Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Needs To Bring Back Dave Rossi’s Love Interest From Season 2 (& She Can Help With Voit)

Review

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3.

It’s rare for anyone to find lasting love in Criminal Minds: Evolution, but reuniting with him isn’t the only reason to bring back Dave Rossi’s latest love interest. Derek Morgan was written off the show when he finally settled down, while Aaron Hotchner lost his ex-wife in one of Criminal Minds’ best episodes at the hands of an unsub. JJ and Will had the longest relationship in Criminal Minds, with fans getting to see how sweet and strong they were as a couple when Will had his health scare in Criminal Minds season 16 (alternatively styled as Criminal Minds: Evolution season 1).

With Will’s shocking death, JJ is adrift, and the show has to find a new focal BAU couple. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 is pushing Tara Lewis and Rebecca Wilson as the new central pair, but they lack the gravitas of JJ and Will’s relationship. Criminal Minds: Evolution already has a perfect replacement couple that I thought they were establishing last season, but Dave Rossi’s love interest from season 2 has not even been mentioned yet in this season, but she could easily be brought back in the future.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Laid The Background Of Dave’s Feelings For Jason Gideon’s Ex-Wife & Co-Founder Of The BAU

Dave Had Feelings He Never Acted On For Jason's Ex-Wife — But Evolution Season 2 Changed That

Jill Gideon isn’t just a love interest, but a crucial part of the founding of the BAU, alongside Dave and her husband, Jason Gideon. While Jason kept her involvement off the books to keep her safe, Jill offered the perspective of a biological psychiatrist to the team. She leaked the White Paper study that was warped into the Stuart House without her knowledge, which is why Emily Prentiss recruits Jill to consult on the Gold Star program in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2.

Jill Gideon was not mentioned in the original run of the show, but her history with Dave helps flesh out why he left the BAU in the early days.

Jill and Dave Rossi had an explosive argument as soon as they saw each other, as she was candid with Emily about how messy their romantic entanglement was during the BAU’s early days. While nothing physical ever happened between them, Jill knew Dave’s heartbreak is part of the reason he left the BAU decades ago, although the real shame is Jill and Jason would divorce just a few years later.

It’s obvious there is unresolved tension between Jill and Dave, which she actually used to manipulate him midway through season 2. She did give him a real kiss at the end of the season before the BAU leaves to take down Gold Star, which read like a good luck charm and a promise of more to come. Since then, Jill Gideon has not even been mentioned yet in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3.

Dave Rossi & Jill Gideon Would Be The Best Couple In Criminal Minds: Evolution To Fill The JJ & Will Role

Criminal Minds: Evolution Has Been Pushing Tara & Rebecca — But It’s Not Working

JJ and Will were both field agents who loved and respected each other, but never stopped worrying about each other’s safety. This grounded their relationship and made Will’s death even more tragic because, in the end, it was a sudden aneurysm that caused his demise. JJ and Will were a fan-favorite couple because he existed on the periphery of the BAU’s world, but not directly in it. Every few seasons, Will would team up with the BAU for a case, but they were not overexposed, so viewers craved every fleeting glimpse we got of their home life.

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 has been investing quite a lot in Tara Lewis and Rebecca Wilson as the next BAU couple, but it’s working against them. Meanwhile, Dave and Jill Gideon have decades of history that makes them a natural couple to fill in JJ and Will’s emotional void. Their age and experience give them a kind of emotional fluency that bypasses the games and ego of younger relationships.

Both have lost partners, carried the weight of BAU legacies, and survived the emotional cost of the job. For Rossi, whose love life has been marked by regret, ending up with someone who knows his world and his wounds would be a satisfying and earned full-circle moment.

How Jill Gideon Could Be Brought Back In Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 4

Jill Is A Biological Psychiatrist — Which Could Be Helpful With Voit

Just as Will was in the BAU’s orbit, Jill should not be back to the BAU as a full team member, but that does not mean her expertise would not be helpful with Elias Voit’s unique traumatic brain injury. Jill is a biological psychiatrist, and as the BAU continues to wrestle with whether Voit is truly a new man or simply pretending, having someone who understands both psychology and brain anatomy could be an asset.

While Dr. Ochoa’s findings are in line with Tara’s observations, it would still be great to see Jill back again to help the BAU. Perhaps, she could be the key to cracking Voit’s situation. So even if nothing happens between her and Rossi romantically, Criminal Minds: Evolution can justify bringing her back.

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