Criminal Minds: Evolution – Season 16 [2022]

Criminal Minds: Evolution is an evolution of the franchise that humanizes the main cast, ups the stakes, but misses on some smaller marks.

Short story: Evolution is a solid continuation of the procedural drama for the streaming era. The story is a juicy one, and the Criminal Minds cast is just too good to not be able to do some of their best work with such an involved story. However, some side plots felt force halfway through the season to spin out a second one.

As much as I loved having the cast back, with evolved 3-dimensional personalities, especially Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, I really really missed Matthew Gray Gubler, Daniel Henney and Shemar Moore.

Let’s be honest. Of all the long-running CBS (and NBC) police procedurals, Criminal Minds is the best among them. Plus, in serialized form without ads or language restrictions, it’s even better. From the longer length of episodes to the much bigger, somewhat serialized story of a group of killers working together, the show is making the most of its new life and succeeding at doing so.

Can’t wait for season two (or 17, depending on how you’re counting).

Should you watch it?

Criminal Minds tries a more serialized skin in this soft reboot. The show reinvents itself for the streaming world while preserving its unsavory virtues: serial killers.

Where can I watch it?

You can stream all seasons of Criminal Minds on Paramount+ in USA and Disney+ in Canada.