Evolution’? What’s Next in His Extended Arc

Well, nothing good is going to happen to Connor Storrie‘s character on Criminal Minds: Evolution. The Thursday, June 11, episode is his first, the one that impressed those on the show so much that, as showrunner Erica Messer told TV Insider, the rest of the season was reworked — and we can see why. Warning: Spoilers for Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19 Episode 4 ahead!

First of all, the UnSub of “The Witching Hour” is played by Dash Mihok brilliantly, especially when he’s surprised by the turn things take when his intended victims react in an unexpected way. This killer passes medieval judgement on adulterers using a sledgehammer. It’s brutal. The case allows Prentiss (Paget Brewster) and Rossi (Joe Mantegna) to continue to teach the team’s newest member, Tyler (RJ Hatanaka). But it very much takes a backseat to the ongoing storyline of the season, the “fan” of serial killer Voit (Zach Gilford). That’s also where Storrie’s character comes into play.

JJ (A.J. Cook), Tara (Aisha Tyler), and Luke (Adam Rodriguez) spend the episode digging into the person sending Voit mail. The “not pathetic” pages were done using an analog typewriter, and Voit thinks they should take this threat seriously. He also thinks the person typed our dozens that he thought weren’t good enough to send, suggesting a form of OCD. While he “aspires” to be like Voit, the killer doesn’t think he’s committed an act of violence yet. Tara warns him about his celebrity carrying influence, but Voit knows this guy is just looking for a reason to get started and it won’t be the last time he reaches out.

He’s right: He sends photos of a Jane Doe next. Her face is obscured just enough that they can’t just use facial recognition software. But just like the postmark on the first indicated the mail had been sent from Pennsylvania, so does a tree in these images (JJ recognizes it since it’s her home state). When the BAU brings the photos to Voit, he doesn’t recognize the woman but knows that she’s a potential victim. They also all know that this person knows that his mail is monitored and he’d be sharing it with the FBI. Voit also realizes they’ve already IDed her.

Laura Boyd (Jessi Case) is an intern at a publishing company and enrolled in grad school who recently deleted all her social media accounts. As Laura explains, her ex-boyfriend, Lance, who’d been her supervisor at work, took those photos of her when they were still dating but he’s since become “a stalker nutjob.” He wasn’t happy when she broke up with him, and while he didn’t get violent, he followed her everywhere in person and commented on her online posts. When he showed up to her grad lectures, she called the cops, but they couldn’t do anything. He screamed at her at work after he found out she called the cops, and he was fired. She moved and changed her number.

Connor Storrie plays Lance, who faces off with JJ, Tara, and Luke in an interrogation room. And Storrie does a great job of holding his own like the character of Lance needs to against JJ and Tara, to come across as someone who isn’t a great guy but has you questioning if he could be the guy they’re looking for. And he plays the change from his scenes with them to his one with Luke, who comes at him in a very different way.

Lance interestingly uses the word “pathetic” to JJ, insists he and Laura are just on a break and he’s done nothing wrong, and has been charged with assault, though he did pay to get his record wiped from the internet. He throws his file aside and tells her to hold him for something or he’s leaving. He’s aggressive and narcissistic, knowing what lines he can and can’t cross, JJ and Tara note. But he seems too emotionally erratic to be the person who’s mailing Voit. Tara tests him by having him sign a release with a pen that leaks, and when he just wipes his hand on his pants without flinching, they know he’s not the guy. That guy, with his OCD, would have lost it when the ink went everywhere.

While Voit’s fan just offered up Lance for them, the latter is still a threat to Laura. And so JJ and Tara have Luke come in as “muscle.” He tells Lance that the person they’re looking for has eyes on him and they need to find him, but pretty soon, they won’t be able to watch over him — but he needs someone to, since it doesn’t seem like he has anyone else in his life. Luke even points out that while Lance phones his mom, she never returns his calls or texts. Without someone checking on him, he could go missing without anyone noticing for a long time, if ever. And, Luke stresses, he won’t like it if he bothers Laura again. Lance hears him.

When Prentiss and Tara go to see Voit at the end of the episode, he knows that his fan won’t be going after Laura. That person just chose her as someone who would grab their attention. Rather, it’s Lance who’s his focus. He’ll now go home and fire off angry emails that will let this “fan” know all about the BAU’s interrogation strategies and profiling methods. As for where Lance is now, well… they don’t know. Voit knows a first kill is one you fantasize about, special, and Lance is just a means to an end, a sacrificial pawn. Even if they find his body, his death is just part of this guy’s greater goal, to emulate his idol, get as much information as possible, and learn everything he can so they can never catch him.

Trae Patton/Paramount+

And about Lance? Well, he’s put into the trunk of a car. Uh-oh.

But while this was meant to be Storrie’s only episode — there could have been a future episode where his body was found — he will be back for three more (5, 6, and 9), based on what he showcased in this one. He also filmed Criminal Minds: Evolution after shooting Heated Rivalry, but before the latter was released.

“He’s just so good — not only crazy talented, but so kind, so funny, so wonderful to have on set. So, it was one of those things that we kind of adjusted the back half of the season to have his character have more agency in the story we were telling because he was so good,” Messer told TV Insider ahead of Season 19’s premiere.

It then became a question of how his and Case’s characters would “come into play for the bigger turn by the end of the season,” she continued. “We kept escalating it. So, next thing you know, Connor Storrie’s getting drugged and thrown in the back of a trunk and then he’s getting tortured and all kinds of stuff ends up happening to him. And I just remember every time he was in a script, I’m like, ‘So sorry, so sorry. You came in, you auditioned for this stuff in the BAU and now we’re throwing you in a trunk.’ But he is such a great sport about it all and again, was just so compelling on screen that we wanted to use him as much as possible.”

What’s your theory about what’s going to happen next with Lance? Let us know in the comments section below.

Criminal Minds: Evolution, Thursdays, Paramount+