We’ve finally made it to the finale of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 4. This season has been nothing short of twisty and mind-bending. From a new serial killer emerging from the old to Voit’s family being in danger, the cases have been wild. The BAU team is still growing. Throughout the season, Luke and JJ both faced heavy grief and life changes, and it was confirmed that Tara and Rebecca got married between seasons 3 and 4.
Although so many storylines have been happening, here’s a rundown of the season highlights: The BAU has taken on cold cases, familiar faces, and in-house murders, while the fan’s Mr. Pathetic taunted them and Voit. It all came to a head when the fan revealed himself to Voit in episode 7 and threatened his family.
If we thought that was the last we’d see of this storyline, it only escalated from there. After the BAU failed to give Voit comfort, he escaped prison with the fan on the loose in episode 9. Not only will they have to hunt the fan, but they’ll soon learn they’ll have to hunt down Voit all over again.
Two months ago and tonight
Two months ago, the fan was in his room with all his research, weapons, and trophies. Then, we see him giving a lecture to a college class. This is his way of staying in tune with murder while staying under the radar as a real killer. It all makes sense as the camera pans to Laura sitting in the classroom. He almost loses his train of thought when he spots her. After the lecture, she introduces herself to him and asks him a professional question while mentioning her breakup from Lance. He gives her an unsettling question and thanks her for coming to his talk. Yet, that just laid the groundwork for his obsession. Now, he is after Voit and his family.
Tonight, at Tollden College, two students spot someone following them. The guy wants to call campus police, but the girl says not to worry about it because she knows the person. They part ways, and she calls the person tailing them to back off a little since he is staring at her friends. That’s when I made the connection. It is one of Voit’s daughters. Once she’s alone, James comes out of the shadows and hauls her away with a belt around her neck.
Voit’s breaks free
Prentiss and Rossi find out Voit escaped from prison about six hours ago. Although the director is ordering a shot on site since Voit is armed, Voit didn’t kill the guards he stole from. They tell him he isn’t dangerous because he is only after protecting his family, but the director blames their case on Voit for this incident. Rossi throws it back at the director that he made a deal with Voit to put him in this place instead of one with higher security. Prentiss promises they’ll find him, and the director orders them to end Voit.
Rebecca tells the team that Holly Voit has been kidnapped. While her mom and sister are safe, she’s been taken after asking for space from her protective detail. Penelope realizes that the "scrambled egg protocol” (a backdoor to the system) is how James found Holly while she was under a different surname at college. James took Holly to kill her in front of Voit. All of this has been built to surpass his idol. Instead of having a higher body count, he wants to destroy Voit and everything he is by killing his daughter. Laura is the bait to lure the BAU away from his plan. It doesn’t work because now the team knows how Voit will find James, and it all leads back to Deanne Ryan. At some point, James crossed paths with her, and the team needed to find that path.
JJ and Rossi follow up with whatever we know about Deanne Ryan. Luke, Tyler, and Penelope review everything we have on Lance and Laura. Rebecca and Tara work with the Marshalls to find out Holly’s recent history that will tell her anything.
Ghost Rossi is still with Voit as he sits in the car he stole. Voit promises the Rossi in his head that he’ll find the guy, and he’ll be expecting him. He isn’t wrong there, considering James has research upon research about Voit.
Voit calls Rossi, and he immediately says he knows where he is. Voit counters that he doesn’t know exactly where. Rossi confirms that his youngest and ex-wife are okay. Voit tells him that he took Holly because she’s his type. He offers to let him take care of it so no one gets hurt while Rossi goes straight to Penelope. Rossi can’t agree to that, but Voit isn’t having it.
Honestly, I have to laugh at him saying hello to Penelope and her not missing a beat. He actually apologizes for everything; she accepts and offers him to do them a solid and surrender to them. He can’t do that because he has to save Holly when James gets him down on his knees, if only he can get there. He didn’t call for help but to hear Rossi’s voice and say goodbye.
Rossi begs Voit to let them help him since James is waiting for him and threatening his baby girl. Voit only sighs and hangs up. Penelope lets Rossi know he was right about Tulock, and there is a property that was gifted to James’ mom 30 miles south of the coast. Hopefully, this means they can catch up since Voit is traveling by car. So Rossi, JJ, and Prentiss are wheels up, but they can’t make a move until Laura is free.
The 12-hour window is up according to the director as he calls Prentiss, JJ, and Rossi. They assure him they are almost to Voit. Sadly, Holly may pay the price for Voit being no match for James.
Laura’s email
In Philadelphia, PA, we finally see Laura. James tells her that her purpose isn’t to die but to be a messenger. She has to follow his instruction to a tee to serve that purpose, as she’s in the same chair Lance was in not too long ago.
Penelope gets a new email from Laura and lets Prentiss know to come now. It looks like a live video of Laura (since she gives them time to answer) in the torture chair telling her if she wants to save her life: she must make sure that no one stands in Voit’s way of reaching his location. Penelope agrees as Tara and Prentiss listen in when Laura says she doesn’t need to die, but she is willing to for the greater good. Penelope gets to work tracing the email. James has it rigged so Laura is shocked all over her body when Penelope tries to trace the message. The message concludes with Laura letting them know that she will remain safe until God offers her mercy and sets her free.
After Laura’s message, we see Holly tied to a chair with the same panels along her arms as Laura. Thankfully, she still has some fight left in her. That only makes James angry as he tells her how she came to listen to his talk one night and asked him a question about his book. She was worried that a child could inherit their parent’s dark side; she didn't give him concrete evidence other than being scared of that outcome.
