By now, you’ve probably had a chance to watch the first two episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17. (If not, prepare yourselves for spoilers.) That means, as promised, it’s time for the second part of our interview with Kirsten Vangsness and Adam Rodriguez. Since we all agreed that Garvez go together like “the chocolate and the peanut butter,” the next question was why. As in, why did Luke have to go and suggest bringing Tyler Green back? Before Rodriguez could answer, Vangness had our backs and asked what we were really thinking: “What’s wrong with him?”
Never fear, Garvez lovers. Rodriguez was right there with us on this one, too. “That was hard to play,” he told us. “I’m like, ‘do I really feel like I would want to…’” On the other hand, there’s an open case to consider. So, unfortunately, “it does make sense work-wise to do that.” Additionally, we “can’t forget that the stakes for [Tyler] in this are every bit as high as they are for us. I mean, maybe even more so. Because, you know, this killer took his sister from him, and he feels this tremendous guilt that — that’s driving him to do whatever he needs to do to even the score.” So, while Rodriguez is well aware that asking for Tyler’s help is “not an easy decision for Alvez,” he also sees it as “a testament to him knowing that you got to do what’s right for the greater good.”
But, how does Garcia really take that? “Not well,” was Vangsness’ immediate answer. Also: “not well at all! Not well…not well.” (Same.) For Garcia, the situation is “very discombobulating” after everything that happened last season. Additionally, “it’s very unmooring to your sense of self and your self-esteem” to be someone like Penelope, whose job is her home, and whose coworkers are her family, having this ex just…there. Imagine being “like, ‘oh, this is my place, [where] I just get to be. I get to wear whatever I want. I get to, you know, be with my friends and be with my people.’ And now, there’s this person there that even if you’re like, ‘no, I’m not doing that,’ you’re like, worried about what you look like.”
As much as it’s difficult for Garcia, and even for us as viewers, to cope with that little wrinkle, Vangsness told us that bringing Tyler back is “a really brilliant thing that the writers did. Because it adds just a little kink in the hose.” From there, there was a whole metaphor about a kinky hose and “a good chunk” that we’ll let you listen to for yourselves below. Because, frankly, we can’t pull this one off. But Vangsness absolutely can.
What did Voit say to Alvez in Criminal Minds: Evolution 17×02?
Speaking of plot wrinkles kinks that come about while trying to work on this Gold Star case…
Let’s talk about Alvez’s showdown with Voit. As we saw at the end of Criminal Minds: Evolution 17×02, something Voit says to Luke sets him off. While we knew nobody was going to spoil the secret itself for us, we did want to know how long we were going to have to wait. That particular “chunk” (to borrow from Vangsness’ metaphor) “doesn’t play itself out right away,” Rodriguez told us. But he also said it’s “not long before you get to understand…what caused that kind of reaction from Luke and then, you know, what that information is.” Also of note: When we asked Voit’s information is personal or professional, we learned it’s “both — definitely both. But…Luke’s not actually at the center of it.”
Additionally, Rodriguez explained that sharing this big secret with Alvez was “sort of a chess move on Voit’s part to see what Luke would do with that information.” If nothing else, he certainly got the rise out of Alvez that he was looking for. “And I’m glad because I’d been wanting to put my hands on him for a long time,” Rodriguez said. The moment, which he called “an excuse” to rough Voit up was, “hopefully, a little release for the audience too. I think everybody’s kind of wanted to shake the s**** out of that guy since he showed up. And so it was just, it was a moment to let that out.”
Kirsten Vangsness on if Garcia gets in on the action this season
As of now, we’ve seen both Luke and JJ square off with Voit, and Rossi…has his own, unique dynamic with the serial killer. So, does Garcia get a chance to take a crack at him this season? “She does,” Vangsness told us, “she always gets one good swing.” But it sounds like this conversation won’t be just Garcia, Voit, and the third character — Voit’s cell — in the room. Because “where we were, there was a lot of rubble.” The actress “had to wear heels…and it’s — it’s real. You don’t have to act to walk in heels and in rubble…So, people have that to look forward to.”
Interestingly enough, that brought us back around to Voit’s whispers to Alvez. “That’s the fun thing, is that the writers really do stuff like…That secret that he’s talking about. That gets revealed, but the way that they do the season, it’s like, you get the secret revealed. And they’re like, and now there’s a new…and now wait, what? And now what, what?” She “was finding by the end, it’s so complex in the best way that you’re like…’Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.’ Like it unfolds, you know, in a really cool way that…kind of forces us all to be around each other.”
To close us out, Rodriguez picked up this train of thought and went into detail about how the series’ current format makes it “so much better” than ever before. Comparing Criminal Minds: Evolution to “doing it the other way for so long” is “almost like the difference between practicing for a game and then, getting to really let loose and play in a game the way you want to play. And I just feel like…we’re like running unbridled right now. And…it’s what’s making the show feel like the best it’s ever been.”
To which, Vangness agreed, “yeah.” Because that about sums it up.
Watch Part 2 of our interview with Kirsten Vangsness and Adam Rodriguez here.
Ne episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 release Thursdays on Paramount+
