We're halfway through the season, and it feels like the BAU team has found its flow. After cold cases, familiar faces, and in-house murders, Criminal Minds: Evolution season 4 isn't letting up.
On top of solving cases, we've seen growth within the BAU family as well through Luke, Penelope, and JJ’s bond with raising Henry and Michael after Will's untimely death a year ago. His death allows JJ to be more open about grief and how she's moving forward one day at a time. Although I want to see more from the rest of the team, I'm loving the focus on this side of things because JJ’s grief was a big focus of season 3, so it makes sense that it still plays a huge part in season 4.
Aside from the BAU team, Voit is still making waves. His storylines brought Brian’s podcast back to the center, and Rossi faced Voit again. Episode 5 had me reeling thanks to this plotline. As much as Rossi hates Voit, he really makes a difference in this case, until Brian messes up. While talking to the admirer through Lance, Brian told them that Voit was in the room. The episode ends with the sounds of Lance’s painful screams.
What happened to Lance Kingston?
Connor Storrie shines as Lance Kingston through painful torture from Voit’s admirer/stalker. Once the team finds him in the storage unit, behind a curtain, they notice a burnt flesh smell. They immediately think the worst until Lance wails in pain. The admirer has fled the scene, but at least Lance is alive. He's been taken to the hospital due to his injuries: He has “pathetic” branded letter by letter on his arm and a different pattern around his wrist.
While the team is divided to cover two cases (the admirer and Cam girls), Prentiss has Penelope looking into both, which leads down many rabbit holes. Penelope discovers that the admirer branded Lance with a specific typewriter and crafted his own lettering and spacing. That's not even the weirdest part; the pattern around Lance's wrists was scale-like from a leather belt. The MO crosses into the Cam girls' case, but they later confirm it is two different unsubs with similar tastes in crimes.
Speaking of the Cam Girls case, can we start calling the admirer Mr. Pathetic? The medical examiner had a point when JJ and Luke still thought they were searching for one unsub. It seemed that they turned that name down and quickly left. I loved how the ME smiled and said, “That wasn't a no,” when they wouldn't tell her who they were talking about.
Cam Girls Case
As if they didn't have enough going on, a case in their own backyard lands in their laps. It's an odd one. Two Cam Girls were killed by being tied to their chairs with leather belts and money stuffed in their mouths. Tara and Tyler trace one of the girl's movements from the night to confirm the unsub knew her schedule and, more importantly, when she'd be alone between shows. Thinking it was her partner returning, she was unprepared, and the unsub took her by surprise.
If they thought the money lining up from one girl to the next was strange, the next victim knocked that craziness out the window. Percy was a ghostwriter-type girl for Cam Girls through text only. While he was online gaming with a friend, he was chatting with men online to keep them happy as part of his job. The unsub cut that short, and his gamer buddy heard the entire thing. He was pretty broken up about it when they interviewed him about the crime. Turns out, Percy had 20% (way to go, JJ!) of the money in his body from what the girls had, which was the amount he got paid from their earnings.
All of that led them to figure out what 1976 (the 1970s) meant to this unsub. They found a guy in his 70s who was a regular on the site, but he passed from suicide a month ago. So who has been posing as him? His son! His recent victim tries to tell him his father talked about him a lot, but he's angry that his father paid the girls so much money just because he was lonely after his wife's death. Just as she's waking up, the FBI arrives on the scene. Although he's not pathetic, that word works on him.
You might remember the unsub who killed the girl with a leather belt, then drove away, listening to the podcast, and was also angry about what he heard. So, the Voit case and the Cam Girls may not be the same unsub, but I believe the mystery unsub from the end of episode one was the Cam Girl unsub. If anything, the MO of the weapon matches.
Voit's plan
After Brian throws up with worry waiting for Prentiss, she finally arrives and lets him know Lance is alive. He didn't get a man killed. He decides to end the podcast right then and there because it is only causing harm. He leaves with the trash can, promising to replace it.
Having decided to end the podcast, he's in the process of selling all his podcast stuff. This decision leads his ex-wife back into his life. She's there to buy the sign for her niece and see how Brian is doing after meeting a serial killer. Turns out, Voit secretly got a phone and called her to lure Brian to come talk to him.
Brian's meeting with Voit is strange. He wants Brian to get the admirer’s attention again, drawing him out into the open. He has a plan. As they shake hands, Voit gives Brian a memory card with his recorded message to draw out the admirer. Brian makes Voit believe he’ll help him. His meeting with the BAU team confirms he's playing Voit and hands over the memory card.
It all goes sideways as they doubt that Voit has changed. All this time, they thought he had developed a conscience. Although his message says as much, he could be playing them. Brian tells them a team member told the doctors Voit was fine and turning over a new leaf. Prentiss tells Brian to give the team privacy to find out what happened.
It turns out, Penelope hid this from the team since Voit was in the hospital and moved to a secure prison. Her restlessness and staying extra busy finally make sense. She comes clean to the team through tears and pure exhaustion. Rossi can't believe it. He storms off and slams his office door.
The next episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution airs July 2 on Paramount+.
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