowly proving that his empathy was real, and he had effectively become a different person entirely. Sadly, the closing moments of season 3 undermine that effort.
Based on the prison bus scene, it doesn’t just seem possible that Voit will return to killing— it feels inevitable. There are plenty of ways forCriminal Minds: Evolutionto give Voit a more satisfactory resolution. Unfortunately, any more time spent on the long-running antagonist would only be a hindrance forCriminal Minds: Evolutionseason 4 (and beyond).
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 4 Cannot Continue Milking Voit’s Storyline
The Killer Has Already Taken Up Too Much Of The Reboot’s Time
In fact, I’d rather leave Voit with his depressing closing scene in theCriminal Minds: Evolutionseason 3 finalethan see his character return again. Zach Gilford’s stellar acting made for some of the most viscerally heart-wrenching scenes in all ofCriminal Minds: Evolution, but that isn’t enough to keep Voit on deck as a perpetual loose end.
The longer Voit remained in the series, the BAU only seemed increasingly incompetent compared to the tech-savvy serial killer.
The Sicarius investigation has finally been closed, but even that ongoing storyline became exhausting by season 3— a point that the show itself concedes when Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) point-blank says Voit’s lingering presence isCriminal Minds: Evolution’s biggest problem. The longer Voit remained in the series, the BAU only seemed increasingly incompetent compared to the tech-savvy serial killer.
Even the most memorable unsub inCriminal MInds(C. Thomas Howell’s George Foyet/The Reaper) only appeared in seven episodes total. Comparatively,Voit’s 30-episode run onCriminal Minds: Evolutionis simply absurd. There was never room to escape Sicarius, even after he’d been behind bars, brutalized, and suddenly turned into a sympathetic figure. Elias Voit was practically an unkillable weed.
Now is the time for the BAU to reclaimCriminal Minds: Evolutionrather than keep dragging Voit along until he’s either dead or the team’s new unit chief. The season 3 finale was far from a perfect send-off, butthe crime drama cannot keep using Voit as a crutchand inadvertently limiting the procedural’s potential.
Why Not Moving On From Voit In Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 4 Can Spell Its Downfall
There’s Nowhere Left To Take His Character
Even ifCriminal Minds: Evolutionwanted to bring Voit back in season 4, the drama left no plausible reason for his return. Theending ofCriminal Minds: Evolutionseason 3took down the entire Sicarius network, with Penelope making a point to say that not a single killer evaded capture. Therefore, there’s no longer insider information for Voit to offer.
Consequently,any attempt to cram Voit into the overarching plot will read like a desperate ploy to avoid letting go ofCriminal Minds: Evolution’s once fearsome villain. If Voit gives into his killer urges, the BAU fighting Sicarius is doomed to become repetitive. Conversely, if the BAU seeks out Voit’s expert knowledge, it will make the heroes seem uncharacteristically inept.
All episodes ofCriminal Minds: Evolutionare streaming on Paramount+.
Truthfully, abandoning Voit’s character altogether is the best thingCriminal Minds: Evolutioncan do. For far too long, members of the BAU have been overlooked and under-developed, from Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) going weeks without individual scenes to Garcia playing second fiddle to a mass murderer. To save its main characters from becoming totally obsolete, Voit’s role must be retired.
It may be bittersweet, but the series can only benefit from Voit’s departure.Criminal Minds: Evolutioncan improve the BAU’s teamwork, introduce more personal storylines for under-utilized characters, and breathe new life into the series as it approaches a potential 20th season. The only wayCriminal Minds: Evolutioncan secure its future, however, is by leaving Voit in its past.
