Garcia Betrayed the Team, Testified for Voit

It’s never a good thing when Rossi (Joe Mantegna) slams his office door closed, and that’s exactly what happens at the end of the Thursday, June 25, episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution. It is, as should be expected, related to serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), but it also involves one of the team, in a way that shocks everyone. Warning: Spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 Episode 6 ahead!

The Fan doesn’t kill Lance (Connor Storrie) but leaves him alive — he startles awake, screaming, when JJ (A.J. Cook), Luke (Adam Rodriguez), Tara (Aisha Tyler), and Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) find him — with the word “pathetic!” branded eight times (for the eight letters in the word) into his arms using the same typewriter he has before but slightly larger. He was also restrained using a leather belt. The Fan made his own brand, which, along with the eight times/letters and no traces left at the scene, speak to his OCD. (He also used a period and apostrophe to make the exclamation mark, since the typewriter he used, one before the 1960s, didn’t have the key for it.) The team also determines that, with what they’ve seen, the Fan has likely killed.

Lance, meanwhile, can’t seem to remember much to help, though they do tell him that he was a distraction. He concedes that he may be pathetic — remember, he stalked his ex-girlfriend — but he doesn’t deserve what happened to him. We know he’s in one more episode, and Tara does leave him with her card, so it’ll be interesting to see if he reaches out first or something else draws him back into the BAU’s world.

Rossi knows that “pathetic” isn’t a message to them, meaning they have to go see Voit in prison. As Prentiss (Paget Brewster) notes, there are three kinds of copycats: one who wants to learn everything about the killer they’re emulating; one who wants everyone to think their crimes are being committed by that killer; and one who wants to be better than their predecessor. Voit studied such a case involving a Jack the Ripper copycat after Rossi wrote a book about it. The Fan is now doing his own thing. Rossi can tell that Voit has done something, determined to figure out what, even as the killer insists he’s grown a conscience and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the BAU’s trust.

But Rossi’s right. As Brian (Paul F. Tompkins) is packing up his Sicarius Files stuff, having decided he’s done with the podcast and conspiracies after getting tangled up in the Voit/Fan of it and worrying he’d gotten Lance killed, his ex-wife Sheila (Yvette Nicole Brown) stops by to pick up the sign for her niece. She’s impressed after listening to the last episode, as well as worried that he’s met an actual serial killer. But given that she’d wanted nothing to do with him after their divorce, how’d she find out about the podcast? A Lee — yes, Lee Duvall, as in Elias Voit — called her and said she should listen.

That leads to Brian going to visit Voit, who contacted Sheila to lure him there. He has a message he wants out there for The Fan. Brian thinks that Voit sees him as someone he can manipulate, but the killer points out that what’s been keeping The Fan at bay and in his cooling-off period is the podcast. Voit can’t stop him, the BAU can’t, but maybe Brian can.

Meanwhile, Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), running herself ragged working The Fan and an UnSub-of-the-week case (that they initially think could be The Fan but determine isn’t) determines that the letter strikers that the Fan used were stolen from Philadelphia University, where his letters were postmarked from. She also found that the belt used to restrain Lance is made of stingray leather — and that matches one used to strangle a Pennsylvania college student a few months ago (as seen at the end of the Season 19 premiere). That’s his signature.

But the team has something more pressing to deal with first: Brian shows up to tell them what happened with Voit and pass along the recording. He made the killer think he could be manipulated to give them an advantage. In the message to The Fan, Voit says, “You’re changing, you’re evolving, you want to know more about yourself, and that’s why you’re reaching out to me. Well, I’m evolving, too, and I’ve learned that you don’t have to give in to your urges. I’ve been where you are. Talk to me. I can help you keep the monsters at bay. I’m trying to make right with some of the people I’ve hurt, and I think my stopping you from becoming me is how I can do that.”

Michael Yarish/Paramount+

Brian then drops a bombshell on the team: An FBI agent, in a closed-door testimony, supported the theory that he’d reformed because of brain trauma, and that was why he got life in prison instead of the death penalty. Prentiss immediately sends Brian to her office so the team can discuss it privately. Garcia speaks up and reveals she was the one. She was terrified to say anything, which is why she did it as closed-door and why she’s been so restless; she knew it was going to come out and the subsequent reaction. Rossi walks away, into his office, and slams the door.

What did you think of that ending? Let us know in the comments section below.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+