Criminal Minds Honoring An Iconic 19-Year-Old Episode Gives New Meaning To 1 Jason Gideon Line

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8.

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 paid tribute to one of the show’s best episodes, providing new context and meaning to a Jason Gideon line while honoring his character. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8 featured a major plot twist at the end, making it an instantly memorable episode. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 is also known as Criminal Minds season 17. Viewers don’t have to watch the original 15 Criminal Minds seasons to follow along, but the frequent callbacks to past episodes and characters are a treat for those who did.

Criminal Minds: Evolution consistently raises the bar with the level of danger, suspense, fear, and even gore, while keeping familiar storylines at its core. Almost two decades later, Criminal Minds is still surprising viewers with plot twists and major reveals. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8 features many parallels to one of the best Criminal Minds episodes, season 1, episode 6, “L.D.S.K.” It’s still looked back fondly upon and the latest Criminal Minds: Evolution episode reminds viewers why.

Jill Repeats Gideon’s Stance On Taking Down Unsubs From Criminal Minds Season 1, Episode 6

Jill Uses Her Profile On Damien To Stop Him From Killing Her

Criminal Minds season 1, episode 6, “L.D.S.K.,” followed the original BAU team as they tried to stop a long-distance serial killer. The episode opened with Reid failing his firearms assessment, which meant he couldn’t carry a gun in the field until he could retake and pass the test. This almost got him killed at the end of “L.D.S.K.” when Hotch and Reid were trapped alone with the sniper, but Reid took Gideon’s words to heart. Gideon had told him,

“
I don’t care if you carry a gun or not. The deadliest weapon we have is a thorough and accurate profile.
”

When Jill Gideon went to confront Damien at the end of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8, she went unarmed, even though she knew he intended to kill her. In Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 7, Jill told Emily she didn’t like guns, so it wasn’t surprising she didn’t have one on her when she lured Damien to Gideon’s cabin. Jill successfully used her profile to keep Damien from killing her. She appealed to his emotions and empathized with him, which Gideon called “the only truly effective weapon” in “L.D.S.K.”

Jill Could Have Been The One Who Gave Gideon The Advice On Weapons In Criminal Minds

Jill Wasn’t A Field Agent With The BAU In Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 introducing Jill Gideon challenged much of what had been established about the BAU, its history, and Rossi and Gideon. In her recurring role, it was revealed that she wasn’t just Rossi’s ex-wife, but she was also a biological psychiatrist who specialized in epigenetics. What truly altered the show’s history was the reveal that she’d been around the BAU since its inception, and had helped Rossi and Gideon develop their cases and revolutionize the profiling field. Yet, she never got any of the credit.

Jill’s involvement was kept a secret for her own protection, as Gideon feared unsubs would seek revenge, and she’d be stuck in the crossfire. His fears were founded when Damien went after her because she was part of the unfortunate creation of Stuart House. The reveals about Jill in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 open up many possibilities about the show’s past, particularly around Gideon’s character. Since Jill wasn’t a field agent with the BAU, and she didn’t like guns, she could have been the one to give Gideon the advice he then gave Reid in “L.D.S.K.”

The Ending Of “L.D.S.K.” Foreshadowed Damien’s Death In Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2, Episode 8

Reid Killed The Unsub At The End Of “L.D.S.K.”

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8, “North Star,” ended with Damien being killed by a sniper. He’d ordered his partner Jade to kill him after he’d surrendered himself to the FBI under Jill’s guidance. Damien knew they’d be taking him alive, and he’d be asked to cooperate with them, so he made a difficult, heartbreaking move, choosing death over imprisonment. The use of snipers was another parallel between “North Star” and “L.D.S.K.”

Damien’s death was shocking, unexpected, quick, and silent thanks to the sniper gun. That same method of killing made the unsub in Criminal Minds season 1, episode 6, Philip Dowd, so hard to capture. When they finally discovered who the unsub was, Reid and Hotch were trapped with him, racing against the clock with the police force trying to enter and eliminate Dowd. Hotch used his profile to empathize and identify with Dowd and subtly communicated with Reid to help him understand their plan.

When the time came, Reid borrowed Hotch’s gun and killed Dowd. With the callbacks to “L.D.S.K.,” Damien’s death almost seemed inevitable. At the end of the episode, Reid told Gideon he was right, you don’t need a gun to kill somebody, “but it helps.” Though Jill wasn’t trying to kill Damien in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8, the profile she used to save her life accidentally became a weapon that helped end Damien’s.

New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution are released every Thursday on Paramount+ through August 1.

Criminal Minds: Evolution

In Criminal Minds: Evolution, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time. Original cast members continuing their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Zach Gilford joins the dynamic cast as a recurring guest star in a season-long arc.

Cast

Joe Mantegna , A.J. Cook , Kirsten Vangsness , Aisha Tyler , Adam Rodriguez , Paget Brewster , Zach Gilford

Release Date

November 24, 2022

Seasons

2

Creator(s)

Erica Messer

Prequel

Criminal Minds