Warning! Spoilers ahead for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 2, "The Zookeeper".

This article contains mentions of murder, imprisonment, torture, and suicide.

the main characters in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, not being transferred to Mobile, Alabama due to his intimate knowledge of the case.

This means Voit will remain the BAU’s primary antagonist in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, after being the focal unsub of seasons 1 and 2. Prentiss and Rossi already suspect Voit has a plan in motion that activates his legions of online acolytes. That means, regardless of Voit’s mental status after the coma from the Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 ending, there could be a larger machination they will need to unravel. Meanwhile, J.J. is hit with a tragedy she never sees coming at the end of the episode.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3, Episode 2 Unsub & Case Explained

The Zookeeper Turns Women Into Pets

Garcia finds a series of videos on a wiped hard drive recovered from Voit’s lawyer after Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 1 from “The Zookeeper,” showing a woman locked in a cage. Garcia was able to identify Sabrina Traver, a 27-year-old sex worker missing for over a year, who appears to be alive - at least for now.

Elsewhere, a nervous, slightly dorky man invites a gorgeous woman into his home after a date. The working girl he brought home consents to choking with a safe word, but the man, obviously The Zookeeper, disregards the safe word.

The Zookeeper is played by Elden Henson, best known for playing Fulton Reed in The Mighty Ducks and Matthew Murdock's lovable legal partner Foggy Nelson in Netflix's Daredevil TV show.

In The Zookeeper's basement, the newly imprisoned woman is dressed in cosplay and locked in the cage when Sabrina appears. The woman begs Sabrina to release her, but Sabrina is fully broken into submission. The Zookeeper demonstrates his total power by having Sabrina faithfully shave his beard - giving her a blade to put against his neck, fully confident she will not hurt him. Afterwards, he uses the same blade to cut her throat, having grown bored with her.

They profile whoever The Zookeeper is feels a lack of power in his daily life and uses these women to feel a sense of control. In the videos, he dons the full suit of a popular video game character, which helps him step into his fantasy dominant persona. Rossi and J.J. interview Owen Moss, Sabrina’s pimp. They give their profile to Owen who says it reminds him of a guy Sabrina met at an office Christmas party.

The Zookeeper gets a call from his office saying the FBI is asking questions, so he goes to his basement to kill Tia. En route to Clyde’s house, Rossi impresses on Tyler the importance of taking Clyde alive, as they need information on Voit’s plan. Tia gets the upper hand on Clyde, and when Tyler bursts his, she is actually strangling him. Tyler talks Tia down, but Clyde slits his own throat and bleeds out before Tyler can stop him.

How Rossi Is Rattled By Voit's Unexpected Return

An Amnesiac Voit Seems To Believe Rossi Is His Father

Because of the unsub’s cryptic final words in the Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 premiere, Rossi and Prentiss are worried that Voit put a plan into motion to activate his followers before he went to prison. Even though the doctors are convinced Voit’s brain injury is legitimate, the Behavioral Analysis Unit knows if anyone can fake amnesia, it’s Voit.

When Rossi and J.J. interview Sabrina’s sister Elsie, Rossi swears he will find her sister and bring her home alive. It’s a rookie mistake, one J.J. seems surprised and concerned to see him make it.

Tara Wilson's background in forensic psychology is a valuable tool in evaluating Voit’s true status. Voit believes Rossi to be his father, and Tara agrees with Voit’s doctors that something about Rossi helps stimulate Voit’s recovery. J.J. wonders if they can use that to their advantage, but Rossi flat-out refuses to playact as Voit’s father.

After the BAU closes the Zookeeper case, Rossi and Prentiss discuss how two consecutive unsubs used the same software codex as Voit, strengthened Rossi’s belief that the unsub has a grand plan that will play out regardless of his memory loss. Rossi confesses to Prentiss that he made that promise to Elsie because he is distracted by Voit - not in the literal sense of seeing a hallucination of him like Rossi used to "see" Tommy Yates, but because Rossi has a blind spot as long as Voit’s plan is in action.

