Criminal Minds Episode profiles

5x06 The eyes have it

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Writer: Oanh Ly
Director: Glenn Kershaw

Oklahoma City

PROFILE/ VICTIMOLOGY

UNSUB - Earl Bulford

27-35 year old white male
enucleator (removes eyes) -> Usually enucleators are males with a diagnosed mental disorder, lack social skills, disorganized, sloppy, repeat offenders. They don't usually take the eyes. It's usually not about the eyes, but about what the unsub sees in them (delusional!)
This unsub however is quite organized and strategic, and does take the eyes with him. (Possibility: trophy/consumption)
Apart from the first victim he's very precise with taking the eyes -> might have some medical training (but will not have made a career out of it)
Blitz attack - he lacks the social skills to charm his victims.
Very likely to have been institutionalized/ halfway house/ treatment facility.
Less than 48 hours between kills (he is escalating) No cooling off period will make it hard to get ahead of him.
Area of 22miles between locations (usually the kill area is smaller)
Leaves body in somewhat public area where he could have easily hidden it there - he is not afraid to get caught
Used a trip wire -> game hunter. He may have applied for a hunting license.
He waits until he is alone with his victims -> patient
Killers usually get more sloppy when they escalate, this unsub only gets better.
Drives a van or pickup that's easy to clean (his dad's)

VICTIMOLOGY

severed coroted artery
missing eyes, but different color of eyes
different ages

Victim 1 - John O'Hare

61
Known for drunken behavior
Blunt force trauma to the head
Disposed of body in secluded area -> unsub familiar with area.
Bludgeoned, personal ->unsub knew vic?
eyes missing, but gouged out (not precise)
-- Told Earl he couldn't do eyes (taxidermy) which set him off.

Victims 2 - Megan / Venus

17 / 17
Opportunistic, less personal
eyes removed with surgical precision
parking garage, blitz attack

Victim 3 - Tracy Copper

32
jogger, unsub used a trip wire

Victims 4 - couple

attack at night, cut wired in electrical boxed - unsub used night-vision goggles
Male victim fought back and his left eye got lacerated, the unsub didn't take either eye. -> eyes need to be intact and flawless. -> Taxidermist

CATCHING THE UNSUB

Morgan and Tamara went to a hearing(?), Tamara hands Morgan a silver necklace with a cross that belonged to her brother William. She asks him out for drinks when things have calmed down - Morgan agrees.

SC Strauss is keeping a close eye on Morgan, offers him Hotchner's office, but Morgan declines. He spends the rest of the day trying to ignore Strauss, but in the end does answer her call.

Like Rossi tells Hotchner, Morgan is a natural leader, and he is excelling at the job.
But Rossi also warns Hotchner - what do you think is going to happen when you take your old position again, and Morgan has to step down?
The whole situation is slightly uncomfortable when in the plane Morgan is the one dividing the tasks.

They visit Venus' family at their house, they hope the team can find the eyes so that Venus will not be cursed and wandering for eternity. (Buddhist - 3 days of mourning, and the full body needs to be cremated).

Garcia runs a search on doctors in the area, narrows it down to doctors with malpractice suits, then to eye specialists.

JJ has to deal with the local news who us running the story (they even came up with a nickname "the eye snatcher") Meanwhile the unsub is machining a spoon into a sophisticated eye-cutting tool.

Because of the short time between murders (but instead of getting sloppier, getting more precise), the team think the unsub might work on a self imposed timeline. Or as local PD puts it: Crazy with a mission.

After the 4th murder Garcia runs taxidermists through her system and comes up with Lloyd Bulford, he died 4 weeks ago of emphysema (stressor), his son Earl lived with him. He's 28, has 3 counts of animal cruelty on his record as well as petty crime. His mother died in a car crash when he was 8, and has retinitis pigmentosa (which eventually leads to blindness). The taxidermy shop is in foreclosure.
When the first victim angrily told Earl that the eyes on his taxidermy work were wrong, he killed him.

Apart from a driver's license he's not in the system. They put out an APB on the dad's car, and go to the taxidermy shop. There the team find out he's been using his victims eyes in his taxidermy animals.
He's been hunting since a kid. Since he got expelled from school he was very socially isolated (which lead to mental issues). His dad was the one who kept him in control. His killing locations are all very close to addresses of clients where he drops off his work.

They track him down just as he is about to take victim 5's eyes out (but she blasts him with pepper spray and Hotch is just in time).

Morgan goes to tell Venus' family that they found her eyes.

Garcia and JJ have executed a special ops mission behind the teams back - they've cleared out the office of an agent who is retiring in a month (and who will finish his work at home), and furnished and decorated Morgan his very own office. While Hotchner is working on the Foyet case, Garcia shows Morgan the FUN drawer in his desk. Morgan thanks Garcia (because she rocks) and then calls Tamara to set up drinks.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

Herbert Mullin. Paranoid schizophrenic from Ca. who thought that by killing people he could hold off a big impending earthquake. He killed 13 people in 4 months.

Memorable Moments

Garcia (about Morgan):

I know he's fine, but how's he holding up as head honcho?

When the possibility of the unsub consuming the eyes was discussed, and the unsib was eating a boiled egg, I decided to hold off on eating my lunch for a while...

