By: Mariah Thomas
The episode picks up where the previous left off. Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) was able to track the whereabouts of Lance Kingston (Connor Storrie). Some of the BAU team rush out to the scene. JJ (AJ Cook) and Tara (Aisha Tyler) are quick to recognize the smell of burning flesh. The ladies along with Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) and Luke (Adam Rodriguez) search the storage unit. They cautiously approach Lance’s bound body. They see the word ‘pathetic’ has been branded all over his arms. While checking for a pulse, the agents quickly realize Lance is still alive.
Brian Garrity (Paul F. Tompkins) paces around Prentiss’s (Paget Brewster) office. She pops in to inform him Lance is still alive. Brian had been feeling immense guilt for partially being responsible for his attack as the BAU warned him it would happen if he went off script. Brian reveals he is officially done with the podcast as this is an experience that will weigh on his conscience for the rest of his life. Though she sympathies with his guilt, Emily visabilly is delighted to hear Brian intends to end his podcast.
Garcia brings Prentiss a new case file and she instantly takes it over to Rossi (Joe Mantegna). The crime scene where Lance was discovered held absolutely no evidence linking back to the potential identity of the fan. They had previously been under the impression this new unsub was inexperienced, but this now points to the opposite.
Luke and Tara head to the hospital to get a statement from Lance. They can’t reveal too much about their new case as it is with Voit (Zach Gilford). This leaves Lance feeling confused and remorseful. He thinks this was done to him as an act of revenge for his behavior towards his ex-girlfriend. He grows emotional and says he feels ‘pathetic’. As Luke and Tara leave, Luke reveals they have a new case.
Garcia presents a new case dealing with dead cam girls to the team. JJ instantly points out both women being geographically close is too much of a coincidence. Tyler brings up the potential theory of this being the work of ‘The Fan’ to distract them once again. The team continues to profile the similarities of the cases. When Garcia tells the team about the girls being bound with leather belts, Tara reveals Lance told her the same thing. This leaves room for the team to think the cases are connected. However, they still need to investigate the cases separately. Prentiss assigns herself and Rossi to work on Lance’s case while the rest investigate the cam girls. Garcia, being the tech wizard she is, must split her time between the two cases. Prentiss checks in to make sure she is okay to do both and Garcia tentatively assures her she is.
Tara and Tyler visit the latest crime scene to further piece things together. Reworking the scene, they realize how much effort and rage went into this death. Tyler asks Tara how much money had been jammed down the victim’s throat and the audience receives the answer in a transition scene. Luke and JJ are at the morgue to examine the money. The total seems to be a very specific number as both victims had the same amount.
Back at the BAU, Garcia presents her new findings on the fan to Prentiss and Rossi. Garcia was able to uncover the fan used a typewriter to create his own brand used on Lance’s arms. It was a meticulous choice to have the font look as smooth as possible. Garcia was able to track down the brand of the typewriter. Since they are harder to come back brand new, it is possible the fan traded with a fellow collector. Prentiss also checks in on the other case and though she denies it, it is clear Garcia forgot to follow up with something pertaining to that case. She plays into a joke and rushes off to get that task done. Rossi and Prentiss immediately head to the roundtable room to catch up with the others on the cam girl case. Currently, the agents have two arguments divided by pro and con lists. There is a theory for it to be related to Lance but also to be completely unrelated. Prentiss makes the ultimate decision to focus on the theory of this unsub not being the fan.
Overnight, the unsub struck again. This time a man was killed. He had been taking on the online persona of a cam girl with fake messages and a voice changer. The following morning Tara and Tyler arrive on the scene. Tyler makes the connection that all of the cam girls have had a 70s persona that varies from how each person was in real life. This points to the unsub potentially being older.
