Warning: SPOILERS for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 6, "Hell is Empty..."cast of Criminal Minds: Evolution — A.J. Cook (Jennifer “JJ” Jareau), Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss), Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia), Adam Rodriguez (Luke Alvez), Aisha Tyler (Tara Lewis), Ryan-James Hatanaka (Tyler Green), and Zach Gilford (Elias Voit) — each had a role to play in “Hell is Empty…” Aside from being a pleasant surprise, taking advantage of the full ensemble clearly benefited Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 6.
While Criminal Minds: Evolution even had a small subplot surrounding Rebecca’s old friend from law school. Injecting personal touches helps Criminal Minds: Evolution retain its humanity amidst the horrific subject matter, making the characters feel like complete beings with intricate personal lives that occasionally bleed into their work. Aside from deepening its characterization, episode 6 hugely developed the overarching plot.
Voit’s Dark Side Reemerges (But Is Sicarius Back?)
Elias Had A Disturbing History With The Brutal Man
The ending of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 5 left Voit alone with the recently apprehended Brutal Man (Winter Andrews’ Ronald Graber), a family annihilator connected to the Sicarius network. Though Graber is initially hesitant to share his message due to distrust surrounding Voit’s true identity, the prolific serial killer’s memory suddenly returns and allows him to his identity with horrifying details. As revealed in a flashback sequence, Voit targeted Graber as a child and killed his family. He kept up with Graber afterward, eventually recruiting him to inflict the same pain on other families as The Brutal Man.
Just as you begin to root for Voit’s rehabilitation, the drama reminds you of his sadistic past.
Voit’s amnesia storyline in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 has been rocky and wholly unscientific, but it worked to the procedural’s favor in this episode by suddenly reminding the audience (and Voit himself) just how sick Sicarius was. Besides murdering his parents, Voit groomed Graber to kill and inadvertently relive his family’s death over and over again. The reveal was only successful due to how season 3 repeatedly lowered Voit’s threat level and turned him into a sympathetic character. Just as you begin to root for Voit’s rehabilitation, the drama reminds you of his sadistic past.
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The apathetic way Voit acted around Graber concerned Dr. Julia Ochoa (Aimee Garcia), necessitating an immediate brain scan that confirmed Voit’s empathy center is still functioning, and seeing corpses doesn’t release any dopamine. Doubt lingers within the BAU and myself as a viewer regarding Voit’s “true” self and whether his violent urges are truly gone or just hanging in limbo, but it’s a testament to Zach Gilford’s captivating performance. Though rattled by the truth of his family’s death, Graber es on his message: “Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
A New Member Of The Killer Network Is Activated
The Newly-Activated Murderer Knew No Limits
Graber intended the line to be his final words, as the death of one killer was speculated to be the trigger to activate the next member of the rebooted Sicarius network. With The Brutal Man gone, another unsub — a man named Kyle Mackey — began his reign of terror. Mackey created wooden coffins with lights, live-stream cameras, and remote breaching charges, meaning he could bury someone alive and decide the precise moment the coffin would collapse and smother the victim in the soil. As Luke and Rossi surmise, Mackey “gets off” on controlling when his victims die.
Unlike The Zookeeper and The Brutal Man, Kyle Mackey didn't have a killer nickname.
Mackey had a basic stressor (a messy divorce that left him estranged from his daughter, Ava), but his evil went far beyond the predictable pattern. It seemed as though Mackey would target his ex-wife, Lainey Torres, but the unsub’s grand plan was much more sinister: Mackey buried his own daughter alive and forced his ex-wife to watch the camera feed. Penelope worked on blocking the remote charge’s signal while the BAU manually dug up the coffin, and Mackey was eventually taken alive with his potential victims both safe and sound.
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ittedly, the rescue scene felt a tad confusing and unceremonious. I finished the episode still unsure whether Garcia’s efforts even did anything — given that the field agents unearthed the coffin at the same moment Mackey pressed the button, it didn’t seem as though the signal actually mattered. Had the coffin collapsed, Ava would still have been extracted moments later. Nevertheless, Penelope’s last-ditch effort could have catastrophic consequences in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3.
Penelope & Tyler Press Voit For Answers
Tyler's Past Comes Back To The Forefront
The key to Penelope’s decryption going through was connecting her computer to the Sicarius network itself via a hard drive recovered from Graber. The idea was introduced early on in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 6 after Penelope and Tyler visit Voit to try and get ahead of the network’s schemes. At the same time, Tyler took the chance to ask Voit why (and how) he killed his older sister. Tyler Green’s presence in Criminal Minds: Evolution has always been reliant on Voit, but “Hell is Empty…” finally fills in the blanks of Alison’s murder.
All episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution are streaming on Paramount+.
Penelope, Tyler, and Voit’s dynamic is purposely awkward and uncomfortable, but it produces some of the biggest revelations of the season. We finally get insight into Voit’s motivation for starting the Sicarius network, uncomplicated due to his newfound penchant for honesty. During the pandemic, Voit decided to create a “ group” for serial killers who lost their violent outlets. As Penelope later uncovers, Voit himself was worried he may hurt his family due to marital issues between him and his wife. To displace his urges, Voit poured his energy into the first version of the Sicarius network.
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Yet, threw a curveball in season 3, episode 6: the new network has taken on a life of its own after Voit’s incarceration. Despite him shutting the network down, someone built on his code and presumably took over as the ringleader. With no more hidden kill kits to out, those who were in the “outer circle” under Voit’s leadership are coming out of the woodwork with their own contraptions and twisted modus operandi. Additionally, while there was a strict timeline and waiting list in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 1, the rebooted network is expediting things.
The cliffhanger delivery implies that most — if not all — of the murders are connected.
Emily attempts to interrogate Mackey after his arrest, hoping to discover who the next killer to be activated will be. The killer throws a wrench into the conversation as he huffs in amusement and asks why the BAU thinks only one killer is active at a time. Suddenly, an alarm starts blaring and draws the team back to the round table. In an unmarked package, someone sent the BAU another Yase Otoko mask, just like the one The Brutal Man wore. Though still shrouded in mystery, the cliffhanger delivery implies that most — if not all — of the murders are connected.
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The saga of Elias Voit has taken so many twists and turns, the character is practically unrecognizable compared to his first appearance. Consequently, it seemed like the revival would have trouble tying everything together. “Hell is Empty…” proved me wrong, as every network killer this season has subtly connected to Voit’s past. One staged an “accident” similar to how Voit killed his parents, one was kept in a cage similar to how Voit’s uncle trapped him in a closet, and one was the lone survivor of a murder Voit committed.
“Hell is Empty…” does more than lend some traction to the overarching narrative, though. There’s real mystery and intrigue, unburdened by excessive gore or self-important action sequences. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 6 makes me feel excited to see where the storyline is heading, a sentiment that I haven’t felt much since the premiere. There’s still time for the plot to take a nosedive, but I’m cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3, Episode 6
- Release Date
- September 22, 2005
- Network
- CBS, Paramount+
- Showrunner
- Erica Messer
Cast
Kirsten VangsnessPenelope Garcia
Matthew Gray GublerDr. Spencer Reid
WHERE TO WATCH
Criminal Minds follows an elite team of FBI profilers from the Behavioral Analysis Unit as they analyze the nation's most complex criminal minds, led by experienced agent David Rossi. The team works to anticipate and prevent crimes by understanding the behavior of these dangerous individuals.
- Seasons
- 18
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount Plus
- Unexpected climax with the unsub
- Adds weight to the overarching narrative
- Occasional awkward exchanges between characters
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