Published Jun 11, 2026, 11:04 PM EDT
Jasneet Singh is a writer who finally has a platform to indulge in long rants about small moments on TV and film in overwhelming detail. With a literature background, she is drawn to the narrative aspect of cinema and will happily rave about her favorite characters. She is also waiting for the Ranger’s Apprentice novels to be adapted… but the cycle of hope and disappointment every two years is getting too painful to bear.
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2025 gave us a queer sports romance that had everyone swooning over a suave Russian hockey player who knew exactly when to drop a flirty comment to leave everyone flustered. Heated Rivalry shot Connor Storrie into stardom and showcased his potential for versatility, as he not only mastered Ilya’s teasing and tough side but also the raw vulnerability that simmered beneath. However,** it is his latest guest star role in Criminal Minds: Evolution that cements the actor’s range**, as he steps into the BAU without a Russian accent and a dangerous glint in his eyes. Season 4, Episode 4 brings Storrie into the fold as a stalker ex-boyfriend named Lance, who plays an integral part of the season’s larger storyline about the elusive Fan, and his scenes are chillingly and humorously memorable.
In Episode 4, the Fan is firmly on the BAU’s radar, and he sends a series of photographs to the bureau, leading them down a rabbit hole to Lance, the ex-boyfriend of the woman in the pictures. At first, it seems like Lance is the Fan, as he possesses the same obsessive qualities that lead him to stalk his ex-girlfriend, and he is intelligent enough to maneuver around J.J.’s (A.J. Cook) questions without giving too much away. But upon Lewis’ (Aisha Tyler) test with a leaky pen, they realize that Lance doesn’t have the same level of obsessive compulsion as the Fan, as the real unsub would have lost their head if their writing was anything less than perfect.
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
In this way, Storrie’s performance becomes an integral aspect of the episode and this major storyline. He teeters on the line of ambiguity, delivering us enough sharpness that the team can organically suspect he may be the unsub, but also has enough emotional volatility bubbling beneath the surface to make us doubt the theory. It is the first time we’ve seen the Fan make a substantial play against the BAU, using Lance as a Trojan horse to access the team’s bag of tricks, thereby making Storrie’s brief role in the series a major turning point. It is the first time we’ve seen the team this rattled in a long time, as the Fan defies being pigeonholed into a copycat profile by taunting Voit (Zach Gilford) and the inclusion of Lance.
It’s also exciting to witness another side to the actor’s range, where there is a borderline homicidal glint in his eyes, and a deadpan face as Lance truly believes he is doing nothing wrong by stalking his ex-girlfriend. However, Storrie’s strongest scene arrives when Lance is facing off against Alvez (Adam Rodriguez), where the agent threatens and manipulates Lance into putting an end to his extracurricular activities. Alvez does so through a mix of his intimidating persona and by using Lance’s abandonment issues against him. Here, Storrie switches from furious and offended to a subdued vulnerability that is haunting to watch. It is almost reminiscent of the latter episodes of Heated Rivalry, where Storrie delivered some raw performances, but in Criminal Minds, it feels more like Lance is a rabid animal that just got broken in by Alvez.
We may have fallen in love with Storrie’s Ilya in the rink, but Criminal Minds delivers us another version of the actor that indicates his stardom will not end there. While playing a pivotal role in the season, Storrie flexes his range through an emotionally volatile performance, but he also demonstrates his capability to switch his emotions in a split second when he shares the screen with Rodriguez. He not only makes an impact on Criminal Minds, but also shows promise for his future career.
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