There’s no doubt thatCriminal Minds: Evolutionhas been a huge success, but one recurring criticism of the revival hearkens back to the same criticisms leveled at HBO’s juggernaut showGame of Thronesin its final season. The originalCriminal Mindsran for an impressive 15 seasons, building a large and loyal following over its decade and a half on air. Naturally, fans were thrilled when a revival was announced, with that revival,Criminal Minds: Evolutionfinding many of the original cast members returningwith a move to Paramount+.
The revival has been overwhelmingly positively received by most fans of the original and an unqualified success;Criminal Minds: Evolutionseason 4has already been greenlit. Now inseason 3,Criminal Minds: Evolutionhas done a masterful job of taking what worked from the original series but also updating it for a modern, post-Covid era where conspiracy theories and serial killers are all the rage in entertainment media. All accolades aside, though, there are a few valid criticisms of the revival, including one that has plagued it from the start.
Criminal Minds: Evolution Is Too Dark
Literally & Figuratively, But It’s The Former That Is A Problem
Criminal Minds: Evolutionhas changed several foundational elements from the original run of the show. For starters, being on streaming, the seasons are much shorter. To that end, the seasons now have overarching narrative arcs, and while there are certainly still the episodic elements of the procedural, storylines now carry over across a season, or even multiple seasons. While most of the changes have been well-received, one visual change hasn’t and has been a common complaint:Criminal Minds: Evolutionis incredibly dark - literally. I’m not the only person who feels this way, either.
Of course, one random post on Reddit isn’t a basis for an argument, but that’s just an example of many such posts and comments on social media. It’s hard to argue against the complaints, since they’re absolutely right. Some scenes have been so dimly lit that it has prompted people to double-check the brightness on their laptops, thinking they’d accidentally dialed it down, or made them wonder if their LED TV screens were somehow dying. The surprise was learning that there’s nothing wrong with our screens – it’s an intentional choice.
That visual decision to makeCriminal Minds: Evolutionliterally dark is down to wanting to match its new level of tonal and narrative darkness. The original run ofCriminal Mindscertainly dealt with some deranged killers, but the revival has taken it much further. Being on a streaming platform has allowed it to go places that the original show couldn’t, being on a network, and that includes the unsubs being far more depraved and gruesome. It’s a dark show in every way, so, while the intent behind making the show so visually dark is understandable, it’s arguably gone too far. It’s not the first time a show has gotten flak for its controversial lighting choices.
Game Of Thrones Season 8 Was Also Criticized For The Same Darkness
We All Remember The Debacle Of “The Long Night”
Plenty of us remember thecriticismGame of Thronesseason 8 generated about how dark it was. It had been trending that way for the final two seasons, but the criticism reached a fever pitch inGame of Thronesseason 8, episode 3, “The Long Night.” The episode, which finally portrayed the long-anticipated Battle of Winterfell, was lambasted for its excessive darkness, the pitch so black that it was literally impossible to see the action on the screen for most of the duration. Considering it was the pivotal battle to which everything had been building for seven seasons, audiences were understandably disappointed and incensed that the murky darkness ruined the episode.
The backlash was so severe that Fabian Wagner,Game of Thrones' then-DP defended the Battle of Winterfell episode, blaming iPad and computer compression and the fact that people didn’t have their TVs properly attuned. He further explained that with a show as cinematic asGame of Thrones, the proper way to watch dark scenes is the way you would in a movie theater, in a darkened room.
That air of general sloppiness in the final season made Wagner’s explanation for the darkness at the time seem less like a deliberate and smart choice and more like another error.
While he’s not entirely wrong, his explanation at the time didn’t exactly go over well with fans, considering the show had largely squandered its goodwill by then and was also plagued with noticeable continuity errors, such asGame of Thrones' infamous Starbucks coffee cup error, when one was openly visible on a table in a scene with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in the very next episode, or the water bottle that was visible behind the leg of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) in the finale. That air of general sloppiness in the final season made Wagner’s explanation for the darkness at the time seem less like a deliberate and smart choice and more like another error.
Why TV Shows Are Too Dark Now
Thematic Elements Factor In, But It’s Mostly A Problem Of Technology
Of course,Criminal Minds: Evolutionisn’t generating the same level of backlash and vitriol that was directed atGame of Thronesin its final season and a 1:1 comparison doesn’t work. But in terms of the same issues being too dark and scenes being hard to see, they are in alignment. It’s not as though those are the only two TV shows that have this issue, though. It’s a growing problem and a common complaint from television audiences: Why are TV shows these days sodark?
The truth is that there’s no simple answer to the question, nor one answer alone. The ever-increasing murkiness on our TV screens is a combination of factors. For starters, there’s the fact that we’re currently living through an era that’s oversaturated with grimdark storylines and concepts on TV – true crime and serial killers, antiheroes, bad people doing bad things and good people breaking bad, and mystery shows dipping into noir abound. Shows with grim and bleak storylines dial down the light and desaturate the color to contribute to that overall moody atmosphere.
The greater problem, however, is exactly whatGame of Thrones' Wager pointed to: Technology is advancing so quickly that the range of what various screens are capable of is all over the map.
The greater problem, however, is exactly whatGame of Thrones' Wager pointed to: Technology is advancing so quickly that the range of what various screens are capable of is all over the map. The advanced technology used to film TV shows these days has outstripped the tech in the everyday laptop, iPad, or television. If someone has a brand-new, top-of-the-line HDR TV, for example, then the dark scenes will likely look okay. However, most people don’t, so the dark scenes will look extra dark as their screens aren’t capable of picking up and displaying as much color and brightness.
There’s also the equipment that Hollywood uses vs. what your average TV watcher uses to consider. When a DP or cinematographer or director watches a rough cut of a TV show, they’re watching it in a state-of-the-art viewing room with high-def screens, in darkness. They test their rough cuts in ideal conditions, not on small laptop screens. When you hear a filmmaker or TV director use the phrase “how it was meant to be seen,” this is what they mean: ideal conditions that can properly portray what they shot. Most screens can’t, leading to complaints ofCriminal Minds: Evolutionand other TV shows being too dark. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
Criminal Minds
Cast
Criminal Minds follows an elite team of FBI profilers from the Behavioral Analysis Unit as they analyze the nation’s most complex criminal minds, led by experienced agent David Rossi. The team works to anticipate and prevent crimes by understanding the behavior of these dangerous individuals.
