‘Criminal Minds’ May Have Just Set Up Its Greatest Villain Yet

As we celebrate the news of Criminal Minds being renewed for Season 19 (also known as Season 4 of Criminal Minds: Evolution) and finding out many of the cast members are returning, there is one name on the list that stands out. Aimee Garcia is slated to reprise her role as Dr. Julia Ochoa, the doctor assigned to prolific serial killer Elias Voit’s (Zach Gilford) care. Introduced in Season 3 of Evolution, Julia first starts off as somewhat of an arbitrary healthcare professional who is diligently following the Hippocratic oath and provides Voit with support despite his criminal record.

However, as the season progresses, Julia has been stepping into a bigger role and, since she is coming back for the next season, it begs the question we didn’t think to ask before: can we trust her? We still don’t know much about the character, which actually makes her an exciting candidate for potentially becoming the show’s next villain.

Dr. Julia Is in a Unique Position on ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’

This train of thought actually arises from Garcia’s own words during an interview with TV Insider, where she talks about her new character. “Criminal Minds does a great job of subverting expectations and putting everything upside-down,” Garcia says, adding:

“The characters you like, you end up hating, the characters you hate, you ended up loving. So I cannot confirm nor deny anything, but I say trust no one. And in the same way, is she the good doctor? Does she have an ulterior motive? Does she have a superior interest to Voit besides do no harm and to keep him healthy? I don’t know. But I would say with a show like Criminal Minds, everything is on the table.”

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Garcia is absolutely correct about Criminal Minds’ ability to surprise, from back in the early seasons when Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) faked her death to right now, where Voit is suspiciously on the cusp of a redemption arc. As such, turning this seemingly innocuous doctor into an antagonist would be a bold move, but is definitely a thrilling prospect. It would also be easy to take advantage of her middle-ground position in the series, as Julia performs the unbiased duties of a doctor. She is stuck between opposing forces of taking care of and trying to empathize with a serial killer afflicted with amnesia, and the BAU breathing down her neck in efforts to push Voit to his limits and convict him. However, in these later episodes, there has been a shift in their relationship that primes Julia to be a villain more than before.

Dr. Julia Has Power Over the BAU in ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’

At the beginning of the season, the BAU was constantly trying to strong-arm Julia into getting sessions with Voit, often invoking the deal they had with him to get some face-to-face time, even if Julia purported he wasn’t ready. However, the dynamics have shifted as Julia is often able to stand her ground and the BAU have increasingly been deferring to her professional opinion. Even in the latest episode, Prentiss comes into Voit’s hospital room and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) is sleeping on a chair. Prentiss carefully walks through the door, ensuring that she isn’t disturbing Julia and Voit’s conversation, then immediately wakes Penelope up gently. All these actions are far less authoritative than they were at the start of the season. By witnessing the change in how they treat her, it is evident that Julia has garnered some influence over the BAU, but her real position of power is revealed during Season 3, Episode 4.

After the death of Will (Josh Stewart), JJ (A.J. Cook) was compelled to do grief counseling sessions with Julia before she was proclaimed fit to return to work. While it took some time to chip away at JJ’s exterior, Julia is eventually privy to JJ’s darkest thoughts and feelings of helplessness. If we take the stance that knowledge is power, then Julia takes a dominant position in this interaction as she becomes aware of JJ’s intimate thoughts and sees her in one of her most vulnerable states. Additionally, even though Julia does share some of her religious beliefs, we still don’t know much about the doctor: she is still an unknown factor that can surprise us with her motivations or future actions. With this therapy session, being able to control how much the BAU interact with Voit, and the BAU’s increasing respect for her, Julia enhances how much influence she could potentially exert over them. This means that, if she does turn into a villain, she would make a pretty formidable one.

Julia Is in the Perfect Position To Become a ‘Criminal Minds’ Villain

With the lack of background around Julia and her unique position in Evolution, the show has an opportunity to bring forth a fresh villain in the future. As Garcia questioned, we don’t actually know if she has ulterior motives for treating Voit or if she really is the friendly, professional doctor she is made out to be, making space for a gripping subversion in her arc. It would be a brilliant move on Evolution’s part, especially since the novelty of its current villain is slowly wearing out. Voit still remains to be a fascinating case study and thorn in the bureau’s side, but we’ve had him for three seasons now and counting. Adding another subversive, bold antagonist into the mix would re-invigorate the freshness of the series, especially one that we and the cast have put arbitrary trust in due to her profession.

As such, if Garcia’s warnings do pan out, then the character’s future in the show will be far more exciting than we came to expect. We’ve never really had a long-term medical professional among the cast members (there’s not even a permanent medical examiner, which is usually a staple within cop procedurals), so this is a great opportunity for the series to play around with Julia’s role. As we reach the end of Evolution Season 3 and await the next one, make sure to keep one eye open for this mysterious doctor.