‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ Season 17 Episode 8 Review: “North Star”

In retrospect, we should’ve seen Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8’s tragic ending coming. After all, “North Star” gives us some BAU drama pretty early on — complete with slammed doors, shouted accusations, and everyone else kind of…awkwardly overhearing it all as they also have a bit of a gossip session to pass the time — and any time we’re like “lol this is a comedy,” something awful usually follows. (That feels like it’s especially true of this season, but we may just be saying that because we’re currently caught up in it.) But ok. There’s some pretty deep emotional stuff from Dave and Jill, so perhaps getting through that gives us a sense of “the worst is over for now” or whatever. Except…we’re only on Episode 8. Out of 10. So, of course — of course — no one was getting a “rah, rah. Finally healed” moment to end the hour.

And yet. It’s a testament to how good “North Star” is that we did, in fact, find ourselves just…shocked by everything that happens in its final moments. Floored, even. Not just that, no, but crushed. Gutted, perhaps. On multiple levels. (Like, they really took us to Gideon’s cabin, huh? Cruel.) Did we feel the suspense building and know Damien and Jade were coming for Jill? Obviously. But for her to survive, for her plan to have worked — for her to have saved Damien, only to have him go down like that? Definitely didn’t see that coming. Or, at least, we didn’t want to. So, we avoided it…right up until we couldn’t.

“We build a profile that takes the gun out of their hands.”

Jill and Dave are entertaining when they’re at each other’s throats and all, but what really stands out about their scenes in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8 is just how well Joe Mantegna and Felicity Huffman work together overall. There’s something about their onscreen chemistry that makes their characters’ long, complicated history come alive. Somehow, they even make it feel kind of effortless. That…doesn’t feel like it ought to be easy, considering viewers have only known one of them forever. But everything they do together works so well, in fact, it makes us doubt our own reality.

Like, are we sure Dr. Jill hasn’t been a part of the show all along? Are we sure she wasn’t in at least one episode in the series’ early seasons? Because the partnership comes across as far too familiar, Gideon and Rossi far too comfortable with each other in a way that only comes with decades of history, for us to just now be seeing them work their magic. The far more believable story is the one we’ve gained recently: Obviously, Jill and Dave were there in the beginning with Jason, just the three of them. And, of course — as Rossi tells Prentiss in a phenomenal scene for both Mantegna and Paget Brewster — they were “each other’s support system.” Nothing is at all surprising about hearing they “would turn to each other” either. Not back then and not now either.

…buuuut the “now” part of that comes, in some ways, with even more complications than ever. Why? Well, for starters, that kiss. Jill kisses Dave to make him leave. But is it 100% without feelings on her part? Likely not. As Prentiss points out — in yet another great one from Brewster and Mantegna. At this point, even if we don’t directly call attention to it, those two just get better with every single outing — Jill likely saves Dave’s life by forcing him into such a state of discomfort he feels like he has no choice but, to put it bluntly, GTFO.

“It feels like…I could never get it right! With anybody! And it started with Jill.”

Then, there’s the really, truly heartbreaking aspect of all of this. The timing is still just not right. To state the obvious, the middle of the Gold Star case is not the time to start a relationship with someone you haven’t talked to in years. Especially not when that someone used to be your best friend’s wife. Now, when it comes to the best friend in question and his death, it’s good that Dave and Jill get the anger, the misplaced blame, and the apologies out pretty early on in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8. Sure. That’s a given…but Rossi’s dealing with much, much more recent grief.

And, if the way all that barely-controlled emotion just spills over when he mentions Krystall to Emily is any indication, he’s very much not in a place to start anything with anyone right now. Even if they both come out of this case alive. Which, for a bit there, it very much looks like Jill will not. Then, by the end of “North Star,” it just…very much seems like Dr. Gideon is going to have to heal herself after working so hard to make that connection with Damien and save him…only to witness his death. At Jason’s cabin. The place where she tells Dave, not long before The Kiss, that she can’t go back to. Because she can’t see the place where Jason was killed.

Talk about hitting viewers where it hurts on so many levels, it’s extremely difficult to write any kind of coherent analysis of any of it. (And whatever you do, don’t think about how much more it would hurt if Dr. Reid had been there, too.)

Damien Booth/GS (Gold Star) 1

Everything about the kids sent to Stuart House, then abused and molded into killers, is tragic. Obviously, that’s a given. But it seems like the more we learn about this entire program, the worse it gets. The end of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8 is no exception. Unless, of course, you consider “might destroy your soul” to be an exception to the mounting tragedy because of how much further it goes. At any rate, in a typical procedural, Damien Booth’s untimely demise wouldn’t affect us so much. Maybe wouldn’t at all, even. Here, though, the usual “bad guy gone: good” brand of reductive thinking very, very much does not apply.

