Criminal Minds season 4 hasn’t let us down. We’ve been treated to cold cases, familiar faces, and in-house murders. Every case has felt like a return to the good old days of the BAU team. Many things have changed over the years, but somehow this season has felt like coming home. Despite the hardships the team has experienced, they sure know how to solve a case and kick some criminals in the gut.
The BAU team calls Voit’s admirer “The Fan,” but I love that the medical examiner called him Mr. Pathetic. Voit’s case goes by many names, yet we still don’t know his true identity by the end of episode 6. At least they found Lance Kingston alive, even though he was branded with the word “pathetic” and tied to a chair. Given all the evidence, I agree with Prentiss and Rossi that Mr. Pathetic isn’t looking to kill but already has. Now they are racing to stop him from hurting anyone else.
Rossi and Penelope resolve things
Rossi and Penelope are still at odds after her confession in episode 6. It hurts my head to see her laying out all the reasons why she did it. Not to mention how much thought she put into giving a statement on behalf of Voit's life in prison or death. It makes sense why in good conscience, she didn't want to be the cause of a man's death. Rossi can't accept that and doesn't understand what she means that it isn't okay when she does it. So, Penelope mentions a name (Donnie Malik) that rattles Rossi’s past mistake, and he immediately shuts her down.
Since their conversation is cut short by the case starting, we don't get the full story of why that name hurts Rossi. Later on, when Rossi is sitting alone and Penelope is fidgety beside Tyler, Prentiss asks if the tension is going to be a problem. Although it probably won't, Penelope said a name that ruined things further than her testimony for Voit. Tyler, being a new agent and unaware of the lore, questions who Donnie Malik was.
Thanks to Prentiss, our memories get a refresh. Donnie Malik murdered former BAU Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon (Rossi's partner), who was later shot by Rossi. Malik died with a gun in his hand from that gunshot wound. Tyler knows that Rossi was never accused of misuse of a firearm. They conclude memory lane by letting him know that Rossi was cleared even though evidence could point to him.
On the return flight home, Rossi surprises Penelope with a job well done. A job he's not sure anyone else could have done. He sets them both down a drink and tells her they weren't fighting but instead figuring things out because “people who love each other—that's what they do sometimes.” Then he goes on to acknowledge that they handle things differently, and that's okay. She apologizes for not telling him, but he forgives her and hopes she'll tell him next time.
To add to the love fest on the way home, JJ gets a text from Henry. He got into San Diego College! Everyone cheers. Most of this team has watched him grow up, and now he's off to college. I love that she hugs Luke with how close their friendship has gotten.
Piedra, NM case
The guy begs for his life through the sack over his face. The unsub pulls the sack off and he begs some more as a gun slides across his head. He shot him in the head when it pressed to his forehead, leaving no room for mistakes.
After cutting the zip ties around the guy's wrists, he takes the chair and positions the guy's body on the floor. He finishes him off with more gunshot wounds. Then, he does something odd. Wrapping the victim in a plastic sheet and binding it with a belt. He has a star badge on the belt, leaving me confused. Is it a calling card to law enforcement? I'm not sure. But he removes all traces of the crime from the murder room and drags it out the door.
Prentiss reveals that the case has fallen into their laps. It's a cop killer, which explains the star badge and belt. This isn't the first victim either. Both cops were killed and disposed of in the same manner, while also having their patrol cars dumped and wiped of any data. Finally, after all this time, we have a case that leads to a “wheels up in 30” announcement and all hands on deck.
The new head sheriff (of a month) mistakes Rossi for Unit Chief Prentiss. Rossi kindly says that would be her. As if the mistake hadn't been made, Prentiss introduces herself. She quickly lets him know time is critical and they need to move fast. The sheriff is grateful since he's out of his depth and glad the cavalry has arrived. Prentiss gives the team assignments, and they scatter among the areas that need their attention: The crime scenes (JJ & Luke), the coroner's examiner's office (Tyler & Tara), main computer server (Penelope with one of the deputies), and victimology (Prentiss & Rossi).
Tara and Tyler discover that the coroner was encouraged to leave out one specific detail since it didn't pertain to the cause of death. Both officers were knocked out by an animal tranquilizer and then woken up by another type of veterinary care. Which makes you wonder? Why were they woken up? That's when the coroner says that he left out the part about the officers being sexually assaulted by their batons.
