In this week’s episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution, the team inches closer and closer to identifying Sicarius, and Will receives an update on his health.
Biting Off More Than He Can Chew
JJ points out the bite marks to Luke and Tara. She has them make a mock-up of the device used to bite the victim. While they do that, JJ discovers a woman, Jessica, with eerily similar bite marks, who lives to tell the story. Except … she won’t bite. She does tell JJ that when she got to the hospital, his assistant was already there with hush money and that in this industry, it’s dangerous to talk.
Mommy Issues
At the start of the case, Deputy Director Bailey lets the team know he will be overseeing the case. Prentiss wasn’t informed about it, but he says it’s on a “need-to-know” basis. Quickly, Rossi realizes that he knows one of the victims. He dated her. Prentiss pulls Bailey aside and asks him what else he’s hiding from them. Bailey tells her about The Beltway Elite, an exclusive dating app for members of the government. It’s discreet; photos and chats are deleted at the end of every session. Bailey is nervous about it getting out that he’s part of the app and having it ruin his reputation. Prentiss promises not to let it get out if he lays his hands off the BAU once they solve the case.
Tara, Prentiss, and Luke discuss the possibility of him making these women in his mother’s image because he lacks the attention he didn’t get in childhood. They learn that all the bodies are being dumped on land owned by the Virginian Senator, Martha Reeves and that her son, Benjamin, fits their profile. Director Bailey says they can’t arrest a sitting senator’s son based on a theory. Prentiss asks to put him under surveillance to gain evidence, but Bailey puts his foot down. Prentiss pushes him, and he tells them to look into Benjamin’s assistant.
They bring him in, but he runs them in circles. While this is happening, Benjamin meets up with Jessica and pulls a gun on her. Penelope pings her phone to a parking garage. Tara and JJ corner him and bring him in to talk.
Prentiss walks into the room, acting like his mother. She brings up him dyeing their hair, that when women get older, they lose sexual relevancy because of them turning grey. However, she’s never gotten as much attention as she does now. He starts to open up, talking about bodies inside of the shipping container. The names aren’t public knowledge, but Prentiss pushes him further. She asks him to tell her something they don’t know. He gives her cities where other “buried treasure” is.
9-1-1, We Have an Emergency
Benjamin shoots a text to Sicarius, letting him know he’s in trouble. Senator Reeves states that if they don’t drop all the charges against Benjamin, she’ll contact people on the senate judiciary committee and have their jobs revoked. Prentiss puts the decision in Bailey’s hand, and he folds, saying they should back off. Prentiss angrily leaves the room. Once back home, Senator Reeves attempts to head upstairs, but she’s stopped by Sicarius, who’s holding a gun. When Benjamin calls 9-1-1, he comes running. Senator Reeves begs him to call off Elias, but he refuses. Prentiss and Bailey find a bloodied Senator, and he says they pinged the family jet and should have a location within the hour.
Will’s Diagnosis
After finding out Will may or may not have cancer, JJ accompanies him to his next doctor’s appointment. There, they learn Will’s lungs are clear, but his white blood cell count is high. She also finds out he’s been seeing a doctor for way longer than she thought. JJ gets a call from work that they have a case, and as she begins to turn it down, Will interjects and tells her to go. She offers to have her mom take care of the boys, but Will wants absolutely nothing to do with that. JJ warns him that he needs to tell her when the next set of results come in. If he doesn’t, it won’t be her mom he’ll be facing. It’ll be his own.
Will visits the BAU to see JJ and deliver an update on his diagnosis. According to him, he doesn’t have cancer, but he does have an inflamed thyroid. He got a prescription for treatment, and it’s non-life threatening. They want to be more open with each other; Will says the door swings both ways. She needs to call him to let him know what she’s walking into.
Penelope’s Shadow
Prentiss informs Penelope that because Tyler sent in evidence to her computer, she needs to help them process it. Penelope tries to get out of it by working the new case, but Rossi puts his foot down.
Tyler cooperates, first mansplaining to Penelope about the servers hiding behind a third-party firewall. She needs to launch a DDOS to counteract any bots that respond. Rossi leaves the two of them, so Penelope shares a few of her rules to make it a more comfortable experience.
After upsetting Penelope, who refused to work with him any further, Rossi tells Tyler he needs to apologize so they can catch Sicarius. So, Tyler shows up to her office with a box. Inside, a little kitten. He doesn’t like cats, so Penelope says that if he really means it, he’s going to have to do a little bit more than just give her a cat. He cradles it as they break through and find chats between Benjamin and Sicarius. However, Elias gets a notification on his phone and quickly wipes out any evidence.
Do You Copy?
JJ and Luke are on their way to Georgia, per Prentiss’ order. They were sent to check out Benjamin’s claims about there being more “treasure” buried there. Upon arrival, they come across a bunker that is eerily similar to the shipping containers. Something in the room is set off, and Luke quickly realizes it’s a bomb. After announcing it, he and JJ run out, but their body cameras shut off just as the explosion sets off. Prentiss desperately tries to make contact with both of them, the whole BAU and Deputy Director Bailey looking on. But they get no response.
The first five episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution are available to stream on Paramount+. Be sure to stay up to date with all of our coverage, including recaps and interviews with the cast and crew.
