CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Post-Mortem: Aimee Garcia on Filming Those Emotional Ochoa and JJ Scenes, Fangirling on the BAU Set, and What’s to Come

June 5, 2025 by Marisa Roffman

L-R: Joe Mantegna as David Rossi and Aimee Garcia as Dr. Julia Ochoa in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 5, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, June 5 episode of CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION.]

With JJ (A.J. Cook) still struggling in the aftermath of her husband’s death, she talked things out with an unconventional person on the Thursday, June 5 episode of CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION: Dr. Julia Ochoa (Aimee Garcia).

But as she discussed the case (the BAU was dealing with a family annihilator), her grief, her concern she was letting her team down, and even her spiritual beliefs with Ochoa, the duo weren’t alone—Voit (Zach Gilford) was quietly in the room with them, listening as the women talked.

Though JJ was feeling helpless, she acknowledged that if she couldn’t help herself, she could help someone else. “Like you,” JJ said to Voit. “What do you think?”

“I think maybe you might be right,” Voit said. “From what I can remember, everything I did was selfish. Even trying to take my own life is all about me—me trying to solve my problems.”

Instead, Voit acknowledged maybe he could do something to help people who are suffering, especially if it’s suffering he caused. “So, what do you want me to do?” Voit asked.

The trio headed to the BAU offices, where the family annihilator—AKA The Brutal Man—had said he had a message for Voit.

Here, Garcia talks with Give Me My Remote about filming the intense scenes with Cook, getting to film on the BAU sets, and the revelations about Ochoa in “The Brutal Man.”

What process did you and A.J. go through to get that dynamic right as you were filming their therapy-like scenes?
Well, first of all, A.J. is a seasoned pro. I mean, she’s obviously been on the show for a very long time, and she’s not only an actor, she’s a director. And so it was really easy. I felt like she was so open and so vulnerable and so present. I really felt like we were doing a play.

And…I felt like I was like the guest in this band that everybody has loved for 18 years. I really let her take the lead. I said, “Look, I’m here if you need me, if you want to run lines, great. If you don’t, great.” I really did follow her lead if she needed to take a moment in the corner, if she wanted to run the scene really quickly before we shot; this was all about her and me just being supportive of her emotional journey, because it’s a lot.

I mean, she’s a character that’s been with a spouse for 18 years, and grieving that loss can look so different for so many people. And so she was just—[Garcia makes a motion to indicate her breath was taken away.] It was really easy. I mean, she’s such a wonderful actor that all I had to do was just listen and be present. And, you know, the rest was up to our wonderful director and her.

A.J. Cook as Jennifer ‘JJ’ Jareau in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 5, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

The show reveals near the end of the episode that Voit is also in the room with them as they’re having these intimate conversations. How did that impact how you and A.J. filmed the scenes where Voit’s presence was hidden from the camera?
Oh, I wish I could pull out my phone. We did have him on a C-stand—[we] put Zach’s face on it and taped it with holes cut out of his eyes. And so we literally had him there the whole time. So we would send him pictures and be like, “Zach, you’re here with us in spirit!” And as eerie and grizzly as the show is, there is such a lightheartedness, on and off the camera. But we did reference him [in the room with us].

And then we asked our director, how often we should glance over or how often we should completely ignore the third party so as not to give it away. So it was that fine balance of acknowledging that there’s a third person in the room, so that when people go back and watch the episode again—which I know this guy [she points at herself] will be doing—you can say, “Oh, she wasn’t just looking off. She was actually looking at someone.” So it was really fun, as an actor, to just take a moment to look off to the side and just pretend that you’re just gathering your thoughts, but you’re really looking at another character in the scene.

As you alluded to, Ochoa is someone who is a guest in this world, but she’s also coming in at a very pivotal time for these characters. What is her take on JJ and the dynamic she has with Voit?
Well, I think her first thing is “do no harm.” So her patients are her number one. And, obviously, JJ is not her patient. But I think that [for] Dr. Ochoa, to be a good doctor, I think you have to have empathy. And I think that she is willing to do whatever it takes, if it’s a positive, healthy thing for her patients, and those in his orbit, which obviously JJ is.

So I think they are two women talking about loss together. Dr. Ochoa opens up about herself losing a family member, that one day, you’re at a dinner table with a loved one, then the next, you’re not. Obviously, we’ve revealed that she’s a woman of faith, and that this is how she deals with grief, that there’s a bigger purpose, that we’re not alone. And she brings, I think, to the scene a spirituality that JJ has a tough time acknowledging as a [possibility]… I mean, she’s cold facts, right?

I think that what was so wonderful was not having Dr. Ochoa being scared off. I mean, JJ’s character is amazing, right? She handles herself with a weapon. She has an incredible high kick. She is the smartest person in the room. She is a total badass, as her kids’ friends say in the show.

