Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 finale recap: Doug Bailey's connection to Gold Star revealed

The Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 finale answered some crucial questions while also giving us a stunning ending that is sure to keep fans talking. Plus, we finally met the final member of Gold Star. Who was he and how was he connected to everything happening? Let's dive into a recap of "Save the Children."

After the explosion occurred in the previous episode, Garcia and Rebecca were left trying to figure out if the team survived. Luckily, they did survive the explosion, but Emily was missing. Thanks to security footage Garcia was able to get into, they saw Jade working with another person.

Knowing Dana had been killed, the team figured this must be the elusive Pete B. With Elias’s voice in Dave’s head, he determined who Pete is Doug Bailey’s younger brother. Doug had attempted to help his brother overcome the conspiracy theories he had been bought into but nothing ever worked.

He knew Pete was a part of Gold Star and had tried to protect him so he wouldn’t be harmed. When Elias Voit mentioned Gold Star, it hit a nerve in Doug, who didn’t want anything to happen to Pete. Unfortunately, Pete was led to believe that Emily had murdered Doug and that Voit was a patsy.

The team had to work with Voit again, who had an app that could determine whether a video message that was sent was fake or not. He needed to hack into it with Garcia’s help but he wanted a bodyguard. He picked Tyler, who figured out, thanks to Rebecca, that Voit wanted to use him in hopes that Tyler would attack him and give him a defense.

Despite Voit trying to get under Tyler’s skin about his sister, Garcia and the team kept him from doing anything to get himself in trouble. After they figured out Jade and Pete’s location in order to find Emily, JJ confronted Voit.

She was able to figure out that Voit had superimposed her face over images of his wife. Before she left, after giving him what she thought was the last word, Voit told her good luck.

Meanwhile, Emily held her ground with Pete and Jade. She tried to explain what actually happened to Doug. Even though she did her best, they still didn’t fully believe her but chose not to kill her. Instead, they planned on waiting until her team arrived so they could die in an explosion.

Garcia got into the security feed in the building Emily was in. They didn’t see the explosive devices, but could tell something was up.

Before the team breached, they began to realize it was a trap and decided to hack into the projector that Jade and Pete set up to show Emily video messages Doug sent to Pete. They played a video of Elias admitting to killing Doug.

Pete decided to surrender, not wanting to die because of a lie. Even though Jade was still ready to kill herself, Emily convinced her to stay alive so she could help them learn about Stuart House.

After Emily tried to convince the director to help Pete and Jade by providing them the help they need once they end up at the facilities where they will serve their sentences, she joined the gang at Garcia’s house.

We found out that Tara and Rebecca have rekindled their relationship and that Tyler has submitted his resume to the FBI. Even though Elias Voit still hung over their heads, they were ready to move forward.

As for Voit himself, he ended up in a sticky situation. He was doing laundry in general population, which is where he wanted to be, and was attacked by two inmates. They somehow seemed to know he was Voit and not just Lee Duvall. But was this attack genuine? How did they find out who he was? Did Voit set this all up to escape?

We wouldn’t put it past Voit to make it look like he was assaulted as a way to stick it to the BAU once again and leave prison. Zach Gilford is such a compelling unsub and a great actor, so if he shows up to further antagonize the BAU, then bring it on.

We know there will be a season 3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution, but so far there is no more information on what to expect. We will keep you updated on Hidden Remote as more news comes about the Paramount+ series. Follow us on X!