Criminal Minds: Paget Brewster talks Emily's hypocrisy, female friendship, and more

If there is one woman I’ve always wanted to be, it’s Emily Prentiss on Criminal Minds. I love so many of the others, but Emily showed what it meant to be a boss. And usually, we see her completely put together.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 gave us other sides to Emily. We saw her be a hypocrite at times, and we get a brilliant moment where she was completely stoned as she contemplated what to do next. In the end, she came through and saw that Jade and Pete needed help and not the BAU barging in and killing them.

We sat down with Paget Brewster to talk about Emily Prentiss and this season, along with what it means to have women supporting women.

Breaking down Prentiss being a hypocrite in the Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 finale

During the final moments of the finale, Emily faces off against Ray about the secrets that he kept. It was only a few episodes ago that we learned Emily kept secrets from the team. We came into this season knowing that she was searching for Gold Star without everyone else, and then we found out that she knew all about the BAUGate.

Now, I didn’t say that Emily was hypocritical. I did understand that some secrets need to be kept, but Brewster shared more.

"“It’s interesting to see Prentiss being a little hypocritical, because she’s made that mistake…It does show the growth of the character and recognizing ‘I messed up.’”"

There is a lot of growth for the character this season, and it all comes to a head at the end of the season.

"“[Prentiss] has made some bad choices and done some sketchy stuff that she thinks is for the greater good, and she has to face that again and again in this season.”"

There was a back and forth for Prentiss where she thought that it was time to quit, and she realized that she had compromised her morals.

"“It’s just this push and pull of her guilty, of her desire, of her loyalty, of her fear. It’s a lot…Prentiss went through it this year.”"

Criminal Minds has always been women supporting women

When you look at the BAU, especially as Prentiss came into the team, the series has focused on women supporting women. This is predominately a man’s field, and yet, the BAU right now has two men to four women. And none of those women are threatened by each other or trying to pull Prentiss down from the top.

There’s a beautiful friendship between JJ and Emily. That’s something I asked Brewster about.

"“Specifically episode 8 where they get stoned, I loved it. And I loved it because those scenes really have a journey…and then JJ getting through to Prentiss and saying ‘you can’t quit…’ I would hate to do a show where women are tearing each other down…this is a team of people where lives are in each other’s hands, and they have a bond that they need to rely on. There’s no ‘I’m going to screw this person over to get a promotion’ or ‘I’m going to sell this person out to get cozy with this person.’”"

This is more than just about TV. Behind the scenes, the women support each other.

"“We are like that as the female members of the cast, we’re only supporting each other. And that’s how it should be all the time in this business. We shouldn’t compete against each other. We should only support each other, because everything works more smoothly.”"

Prentiss sees that Jade and Pete are victims as well as UnSubs in Criminal Minds: Evolution

This season brought us a different side of UnSubs, especially when it came to the Gold Star member Jade. While at first Prentiss wanted to take the UnSubs down, she realized that there was so much more to the situation.

"“I love that it’s not black and white, right? We still have Voit is a father; we see Voit is a serial killer. We see where that damage came from.”"

What does this mean for the next season? Is there a chance that we’ll see Jade and Pete return, especially as they face the consequences of their own actions but this time with an understanding BAU.

"“They were manufactured, horribly manipulated. I’m curious to see if we get to see Pete and Jade in the next season of Criminal Minds. Because is that a situation where some of us could testify on their behave? Is it mitigating circumstances as to what their damages could be? Could it be mental impairment? What is the guilt level of these kids that have been brutalized into believing they were doing the right thing. Prentiss says to the director, ‘they’re not just criminals; they’re victims.’ And they are, and that could be a really interesting arc.”"

Brewster doesn’t actually know what the next season will hold, but she certainly has some great ideas. I’d be up for seeing some of that—and I definitely want Jade and Pete back!

Take a look at the full interview with Paget Brewster about Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 below: