Performer of the Week: A.J. Cook (Criminal Minds: Evolution)

Grief is never easy to portray with authenticity, but this week on Criminal Minds: Evolution, A.J. Cook delivered a raw, heartbreaking performance that earns her our Performer of the Week. As Jennifer “JJ” Jareau, Cook stepped into the emotional fallout of an unthinkable tragedy: the sudden death of JJ’s husband, Will.

Cook has always grounded JJ with quiet strength and resolve, but this episode asked more of her—pain, confusion, guilt—and she met every beat with haunting realism. JJ isn’t someone who breaks easily. But Cook allowed us to see the cracks: the dazed silence, the trembling attempts at normalcy, and the searing heartbreak of a woman who’s lost her partner of nearly two decades. It was in the stillness, the softest lines, that the weight of her loss landed hardest.

One of the most affecting moments came during JJ’s interactions with Will’s grieving mother (played with quiet devastation by Linda Lavin). Cook didn’t just play sorrow—she embodied the complex guilt of a widow questioning whether she could have somehow prevented the unpreventable.

Sharing scenes with her real-life sons, Mekhai and Phoenix, added another layer of poignancy. Cook’s portrayal of JJ as a mother struggling to support her sons through their own grief was nothing short of gut-wrenching.

And then came the reunion with Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), where Cook gracefully shifted into the comfort of old friendships—a fleeting warmth amid so much sorrow.

Through it all, Cook gave a performance filled with subtlety, humanity, and heartbreak. She didn’t just play grief—she lived it, and in doing so, reminded us all why JJ remains one of the series’ most enduring hearts.