Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Episode 8 Review: Is The Fan Smarter Than Voit?

While Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 started off feeling repetitive, Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Episode 8, “Requiem,” changes the game completely. It feels like the show has finally found its footing, perfectly balancing unsub stories with Voit’s never-ending story.

After three seasons of the show’s new version, we can now feel like the OG Criminal Minds: Evolution never went away. Viewers get in-depth stories of new unsubs while simultaneously watching the team continue to work on Voit and the Fan’s case.

It finally feels like Criminal Minds: Evolution has found the formula that works for this show, regardless of its past.

Before diving into how perfectly this episode explores the unsub’s story, we must mention the fact that Criminal Minds: Evolution continues to focus on the found-family theme that makes so many fans happy.

Watching JJ and her kids have happy moments after the loss of Will is an incredible step. It is a step that they, of course, wouldn’t have been able to take without the support from their BAU family.

There is a beauty and a warmth that viewers get to feel while watching scenes in which they all get to celebrate and be together. The family photos they take are a lovely representation of the bond they have: a chaotic family that always gets pulled in different directions.

While every storyline makes fans want to keep watching more, it is the family they’ve created that keeps us tuning in time and time again.

We must applaud the work done on Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Episode 8, “Requiem,” because the show spends the necessary amount of time on the unsub and building this character. Not only do we see him interact with his victims, but we also get a look at his life and behavior.

For a show that focuses on serial killers, that is exactly what the viewers are looking for. We want to see why the unsub behaves that way, why they choose the victims, and what happens throughout the investigation.

While there might not be anything new about this unsub’s behavior, it is refreshing to see this show explore its roots once more and make room for what made us fall in love with it in the first place.

If the Voit storyline felt repetitive in the past, the Fan has changed absolutely everything. He changes everything for Voit himself because everything the Sicarius Killer believed to be true about his Fan is, in fact, far from it. Weirdly enough, it feels like the Fan is a superior version of Voit…or at least that’s how he is playing his cards at the moment.

Not only does the Fan manage to remain anonymous, but he also gets under Voit’s skin, pushing him to overthink every single detail. Even though Voit believes he can still play the BAU and keep the Fan’s visit a secret, Tara and Rebecca are one step ahead of him.

Could it really be that Voit’s lost his magic touch?

What’s clear is that both Voit and the BAU have been wrong about the Fan from the beginning. This is further proved when Tara and Emily finally realize that Laura Boyd was more than just a decoy.

It will be quite interesting to see how they move forward trying to find the Fan’s real identity now that it’s been confirmed that he is not Joshua Ryan.

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Criminal Minds: Evolution airs Thursdays at 3/2 am on Paramount+.

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