Garcia has been running herself thin working both cases. This causes her to be snappy in her funny Garcia ways. Luke picks up a variety of coffee mugs around her desk and realizes how much she’s had. This prompts JJ to ask the last time she slept and Garcia snaps with a “When is the last time you slept?”. She instantly walks back her sass and makes a joke before diving back into her work. She leaves JJ and Luke to present new findings to Prentiss and Rossi. She found more information in regard to the typewriters. Rossi and Prentiss realize how much work has gone into a simple physical brand created and they know the intended message is for Voit. Rossi suggests they update him on the case and walks off. Prentiss tells Garcia not to worry about Rossi as her face holds concern. However she quickly realizes Garcia is wearing the same outfit as yesterday. This prompts her to ask the same question as JJ earlier and Garcia scatters off.
Rossi informs Voit that his fan is trying to be a Voit copycat. It is not about exact emulation of Voit’s crimes but to prove he is better. He followed the same pattern of Voit’s torture before his actual kills and now feels better to go and begin his own thing. When questioning his thoughts on something further, Rossi can tell Voit is keeping information from them now. He knows Voit did something on his own. They just don’t know if it is to help or suppress the BAU.
Brian closes down his podcast studio while on the phone with a haggler. He is currently selling items from his podcast. He is surprised to see his ex-wife, Shelia (Yvette Nicole-Brown) is the buyer of his podcast sign. Brian and Sheila have a moment of clarity on their past catching up. Shelia’s niece is a fan of the podcast and the reason she’s buying the sign. Shelia is also a new listener of the podcast after receiving a phone call from Lee Duvall. Brian instantly knows this is Voit’s legal name. Brian is instantly filled with anger and goes to visit Voit. Voit plays dumb about not having called Sheila and when Brian threatens to tell the guards about his smuggled phone, he caves. He tells Brian he only called Shelia to get Brian to see him without the BAU. He knows the BAU wouldn’t approve, but Brian may bite. Voit recorded a message for the fan he wanted to play on the podcast. Brian reluctantly takes the SD card with the message.
Garcia was able to pull all of the messages from the cam girl case with clients. Tyler, Tara and Luke are going over the messages as JJ joins to help. Luke reads one of the naughty messages out loud leaving the others stunned while he laughs. JJ gets a message that she and Luke are needed at the M.E. This leaves Tyler and Tara alone to sort through the rest of the messages.
Prentiss goes over the case with Rossi and Garcia. While discussing with Rossi, Garcia has fallen asleep. Once woken up, she jumps right into one of her rambles on her findings. They have now connected the death we saw at the end of the first episode to the fan based on the leather he used. This is the signature of the fan outside of his copying Voit.
A new cam girl, Cora (Molly Burnett), gets ready for her show as the unsub lurks around outside. Back at the BAU, the team goes over the case once again. They realize that 1976 isn’t a year but the cost of a social security check. This shows he would’ve spent his entire monthly check on the cam girls. They were able to find a profile that links to all of the previous victims and matches their profile. They halt this theory when they learn he took his own life a month prior. Once back at Cora’s apartment, she starts a chat with the Russell account. Knowing now he is dead, it is clear someone else is running the account.
Back at the BAU, Garcia struts in post power nap ready to tackle the case. She uncovered that Russell has a son named Jace (Gianni DeCenzo). Jace had been trying to help his father get his money back from the cam girls with a lawyer. Being in a financial bind, Russell took his own life. The team separates intending to visit Jace’s home, work and Cora’s apartment realizing she is the last girl on the list. Tara and Tyler get there just in time to save Cora. Tara is able to talk Jace down from hurting Cora. By using the word “pathetic” and seeing no reaction from Jace, Tara notes after the takedown that Jace is not the fan.
Brian visits the BAU to inform them of his visit with Voit. While angry at first, Prentiss and the team realize Brian played Voit. He tells them we went because if Voit thinks Brian can be manipulated, the BAU has an in he doesn’t know about. Brian also lets slip information he knows of an FBI agent who testified on Voit’s behalf to help him not receive the death penalty. Prentiss sends Brian to her office as this is new information to the team. Rossi is outraged and questions who did it while Emily suggests an agent who isn’t part of the BAU. After Rossi begins to individually question the team starting with Tara, Garcia reveals herself. She believes Voit’s new found empathy and has testified to it. This in turn gave him a life sentence in prison over the death sentence. Garcia is emotional while the team watches on in shock and Rossi storms off.