Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution.Set three years after the series finale of Criminal Minds on CBS, the revival series Criminal Minds: Evolution picks up in a nearly brand-new world. Following the pandemic, the Behavioral Analysis Unit is a shell of the team we left. Matt Simmons (Daniel Henney) and Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) are gone, on a mysterious assignment, while Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) has taken a promotion as Unit Chief that has taken her out of the field. The agents that remain — newly-appointed team leader David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (A.J. Cook), Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler), and Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) — do their best to stop serial killers while being forced to work alone or in smaller groups to increase their efficacy, all while having major growth, whether positive or negative, in their personal lives.
However, the character that is the most surprising to catch up with is Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness). The BAU’s longtime technical analyst officially left the FBI in the CBS finale, the only member of the team to do so, and agreed to go on a date with Luke. While that date seemingly didn’t lead anywhere as the two characters are not together (to our knowledge, after five episodes), Garcia has experienced incredible development, both personally and professionally, in her time away from the team. This development has made her the most exciting character to become reacquainted with, especially as she is pulled back into the BAU with their investigation of elusive killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford).
How Has Garcia Changed During the Time Away?
As we get back into the team’s orbit, it’s undeniable how much Garcia has grown over the past few years. She feels lighter, more so than ever on the original show even with her quirks and love for baby animals. Her new professional venture is a safe social media network (SOAR) for minors, strictly regulated by her and her team. In a way, it’s a much better fit for Garcia as she’s still helping people stay protected without the murders, crime scene photos, and other horrible things that Garcia couldn’t stomach in her last life.
For possibly the first time ever, Garcia seems truly happy and fulfilled with where she’s at in life. That said, Garcia is upset when Luke arrives at her apartment asking for assistance in their new case, interrupting a get-together with her friends. The last thing she wants is to become involved with the darkness surrounding the team again — professionally, at least, as she still considers them to be her family in her personal life. She explains how she’s been absorbing trauma, including the trauma of the many victims and killers that they come across, throughout her entire life. Since quitting the FBI, she’s been going to therapy and working to better herself, and the results are right in front of us. Reluctantly, Garcia agrees to help, but primarily because their investigation involves her social media network as that’s the only real connection between the victims.
Possibly the most shocking moment of the series’ two-episode premiere is the interaction with Garcia and Rossi shortly after she begins to pitch in on their investigation. Rossi is broken down by grief over his late wife’s death, and when Garcia tries to float her ideas about who they should be looking for on SOAR, he rudely shuts her down and acts as if she’s never done this before. In a truly beautiful moment, Garcia declares that she doesn’t let anyone speak to her that way, especially somebody she loves, and she abruptly turns off the video chat.
For Garcia, this is a monumental shift in character. For 15 seasons, we watched as Garcia repeatedly let people walk all over her. She had always been incredibly non-confrontational, working to avoid conflict by any means necessary. More often than not, Garcia was the person to take responsibility and make things right or forgive someone for their transgressions with no questions asked. By telling Rossi off for his treatment of her and waiting to forgive him until he wholeheartedly apologizes, Garcia’s work on herself shines brightly and gives her a new edge. Particularly because she does this in spite of everything Rossi is dealing with.
Can She Ever Work for the BAU Again?
Garcia’s evolution is exciting and makes the longtime character completely fresh upon her return to our screens. But, the biggest question for Garcia moving forward, as she hesitantly decides to work alongside her former team to catch their newest Big Bad, is whether she can ever work for the BAU full-time again. Part of Garcia’s growth was stepping away from the BAU and taking the time to process the horrors she had seen and even experienced firsthand during her time with the FBI. Garcia’s complex relationship with Tyler Green (Ryan-James Hatanaka) in the most recent episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution offers a special test for Garcia with her (temporary, for now) return to the BAU.
Tyler is the only source of information about Voit’s network of serial killers that the team has to rely on, as he infiltrated the group in order to get revenge on Voit for killing his sister many years prior. But, his roundabout methods, like giving Garcia the coordinates to the kill kits, have wrapped her up in this investigation. He’s sucked her back into her old life, and they’ve been forced to work together as the online serial killer forum is the only chance for the team to get information about Voit and the other killers he’s commissioned over the pandemic. Unlike the old Garcia, she verbally spars with Tyler and makes her voice heard about her distaste for him and how he has used her in his hunt for Voit. Regardless, whereas she has a soft spot for her found family at the BAU, Green is a major test for Garcia to decide whether she can do this kind of work again and maintain the healthy life she has managed to create for herself.
With Garcia, we’re seeing arguably one of the series’ most impactful and detailed explorations into one of the main characters. Garcia didn’t ever quite get her time to fully shine when the series was on CBS either, but this story is giving her the attention she deserves and some much-needed and consistent exploration into her mental state. Garcia has always brought a lightness to the series and to the BAU, which has been desperately needed amidst the series’ dark stories. However, it never really captured how that darkness truly affected her life outside of work and the beautiful family she had created. Now, we’re finally getting that, and Garcia is (more than ever before) a true breath of fresh air.
Criminal Minds: Evolution returns January 12, 2023, on Paramount+.