By: Mariah Thomas
The fan (Justin Kirk) enters a desolate church and rigs the building up for the next part of his plan. When set up, a terrified Laura Boyd (Jessi Case) comes into frame and asks what he plans to do to her in between sobs. He tells her, “If it makes you feel better, it’s not just you.” Screams can be heard from the fan’s trunk and the scene cuts before we see who else he has abducted.
Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) strides into the BAU to get caught up with Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) and JJ (AJ Cook). JJ informs her they have custody of Lance (Connor Storrie); however, Marshalls couldn’t get to Laura Boyd in time. Prentiss points out they overlooked his OCD when it comes to his meticulous planning and how he’s able to stay steps ahead of them. JJ suggests they start combing through the case again to reevaluate every element. Rebecca questions who they could’ve missed and Emily quickly realizes that someone is Brian Garrity (Paul F. Tompkins).
The scene cuts to Garrity getting a call at his office from his ex-wife Sheila (Yvette Nicole Brown). She seems distressed and tells Brian she and her boyfriend got into a fight. He offers to meet up with her to talk and she encourages him to do so. The audience soon sees the fan holding up the phone for a bound Sheila. It is clear this is a ruse to get Brian Garrity into his trap. Once Garrity heads out, he leaves his phone in his podcast studio. Unfortunately moments later, his phone lights up with a phone call from Prentiss. Brian heads to the church and instantly is put off when an alarm seems to trigger with his arrival. He is soon greeted by the fan and realizes Sheila and Laura Boyd are tied up and in danger. Brian immediately offers up his life for their release. When the fan triggers a chair that chokes Laura, he pleads for her life. When the fan is satisfied with his pleads of sorrow, he stops the machine.
While the BAU continues to build their profile on the fan, Voit (Zach Gilford) is haunted by his mind imagining what the fan will do to his family. Though he wants to trust the BAU, he trusts his instincts more. His hallucinated Rossi returns and adds pressure to the idea of escaping. Back at the BAU we see JJ and Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) discuss the possibility of the fan being a professor. Penelope (Kirsten Vangsness) quickly shuts this down claiming to have not found a single person who matches their profile and teaches at Laura Boyd’s school. Tyler then suggests just someone with a general interest in true crime and podcasting. Garcia hilariously asks him if he’s trying to make a joke as too many people in this country alone are into true crime. She says it would be easier to make a list of people not interested. JJ then points out he may have a leather allergy and have a book published with the sting ray leather. Delighted, Garcia gives JJ a high five before continuing her search. When Tyler goes to give her one too, she leaves him hanging. However the mom in JJ makes a quick pivot to give him one.
In her office, Prentiss goes down a list of random numbers she has for Garrity. Since he is so paranoid, he has multiple numbers. She sighs and mumbles to herself that he can never make things easy.
Sheila comforts Laura Boyd as they are both bound to the choking chairs. She tells her they aren’t in a good place but if they freak out, it’ll be worse. Laura thanks her and the two have a moment of bonding. When getting to know each other, Shelia reveals she works for the IRS. When Laura wonders why she’s so calm she tells her she taught herself breathing exercises when she was married to Brian. At the same moment, Brian accidentally knocks over the fan’s briefcase and is over apologetic. In a scary yet funny way that only Justin Kirk can bring, the fan tells Brian he might kill him just not over that. While talking to Brian about how much the BAU has gotten wrong, he also tells him they will never find his identity. In a funny split scene, Garcia tells the team she indeed found him. The true identity of the fan is a man named James Crowley, a criminology author who often runs the college circuit. He lectured at the school a previous victim was killed at. She was able to ping his phone. Though it seems James expected this as he tells Brian he is headed home to get arrested at the BAU. He warns Sheila and Brian that if they try anything, automatic sensors will kill Brian. He makes the two switch positions with Brian now in the choking chair and drugs Laura Boyd. He takes her unconscious body with him.
James innocently pulls into his apartment building knowing the BAU is looming ready to arrest him. He is swiftly arrested by Luke (Adam Rodriquez) and Tyler. With the fan in the interrogation room, Prentiss points out to Rossi that he was prepared for this. There is no trace of Laura Boyd, Sheila or Garrity. There is no physical evidence tying him to being a fan. Prentiss suggests rapid fire interrogations with each BAU member to attempt to throw him off his game. Prentiss then returns to her office where Rebecca and Commissioner Baker (Michael Alexander Henry) are waiting for her. He reveals himself to be Sheila’s boss and informs them she didn’t show up to work this morning. Given her tumultuous past with Garrity, he came to see if he was a threat to her life. Prentiss then realizes Garrity must have been taken by the fan via Sheila being kidnapped first. She attempts to get more information on her exact job title, and the commissioner rudely shuts it down and leaves. Prentiss is baffled but this lets her and Rebecca know that Sheila’s job is crucial to their case. Before Prentiss can fully spiral in anger, Rebecca guides her anger into production and asks what she can do. Prentiss then sends her to find out what Sheila’s job is with her connections.