A not-insignificant part of our emotional connection to this character comes from excellent writing. To give us the entire tense, terrifying showdown between Dr. Gideon and “GS-1,” to have Jill take this killing machine shaped by unimaginable abuse and rapidly strip him back down until he’s just that at-risk youth again and have viewers fully believe there’s a chance at redemption, takes skill. There are certain “bad” guys out there who we’re supposed to believe have some good in them after many, many seasons and don’t. Yet “GS-1” has only been around for this single season, and everything we learn about him, everything Dr. Gideon works him through recognizing, is instantly real to us.

The story is there. So, too, is the acting. Huffman is remarkable as a Jill who is clearly beyond afraid for her life but still confident she can save herself — can save Damien — if she just keeps talking and saying the right words. And as Dr. Gideon breaks Damien down to the point of making him realize he killed the one person who actually cared for him — and he even knew, somewhere deep down, that what they were telling him about Brooks was a lie — David Garelik simply shines. Every ounce of his being is fighting against the truth, speaking to just how much the abuse at Stuart House distorted his sense of reality. But, at the same time, the emotion, the progression of Jill’s words entering the cracks in his psyche until he inevitably broke, is so raw and human.

Not to mention, as we see in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8 and get hints of at earlier points in the season as well, Garelik gives Damien that softness opposite Liana Liberato’s Jade that is completely at odds with everything we know about the Gold Star killer(s). This is not some soulless monster, who as we alluded to above, we should be happy to see gone. In fact, in the scene where Damien comforts Jade after her nightmare, it’s almost easy to forget he’s the main UnSub in this case. He’s so protective, so worried for her, and he even asks for consent before touching her. Something most “caring” and “normal” people don’t bother to do.

But that brings us to some more layers of pain. In the first place, that gut-wrenching wail from Liberato that closes out the episode is likely to haunt us for a long, long time. Jade is now well and truly alone. Which, uh…probably makes her even more dangerous come to think of it. Despite the danger she poses, though, it’s nearly impossible not to feel for her at this point. And that’s, again, a true testament to how well done — from top to bottom — this entire season has been.

“We can’t do this alone.”

“We’re not alone. We have each other.”

The thing that hits us the hardest here is not that Jade’s now all alone. No. (Although, yeah, that’s bad enough.) It’s that…this is her own doing. Not only does she wait for Damien’s signal and actually kill him, but she’s the one who has him make the promise that she’ll never go into a cage again. Which means she’s the reason he goes for suicide by…well, her…at all.

Knowing about Damien’s promise, then seeing how his story ends, all we can think is: It didn’t have to be this way. His last act, however f*cked up it feels to say so, is one of love. For Jade. Because he’s keeping his promise to Jade, refusing to surrender, refusing to trust the cops (Jill) about not letting anything happen to him. And even if Jill could have kept him away from a federal prison (unlikely), he knows she hasn’t made the same promise about Jade. But, even as he does all of this to protect Jade…all it probably does is make her tragic ending even more inevitable.

Gutting. And, yes, it’s very…unsettling to have that feeling about a serial killer. Hope that goes without saying.

