Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2 episode 4 connects Stuart House and Gold Star

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 2, episode 4, "Kingdom of the Blind," gave more information about what Gold Star was truly about. Plus, Voit continued to play his games with the BAU in an effort to see his family one more time. But his efforts backfired in a surprising way once he got what he wanted. 

After Emily was accused of assaulting Garrity, he dropped the charges and disappeared. Irritated with everything that was happening, Emily asked David to bring her back to work so she could change in her office. 

In the midst of all of this, the team got a new case. Two deputies were found murdered with their eyes gouged out. Not wanting to fall into the trap from the previous case they were on, Emily told David and Tara to investigate as if Gold Star was not connected.

Failing to make progress with Penelope, Tyler did confess to Emily about what he did with the cloned phone. Emily managed to convince Penelope to break into the phone herself, even if they couldn’t use the information they discovered on the phone itself.

While she tried desperately to unlock it, she eventually needed Tyler’s help. Once she was able to get in, Tyler tried apologizing for all of the lies he had been a part of that hurt her. However, Penelope informed him that she wanted him to actually make the effort to make amends and not just say the words “I’m sorry.”

It seems like this will be an important stepping stone for their relationship has a whole. Hopefully, Tyler will do better by the team and communicate so they can get evidence in the correct way.

Gold Star has a surprising connection to Stuart House

As for Luke and JJ, they worked together to bring Voit’s family to him. However, things got rough when it turned out Holly, who had been hurting herself, brought a weapon in to try to kill him. JJ talked to the young girl to find out what happened. It appears Holly was truly affected by the knowledge that the dad she loved and had fond memories making pancakes with was actually a killer.

Voit, for his part, seemed really affected by the thought that his daughter was just like him. Whether it was a ruse or not, it’s not entirely certain. But at the same time, he perked up when Emily offered to get Holly specialized help as long as he helped them with the Gold Star case.

As for the case itself, at first, Tara and David thought the case was unrelated. But the two victims in their murder case were connected via Stuart House. They worked there years ago, so it could mean that yet another former resident at the house is involved in the murders.

A third body, Rick Waters, was eventually found. He has a daughter named Jade and he himself was no angel. There was a suggestion he was involved in his ex-wife’s disappearance and he had sent Jade to Stuart House to live there.

Thanks to Penelope, the team learned the mercenaries were sent to kill five particular individuals connected to Stuart House. They already knew who Aiden and Jade were, plus a third person was involved named Damien. He is the one who Elias spoke to and he also appears to be the protector of the group, as he was seen with Jade while they were making an escape. If you recall, Aiden was killed when the FBI eventually found him.

Now that the team is getting closer to determining Stuart House’s connection to Gold Star, what can they do to ensure that Elias doesn’t continue to play games with them? They will now have to work with their fiercest foe to stop Gold Star while also keeping him in prison.

The episode did leave one storyline unresolved, which involved JJ. She wanted to talk to Emily about the deepfake website but never got the chance. It’s also clear based on her outfits in the episode how affected she was knowing about the site. Hopefully, they will get the chance to discuss what happened so JJ can move forward.

We also have to remember that Emily still has to deal with the Garrity situation. He seems to know about Gold Star now, but is still working on his own. Will this lead to consequences for himself, and possibly for Emily? Only time will tell.

Criminal Minds: Evolution streams Thursdays on Paramount+.