Criminal Minds: Aisha Tyler Reflects On Tara's Fate — And How BAU Agents Don't Believe In 'Happily Ever After'
The following contains spoilers from the June 26 episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution, now streaming on Paramount+.
This week on Criminal Minds: Evolution, Dr. Tara Lewis narrowly dodged a bullet — that is, after she totally failed to at the end of last episode.
Having been targeted and gunned down by someone in another of those Yase-Otoko masks, Tara was rushed into surgery, where it was touch and go for a while. During that time, Tara toured a "mind palace" inhabited by her late mother, Caroline. The two revisited a lot of the pain that Tara felt after losing her Mommy to cancer, and how she oversteered, in response, by committing to being an elite psychologist.
In the end, Caroline nudged her daughter to lower some of the walls she had put up, to allow herself to love not just freely but fully. Towards episode's end, Tara awoke in her hospital bed, and following a "Two Weeks Later" time jump, she popped the question to girlfriend Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) in front of her BAU family.
TVLine spoke with series vet Aisha Tyler about the eponymous episode "Tara," what it's like to give the dark-dark Criminal Minds a shiny-happy moment, and more.
TVLINE | When did [showrunner] Erica [Messer] first tell you that this big, juicy episode was coming up?
It very close to the beginning of the season. She said, "We have an episode coming up called 'Tara,'" which, you know, you feel a bit trepidatious about that. But ever since we've been on Paramount+, they've done a very elegant job servicing all the different characters and their backstories and experiences.
TVLINE | In the many scenes between Tara and her mother, did anything surprise you? Any of the content or the direction it took, anything that was revealed? I know a lot of that backstory had been laid out in previous seasons....
It had, but we never really spoke about [Caroline] and my relationship with her; so much of Tara's backstory had to do with her father. We knew that [Caroline] died when I was young and that a big part of my backstory was that I was trying to service the specter of my mother, to service this "giant" in my mind that she was. I know LaTanya personally and she's an incredible person....
TVLINE | I was going to ask if you had any history with her.
Oh yeah. No, it was a gift when she said yes. The multiple Tony nominations.... I mean, she's she's the GOAT, so to have her come in was just a joy, and to be able to act across from her was both exciting and intimidating. She's incredibly generous as a performer, and so lovely. She was exactly the right person to play that part because she was someone who I felt you could see Tara in her. You could see the shape of this incredibly accomplished, slightly severe woman, someone who developed that severity and intensity as a coping mechanism, as a success tool. To be a professional woman and a professional woman of color, you have to have a hard shell, and you could see that in her — and see her love for her daughter, and I can relate to that. I mean, my mom is nothing like that character, but I understand that infrastructure, so a lot of it was just leaning into that and giving Tara the opportunity to be super vulnerable.
Oh! And here's an Easter egg. In the in the script it was written that I told her, "I love you, mom," but I call my mom "Mommy," so that actually stuck out to me [and I changed the line]. That really showed Tara's childlike vulnerability in the moment, with how she called her "mommy."
TVLINE | It must have been hard for you to keep it a lid on this storyline, seeing as LaTanya was in the background of one of the first photos they released for this season, but nobody was confirming who she was playing.
Right, right. I mean, it was such a big episode because not only was it post-shooting, but we're introducing this monumental figure in Tara's life, in this mind palace. It was really intense and really emotional, and I'd come home with a with a fat headache after a lot of hardcore crying.
TVLINE | But in the end it led to a nice engagement scene — during Pride Month, no less.
Yes, during Pride Month! I mean, come on now. Where are my allies at? I love it.
TVLINE | Well, for a second there last week I thought, "Oh man, did they just kill off Tara on Juneteenth and during Pride?!"
Double whammy! No, it was exactly the opposite. She's a survivor and the proposal felt good in a show that does tend to live in kind of a liminal space. We are living in darkness most of the time, so it felt very optimistic, but I also think that it didn't feel pat. I don't want to be a downer, but I don't think any of these characters believe in the concept of "happily ever after." It's a much more Buddhist mindset they live in, which is, "You have to seize the now." Human life is frail, we see that every day, it's constantly expiring around us. You must live in the now and you must take joy where you where you can find it. I think that's a great philosophy to have.
TVLINE | I was curious — on a dark, dark show like this, is it almost funny when you're the cast member who gets to have that one shiny-happy scene every 11th episode or so?
I mean, we all get one. We're all gonna get our "birthday cake" at some point, because that's life. People who have survived incredible adversity will tell you, "You gotta eat the cake, man." In the middle of darkness, you've got to sing. So yeah, it's always nice when one of us gets that [moment]. No one rolls their eyes, because they are far and few between. We always want to lean into those.
TVLINE | Beyond popping the question, will we see that Tara is feeling a bit lighter in other ways?
Tara's defense mechanisms have gotten her very far, and they're there because of personal adversity. She's the person who's quick to make fun of somebody else, but she can take a punch as well. I think you will see her be a bit softer and more tender, but that openness to joy and to vulnerability has to be coupled with the armor that she's built. But yes, I do think you'll see a change in her, and there's an intimacy with some of the characters that I cannot really tease more than to say that I think it is going to be really, really compelling.
TVLINE | Are we going to get one of those season-ending Criminal Minds weddings/backyard parties, or are Tara and Rebecca on a slower track?
I can tell you nothing. I can tell you absolutely nothing. But I will say that we're in the middle of shooting [Season] 19, and like this season it is just hot to trot. [Season] 18 into 19 is a hustle, and so far 19 has been a blast. I think people are really going to enjoy it.
TVLINE | What can you tease about this season's finale? How are we going to be feeling at the end of it?
Nope. [Laughs] And it's not that I'm being secretive, but part of it is I don't remember. Like, we're about to shoot Episode 4 of [Season] 19, and here's how the actor's mind works: You learn all of your lines and then you immediately forget them so that you can learn new lines. So, what happened, like, eight episodes ago is a distant distant memory.
TVLINE | But we don't actually know who shot Tara yet, right? I know we were briefly liking Geoff Stults [as Evan] for it this week....
Oh no, there's mysteries. There's mysteries. I will say there's a really great puzzle box through the end of the season. Lots of great mysteries, lots of great turns. The end is explosive and will propel everybody into the beginning of 19 in a really exciting way.
TVLINE | Lastly, what's it like when you're all "tubed up" there in a hospital bed and Nicole Pacent is acting her heart out inches away from you?
I was just trying to keep my eyes from fluttering. You know how hard it is to keep your eyes closed when you're awake, you don't want them to wiggle and stuff like that. So I was meditating, trying to stay still. Yes, years and years of working on procedurals has given me a very small toolbox of "play dead" skills, so I was just trying not to peek at her!
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