No sooner did they find that out than Prentiss and Rossi confronted the sheriff on why he told his coroner to leave key details out of his autopsy review. He tries to say he did it so that the families of the men wouldn't find out. But it's also because he did want his men on the force to find out. He was afraid that they would go across the border and start a war with the cartel. Thinking that those are the only people that could have done this. But if you already have a suspect in mind, why call in the cavalry?
Their discussion is interrupted by an urgent 911 call that leaves the deputy unable to pull up the dashcam. After Penelope discovers the car was stolen weeks prior, she can't get into the footage because they are using a Wi-Fi blocker. The lead sheriff tries to get in touch with his deputies to hold their position and wait for backup. But it's like his voice isn't going through as they listen to the deputy tell them where the car is going. As soon as they say they need to scramble all units and JJ and Luke are close, the deputy yells for the other one to watch out. They hear a shuffle over the speakers.
At the scene, the unsub pulls the tranquilizer pen out of one of the officers who are lying on the ground. Under the patrol car's flashing lights, he walks towards the stolen car, where the second deputy is in the trunk. Leaving one deputy behind, he drives off into the night with the other one.
In the light of day, Tara and Tyler meet up with Luke and JJ at the new crime scene from the night before. And they uncover that Duran was shot, most likely with an air rifle tranquilizer dart from a second unsub. So now they have to figure out why they targeted Colewater. But at least the weapon of choice here eliminates the possibility of the cartel. With all the evidence, they're still missing a key factor that is deeply personal to why the unsub or unsubs are targeting specific deputies.
Cop Gang
Time is of the essence, and Prentiss seems to have lost all her patience. Instead of having Penelope look at dash camera footage, she tells her to come into the conference room with her laptop. From there things get crazy. Prentiss doesn't even trust Sheriff Chambers with this information. And not only does she want Penelope to disable the alerts that she's poking around, Prentiss wants Rossi to help Penelope. They work better as a team no matter the tension brewing underneath. So Prentiss leads it to them even though they're very unhappy to be working together. And even though we know they used to work very well together before this fight.
And although they may have a little bit of a fight within working together, their anger leads to a breakthrough. And immediately Rossi knows what to look under; what they may have buried the real hardcore evidence under in the system. And they find out that Daniel Salazar was pulled over many times by many different deputies. Daniel didn't get a single citation.
Daniel owns 7 Gems Gentlemen's Club, where Tara and Tyler arrive to chat with him. And he doesn't deny that he was pulled over. He's even surprised the deputies docked him. But that isn't the most surprising part. Yes, these traffic stops were cover-ups for a shakedown, but not by Daniel, but by a gang of deputies called the Furies.
The combination of drugs leads them to confirm these are party drugs, where it may have gone wrong. And this leads to the discovery that the unsold may be women who were assaulted at a party and are now looking for revenge. So the next step is to track down the men in this gang that these women are hunting.
Tara and Tyler visit the coroner again to unravel what happened to Deputy Coldwater. Tara notices something and asks for them to have some privacy. There's been an escalation and an overkill in the case, suggesting there are bigger things at play here than they're aware of. And they assume that it's far from over and building towards something much bigger. They want more than just revenge.
Rossi and Prentiss finally confront Sheriff Chambers on his knowledge of the furies. More like knowledge that he kept to himself to keep the honor of his men intact. But instead it got his men killed... and now they have to find out who these men are and who the women are that are killing them. And after much back and forth, he reveals that he heard whispers of guys partying at a house that was owned by the state. Could it be the same rundown house the women are using to kill these men?
JJ, Luke, Tara, and Tyler immediately head out to check out the rundown house owned by the state where these parties supposedly took place. They quickly clear the downstairs when Luke calls them to come upstairs. They discover not only the murder room but also the cameras hidden in the room. The cameras make it obvious that the furies were recording what they did to the women, and they went to secure the tape now.
While the rest of the team searches the house, Rossi takes Chamber's secondhand deputy (the one who helped Penelope with the computer sister) into custody. Rossi informs him he should have never put his actions into writing, which was discovered on Deputy Colewater’s computer. Tara and JJ tell Penelope and Prentiss that they think these two women weren't the only ones assaulted. Unfortunately, there's no evidence at the house to lead them to the women's identities.
