Criminal Minds: Evolution went experimental this week, and while the ambition is commendable, the execution doesn’t quite meet it.
“The Brutal Man” unfolds primarily as a conversation between JJ and Dr. Julia Ochoa, unpacking both the case and JJ’s trauma.
But for all its introspective framing and structural departure, the emotional resonance feels slightly blunted by the very thing it leans on: heavy-handed parallels.
It begins with a scene that should trigger immediate dread — JJ and Tyler moving in on a killer they need to capture alive.
Inside the house is a horror show: a teen girl dead, another body behind the couch, and a masked figure descending the stairs. But this time, the killer is a woman, begging to be shot.
The twist lands with a thud, not a gasp.
The framing device for the hour is JJ’s sit-down with Julia. Their dynamic is compelling. JJ, raw and emotionally brittle, speaks with more honesty to this doctor-stranger than she does her colleagues.
Julia’s calm, inquisitive demeanor pulls more from JJ than we’ve seen since Will’s death. And A.J. Cook plays it beautifully — her grief is a quiet current under every word. But do we really need the entire episode to be structured this way?
It’s an interesting choice, and certainly not one the show has tried before at this level. But did it offer us more insight than a traditional structure could? That’s the part I’m torn on.
Because, as good as the conversation is, the connections between JJ’s grief and the case are on-the-nose.
The unsub, Ronald Grabler, forces families to choose which member should live. When they don’t, he kills them all, leaving one alive to suffer. The parallel to JJ’s own survivor’s guilt is obvious. Too obvious.
Unlike Resident Alien, which handles humanity metaphorically and with texture (and if you haven’t read my conversation with Chris Sheridan about it, what are you waiting for?), Criminal Minds serves it with a flashing neon sign.
That said, maybe it will still land with someone who needs it.
What works best is JJ’s slow realization that she’s not just working through the case — she’s working through her own fragility.
Her vomiting after hearing a victim’s words, her fixation on the family photos, her inability to stay focused during profiling — all of it is deeply human.
She’s trying to get better by doing what she knows: solve the case. But solving it doesn’t make her feel any better. And that’s the point Julia brings her to: you can’t treat grief like a puzzle. You can’t out-analyze it.
The JJ we’re watching isn’t broken, but she is lost. It’s powerful that she admits she usually gets by with help from her friends, only to recognize that this time, it might not be enough.
That hit me. Because even the strongest of us, the ones who hold everyone else up, sometimes run out of rope.
The way she talks about Will, about their perfect relationship, about the missing piece that used to be her anchor — it resonates. The grief sneaks in through the back, she says, like an unsub. It’s such a JJ line, and it’s painfully true.
How often does something hit you from behind when you’re least prepared? How often do you think you’re holding it together, only to realize you’re not even in the same zip code as OK?
I also appreciated how this episode highlighted that there is no universal coping mechanism. Julia prays. JJ asks if it works. Does it? I don’t know.
But there’s comfort in the idea that you don’t have to believe in answers to believe in the power of asking for help. Even in the dark, maybe especially in the dark, a whispered prayer can feel like a lifeline.
And then there’s the case. Does anyone else think this one was a little… undercooked? The killer didn’t land for me.
We’re told he’s part of Voit’s network, or at least a self-proclaimed disciple, but we don’t get much of his psychology beyond the basics.
He wants to watch people suffer. He wants power. But why? What broke him? Maybe we’ll learn more later, but it was the least interesting part of the episode.
And yet, the moment when JJ talks him down still felt earned — if not because of him, then because of her.
He becomes the stand-in for everything she wants to fight: senseless violence, unresolved trauma, the part of herself that wants to stay in the pain because it feels closer to Will than the alternative.
As for Voit? I’m still torn.
I don’t want him to be rehabilitated. But I also don’t want to waste the opportunity to use him well.
His memories returning only in proximity to the people he hurt is a strong storytelling tool. And his interaction with JJ here was surprising. That hug? I didn’t expect it. And yet, maybe I should have.
If he’s the worst of what JJ has faced, maybe his recognition of her grief — and his apology — is a sort of twisted closure. Not redemption, but acknowledgment.
Still, I can’t help but wonder: where is this all going? Are we grooming Voit into some Hannibal Lecter-lite consultant? Is that what we want? More importantly, is that what JJ wants?
We have been waiting a long time for an arc like this for A.J. Cook to sink her teeth into. Even if the structure falters, the performance doesn’t. JJ’s grief is still raw. Her mission isn’t over. And this hour, flawed but heartfelt, keeps her journey in sharp focus.
But enough from me.
What did you think of the structure?
Did it work for you, or did it feel too self-aware for its own good?
Do you believe Voit’s memory arc is going somewhere meaningful, or are we just keeping him around because Zach Gilford plays him so well? And are you, like me, still waiting for Tyler to get a win?
Drop your thoughts in the comments. We’re always reading.
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