Criminal Minds Evolution Needs to Up the Ante And Kill Off This Character

With that season completed and the series renewed for another one, fans can be sure that the project's immediate future is safe.

And yet, we can't safely say whether Evolution will manage to evolve in its own right, reversing the decline of Criminal Minds in terms of ratings, viewership numbers, and the number of episodes per season.

In some aspects, it's obvious that the showrunners are trying to put a new gloss on their brainchild — the new season is edgier than CBS' seasons, with increased amounts of gore and more realistic swearing, and fans like the development of many of the characters and plotlines started in season 15.

However, it seems that the show could do better if the writers were willing to increase the stakes — and possibly kill off an important character.

Viewers note that Criminal Minds remains frustratingly unwilling to change its old formula. Just like the previous seasons, the new season falls on the old trope of getting a BAU member or one of their close relatives kidnapped by a criminal — and surviving, every single time — despite the fact that the BAU mostly deals with serial killers.

Veteran viewers can no longer pretend to care when yet another one of the series' regulars finds themselves in (seemingly) mortal peril — because, well, we know they have plot armor to protect them. Ultimately, this recurring plot device undermines the creators' attempts to present the show as dark and serious.

The only way to break the mold here is to kill off an important character, and the best candidate for that is the man who just went through the "get caught by the criminal you're hunting" plot twist in the season 16 finale — David Rossi.

Rossi fits the role of a sacrificial lamb well because he combines two qualities required for it. First, he's an old-timer and a father/mentor figure to pretty much the rest of the BAU.

Killing off the character who, frankly speaking, should be retired by now would pave the way for the new generation of bright characters — and that's a logical move for the series at this stage. Most importantly, Rossi is a beloved character, so killing him would definitely stir up the audience, inciting great emotional response in them.

So the next time an unsub manages to get a drop on David Rossi, instead of delivering yet another miraculous escape, the series' writers should consider getting rid of the character altogether. True, this will hurt some of the fans — but feeling sad is better than not feeling anything at all, and Criminal Minds has long been in need of higher narrative stakes and emotional plot development.