Before all of the evidence came to light in the latest episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution, the BAU has dealt with cold cases, familiar faces, in-house murders, the fans' Mr. Pathetic taunt, and so much more. On top of their case load, Voit tried solving his fan problems himself in episode 7, while the BAU team was away in New Mexico.
Finally, after all this time, the BAU is closing in on The Fan’s identity. With all the new details came a shocking ending to episode 8, when Laura was taken by surprise by The Fan after work. Just as Prentiss and Tara sent out the alert to put protection on Laura, they’ll soon find out they may be too late.
The Fan kidnaps three
At the end of episode 8, I thought Laura was dead on sight. We find out very quickly that The Fan had other plans for her. After he rigs his torture chair, we see Laura tied up to the side of the unknown building. When The Fan goes outside to his car, someone bangs from inside his trunk. At that point, we don’t know who it is or why he has two victims at St. Michael’s Church.
While he’s preparing, Prentiss learns that they were able to bring in Lance but didn’t make it in time to save Laura. They quickly realize they’re missing a piece of this puzzle. Prentiss instantly realizes it as the scene moves to Brian in his podcast studio answering a call from an unknown number.
He answers like any other wrong number until he hears his ex-wife Sheila’s voice on the other side. She tells him to come to the place that was the happiest place on Earth for them. He leaves his phone behind, missing a call from Prentiss, as he runs to find Shelia.
Immediately, The Fan threatens to kill Laura and Shelia if he doesn’t follow his instructions. As he tortures Shelia, Brian complies and stops him from hurting the women (for now). Brian finds out he isn’t as worthless to the overall picture as he thinks he is.
The BAU scrambles the evidence
Thankfully, Luke finds out that Brian’s phone is still at his podcast studio, but his car isn’t. For now, they only know he’s kidnapped Laura and Brian. Turns out he was never cooling off from his plan. So, they put everything back on the table. The Fan isn’t OCD; instead, Tara determines he is OCPD (Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder). With this new information, they vote to keep Voit out of it, but The Fan is in Voit’s head. They’ll have to do this without Voit, which makes Rossi very happy.
This is confirmed when Voit hears The Fan taunting him in his mind. Ghost Rossi (right down to the drink in his hand) taunts him about it getting crowded in his head. As much as Voit wants to stop his fan, he’s too worried about his family to fully think things through.
JJ and Tyler go over what they can find out about The Fan without his face. From his build, Tyler assumes he’s in his 40s-50s. I agree with him that it seems odd that that type of man can go unnoticed on a college campus. Penelope walks in and tells them that The Fan isn’t a professor and he isn’t easily formed through his love for true crime. But then JJ hits the nail on the head when she thinks The Fan may have an allergy to leather. It narrows the search down to someone who binds his books in specific leather and lectures at colleges.
Back at the scene, Shelia does breathing exercises with Laura. She reminds her that freaking out won’t make this bad situation better. We learn that Shelia learned to be calm through being married to Brian for 9 years and divorced for just as long. We don’t find out what happens because Brian panics over dropping the case. He reveals that the BAU thought he was OCD, meaning the case falling would have made him angry and killed them all. The Fan reveals that the BAU is often wrong about things. It turns out his first kill didn’t make him feel like God, yet his plan succeeding and the BAU never finding him does.
The Fan’s name revealed
Penelope found out his real name: James Crowley. Now, they need to prove he’s The Fan without any doubt. Beyond being a criminology author and lecturer, he lectured at Victoria's college recently. On top of that, he had his books specially bound with stingray leather (placing him with the murder weapon used on his victims). She pinged his phone, and the team headed off to arrest him. James has other plans.
James sedates Laura and makes Brian switch places with Shelia. Then, he ties her to a rolling chair in front of a computer. Essentially, James lured Brian here so he could get Shelia to do what he wanted her to do. While the team thinks they’ll have it easy, James lands himself in the search zone right as the BAU walks up. Laura is nowhere in sight—not in his car nor St. Michael’s (to the viewers' knowledge).
With James in holding, Prentiss tells Rossi to prepare the team. She meets with Rebecca and Shelia’s employer. We find out that Shelia is an agent of the IRS and was reported missing by her boyfriend, Bob. This leads to the IRS guy being cagey and thinking Brian is the danger when he is trapped too. The conversation ends abruptly, bugging Prentiss to no end. The IRS will be no help leaving Prentiss to have Rebecca on the hunt for more information about Agent Sheila.
While they are chasing their tails, Brian and Shelia are still trapped. He confronts her about her role in James’ plan. Turns out he’s after the “scrambled eggs protocol” that Sheila can’t reveal to Brian or anyone. Although they are trapped, Sheila finally realizes that Brian’s tears don’t work on her anymore after all the therapy she’s endured. He’s crying because he’s thinking of their wedding, and that brings her to reveal why they divorced. His apologies get her to roll over to him and hold his hand.
