I’m So Furious At Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 For Killing An Original Show Character

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 2 kills Will LaMontagne, and I am livid about it. Before it became one of Paramount+ most reliable thriller series, the Criminal Minds series lived on broadcast TV, airing on CBS as an annual show for 15 years. When it ended in 2020 with David Rossi finally defeating his latest unsub and remarrying Krystall, its run was more effectively capped off with Penelope Garcia quitting the Behavioral Analysis Unit. However, Criminal Minds maintained its popularity, so the then-starting Paramount+ decided to pick it up as essentially a continuation of the CBS show, albeit with some changes.

I was one of the millions of viewers who started watching Criminal Minds back when it was still on CBS, sitting through every single spine-tingling case, although some were creepier and scarier than others. However, as with many procedurals, Criminal Minds‘ backbone was its characters. The original BAU team was great, but roster changes were inevitable, resulting with the addition of Penelope Garcia and Dave Rossi. However, there are a few ancillary players who are almost as important to Criminal Minds‘ story because of their ties to the profilers, and I can’t believe the most prominent of them has just been killed.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3, Episode 2 Ends With Will’s Unexpected Death

Will Dies Of Aneurysm

The fight against Elias Voit continues in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 as the team moves on to a new supporting unsub. As with the rest of the streaming show’s run, the case-of-the-week is interlaced with a personal storyline, which happens to be JJ’s. BAU’s former media liaison is busy at home planning for his son’s birthday. I predicted that Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 would be about JJ after the first 2 years centered on Emily Prentiss and Dave Rossi, respectively.

However, aside from the BAU-gate, things get so much worse for her, as “The Zookeeper” ends with the unexpected death of Will. Despite being cleared for his health scare in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 1 and subsequent absence in season 2, the franchise’s longest-running and most important supporting character is killed by an aneurysm. The outing wraps up with a shell-shocked JJ telling her team that her husband is gone.

Will’s Death Hurts The Criminal Minds Franchise, Regardless Of What Comes Next For JJ

It Perpetuates One Of The Worst Messaging In Criminal Minds

Any death is heartbreaking, even for a show that deals with it regularly like Criminal Minds. While the death of a main profiler has been rare, they aren’t immune to dealing with personal losses. Haley Hotchner’s murder by George Foyet remains haunting years after it went down in Criminal Minds season 5. The same goes for Maeve Donovan’s death in season 8. More recently, Criminal Minds: Evolution started with Rossi in the throes of grief after Krystall died due a COVID-19-adjacent situation.

I understand that occasionally, major deaths are important to reinforce stakes, especially for a long-running 1 like Criminal Minds. My issue with this comes from the idea that the narrative gain that it will get from taking out Will isn’t enough to offset how it negatively impacts both the show’s past and future. For the longest time, there’s a connotation that BAU members cannot have a happy personal life, for various reasons — whether that’s because work demands long hours or because it puts their loved ones in danger.

They [Will & JJ] were proof that it’s possible that profilers can thrive both in their professional and personal lives.

This dichotomy has been used to explain character exits in the past. Shemar Moore’s Derek Morgan retired early after getting married and having a child, while Hotch walked away from the FBI to raise Jack, even after Mr. Scratch was killed. Mainly, Prentiss has had 1 too many failed relationships. All throughout these personal tragedies, JJ and Will’s relationship was solid. They were proof that it’s possible that profilers can thrive both in their professional and personal lives. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t go through rough patches. They did, but they always survived the challenges.

Moving forward, Will’s death will not only resurrect but perpetuate the defeatist idea of being in the BAU. Criminal Minds: Evolution can do something to combat that by starting a new romance, but it’s a problem that they shouldn’t even be dealing with if the series allowed Josh Stewart to continue his steady role as JJ’s husband. Will’s existence wasn’t intrusive or distracting anyway, and the role also didn’t demand as much attention. Still, there’s something comforting about knowing that JJ came home to him.

Will’s Death Is Unnecessary In Criminal Minds

JJ Has Enough Story For Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Without Will’s Death

Admittedly, I have not been as emotionally wrecked by a Criminal Minds episode since Morgan left. Between the end of “The Zookeeper” and the whole of Evolution season 3, episode 3, however, which deals with the aftermath of Will’s death, including his funeral, the Paramount+ series has done its most heartbreaking sequences yet. I expect that Criminal Minds: Evolution will use JJ’s grief to stage some powerful scenes for her moving forward. However, they could also have done this without making her a widow.

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 could have leaned into the BAU-gate fallout instead. As the BAU’s former public relations officer, JJ has managed the team’s image for years. That said, it’s different when she becomes the target of these trolls, especially since she has two sons. “The Zookeeper” actually briefly touched upon this shortly before Will’s death. It could also create a conflict within the BAU, considering that Prentiss hid this from her. I always felt like season 2 moved on from this bombshell quite quickly. This could then go back to the team’s work on taking down Voit.

Now, doing a deep dive on BAU-gate while JJ is also grieving her husband seems like overkill. Even with the help of her fellow profilers, it could be far too heartbreaking to see her deal with all these challenges for the rest of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3. This doesn’t even consider the ongoing case against Voit, and how he continues to haunt Voit.