Just when fans thought the Behavioral Analysis Unit might finally have a chance to regain some stability, Criminal Minds: Evolution proved once again that life inside — and outside — the BAU rarely stays predictable for long.
Season 2 of the revived crime drama, also known within the wider franchise as Season 17, pushed the characters into darker emotional territory while continuing the serialized storytelling that separates Evolution from the original CBS-era procedural. For longtime viewers, however, one of the most difficult developments had less to do with a new investigation and more to do with the changing personal lives of characters they have followed for years.
At the center of that conversation were Jennifer “JJ” Jareau and her husband, William “Will” LaMontagne Jr.
With Josh Stewart confirming that his time playing Will had come to an end, fans were left confronting an uncomfortable reality: one of Criminal Minds’ longest-running relationships was facing a major change.
And for JJ, the emotional consequences promised to reach far beyond a single storyline.
Josh Stewart’s Exit Changed the Conversation
Will was never a full-time BAU profiler, but his presence became an important part of Criminal Minds.
Josh Stewart brought a deliberately understated quality to the character. Will did not need to compete with JJ’s career or demand the spotlight whenever he appeared.
Instead, he represented something the BAU could rarely provide: home.
That made news of Stewart’s departure particularly significant.
For years, viewers had watched JJ move between two worlds. Inside the BAU, she dealt with intense investigations alongside Prentiss, Rossi, Garcia and the rest of the team. Away from work, Will and their children represented the personal life she fought to protect.
Removing Will from that equation did more than change the supporting cast.
It changed JJ’s emotional foundation.
Will and JJ Were Built for the Long Game
One reason the update carried so much weight was the amount of history behind the relationship.
JJ and Will were not a sudden pairing created for a short dramatic arc.
Their story developed over years.
They built a family while JJ’s professional responsibilities continued expanding, and Will gradually became one of the few people outside the BAU who truly understood the unusual demands placed on her.
That understanding mattered.
The BAU could require JJ’s attention without warning. Investigations could disrupt plans, create uncertainty and keep her away from home longer than expected.
Will understood that loving JJ also meant accepting the importance of her work.
Their marriage was not presented as perfect, but its longevity gave JJ something unusually stable within the unpredictable world of Criminal Minds.
That is exactly why changing it had such dramatic potential.
Evolution Had Already Introduced Uncertainty
Criminal Minds: Evolution did not wait until the final moment to suggest that JJ’s home life could become more complicated.
Concerns surrounding Will’s health introduced vulnerability into a relationship that viewers had come to see as dependable.
For JJ, the situation created a kind of uncertainty she could not approach like a BAU investigation.
She could not build a behavioral profile.
Garcia could not search a database and instantly produce the answer.
Rossi’s decades of experience could not guarantee a solution.
The storyline temporarily removed JJ from the professional environment where she usually feels most capable and reminded viewers that some of life’s hardest questions exist beyond the BAU’s expertise.
That vulnerability made Stewart’s eventual departure feel even more consequential.
JJ’s Strength Gets Redefined
A.J. Cook has spent years transforming JJ from the BAU’s communications liaison into one of its most experienced profilers.
But Evolution has increasingly understood that character strength does not require emotional invulnerability.
JJ can be exceptionally capable and still struggle.
She can lead an investigation while carrying concerns from home.
She can support a colleague while privately needing support herself.
That complexity becomes increasingly important when her personal circumstances change.
Rather than simply asking whether JJ can continue doing her job, Evolution has the opportunity to explore a more interesting question: what does continuing actually cost her?
JJ has spent much of her adult life taking care of other people.
A major personal loss or transition forces her colleagues to consider whether she will finally allow them to take care of her.
Prentiss Faces the Line Between Boss and Friend
Emily Prentiss becomes particularly important whenever JJ’s professional and personal worlds collide.
Paget Brewster’s character has known JJ for years.
Their relationship existed long before Prentiss became responsible for leading the BAU, which means she cannot view JJ solely through the lens of workplace performance.
