The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, the series focuses on how psychology can be used to interpret the behavior of unknown subjects (or unsubs) that are suspected of federal crimes. The series was canceled by CBS after 15 seasons, but has found new life on Paramount+ with its sequel seasons in Criminal Minds: Evolution.

Criminal Minds: Evolution brings back most of the main cast of the final CBS seasons of the series. While the show is still mostly procedural in nature, the smaller number of episodes has lent itself to having a tighter overarching narrative in the streaming seasons. It is one of those seasons that the actors believe to be the best of Criminal Minds. Aisha Tyler, in particular, referenced the series as the “best ever” and a “dope” season of television when talking about it for Paramount+ (via YouTube).

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17's Gold Star Origin Twist Was One Of The Series' Best

Criminal Minds Season 17 Is Seen As The Best By The Cast

When procedurals air on network television, there is always a chance that they can become stale at 10+ seasons into a series. There is a formula for how procedurals work so that new viewers can a show at any time without missing out on character backstory and having to play catch-up. It’s rare for procedurals like Criminal Minds to be able to retain their audience when the audience knows the way the beats of the episodes work. Part of the reason Criminal Minds: Evolution is succeeding is because of how it set up its serialized story.

That is especially seen in the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, or the seventeenth season of the series overall. It provides the best marriage of the procedural and the serialized. Though there are criminals to track on a regular basis, which sometimes sees the team on two separate cases, the overarching narrative for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 17 is the investigation into what Gold Star really is. With a name like that, it was not initially clear to the audience or the characters if Gold Star was a person, a program, or the code name on a file.

The confusion allowed the series, even with just 10 episodes to work with, to gradually peel back the layers of the story to reveal that Gold Star was a program created from a BAU study that turned troubled children into serial killers. Criminal Minds was able to use the twist to provide commentary on just how conspiracy theories spread, but also the idea that there can be shreds of truth to whispered rumors. Aspects of the Gold Star history were dismissed in the series as impossible by Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) until she was confronted with them face-to-face.

The series kept the audience on the edge of their seats as much as it did the investigators trying to piece together the puzzle. As Adam Rodriguez points out, the series has been able to “graduate into this new level of sophistication” thanks to Paramount+, being able to trust that their audience is going to take the pieces from the very first episode with them into the finale and keep up with every twist and turn of the narrative.

Character Moments Throughout Criminal Minds Season 17 Also Made It An Incredibly Strong Season

A Concentrated Season Meant More Character Study

In ensemble shows like Criminal Minds, it can be easy for the writers to spotlight one character over another, but Criminal Minds: Evolution makes sure that everyone on the team gets equal focus. Even the smallest of character moments throughout the season help to showcase that this group is not just a team but a family, and the actors are doing some of the best jobs of their careers.

When speaking with PopCulture.com, AJ Cook commented that, “It’s pretty exciting to say that in season 17 we’re doing some of our best work,” and it's her character who faces some particularly dark moments in the season. It’s Cook’s JJ who is the subject of BAU gate, a website that uses deepfake videos to put the of the BAU in compromising positions. JJ gets a B-story in the season that sees her confronted with the reality of her face being on the internet in this way and how her sons or their friends might react to it.

The storyline is one of the ways that Criminal Minds: Evolution has kept up with the changing nature of criminal activity thanks to technology. It’s also one of the most underrated aspects of season 2, as Alves is told about the site and Prentiss keeps it from the team. BAU gate allows all three actors something incredibly unique to play during the run of the show and reminds the audience that the threats they face are not all violent. JJ sees her privacy invaded in a way that would not have even entered the minds of the writers when the show premiered 20 years ago.

Equally compelling during the season is Garcia dealing with her relationships with both Alves and new addition Tyler Green , Rossi hallucinating Voit, and Tara dealing with the fallout from choosing her career over her love life. All of these relationships and interactions inform how the team as a whole operates with one another, giving each actor some fantastic drama and humor to play with, only strengthening the way the team works on the actual case at hand.

The Criminal Minds: Evolution Revival Has Reinvigorated The Once-Canceled Show

The Darkness Provided By Streaming Gives The Show A New Light

Criminal Minds has always spoken to the darkness that can exist within humanity...

Criminal Minds: Evolution has a legion of fans who already did not want to see the original series end. The show, however, has also brought in new fans who might have been interested in how the procedural would change for streaming. In addition to the great character work and twists, the show has also gone a lot darker than it was allowed to be on network TV - and that makes the show even better than before.

Criminal Minds has always spoken to the darkness that can exist within humanity, but the revival goes even further by making a serial killer one of the main characters. The BAU are not just investigating him, but also anyone he inspired and all of the offshoots of secrets he kept, and that almost literal web of darkness makes Criminal Minds: Evolution season 17 the most fascinating season of the show to watch. The serialization of the darkness in the formerly episodic show makes it much richer of a story than before.

As Joe Mantegna reminds the interviewer when speaking with PopCulture.com, the cast is hoping to continue the series at this elevated level. He told them, “We’ve set the dinner table, and then some,” about the season, and he, Aisha Tyler, and the rest of the cast were not wrong in their assessment of the show. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 17 is the best Criminal Minds has to offer.