#cm 18x06

[marvelfanlife]

Criminal Minds | 18.06 'Hell is Empty...'

[andmineisyellow]

Criminal Minds: Evolution 18x06

[only-one-brain-cell]

“Uh, and just to rectify history you found the receiver codes but I hacked them, sorry not sorry.” 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻👑👑

[marvelfanlife]

Criminal Minds | 18.06 'Hell is Empty...'

[andmineisyellow]

I was rewatching 18x06 with my Dad, and he noticed something I didn't about how Voit's past is presented to us.

This episode really emphasised that Voit had an emotional connection to both his victims and the members of his network. Allison reminded him of his mother; he had marriage problems like Kyle, and he was locked in a cage, like Clyde. We also know from season 17 that he had some kind of attachment to his daughters.

In contrast to that, the team has established multiple times this season that Voit is/was a psychopath and that the part of his brain that felt empathy did not function before the injury. Psychopathy was the diagnosis they gave him based on the profile, but it's not like they did a brain scan at that point. So... What if they were wrong? What if Voit was never a psychopath?

I do believe that Voit is recovering from amnesia (mostly because I think it's the more interesting way to tell the story), but his brain might not be quite as miraculous as Dr. Ochoa claims it to be. It also means that he's just as dangerous now as he was before. His "demons," as he calls them, just haven't reached the surface yet.

This theory led me to another theory:

Everyone on the team has been convinced of Voit's psychopathy. Everyone except Penelope. She saw his "soul" in the season 17 finale. In fact, looking back on 18x06, I'm surprised she didn't make this connection herself. She spent a lot of time with Voit, she's seen his most recent scans, and she knows about the connections between him and the other unsubs. Tyler gained the same information, but he was also probably reeling from his conversation with Voit, and he's not an experienced profiler yet. The only reason Penelope wouldn't have put the pieces together is due to how quickly things start to escalate. Between trying to save a child and the office lockdown, she had a lot going on.

I really hope that this plot thread continues next episode and that we see her bring this up to the team. Anyone on the team could theoretically come to this conclusion, but Penelope's perspective on Voit makes it more compelling coming from her. It would be really cool to see Penelope showcase her "freakish empathy" as a superpower to help with the profile.

[andmineisyellow]

On a lighter note, this is my favorite look Garcia's worn all season. It's giving Rainbow Brite.

[andmineisyellow]

Remember when I said I was nervous about how the show was going to handle Penelope's empathy for Voit?

Welp...

We started out strong with the "Let's do a guilt trip speed round." That entire scene really works for me because Penelope is trying to figure out the best way to resolve the issue. She's providing empathy while not giving Voit any kind of pass for his behavior. She also recognizes that adding stress is not going to help find a solution.

It's also great to see Garcia's computer skills being put to work in this episode. It's been a while since she's done more than do a quick search for the team.

What I am struggling with is the scene of Voit and Penelope bonding. I know Penelope is a very empathetic person, but this is still the guy who murdered over 200 people, taught a bunch of other people how to murder, killed her ex's sister, and used her best friend as the subject of his deepfakes. Having her joke with him, "We're a regular Goofus and Gallant," felt tonally jarring considering all of the atrocities he's committed. Yes, she has empathy for him, but it would/should never outweigh the empathy she has for the people he hurt. The joke, while not unforgivable by any means, did feel like a step too far, and not very Penelope Garcia-like.

The season isn't over yet, and they handled this better than I anticipated, but we're walking on a thin line. I'm still concerned that Garcia is being used as a tool to gain sympathy for or to fix the morally grey/morally bad male characters, and won't get any meaningful growth of her own.

[only-one-brain-cell]

Ok if this guy is engaged can he stop calling Rebecca Becca already?