But I think Dr. Ochoa sees through all those guarded-up layers, and sees that this is just a human being dealing with a lost loved one. And I think it was really nice to open up another side of this character, who we see handling so much. Even in the episode right after she loses her husband, she’s trying to find the gift [Will had for their son’s birthday], and she’s organizing everyone into the car—she’s just such a handler, like a lot of women are. And I think [their conversation in “The Brutal Man”] was such a beautiful moment of stillness and quiet and solitude and privacy between two professional women who don’t know each other that well. And sometimes, like Dr. Ochoa says, it’s easier to open up to strangers than to friends. So I think it was so beautifully written [by the writers] and so wonderfully executed by A.J.; she is a rock star.

L-R: Aimee Garcia as Dr. Julia Ochoa, Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, and Zach Gilford as Elias Voit in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 5, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

As you mentioned, Ochoa is a woman of faith—something you’ve obviously portrayed multiple times on screen, including in LUCIFER and DEXTER. Did you actually know this when you took this role, or is this something you discovered when you got the script?
I did not know that when I took the role and then they handed me a crucifix. I said, “Oh, this is familiar.” [Laughs.] “This brings back some memories.” And I thought, “Wow, between DEXTER and LUCIFER and CRIMINAL MINDS, I really am attracted to the dark.” But, hopefully, my characters are a light spot in a dark, grizzly world.

Ochoa still feels like a mystery. What did you want to know—and what could they tell you—when you actually signed on?
Well, first of all, I was a fan of the show, so when they asked me to come play, it was a resounding yes. And I knew that Dr. Julia Ochoa was a neuropsychiatrist. I knew that she was one of the best in her field. I knew that Voit would be her patient and I knew that I’d be working with the BAU team. I knew that Aisha Tyler would be directing my first episode.

Erica Messer, our wonderful showrunner, just revealed that her patients are her number one priority. And like she says, whether someone’s a criminal, that’s not for her to judge. She sees a patient in need, where the BAU sees a serial killer. So I knew that unlocking Voit’s memories would be a key to helping the BAU. And I knew that the moral question which CRIMINAL MINDS does so, so well, was, do you wake up a serial killer? Do you wake up a monster? Or do you, as Dr. Lewis says, let sleeping dogs lie?

So they really don’t tell you much. I didn’t know how long I’d be alive…I flipped through my lines. [Mimics flipping through a script.] “I see a lot of blood. I see a lot of dismembered limbs. Oh, okay, I made it another day.” So it was this feeling [like] when I was on DEXTER and it was a little touch and go. But definitely the palms got sweaty every time, because they don’t tell you much. They really run that set like a tight CIA—we are on a need-to-know basis! So they didn’t tell me much, but I just knew I had to learn everything I could about every part of the brain so that it sounded like I knew what I was talking about when I was speaking medical jargon.

L-R: A.J. Cook as Jennifer ‘JJ’ Jareau, Zach Gilford as Elias Voit and Aimee Garcia as Dr. Julia Ochoa in Criminal Minds: Evolution, episode 5, season 18 streaming on Paramount+, 2025. Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/Paramount+

As a fan of the show, what was it like for you actually filming the scenes where Ochoa got to go to the BAU offices in this week’s episode?
I will actually post some on my Instagram because I geeked out. I’m a huge Garcia fan. I mean, [Kirsten Vangsness, who plays Garcia] is, like, the best hugger. I completely fangirl-ed. I hadn’t met her for the longest time, and I hadn’t done a scene on that set, because I was in the hospital so much. So on my lunch break…Marisa, I cannot confirm nor deny, so I don’t get in trouble, [but] I may have sneaked on to the BAU offices [set]. And my heart just started jittering. And a huge grin crawled on my face. I started looking at everyone’s desk and all the little toys everyone had. And I went into Rossi’s office and looked at all the Cubs gear, because I’m from Chicago. And I’m like, “Oh yeah, Cubs fan; love it.” And then, of course, I went into Garcia’s office and I looked at all the trinkets that she gets. And apparently they’re all trinkets that fans send, which I think is so cool—like pens and stuffed animals and pictures. I just completely geeked out. And it really is so cool. I really feel—and I say this in my video—like I won the Willy Wonka ticket. How many shows can you say have lasted 18 years? Now filming their 19th! I think I looked it up…they have to be top five…and you see why. I mean, the cast, the writing, the leadership, it’s really compelling. But to answer your question, I completely geeked out and fangirled and jumped around like a giddy teenager.

Outside of this, what can you share about what episode you are excited to have fans see later in the season?
Unlike the BAU, I do not work for the CIA, so I’m going to try to speak very slowly and deliberately. There is an upcoming episode where, let’s say, Dr. Julia Ocha lets her hair down. Okay, there we go. That’s good so far. Like, literally and figuratively. And she’s taken out of her element. [She takes a deep breath.] I think we’re good there. And let’s just see…oh, this is going to be good. This is a good pun, but you’ll get it when you see the episode. So let’s just say she gets swept off her feet, but not in the way you think. [She winks.] I’m going to stop there before I get in trouble. [Laughs.]

CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION, Thursdays, Paramount+

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CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION Post-Mortem: Aimee Garcia on Filming Those Emotional Ochoa and JJ Scenes, Fangirling on the BAU Set, and What’s to Come

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