Review
Zach Gilford’s Criminal Minds: Evolution character Voit has gone through a fascinating evolution in the show’s recent seasons, and its similarities to the title character from Loki’s arc mean the procedural is worth a watch for fans of the Marvel show. Throughout the 15 seasons of Criminal Minds and three seasons of its revival, Criminal Minds: Evolution, few viewers would have compared the succesful procedural series to Marvel’s Loki.
After all, Loki is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the show includes all the magic, timeline-twisting, and talking clock mascots this entails. In contrast, Criminal Minds and its revival, Criminal Minds: Evolution, are both comparatively self-serious crime procedurals. However, Criminal Minds: Evolution’s Elias Voit storyline proves that Loki has a lot in common with the long-running crime thriller series when it comes to the unlikely redemption arcs of their main characters.
Criminal Minds' Elias Voit Has Gone From A Monster To A Redemption Arc This Season
Zach Gilford’s Character Became An Unlikely Antihero
In Loki, Loki’s villainy is revealed to have a tragic backstory as viewers learn that he never had a choice in becoming the antagonist of his story. Locked into his fate by He Who Remains, Loki was always destined to become the villain he was when viewers met him and, once freed, he chose to be a better man. Loki season 2’s ending unexpectedly made him an outright hero, changing the trajectory of the character’s story after he won over audiences.
When viewers first met Voit, the serial killer was a seemingly stable family man who established an entire elaborate network of other serial killers to ensure the FBI never tracked him down.
Admittedly, it is tough to imagine Zach Gilford’s Elias Voit ever becoming an outright hero in Criminal Minds: Evolution, but he does have an incredible character arc that borrows from Loki’s morally complex story. When viewers first met Voit, the serial killer was a seemingly stable family man who established an entire elaborate network of other serial killers to ensure the FBI never tracked him down. However, Voit’s story became more complex when viewers learned he had been trying to control his urges during the pandemic to protect his family.
Like The TVA In Loki, The BAU Is Using Voit's Knowledge To Capture Other Killers
Gilford’s Complex Character Shares The Same Arc As Loki’s Title Character
Before anyone could mistake Voit for a potentially sympathetic character, Criminal Minds: Evolution revealed the worst of the depraved serial killer’s capabilities. Gilford’s Criminal Minds: Evolution character threatened his own family and terrorized his many victims, the BAU, and even other serial killers throughout season 2. However, in season 3, he suffered from amnesia and had to be reminded of his identity.
Voit’s traumatic brain injury seemingly gave the psychopatic character empathy, so he spent season 3 trying to atone for his past crimes by working with the BAU to take down other copycat serial killers. Much like Loki’s arc saw him work with the TVA to restore the timeline, Voit has worked to undo the damage he wrought on the world by providing insight into the mind of a killer.
A Redemption Arc Like Loki's Or Voit's Only Works With The Right Twist
Loki and Voit’s Shared Character Arcs Rely On One Major Factor
The worse a character is, the more compelling and believable the catalyst for their redemption arc has to be, and Voit was incredibly depraved in his serial killings. His horrific upbringing and the fact that the part of his brain responsible for empathy didn’t work were both reasonable explanations for his sadism, but they didn’t excuse his actions. Now that he finally has empathy for the first time, he is seemingly choosing to atone and become a better person.
As well as playing Voit, Gilford directed Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 8, «North Star.»
Since Voit’s crimes were more grounded and grisly than Loki’s fantastical machinations, Criminal Minds: Evolution’s Voit storyline has a harder job to do. It is tough for the series to make a character responsible for so many horrific, sadistic crimes likable, but it is equally unfair to discount what seems like genuine attempts by a deeply damaged person to undo the wrongs they have done. Thus, Criminal Minds: Evolution’s story has borrowed Loki’s basic setup, but provided a darker, more morally thorny spin on the premise in season 3 of the revival.
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