Criminal Minds Season 19 Episode 3 Review: “Body Count” Delivers More Voit — With a Twist

Critic’s Rating: 2.85 / 5.0

2.85

Does anyone remember the Two and a Half Men theme song? It’s super simple. Here it is in its entirety: 

Men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men (Ooh) / Men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men / Men, men, men, men, manly men Ooh-hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, ooh / Men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men (Ooh) / Men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men (Ha) /Mennnnnnn

Now, just replace that with Voit, and we’ve got Criminal Minds Season 19 in a nutshell.

And yes, I know how much you dislike it. And Criminal Minds Season 19 Episode 3 didn’t do anything to alleviate the pain. If anything, it exacerbated it.

Because the case of the week revolved around a North Carolina DA hoping to pin the murders of a mother and child on Voit, because a body was discovered with what resembled one of Voit’s kill kits nearby.

I’ll be honest. I was all over the map at the beginning of this one. I was almost certain of two things from the onset. 

First, that Voit was definitely planning his escape; second, that the murders would turn out to be Cyrus’s, not Voit’s.

I was wrong on both counts. 

Because Criminal Minds is the all-Voit all the time show now, I keep waiting for him to break bad. I pretty much refuse his redemption arc.

And yes, they have been redeeming the guy.

Criminal Minds Season 18 toyed with the head injury aspect (Was that even what it was? Sadly, I’ve forgotten… I admit it.) by manipulating his brain patterns to remove all traces of psychopathy.

But being the scientific-minded folks they are, the BAU worked hard to bring that joyful, murderous side of him back around. The kind thing would have been to keep him locked up and blissfully in the dark about his crimes.

That wouldn’t be fair to the victims who needed answers. So, he’s back and constantly tortured by the victims’ families.

You might think he’d be proud of his accomplishments, but not so much. He is hounded by constant letters and appeals to his better nature, and he’s sick of it.

So, he saw the latest murder as an opportunity to end it all. No, all of the attention to the guards and their movements was not an indication he wanted to run. I guess he was just mulling it over. Or something.

Rossi knew straight away that pinning the murders on Voit was a mistake. But DA Joy was so sure, they had to play along despite the fact that everything about Kalyiah and Avery’s murders screamed they were a crime of passion.

Voit confessed so much, so why not these two? None of it made sense. DA Joy thought Voit might feel shame for killing a child, and that he wants to be one step ahead of the death penalty. 

The only way Voit could be put to death is if all the victims were found. It’s hard to put him in the ground if they’re missing even one victim.

But then the two of them were in the room together, and Voit did exactly what Rossi knew he wouldn’t: he said he could find the other body if they let him go with them on the trip.

That put him on the line for a death penalty verdict. So much for doing what he could to mitigate that.

DA Joy tied himself into all kinds of knots to suggest that Voit improvised after the murders for various reasons, which is why his no body, no crime MO didn’t work this time.

But the oddities continued even after they were on the plane, such as when Voit was chatting with faux Rossi while Rossi was sitting in the background, to the point that Rossi stepped in to defend himself.

The opening scene was meant to show us a bit about the family and cast doubt on Tristan. He admits he was a shitty husband who fucked around, but he wasn’t a killer.

There were other suspects, notably Kalyiah’s husband, Tristan. He was a shitty husband, but he wasn’t a killer. He was just an awful human being. 

When they got to the location where the other body was supposed to be found, Voit recalled the area. I think. He was recalling himself as a child, not the serial killer they’re expecting. When he took off running, I thought, well, why not shoot him in the back and call it a day? 

Because it’s the Voit show, and that would rob us of it. 

But as soon as Prentiss and Rossi visited with Ryleigh and Jesse Poole, and Rossi remembered a bookcase that had been on a wall in the crime scene photos but was gone now, I knew they were in on it. 

Honestly, I knew that as soon as Davonte mentioned her name and how hard she took it. But we’ll get to that.

I didn’t understand any of the twists around how Voit found the body. None at all. But apparently, it was a game that Rossi and Gideon used to play. I’m the unsub, and I’m the profiler or something. 

It turned out that Voit didn’t want to escape at all. He wanted to be convicted of this crime so that he could be put to death.

Which brought me back to, well, he was free and running. Why not just keep running until they shot him in the back? Maybe he’s not that eager for death after all, but the idea that the public that is demanding things from him sees that he pays the ultimate legal price for his crimes. 

So instead of nailing Voit for the crime, the team had to appeal to his softer side. If he didn’t come clean, the real killer (or killers) would never be found.

And as I said, I knew as soon as Davonte mentioned his other daughter, it was Ryleigh. Why? Because the writers laid enough hints that I could. I mean, I consider myself pretty empathetic and think I have a keen understanding of people, but these aren’t real people.

So, color me surprised when they initially said it wasn’t Ryleigh but her husband, Jesse. Dude ran like his pants were on fire.

Then they tossed Voit into the holding cell with Tristan. To quote Tristan, “Hey, what the actual fuck, huh?”

Outside, JJ and Tyler chuckled that it was bound to work, right? So, another pivot to get to Ryleigh. 

There are only two fundamental motives for murder. Passion and profit. Sometimes, they go hand in hand, as they do here, Prentiss explained. And that’s when I was vindicated.

Ryleigh changed her sister’s beloved house the very moment she took possession of it after Kalyiah’s death. Kalyiah had used many special touches with the home she inherited from her grandmother, adn the first thing Ryleigh did was rip them all out.

And in the event of Kalyiah’s death, the house would go to Avery. Ouch. Ryleigh was not a beloved granddaughter, despite caring for grandma when she was ill. So, Ryleigh killed Avery, too. And her husband, Jesse? He helped her.

The saddest part of this story was that Davonte lost two daughters, a granddaughter, and two sons-in-law before all was said and done. They weren’t all dead, but they might as well have been.

As for the team, Tyler is feeling less than a profiler. He would have never considered Ryleigh or Tristan. Even Voit managed to spot them. 

But Rossi reminded him that his personal experience with family wouldn’t allow him to go there. Honestly, if that’s your Achilles heel, that’s a pretty good one to have.

His family was so loving that he couldn’t imagine turning on them. Others aren’t so lucky. Rossi just thinks he needs more time to put aside his personal bias. After all, he’s still very new to this work.

He fell into it and was added to the team under extreme circumstances that wouldn’t happen with others in the profession. 

Tyler realizes he has to detach and wonders what will happen if he can’t. Rossi scoffed. He knows Tyler will be an excellent profiler. Why? Because he’s a great effin’ profiler.

And we need to mention the weird Garcia storyline. I’m not sure I’m down with it.

The day-of-the-week sex partners thing is just icky. I say this as she’s always seemed to want someone, a person. At least I thought she did. This just feels awkward, especially when JJ and her kids are playing roommates right now.

While I understand that the pipes of their new house burst, I missed why they had to table camping for the time being.

But it was impossible to miss that Luke created a life-size camping diorama in Garcia’s living room so they could all spend time together. That guy? He’s a gift. If there was a heart for Criminal Minds, Luke Alvez would be pumping it all by himself.

Now, I’m still not willing to accept Voit’s redemption arc, and I don’t believe the devil on his shoulder is the only reason he’s detailing the guard’s movements and testing the tensile strength of his sporks, but here we are.

And next week? You’ll begin sharing this weekly journey with Alex. I think I’m out. I’m getting jaded, and I’m tired. I’ll see how it all plays out, and maybe join you in the comments. Until then, what’s on your mind?

I want to know. And let me know if you can’t stop singing the Two and a Half Men theme song with Voit’s name in it. You’re welcome!