The Fan’s interviews
Prentiss starts off the round of interviews with a photo of James, which he quickly confirms is him. He tells her he lied about his name to get a different view on Voit for his book. She moves along to his keychain, finding out that it isn’t the same one from his visits to Voit. She shows it to him, and he plays it off that he likes anime characters.
Finally, she tells him he was arrested for having a trophy from a murder and threatening Voit’s family. He tells her that he listened to the podcast and was in character when he threatened Voit’s family for a response. So, she uses the “fan and pathetic” terms against him. He continues to hold up his “innocence” as she concludes her part of the interview process.
She tags in JJ, who brings in James’ book. He confirms his book’s binding is made out of stingray leather. She shows him the crime scene photos with the stingray leather evidence. He tries to say that he just happened to lecture at the same college that Victoria attended.
Like Prentiss before her, she throws in the terms they use for The Fan. She lets him know that this unsub isn’t a god like he wants to be; instead, he’s just a man who kills with a stingray belt. The man goes so far as to willingly hand over his leather belt that’s not stingray but cow, meaning they were wrong about the allergy.
Rossi is up next with Luke on deck. He jumps right in, comparing James’ book’s front to The Fan mail sent to Voit. He explains it away that the publisher chose the font. He even says he can provide the manuscript as proof, seeing as how he prefers Ariel fond. James has the audacity to smile when Rossi asks if he uses a typewriter, laughing at it being out-of-date. Luke comes in with the coffee and spills it on the table. James doesn’t panic like they thought he would given his OCPD.
After showing almost all of their cards, Prentiss reveals they have one more up their sleeves. Tara accompanies Lance on the other side of the glass and has him listen to James’ voice. The BAU thinks all hope is lost when Lance says he doesn’t recognize the voice. The team pulled one over on James by having the card say something a bit different than his catchphrase. Ironically, James changes that word all on his own, revealing that he is the unsub. Now, they have to prove it.
With nothing to hold him, they set James free so Rossi and Luke can tail him. Unfortunately, this leads to James escaping, spiking Rossi’s tires, and trying to save Laura. James hands over Laura’s ping; instead of letting Lance leave, the phone explodes in his face. Brian and Sheila watch it all go down from a video link on James’ phone. With James and Lance in the BAU, it's back to chasing their tails.
Sheila’s role and Brian’s risk
James rolls Sheila back to the laptop and commences his plan. She successfully logs into her IRS account. All of this is under duress, with James being too close to her. Meanwhile, Prentiss is worried about Brian and Sheila being scared about dying. All of this reminds her of how she was scared to fake her death and the many times she’s faced death. Then, Prentiss finally uncovers James’ mistake. They uncover that James took Sheila to get to Brian (unemotional leverage), meaning they need to analyze the history between them to find them.
James covers the car with Lance’s body in the driver seat while Sheila talks to Brian and types in code. He tries to tell her how they’ll survive because if she gives James what he wants, they’re dead on the spot.
The BAU discovers that Brian and Sheila’s old house is empty, so JJ and Tara go and check that out. They got married in 2008 at St. Michael’s Church, and they met at an anime convention. Tyler and Luke go to the meeting place while Rossi and Prentiss head to the church. As Penelope is located at the church, she discovers James’ cameras in every corner of the building. This is how Penelope ends up in the field: to jam the signal so they can get into the church without triggering the traps.
Brian stalls for time. Even Sheila is stunned by his words. He’s Special Agent Garrity, which is the signal. Sheila runs out the door with James shooting at her and Brian’s chair. She runs in front of the BAU’s SUV; she tells them to hurry and that Brian is choking. They get him out of the chokehold and onto the floor. When medical is two minutes out, Penelope brings the AED (from somewhere in the church) after Rossi doesn’t feel a pulse. After several long minutes and many tears, Brian starts breathing as medical personnel arrive on scene.
Sheila finishes giving her statement to an officer and checks on Brian. He has an ice pack up to his neck and reveals it is bruised from the choking. He communicates with his hands or eyes, instead of talking. After she thanks him, Bob arrives and holds Shelia. Brian only talks to ask Prentiss if they caught James, but they haven’t. But with the help of Sheila, they will definitely find where he’s going.
As if the BAU doesn’t have enough going on, Voit fakes being hurt in his cell. Personnel rushes in, only to be knocked out by him. He changes into the guard's uniform, letting others know the inmate is okay after taking out the other guard. He heads out of the prison. It seems like the finale is going to be a rocky ride.
The finale episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution season 4 airs July 23 on Paramount+.
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