She lies and says her dad is dead when he tries to ask if her dad was aggressive. But this only made James dig into Voit’s records and find out how Holly tried to stab him. She tells him that she wasn’t trying to get him out of the picture but seeking revenge for what he put them all through with his crimes. He agrees with her that Voit will kill him when he gets here. He threatens that it’ll only happen after Voit sees Holly’s blood spilled all over the floor as he holds a knife in front of her.
All roads lead here
The director meets with the team about where James could be. If that is Voit’s destination, then where do they need to look? They fill him in on how Voit found Deanne Ryan on 2nd Street and how all roads lead back to her connection in the case. As it turns out, the font on the pamphlet Deanne was handing out is the same one James has been using. The leader of the Columns had a mistress whose son was born in 1969. That son is none other than James. This leads them to believe Voit is on his way to Florida, where they both met Deanne Ryan.
Later on, Laura confirms she can hear Penelope and thanks her for not compromising her safety. Luke realizes that this is a decoy to keep them away from his plan. But even so, he’s still feeding Laura lines with casual conversation. He must be nearby. Tyler has Penelope throw the free frame onto the screen behind them because he sees something. They enhance the top right corner and see something from his days in Afghanistan. It looks like Laura is in an industrial building that once was a typewriter factory in Philadelphia linked to Weston (the leader of the Columns). They can’t go in there guns blazing, so Penelope has an idea.
SWAT, Tara, Luke, and Tyler pull up to the factory location. In his room with Holly, he can see and has Laura talk to Penelope. If they make entry, she will die, so Penelope promises they won’t move. She loops the video and signals them to move. James hopes they find Holly, too. Penelope tries to talk to Laura, and finally she fights back to tell her James killed Lance. They cut James's audio and tell her to keep looking at the camera.
They are risking all their lives to save Laura from the murder chair that is rigged to go. Luke has Penelope jam all the signals, poking James’ eyes out as Penelope puts it. They rush Laura and get her free as Luke holds down the seat before bolting. The building blows up just as they escape with Luke still inside. His unconscious self imagines Roxy finding him and makes my heart ache. He gets up and walks out just as Tara and Tyler turn to go get him. They stab me in the heart again when he starts asking for the search dog when there wasn’t actually one there.
Voit takes a big risk
After Penelope and the team save Laura and cut James’s feed, he gets angry at Holly. He chokes her, mocks her, then leaves the room with his knife. He is eagerly waiting for Voit's arrival.
Finally, he arrives and points a gun at James, requesting his daughter. Voit says he’ll submit to him if he tells him where Holly is. James isn’t looking to bargain with him, and Voit gives in. He gives up his gun and kneels before him, and then James points him in the right direction: through a door, down a staircase, and into the torture room. Voit tries to get Holly out, and James shocks him. They go into a fighting match.
As this is going on, Prentiss tells the team to wait for her orders to protect Holly. Meanwhile, Voit gets Holly free, and she runs to the car waiting outside. James beats Voit onto the floor and starts to strangle him. Holly runs back and stabs him with his own knife to stop him. She continues to stab him in a rage. Surprisingly, it is Voit who puts her off him. Rossi announces they are here, and Voit panics and gets into the killing position. He is saving his daughter, but I can tell he takes the fall as he is handcuffed. Rossi looks shocked. Holly hugs her dad, and they apologize to each other as he’s taken away. JJ and Prentiss hold Holly back from chasing off her dad.
After all the killing and saving go down, the director and panel interview Rossi about their actions. The director is suspicious of Holly being the stabber and not her dad. Rossi continues to deny his theory and makes it look like she was defending the knife instead of holding it. Now, the case into Voit has been officially closed.
JJ and Prentiss check in with Holly, and she’s unsure what she’s feeling. Her mom is on the way. Prentiss reminds her that only three people know what really happens when Holly wants to keep it from her mom. They promise to be there for her, but she says she’ll be fine. I doubt that honestly.
Later on, Rebecca said that the director is honoring the BAU after everything with Voit. Now Voit’s profile stays as it was. Now he has been moved to another prison to serve out his 64 counts (pleading guilty to James’s murder). After all of this, Voit will never darken the BAU door again. They all have mixed emotions; Voit’s future is set, and they can go home. Before they leave Prentiss and Rossi talk about him not being done with Voit concerning his book. All he has to do is finish the book and close it for all of them.
Six Weeks Later
Everyone (Luke, Tyler, Penelope, JJ, and Michael) helps Henry move into his dorm. Michael and Penelope getting emotional breaks my heart, with me already missing Henry. The mere mention of Will makes all of us sad as JJ makes sure to tell him how proud his dad would be. We see a flashback of all the JJ and Henry memories from his birth to now. We’ve grown up with this boy, and now he is a college freshman.
Rossi concludes his book about Voit. Now he’s seeing Voit sitting across from him like Voit saw Rossi. He is finally getting rid of “The Soul of the Spider” as he finishes the draft of his book. Red pen down as he sips wine in a beautiful place without Voit taunting him anymore.
Tara and Prentiss drink while taking a break. Tara reminds them that tomorrow will be four years since she was asked to look at the shipping containers. All the marks have been left, but they survived it. The director hurries in, making Prentiss yell out, “Oh no, is it Voit again?" He quickly tells her to pack him away and look at this case. Unidentified body parts have been delivered to a lot of FBI field offices, and he wants the BAU on it now, ending their break. Prentiss calls in the team.
All episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution are streaming on Paramount+.
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