More on Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8

• Can not believe Zach Gilford was a first-time director here. It is. So good. I had to stop a few times just to be like, “oh. Wow.”
• The song choice as Jade murders that doctor in the cold open…iconic. Glad to have spent so many sleepless nights scrolling TikTok so I knew the song! Hello, fellow youth!
• “The richest love is that which submits to the arbitration of time.”
• Love the bit with Luke going up the stairs toward Dave’s office with that look on his face, only to quickly turn around and go back down the stairs without even trying. A comedy!
• Emily Prentiss is a gossip.
• “Back then, Jill probably had to stay in the shadows while two men took credit for her work.” !!!!!!!!!!!
• Everyone’s reactions. Everyone’s. Especially when Jill throws Jason’s death in Dave’s face.
• “Do you ever get the sense that you were hired for a job because of your name and…sterling reputation? And right from the start, they begin to…cut corners.” Yes. Also, going to go out on a limb and say at least a certain couple of CM ladies can relate.
• I love how every time there’s a large group, like during the gossip session or even as Jill discusses her role in this…mess, every single actor seems to get an equal chance to have kind of a…moment to react.
• “Do you want to talk about it?” “I…do not.” “I knew you left the BAU under a dark cloud, but…I didn’t think it was, you know, ‘in love with your best friend’s wife’ dark.” It’s cute that Emily’s showing her concern by trying to lighten the mood a bit, but it is painfully obvious that Dave’s not here for it. Pleasantly surprised that she gets to be the one to go to him and at least try, though. Especially when I was worried their friendship was going to be on the rocks after she brought Jill in despite him forbidding her from making contact.
• Embarrassingly, I watched that Dave/Emily scene at least 10 times and wrote down just about every line…but I had nothing intelligent to say about it. Just: I AM. A MESS.
• The pacing in Criminal Minds: Evolution 17×08 is brilliant. Like the way we sit with Rossi and all those boxes in his office for a bit after Prentiss leaves takes an already-huge scene, with already-phenomenal work from Mantegna, and makes it 10 times more impactful. Same goes for that shot of Jill after Dave leaves her townhouse and — dear God — that bird’s eye view of Damien’s body that spirals down.
• “Drama?” “At the BAU?” The love letters I’d like to write to this relationship…
• Tyler’s “office.” 💀
• The way they laugh at Voit having it easy…In the real world, I hate the way we’re made to feel like our trauma doesn’t count if it’s not as bad as someone else’s. But here? It somehow…works. Like, “I wish that was all we had” is such a line to get us into Damien and Jade’s heads.
• “Did you think this all ends with North Star? It does not.” Y’all, I’m scared.
• The lighting’s colors in that cabin where JJ and Luke find the murdered doctor.
• Tyler and Rebecca are cute, and fun, and funny together??? What.
• Rossi with that pic of (Jason) Gideon. Kill me now!
• “I have dreadful news.” Now, why do you have to make Baby Girl deliver news that makes her sound like this?
• “Who’s left on the list?” And the heartbroken, at a loss, way Garcia looks at Rossi tells us everything we need to know. Very much prefer Kirsten Vangsness as a ray of sunshine (or even doing her best impression of Surprised Pikachu during the BAU gossip sesh) because I do not like hurting like this. But, uh…wow. Incredible work, especially when she’s left alone in that office and, like, essentially putting her entire body into the grief and worry.
• “Jill. I swear. Nothing’s gonna happen…” “Mmm don’t. I mean. I know — I know you will do your best.” She gets that we can’t keep these kinds of promises, yet still makes one to Damien in the end. Oof.
• “I’ve been mad at you for 20 years. I knew because you left, Jason wouldn’t. And I knew this job was gonna kill him.” I think this is what pain feels like.
• “Ooh! I love a good geo-profile! So sexy!!” Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever change.
• Who’s making gifs? I need Emily saying “it’s…irritating.”
• “I told you. Sexy. [Sips tea].” Again: Never. Change.
• Just unbelievable, how much I love the Rebecca/Tyler interrogation. Rebecca gets the absolute win with the “cat that got the canary” smile on this part, though: “No. It isn’t. But it is. Interesting. What are the chances that you and Elias Voit are connected to the Sicarius network? …I would work on my poker face. Your client would be disappointed.” Like, she terrifies the f*ck out of that man and enjoys it. No wonder Tara’s into her.
• Speaking of: “I just can not believe Voit found his lawyer on the network.” “I can.” (From both! The timing!) “Awwwww. Twinning! Very cute. Very cute.”
• Jill’s little fidgeting as she does her research.
• It’s the way Rossi hesitates just slightly before saying Voit’s name for me. He’s doing better after the prison visit, but no, he’s not totally over it.
• “It was closed casket. He was Jewish.” Thank you, writers, for actually knowing your **** and just…making it normal.
• “Be safe! Seatbelts! Also I want to be you when you grow up. When I grow up. You know what I meant.” Baby Girl is Mother, is Baby Girl.
• The way everything is like…Dave’s not actually hearing what’s going on around him, the unreality, him not really being there…so good.
• “Because…we kissed” “What?!” “We kissed.” “Back up. You kissed Jill.” Emily, now is not the time!
• “No. She kissed me.” Emily’s head tilt. “She did!”
• The way her voice shakes on “profiler.”
• “…but I would never hurt someone that I love.” Oh, Damien…
• “But the more that someone tells a lie, anyone will start to believe it.” If I speak on current events…
• “They’re not…going to hurt you. I won’t let them.” This hurt enough in the moment. But…after???? UGH.
• The slow walk down the stairs.
• Dave rushing to Jill.
• No but an ending like that is finale worthy…and we have two episodes left. I am. Terrified.

What did you think of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 17 Episode 8 “North Star”? Leave us a comment!

New episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution stream Thursday on Paramount+.