Subscribe To Why Criminal Minds Won't Keep Garcia's Dark Side Up In Season 14 Updates
Criminal Minds Penelope Garcia Kirsten Vangsness CBS


It's impossible not to have that face and energy onscreen and not feel happy and good. When she's off, it sort of affects everything and everyone and that's why we'll tell that arc in the first four of five episodes. She's not suffering for that long because that's a painful thing to watch. She's our sunshine.

With Garcia's upbeat nature having been impacted by the events of the Season 14 premiere, what may be a short time, relatively speaking, might feel longer. Criminal Minds' showrunner revealing to TV Insider that Garcia's mood will be overcast for around four episodes does not sound that lengthy. However, the show's fourteenth season is currently slated to run for fifteen episodes, meaning that this is almost a third of the season. So, Garcia's return to her upbeat nature will not be a blink-and-you-missed-it event.


As showrunner Erica Messer points out, Garcia is the show's source of sunshine, and when the sun is eclipsed, it tends to get noticed. Garcia will not be alone in facing darker times ahead. Messer also teased that Season 14 will find Reid pausing to reflect after being tortured in the premiere.

Maybe he and Garcia can help each other? With her facing a challenging time in her life, fans should prepare for an arc that will take them through some ups and downs. It is sad but realistic for her not rebound from a trauma overnight, or in the span of a single episode. While Criminal Minds' showrunner revealed how long Garcia's dark side would last, she did not reveal the mechanism that will eventually help Garcia overcome the darkness so that she can shine again.

While time heals, fans will have to tune in to see if anything else plays a role in helping her. Given how Garcia's personality helps stave off the show's own dark side, that development will be a significant game changer for the crime drama. Stepping in to provide some light in the meantime, will be Rossi's reignited romance with his ex-wife, and he is not the only one whose personal life will be explored in the current season.


Criminal Minds is Cancelled, But There's Still Good News

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Blended From Around The Web



Hot Topics

Cookie Settings