[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 18 Episode 3 “Time to Say Goodbye.”]

A.J. Cook delivers her best performance of the series in the Criminal Minds: Evolution episode (directed by Joe Mantegna!) following the shocking death of JJ’s husband, Will. It’s one that should but sadly probably won’t get the acknowledgement by awards voters it deserves.

This is a JJ who’s trying to be strong for her kids and her mother (Candy Clark), struggling with having Will’s mother, Connie (Linda Lavin), around criticizing and blaming her for not knowing about her son’s health issues, and generally just trying to hold it together. She succeeds in doing that last bit, but just barely and understandably. All in all, it’s a solid post-death episode, especially for one that has as major an impact on a main character as this one does (they were together 18 years!) and it features Matthew Gray Gubler‘s long-awaited return as Dr. Spencer Reid.

While the rest of the team continues to work the Voit (Zach Gilford) case, Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) and Prentiss (Paget Brewster) are there for JJ … as much as she’ll let them be. That means taking phone calls about Will’s dentist appointment and helping look for his last birthday present for their son Michael; Connie has passive aggressively promised to go through the whole house. Putting herself first is not selfish, Prentiss tells her, and she wants to curl into the fetal position just watching it as JJ holds everyone else together. She’s always been the glue, Garcia adds. JJ wonders what the alternative is as they head home for the night.

After Connie learns from her grandson Henry (Mekhai Andersen) that Will had an oncologist, JJ assures her those tests had come back all clear and explains keeping his health private was his decision. But as Connie sees it, she deserved to know and could have visited more. It gets worse when, the morning of Will’s funeral, things are tense at the breakfast table over frittatas and the family recipe. Once the kids are out of the room, JJ asks if they can just find a way to support one another, but Connie argues she has no idea what she’s going through, that losing a spouse and child are not the same thing (so there’s something else she doesn’t know…). Connie feels like she’s drowning, and the only way she thinks that JJ could ever understand how she feels would be if Will handed down whatever illness that was and her boys died before her. JJ, of course, doesn’t react well to that and reminds Connie that her sons lost their father. As JJ sees it, Connie’s acting like a child and she tells her she needs to “grow the f**k up or get the f**k out,” and her mother-in-law slaps her across the face then walks out.

Then, Connie declares that she’s not planning to attend the funeral. She does, though she refuses to drive over with the others. Rossi (Mantegna) is the one to get through to her, in a sweet scene with the two of them and JJ’s mother Sandy. He shares that he and his wife lost a child, which ultimately led to the death of their marriage. How they grieve isn’t always up to them, he notes. Going inside the church, watching the boys grow up, that’s something Will can’t do, Connie says, and she doesn’t know why she’s outlived her son.

Inside the church, Prentiss points out flowers from Hotch, Morgan, and Reid, who sent her a text … and that’s when Matthew Gray Gubler returns (looking just like Reid always has), joining JJ and the boys to hug them each and as a family. He then sits with the others.

Prentiss is the first to stand up to speak, bringing up one of the times she and Will were in danger and he told her he was going to marry JJ, then did. “You and Will have a kind of love that comes around once, if you’re lucky, and my God, were you two lucky,” she says to JJ. Garcia then recalls Will calling her and offering to help her move and being very serious about it, with so much bubble wrap that it made her feel cherished. She knows it would destroy him to see all of them holding their broken hearts.

Then it’s JJ’s turn — and a masterful performance from A.J. Cook — as she reveals that Will left her notes every morning all over the house that she’s sure he knew she kept even if she never told him. “I’ll find you in every lifetime and love you even more,” she reads, and “Don’t get shot today. We have a hot date tonight.” She shares, “He was a romantic. Every morning, no matter what, he would write me one of these little notes. Except that morning. He wasn’t himself. I should have known. Because he didn’t write a note.” Then she begins crying and her façade breaks.

“This isn’t the deal we made. Our boys aren’t supposed to grow up without a dad!” JJ says, getting angry. “We were in this together! That morning, you didn’t get Michael and Henry off to school, they didn’t get to see you. That morning will be the last time I heard your voice and it wasn’t goodbye or I love you. You needed help, and I couldn’t save you. I let you down, and I’m so sorry.” She then turns to her sons, “I’m so sorry for that, boys. I’m lost. I don’t know how to do this.” And that’s when we see that Connie is standing in the back of the church, watching her.

As everyone files out after, JJ remarks she still can’t believe Reid made it. “I’m always here for you guys,” he promises before joining the others outside for hugs (and kisses, from Rossi, of course).

Reid’s the last one to stay with JJ at Will’s graveside after the burial, before they walk off together. And that’s it from Gubler. It’s a short, bittersweet return from Reid. It’s likes no time has passed. And yes, JJ needed him by her side — these two were close, though to be honest, we do try to forget that love confession ever happened — but it would’ve been nice to also get to see him involved in the case because watching his brain work was always such a big part of the character as well.

Following the funeral, the team and JJ’s mom gather at Garcia’s. It’s here we find out how Reid was able to show up and why he left: His supervisor worked with JJ at the state department and gave him the morning off. (And so we still have questions about just what Reid’s doing these days.) This is also when JJ acknowledges that she needs to feel all the pain and grief. She admits to Tara (Aisha Tyler) that she’s having trouble sleeping because every time she closes her eyes, Will’s right there, so it’s either keep her eyes open to avoid the reality where he’s not there or sleep and get lost in the dream he is. Tara tells her that her grief will come in waves, so all she can do is just ride it out.

Then comes one of the best scenes (and hugs) of the episode: Rossi talking to JJ about losing his spouse and their last words. He couldn’t remember if he said “I love you,” but he knows she knew, just like Will did. Death is both an end and a beginning, of a different relationship, he explains. She’ll still speak to her husband and wonder what he thinks about something, what he’d say to the kids when she needs him, because he was her other half and he lives on in her heart. He advises her to do more of what she did at the church and say what she feels when she does because it shows her boys it’s okay to let it out.

Back home, JJ and Connie do begin to fix things. Connie thanks her for loving her son, her grandsons, and herself and asks if she can visit more. And because she goes to bed, she makes sure to tell JJ she loves her.

The episode then ends on the reveal of Will’s final gift to Michael, which Henry found: The LaMontagne’s How-To Guide (fish, shave, make coffee, the frittata, etc.). Will didn’t want to risk missing anything, JJ realizes, because taking care of the boys was his life and being gone was his worst fear. And with that, JJ and Henry cry together over their loss.

What did you think of Matthew Gray Gubler’s return as Reid and the farewell to Will? Let us know in the comments section below.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+