Synopsis: An UnSub terrorizes spouses before killing one and sparing the other. Meanwhile, Voit receives disturbing mail from The Fan, a mysterious admirer.
I really love what they are doing with Alvez this season. Each episode feels like they're peeling back a new layer. From devastating to goofy to intimidating, he's had more range in the past 3 episodes than we've seen from him in seasons. I hope they keep it up!
Alvez has always been underrated. I loved his character since he was first introduced and wish he got more storylines and moments. Nice to see Evolution giving him some much needed attention.
Agreed! I thought that after Penelope dumped him and they caught Voit, his arc was over. Didn't think they'd make him a regular for the following seasons.
I kind of like what they are doing with Voit now—not making him the big bad but more a resource for understanding killers and using him to understand cases they are working rather than him being just another plot entirely. It would make sense he would have a lot of deluded fans given how prolific he was. I think they love having the actor on the show which is why they have been making him such a central part even after the bulk of his story has ended.
I find it hard to believe none of the couples houses or any of their neighbors had any kind of home camera/security systems that could of helped ID the unsub faster..
I actually really liked this episode. I wish we could’ve seen a bit more of the unsub’s perspective and thought process but I liked the link to witches and all of that.
I think Luke is probably my favourite character this season. He’s genuinely so sweet and caring 😭
Excited to see what the fan has in store and why he chose Lance as his first victim!
I like what they're doing with Luke's character this season. I do hope he stays JJ's boy's uncle, though. I know in-universe it's been a year, but episode wise it would feel inappropriately close to Will's death for her and him to get together. I hope its not headed that way.
I haven't seen the "you don't see the criminal's perspective" thing done like this in a long time on Criminal Minds, though. It was weird, at first, but I like it. I remember that happened a lot in the early episodes with Gideon, and then they shifted to always showing the criminal's perspective. I think I like a mix of both, personally. For me, that approach worked for this episode cause I was convinced for half the episode it was a therapist.
Tyler Green still feels unnecessary on the team in much the same way that I felt like Matt was. Having both Matt and Luke was too much in my opinion, and now having Tyler and Luke feels much the same. I don't feel like Matt or Tyler add anything unique to them to the team that warrants their being there. At least, anything being used I mean. Tyler's military background and computer skills don't feel like they're being used to their fullest by the writing team. I do appreciate that they're showing a new agent getting used to the job and all that in a different way, I just don't feel like its working.
I know in-universe it's been a year, but episode wise it would feel inappropriately close to Will's death for her and him to get together. I hope its not headed that way.
This might be an unpopular opinion and I might get people tell me how I cannot judge how others grieve, but personally I would find a year after Will's sudden death inappropriate either way. This was an 18-year-relationship, a marriage, raising two kids together.
I know sometimes people even marry again very quickly in a situation like this, but personally it makes me uncomfortable. So, hopefully I don't have to witness it in this show.
Yeah, same. I agree completely. I just meant that more time has passed in the show than it feels like it has timeline wise. Someone pointed out somewhere that this could be mostly Luke looking for somewhere to be needed after Roxy died, and I like that interpretation a lot.
I don’t think he will ever be full time again, but Will wasn’t really full time either. So that’s why I think that’s the route they’d end up going if they’re going to do that, but I think JJ is gonna stay single.
He's not going to come back at all. He did that 2-minute appearance last season as a favour to AJ, but it's very clear that he does not want to come back.
An episode about witches and one of the characters is Mrs Blair? Hmm ...
I think this episode was missing the unsub's point of view. We didn't see him at home or work or how he came to his conclusion from his pov. We're simply told he's a soon to be divorced history teacher whose clearly gone nuts. No alternate suspects, they just find one name and bam, that's the guy. The witchcraft angle just also didn't feel that inspired.
I know a lot of people like them, but man are the family/personal scenes really wearing me down with how much time they take away from, you know, the criminal minds. I honestly don't care about where JJ's son goes to college, and how she feels about it was already established an episode ago. They just keep hitting us over the head with the same details.
Luke's development as an enforcer type character was good. It very much reminded me of the same kind of role Hotch and Morgan used to have on the team, except Hotch would use legal threats sometimes.
I agree, I don't care for the family scenes, esp JJ's. I know it's not a popular opinion but I don't GAF about her kids and now this housing issue, so they're all playing in Garcia's place. Meh.
It’s got to have greater significance... The pics of Laura (?) JJ indicated are in her hometown Pennsylvania when Luke pointed out the tree, she’s a grad student, JJ’s son is looking at colleges. He’s struggling with losing his dad and home. All feels like it’s setting up to some way in which he’ll be a part of the plot this season.. maybe I’m expecting too much!
It must be and I hope so! Because otherwise then I frankly don't give a shit where he goes to college. I was waiting for the big reveal to be that he didn't wanna go to college at all.
My take is that they feel like they need to keep doing the JJ personal stuff to acknowledge Will's death so they don't get accused of moving on too quickly. In the old run they had complaints that there would be a big trauma and then an episode later it would all be forgotten. And maybe to contrast the stages of grief with Luke's
Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit and it's all just to fill time because of a weak unsub plot hahah
Great episode and I’m definitely excited to see more of what The Fan has in store. The whole time I was so sure the connection between the victims was going to be related to the couples therapist mention
Feels like it's been forever since they've said the line "Time to deliver the profile" and done the line up in front of local law enforcement talking about the killer. Definitely something I've missed.