Brian and Sheila further discuss what the real reason for their capture is. Brian had originally been under the impression his podcast was the reason but it turns out, it has to do with Sheila. Due to how high of a level she is placed, Sheila refuses to even tell Brian what she does. He is slightly irritated she won’t share given their current predicament. Sheila is honest with her feelings to Brian with his current behavior being a reason why their marriage ended. He has always been so hyperfocused on his own interests that she celebrated big life milestones on her own. When Brian grows emotionally realizing how he was, Sheila scoots her chair over to comfort him and makes him promise not to tell her therapist.
Prentiss is the first to interrogate James Crowley. She shows him photos of him visiting Voit and tries to pry out his intention for going. Though she knows the truth, he has an answer for everything she throws at him. Next up is JJ. She goes in strong with the leather angle they’ve discovered. He then takes off his belt which they later test to be leather they assumed he was allergic to. Rossi and Luke team up to play into the OCD angle but having a mess laid out in front of him with his own work and spilling coffee. What the BAU doesn’t know is James is well aware of those elements of their profile from Brian. He is able to mask this slightly to throw them off. As a final attempt, they bring in Lance Kingston (Connor Storrie) to identify his voice. They have James read from a card and he sinisterly smiles to the glass knowing Lance is on the other side. Though Lance claims to not know the voice, Prentiss was able to catch something. Lance reported a specific phrasing said to him and the way it was written on the card differed. James unknowingly kept repeating it the correct way. Though this confirms it to them, it is still circumstantial evidence so they have to let James go. Now not trusting Lance, Rebecca assigns a detail to stay with him while Rossi and Tyler discreetly follow James.
However, James accounted for all of this. He even knew they would bring in Lance. Lance was able to escape his FBI detail but using the restroom and just leaving. He followed Rossi and Tyler who were too focused on James to notice. He was able to sneak a nail under their tire preventing them from following James once he headed back to the church. Once at the church, James reveals more of his plan to Sheila and Brian. Sheila’s role in the IRS is to monitor the funds of those in witness protection. Though they are highly protected, they still need to report to the IRS. His plan is to find Voit’s family through Sheila’s access to their information. Sheila refuses and Brian stands by her side claiming the BAU will probably be there any minute now. Once the church door opens, Brian feels a sense of delight before seeing it is Lance. James admits the BAU tried to follow him, but he got Lance’s help to stop them. He kidnapped Laura to make Lance help him. When Lance pulls a gun on James, he convinces him to go save Laura with a GPS tracker. However once in his car, the phone blows up instantly killing Lance. Sheila now feels pressure to login to her accounts knowing he intends to kill them if not.
Prentiss, Rossi and Garcia grow frustrated that James seems to always be one step ahead of them. Their only current lead is to focus on Sheila and Brian. When Garcia points out all of the times Brian almost got Emily fired, she has a moment of reflection. Back in season 6, Prentiss was hunted and technically killed as she coded in the ambulance. She takes this time to tell Rossi and Garcia how scared she felt in the moments and days leading up to the final showdown. She expresses that must be how Sheila and Brian currently feel and she would never want that for anybody. This leads her to focus more on the relationship between Brian and Sheila being the key to finding them. Brian was led to believe he was meeting up with Sheila and found no threat to bring his phone. This means it is somewhere that would have meant something to the two of them. Together the team combs through various locations of their history finally landing on the church the two married in. It is currently closed for renovations and Garcia is able to see there are single jammers in place. The BAU gears up and heads out.
At the church when James is so close to getting what he wants, Brian goes on a ramble. He attempts to get into James’s head to distract him long enough for Sheila to make a run for it. With James close enough, he gives Sheila the signal to run and she is able to make it out of the building. However, this triggers the choking chair to activate. James runs after Sheila but quickly assesses the reality of the BAU being on their way and leaves.
Sheila runs in front of the BAU as they pull up and they instantly jump into action. She tells them they need to save Brian. Emily, Garcia and Rossi enter the church to find a potentially dead Brian Garrity. Prentiss instructs Rossi to cut him loose from the chair and sends Garcia to find defibrillator pads. Since they are in a church, it is highly likely those are kept with general first aid. Prentiss herself begins to give Garrity CPR. Many classes will train people to do it in the rhythm of a song, so Prentiss tearfully whisper sings Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’ while administering the CPR. Garcia joins in the singing and prepares the paddles. After a few minutes, there seems to be no pulse and Rossi encourages Prentiss to stop but she continues. After another minute, she gives up and begins to break down. Thankfully moments later Brian is gasping for air and medical shows up to further help him. The three agents sit on the side feeling an immense amount of relief.
Once he’s had a moment to be seen by paramedics, Sheila and Brian have another conversation. For the first time in their marriage and post divorce, they see each other in a new light. She thanks him for saving her life. Prentiss then approaches Garrity and tells him he blew the case wide open to make him feel better. Garrity references the earlier CPR, and jokes to Prentiss that he hates disco but loves karaoke. Prentiss tells him she hates karaoke but would do it for a friend. This is a callback to earlier in the season in which she is quick to remind Brian they aren’t friends. She has a new outlook and respect for him.
Throughout the episode in small spurts, we have seen Voit make various plans to escape. By the end of the episode, he manages to knock out one of the guards and put on their attire to officially break out.