If JJ says she is ready to work, Prentiss has to decide whether to accept that answer.
As unit chief, she must respect JJ’s judgment.
As a friend, she may recognize when JJ is using work to avoid confronting something more painful.
That creates a subtle but compelling conflict.
Sometimes leadership means pushing someone forward.
Sometimes it means giving them permission to stop.
Knowing the difference is considerably harder.
Garcia Brings the Emotional Support JJ May Need
Penelope Garcia has always occupied a unique place in JJ’s life.
Kirsten Vangsness’ character is expressive in ways many members of the BAU are not. Garcia rarely treats caring as something she needs to conceal.
That quality makes her friendship with JJ particularly valuable during periods of emotional uncertainty.
Garcia does not need to profile JJ to know her.
Years of friendship have already given her an understanding no behavioral analysis could reproduce.
She knows when JJ is being professional.
She also knows the person underneath that professionalism.
In an era of Criminal Minds increasingly interested in what happens after the investigation ends, relationships like JJ and Garcia’s become essential.
They remind viewers that the BAU survives not simply because its members are excellent at their jobs, but because they refuse to let one another face everything alone.
Rossi Understands the Weight of Moving Forward
David Rossi can provide a different kind of support.
Joe Mantegna’s veteran profiler has accumulated enough personal history to understand that moving forward does not mean forgetting what happened before.
That distinction is important.
Rossi rarely needs to offer a perfect speech to communicate empathy. Sometimes his greatest strength is recognizing what another person is carrying without demanding an explanation.
That could become especially meaningful for JJ.
She does not necessarily need another profiler telling her how to process an emotion.
She needs colleagues willing to accept that grief, uncertainty and responsibility can coexist.
Rossi understands that better than most.
The BAU Family Becomes More Important
Personal change has always revealed the true structure of Criminal Minds.
Technically, the BAU is a professional unit.
Emotionally, it became a family years ago.
Prentiss leads them.
Rossi carries much of their institutional history.
Garcia provides emotional warmth.
Tara Lewis brings psychological insight.
Luke Alvez contributes loyalty and instinct.
JJ has spent years connecting those different personalities.
When one member of that family experiences a major change, the consequences spread across the team.
That is why an update involving Will cannot remain exclusively a JJ storyline.
Everyone around her will feel its impact.
Season 2 Proved Evolution Was Willing to Change the Characters
The original Criminal Minds often had to balance personal storytelling against a weekly procedural structure.
Evolution has more room to let consequences continue.
A difficult development does not have to disappear when the next investigation begins.
Characters can carry it forward.
Relationships can change gradually.
Emotional recovery does not need to happen on a convenient television schedule.
That approach makes upsetting developments more meaningful because the audience understands they may permanently reshape the characters.
For JJ, that means the future does not have to be defined entirely by sadness.
It can instead become a story about adaptation.
Who is Jennifer Jareau when a part of the life she spent years building changes?
That question has no easy answer — and that is precisely why it is worth exploring.
Criminal Minds Is Strongest When the Cases Become Personal
Fans may understandably have complicated feelings about major changes involving beloved characters.
After spending so many years with JJ and Will, viewers became invested not simply in their relationship but in what it represented.
Will was part of the life JJ built beyond the BAU.
Changing that life inevitably changes her.
But Criminal Minds: Evolution has repeatedly demonstrated that its most effective storytelling comes when professional investigations and personal consequences intersect.
The BAU can understand complicated behavior.
It can find connections hidden inside mountains of information.
It can follow a psychological profile toward an answer.
What it cannot do is create a profile for grief, love or moving forward.
Those challenges require something else.
They require Prentiss to be more than a boss, Garcia to be more than a technical analyst, Rossi to be more than a veteran profiler and the BAU to become what viewers have always known it really is.
A family.
That may be the most important consequence of the upsetting Season 2 update.
Criminal Minds: Evolution can change the circumstances surrounding its characters, but the emotional bond holding them together remains the franchise’s most powerful constant.
And for JJ, whatever comes next will not be a story she has to face entirely alone.