The unsubs’ povs
And as the team is trying to figure out who these unsubs are, they're setting up another murder area. In the same room as the first scene of the episode, we see one of the unsubs lay out the plastic sheet, set the chair on it, and then sit in it. And before the unsolved leaves, he texts someone that it's time to party. Very odd.
After the BAU team discovers the unsubs may be women, we flash to a scene between the unsubs. They are unmasked and frustrated about the deputy not telling them what they need to know. We learn they are in a bigger rundown house where they greet the deputy face-to-face without covering them. They torture him just like he did to them when they asked him to stop.
They crack down on him with a gun pointed to the back of his head. They need to know where the video is that one of his buddies took and who has a copy of it. Finally, he tells them it's at the precinct in someone's locker. And one of the unsubs says I told you and still proceeds to shoot him in the head. Then, the scene ends with them doing their disposal ritual.
Ruby almost backs out but Maria reminds her that they need proof to show everybody what those deputies did to them. Because without proof they're just cop killers and they can't be that.
Ruby walks into the sheriff's office looking unsuspicious as she sits down. Then Maria walks in, and she walks directly to Sheriff Chambers. Her pace says all we need to know about her business there. She's on a mission. Pointing a gun at his head leads someone to shout about it and Ruby to shoot off her weapon. Ruby runs through gunfire to the conference room where Maria and Sheriff Chambers are. After slamming the door, she falls to the ground from a gunshot wound in her side.
They hold Sheriff Chambers hostage with his own gun pointed at his head. After Maria mouths off at Rossi, Penelope realizes they might listen to her over him. She soon realizes that Chambers didn't tell the FBI that the women went to him about being assaulted. It turns out even though Chambers wasn't one of the Furies, he didn't believe Maria when she told him what happened to her.
Despite the guns pointed everywhere, Penelope bridges the gap and pleads with the women. She wants to get them justice and hold the men accountable. Shooting all of the men won't get them justice. But they can find the video together and do something about what happened to them because she believes them. They give them the name of the deputy and order them to check his locker. They won't surrender without the tape, even if it means Ruby bleeds out. But they get the tape, and Rossi brings Penelope her laptop and the tape. It is all there, and Penelope wants everyone to know their truth. Maria and Ruby surrender.
The Fan
Sometime between episode 6 and 7, Tara and Luke confronted Voit about his message to his fan. They bring him the SIM card in a bag to him and scold him for going to Brian. Now they are limiting his interactions with the outside world. No more conversations with Brian, only family members he's signed off on. Those family members are his victims’ kin, not his own.
He gets a visit from another one of the Ryan family members. This time it's a cousin coming on the behalf of the father. The father didn't know if he could handle talking to Voit, so he sent his cousin, who has studied the crime for years. A guy that happens to have a PhD on the subject. Voit notices something off about the guy, like he's too fidgety with his hands. He cuts the conversation short, telling him to come back tomorrow.
Voit talks to Rossi in his head about the vetting process of this Ryan family member. He thinks he might be his fan. He seemed nervous to talk to Voit but also proud of his accomplishments on the subject. Maybe he should go to the BAU about this idea, but they don't trust him after what he did.
The next day Voit talks to the Ryan family representative. But the conversation changes when he realizes that he does know Rossi's books, but not his way of finding out who somebody is. And want the guy to tell him you can refer to me as God, not Josh, who he came in here as. Voit switches gears. He uses this opportunity to get his message across to the person he thinks is his fan; it's still not confirmed that he is.
But to Voit he believes this is his fan with all the little hints he's seeing as they talk. But instead of telling him that he can help him be better and not give in to his urges, he tells him he can make him a god. So instead of preventing more danger, he wants to create a better version of himself, is what I'm gathering.
He comes back and confesses his studies to Voit. Basically we learn how he escalated. It all started with his jealousy towards the person who took Deanna Ryan out. He wanted to be able to do that too, so he stalked girls and studied real killers. Voit actually tells him to stop being a reflection of him and start being himself. Josh shows Voit something that makes him know he holds all the cards, as it pisses Voit off. Then, he has the audacity to call Voit pathetic. I'm in shock at that conversation.
The next episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution airs July 9 on Paramount+.
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