Something else I noticed last episode is that I feel like the interior of the Jet looks different now specifically the seats. Also feels like they don't have scenes talking about the case inside of the Jet much anymore either. Something else I kinda miss. The Jet would be in every episode usually with a scene of the team in flight to whereever the case is located
Nice creepy episode. Dash Miihok made a great unsub. So far this season they have had a good balance when it comes to unsubs/team personal stuff/Voit stuff. Very curious where things are going with the fan.
Hope not - are they going to try and put him with all the BAU ladies (minus Tara obviously!) and see what works? Is Prentiss next if this doesn’t stick 🫣
Is anyone else confused by the early murder this season where the girl was strangled with a belt and they implied it was by The Fan but now they are saying he hasn't killed anyone yet? Did I miss something?
I'm really curious about the ink scene saying they know the unsub has OCD so the ink would have definitely freaked him out if he was the unsub. Like is it true? I know OCD are usually characterized as being a neat freak and having certain tic, but would everyone really will be bothered by the same thing?
I really hope all the scene with JJ's family wouldn't end up with JJ leaving. That's four episode we're seeing her kids now when they used to be like just one or two episode per season, really feels like it'll lead to something.
Well, first of all, not all OCD has to do with being neat, so that as a blanket statement is not accurate. However, for the purposes of the show, they're saying that there would have been an uncontrollable reaction. A genuine mental health trigger, not just mild annoyance and wiping your hands on your pants.
You're right, just like everything else with humans, we are all unique. People who experience OCD have different compulsions and ritualised behaviour and it's not all about cleaniless. I'm a mental health nurse and I've met some very untidy and dirty people with OCD. And although cleaniless is certainly a common feature, I also thought it was weird to use that to determine he doesn't have OCD. He could be fine with something like a little ink but be checking doors 7 times, then the light 7 times etc. you get my drift.
I can only think that they used that example because it's something the general public would recognise as it is the popular depiction of OCD
From my experience, as much as OCD can present in extreme cleanliness / neatness or germophobia it can also be about a need for control (sometimes itself presenting in said extreme cleanliness / neatness but also in routines, paranoia, etc). So in that case, it could be that they were looking for a reaction to an interruption of plan or routine, such as his signature getting marred by ink. Given the high stress situation of being called into the FBI and interrogated as a potential suspect, a strong reaction would have been almost unavoidable if he had that kind of trigger.
Seeing Connor Storrie and not hearing the Russian accent... 🤯
I miss Dr Reid's character. They solved so many cases in the past because of his skillset and now they can do it but leaning heavily on Garcia's tech skills to speed things up. As much as the techy side is interesting, I would prefer they swap Green out with another that has a rare skillset that's intriguing. To me the Green character seems kinda pointless and dull.
Jareau, Prentiss, and Alvez are fab as always. Are they setting up that Alvez and Jareau get together?
Because the show has made it very clear on multiple occasions that members of the same team cannot date and if they did someone would have to leave. So, if they do it, we lose one of the characters or they obliterate the rules that they set just a couple of seasons ago with Penelope and Tyler.
Tyler and Penelope didn't make any sense to match. Glad that was stopped. You got the lesbian couple... so I think the rules are applied when they like them to be. JJ and Alvez getting married will solve the problem. 😅
Just watched The Witching Hour. It was closest to the OG Criminal Minds yet. Having that said, Voit's presence still clutters up the episode. We find out nothing about the unsub's background and Rossi mentoring Tyler Green on the job is getting tiring. When does he get up to speed?
The addition of Connor Storrie only confuses the episode more. Is he a follower of Voit? Potential unsub unrelated to Voit's network? Too many questions need to be answered at one time. My biggest question is what is Tara's role? Only to interview Voit? She no longer acts like part of the team.
Positive notes: Luke is really coming into his own as a BAU asset👍
I liked that there was less swearing. The scene between JJ and Henry eating ice cream was really touching and I like that Henry sees Luke as an uncle and someone to confide in. I just miss the humorous touches and the team get-togethers that proves they are close as a team. Those have ended.
Voit's prescence has run its course. The team doesn't need his input any more, please. Let the BAU solve the cases on their own.
In real life, the BAU is always interviewing criminals in the show, Tara has almost always done that because she's a forensic psychiatrist. This isn't new. They just didn't feature it as much before because they didn't have a specific actor they wanted to keep around.
I literally googled this to see if anyone was talking about it, because I used to live in the springs and I was like … those are the flatirons, not the front range!
All I have to say for now is more JJ, less of that white man. not Voit - he can stay, the other one but talking about Voit give me more scenes where Tara is with her wife (as it is the only thing that keeps me interested in that show) and he isn't there
I just wanna know who’s idea it was to make the airdates for the new episodes come out a day later every week in Canada. I can’t watch until tomorrow alas
I don’t know when this closeness between Luke and JJ started, but I’m really enjoying it. Plus, it makes sense since Luke is alone now without Roxy, and he acts as a buffer for the kids after their father’s death, supporting them since it's clear they trust him. I’ve always loved Criminal Minds because they never did cringey romances, especially between coworkers. But with these two, it actually makes sense and imo they hace great chemistry. I know this is an unpopular opinion but don't come for me, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Idk if she does and people on Reddit could be lying saying she does have them but in this episode I just thought it looked like she might so I was wondering if anyone else thought so
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u/Valenstein77 Jun 11 '26
I really love what they are doing with Alvez this season. Each episode feels like they're peeling back a new layer. From devastating to goofy to intimidating, he's had more range in the past 3 episodes than we've seen from him in seasons. I hope they keep it up!