Is Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 1 Episode 9 the first time Criminal Minds has been without a quote?
Elias said, “The Latin phrase Memento Mori translates to ‘Remember that you must die.’ Roman slaves whispered it to their generals to keep them from being consumed by hubris.” That’s as close as we got to a quote this week.
It fit the episode perfectly.
If they hadn’t started the episode with that reflection of hubris, it would have been difficult to stomach the good guys’ mistakes, which led to Rossi in a bunker and Tyler getting shot.
Those two men went above and beyond hubris in their quest to prove something to themselves.
As expected, Rossi’s meet-n-greet with Sydney Voit was bountiful.
Sydney didn’t have to lie about whether the man at the hardware store was her husband. She was so thrown that she just wanted to know where it was.
But before we get into that, why on earth did it take me so long to realize that Zack Gilford and Kiele Sanchez were married? That puts an entirely different spin on the series. It makes the scenes between the two of them more intimate and playful.
Up to a point, they were just playacting a normal couple, albeit one in distress. But then Elias started getting visions of killing his family.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall to listen to their dinner conversations after another day on set. This is the kind of partnership that will stay with them for the rest of their lives because of the intimacy on and off-screen.
No wonder Sydney couldn’t give Rossi a nonchalant “nope, I don’t recognize him” look. Kiele would have probably laughed out loud.
Now that I got that out of the way, we can get back on track. Yep, Sydney recognized her husband, and it threw her. For anyone else, it would have been the perfect opportunity to nail her down to lean against Elias. Instead, Elias was right there at the ready.
We knew a lot about Elias before this episode, but the discovery that he’s learned too much from Rossi’s work landed as a surprise, even if it makes perfect sense in hindsight.
It wasn’t until his personal life began to fray that he lost focus. Until then, he’d been able to elude capture, likely because of reading Rossi’s works, and he punctuated the conversation with that tidbit.
I can remember specifically trying to see the title of the book Elias was reading at the cabin, but I couldn’t catch it. Did some of you lock onto his author of choice before now?
I love the way Zach Gilford plays with Elias. When he’s toying with Rossi at the FBI office, he’s almost feminine in his approach, but later, he drops that affectation when Rossi ridiculously enters his home. I’d love to know what’s behind that little detail.
Whatever it is, it works well enough that Rossi drops his guard when he should be on high alert. There’s that hubris.
Flashbacks have been used as a storytelling device a few times throughout Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 1, particularly in helping establish exactly who Elias Voit is and why he’s a killer.
I’m not sure it was as effective of a device during “Memento Mori.”
It wasn’t unwelcome to see Tara and Rebecca’s first meeting, but it didn’t really apply to the episode. Rossi’s recollection of Krystall’s funeral showed him as vulnerable, but it made sense only when he showed fear of being underground in the bunker.
It wasn’t a detail that had ever arisen before and seemed shoehorned in because of his predicament. But it didn’t matter because who would be happy to be shut in an underground shipping container, knowing they could take their last breath there?
Similarly, it didn’t make a lot of sense to include the (albeit cute) scene with Alvez and Garcia on a date other than to suggest that Tyler Green is the one for Penelope Garcia. That had already been spelled out beautifully without the flashback.
Of course, where else would those scenes have fit if not here, when Rossi’s life was hanging in the balance? I suppose it’s as good a time as any to think back to various moments in your life, whether you’re the victim or hoping to save a life.
The attorney general storyline continues to grate. It’s even worse now because where the hell is Bailey? He had his big moment in the sun on Criminal Minds: Season 1 Episode 7, only to vanish entirely.
Someone needs to be running point with that terrible AG, who, like most attorneys, only cares about her scorecard and not actual lives at stake.
If she weren’t such a pain in the ass, Prentiss wouldn’t have urged Rossi to push the envelope. The clock was ticking, and they needed results.
Still, it’s so unlike Rossi to allow his pride to direct him in such a monumental case. Yes, he wanted to end it, but he also knew they were on shaky ground at the bureau. Any mistake could have cut the cord on the investigation, and Elias could escape.
He’s damn near that point now.
I’ll blame Elias’s casual and feminine demeanor that got Rossi into the house. But it’s impossible to understand how Elias got the jump on a trained and armed FBI agent, even with the age gap.
A plot device is the best I can come up with on this one.
From Tyler, the hubris makes sense. He’s young and cocksure of his capabilities. And without some of that, Rossi would be on his own. Where Tyler fell flat (figuratively before literally) was when he refused to shoot first. He needed to be tortured by Elias.
Rossi had already learned you can’t trust a serial killer. He wasn’t able to circle Tyler around to that before Elias messed with Tyler’s head.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, about Rossi screaming help ad nauseam made a lick of sense. Uh, duh. He should have been saying anything he remembered of his conversation with Elias instead of screaming for help.
At that moment, Rossi seemed like a 70-year-old man with no business as an active agent. It wasn’t a good feeling.
It’s doubtful that we have to worry about Rossi’s life. He’s got enough on his plate losing his badge and gun (not that he knows that yet).
Sure, some shows have killed off leading characters without the public knowing (Will Gardner on The Good Wife, for example), but that’s not the kind of universe in which the Criminal Minds franchise operates.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 1 Episode 10 should be a lot of fun with all hands on deck as they race to save Rossi and countless others from Elias Voit’s hands.
But it would have been much more fun getting there if hubris-driven mistakes hadn’t paved the way.
What about you?
Were you surprised that two men who should have known better got so overconfident that their lives were at stake?
What’s Elias’s next move? How long will Rossi be underground?
What’s your best guess for how the season ends?
Hit the comments and share your thoughts!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.