Rossi insisted on being the one to break the news of Sabrina’s death to Elsie, who took the news with grace after he vowed to bring her sister home. Now, Rossi tells Prentiss he is willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means playing “father knows best” with Voit to get his memories back.

Does Voit Really Have A Brain Injury?

Voit’s Brain Has Traumatic Injuries, But Tests Can’t Confirm Amnesia

Yes, Voit does have a brain injury. There is scarring from years of abuse, likely stemming from childhood, although there is no test to definitively prove whether he has amnesia. In the Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 finale, Voit was shanked in the minimum security prison he requested to be transferred to, but the stab wounds were relatively superficial. Voit did hit his head and has been in a medically-induced coma for six months at the start of the season 3 premiere, although he suddenly regained consciousness at the very end.

Voit’s doctors tell the BAU that Voit is cognizant, but suffering from retrograde amnesia, with no memory of his past or himself. Though he is able to write and think cogently, Voit has limited but rapidly improving verbal communication, able to speak but only in limited monosyllables. The medical staff believe he will make a full recovery physically, but they can’t say when - if ever - Voit will get his memories back. The very nurse he strangled in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 1 joyfully helps Voit shuffle around his hospital room, relearning how to walk.

Everyone at the BAU is stunned and assumes Voit must be faking it. When Voit sees Rossi, he thinks Rossi is his father, which is surprisingly heartbreaking as Rossi shows no signs of warmth, but Voit’s eyes are shining with tears. The BAU is worried Voit is pretending so perfectly that he might be declared incompetent, and able to walk out the door under a “comionate release”.

Tara’s initial results confirm her belief that Voit’s brain injury is real, but she has another that will assess his empathy while scanning his brain. Luke skeptically watches Tara perform the empathy test and is shocked when he sees the empathy portion of Voit’s brain light up - if Voit were a true psychopath, there should not be any activity in that region. Voit’s doctor confirms that if he was a psychopath, he’s not anymore.

J.J. Gets More Paranoid About BAU-Gate

J.J. Assumes The Worst When She Sees Her Son’s Friend Whispering

The use of deepfake voicemails and photos by The Zookeeper to help disguise the kidnapping must remind J.J. of BAU-Gate, especially when Tyler points out the similar use of tech to the J.J.-centric porn site Sicarius revived. At end of the episode, J.J. is saying goodbye to her older son, Henry, whose friend is taking him to school. Henry’s friend shows Henry something on phone, whispering, “Dude, is that your mom?”

J.J.’s eyes go wide as she forcefully requests to see the phone. The ominous music comes from J.J.’s fear that her son has just been exposed to BAU-Gate, one of the most important things to from Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2. But it’s the inverse - the friend is actually showing Henry an article praising the FBI’s hostage rescue, with J.J. heroic featured in the photo.

The friend compliments her for being a “badass”. Henry might be something of a profiler himself, asking J.J. what she was worried it could have been, but she distracts him by playing up being called a badass. J.J. is on edge waiting for her family to discover BAU-Gate, but J.J. never saw the real tragedy that will destroy her family coming.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3, Episode 2 Ends With The Sudden Death Of Will

Will’s Migraine Quickly Becomes Much More Dire - In Front Of J.J.

At the beginning of the episode, J.J. foreshadows the tragic end, saying how she and Will thought they had "all this time" — referring to planning their son’s birthday party. At the end of the episode, Will, who had a health scare back in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 1, thinks he just has a migraine when he collapses suddenly.

The team gathers to J.J. in the hospital’s waiting room, where they learn that Will suffered an aneurysm after a rare thyroid complication. The episode somberly closes with J.J. informing everyone that Will is dead. This seems to be the tragic reason Spencer Reid returns in Criminal Minds: Evolution.

Enjoy ScreenRant's primetime coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly Network TV newsletter (make sure to check "Network TV" in your preferences) and get the inside scoop from actors and showrunners on your favorite series.

SIGN UP NOW!