5x05

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:55:00 +0000

soon

5x04 Hopeless

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:22:00 +0000

writer: Chris Mundy
director: Felix Alcala

South-East Washington D.C.

PROFILE/ VICTIMOLOGY

UNSUB 1 - J. Turner (stubble, straight hair that's standing up)
*'which one of them belongs to you' 'punches man and woman'

UNSUB 2 - JR Baker (shaved head)
* karate kicks man, 'kiss your husband goodbye'

UNSUB 3 - C Vincent (stubble, curlier hair)
* crowbars 2 men, wearing dark blue hoodie 'I don't care what you want'

-> They work as a 'pack' as 'one person'.
1 PROFILE for the 3 of them

3 or 4 men, 25-45 years old.
Anger/Rage will take any excuse for provocation.
Nothing stolen, no sexual abuse: This is violence for violences sake.
they wear gloves, and are physically very fit.
Likely responsible for the vandalism in the neighborhood as well (creates a pack mentality and can escalate - but usually not this fast)
- Sept 3: 15 luxury cars had their windows smashed
- Sept 14: new upscale clothing boutique vandalized
- Sept 24 - 2 restaurants that target the rich had their windows smashed and interiors destroyed
- Oct 1 - Newly renovated townhouse home ransacked
-> went from public property to home.

- 4 people (filmed)
- couple in car park killed , Jessica Miller and Doug Taylor (unrecognizable) (Oct 14th or after?)
-> they're getting bolder, killing in public now (no witnesses though)

- 2 dead in bar (nailgun)
They share the same kind of anger/rage which is what linked them. See themselves as gangsters/outlaws.
In control, high level of precision. Not tentative, no experimentation. Fully evolved -> not juveniles (sloppy)
Extreme level of brutality - almost taunting the police, trying to drag them down to their level of violence
To them violence represents power and (self) respect.
Have no empathy. Only feel alive when creating fear and chaos.
Obsessed with the media coverage (take any chance to relive their crimes) Will likely revisit the crime scenes.
Likely to come from trouble background. Broken home etc.
Will go for suicide by cop if they're about to get caught.

VICTIMOLOGY

different races
rich people new to the neighborhood (poor locals are being driven out) nothing else in common.

CATCHING THE UNSUB

3 unsubs are re-watching a video of them attacking and killing 2 couples. The team hears of the 4 brutal murders and goes to the crime scene. Nothing was stolen, no knife or fun was used -> doesn't fit the typical MO of a home invasion killer. They inspect the crime scene and deduct there are 3 or 4 unsubs. They carried Will (6"+ strong guy) from his car into the house, so they must be very fit physically.

The team doesn't yet know that the 3 unsubs have an outlet for their anger in their day-jobs working
construction (but even there their anger stands out). They do know that the unsubs likely live in poor area around crime scene area. Garcia runs a search for all men between 25 -45 and gets 713 hits.

Garcia also finds a text message online that's quickly spreading, there is to be a riot on Thompson Square in DuPont at 9 pm where they'll vandalize all restaurants and cars. The team suspect their unsubs are not responsible (local police thinks they are) and are likely to be quite unhappy about sharing the spotlight. They will 'respond'

Garcia tracks down the phones the text originated from and they double check to make sure they're not the unsubs. And the 'response' quickly follows - 2 people are killed in a bar with a nail-gun.
This leads the team to narrow their unsub group down to contractors, builders and construction workers.

Their extreme level of brutality is them almost taunting the police, trying to drag them down to their level of violence (which is a natural reaction). Hotchner warns Det. Andrews to keep his head cool. (What a difference from last weeks almost frantic Hotch on the hunt!) Too bad Andrews is mainly offended, and covertly dismisses6 the team with a 'thank you for your help'.
Hotchner decides to stay regardless.

When the team visits a previous crime scene (the ransacked townhouse) they find the missing 'step' in between the vandalism and 4 brutal murders. The contractor is buried in the wall of the nursery (seriously, they didn't smell anything ???). Garcia quickly tracks down 3 employees, who live on the same address.

They go into the house and take one of the unsubs into custody, but the 2 others get away in their car.
Morgan tells Baker they expected the three of them to be unemployed; if they all have a job, what makes their life so miserable and hopeless that they'd take it out on the world? The answer: for the fun of it.

The team quickly figure out where they went, but with all the local police inside, Hotchner steps down and walks away - there are enough cops set on revenge there, he's not going to help kill the unsubs. The rest of the team walks out as well. Their job is done.

Throughout the whole episode Tamara Barnes (sister of Will who was one of the 4 killed in the video) pretty much is stalking Morgan. Demanding to know what's going on. Garcia warns him - she knows exactly what Tamara is going through since she volunteers at the support group - but he ignores her warning (beside the whole ethical dilemma there could be big trouble if the case went to court and Morgan has to testify) and keeps talking to her.

While Prentiss, Hotchner and Rossi have a drink in Hotchner's office (where did Reid go to?), Morgan goes by Tamara's house 'to tell her they got the guys responsible'.

5x03 Reckoner

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:37:00 +0000

Writer: Jay Beattie , Dan Dworkin
Director: Karen Gaviola

Commack, Long Island

PROFILE / VICTIMOLOGY

UNSUB A - The Planner (Judge Boyd Schuller)

Works in criminal justice system and is high ranking (defense/prosecution attorney, lawyer, judge, cop)
He experienced a devastating personal tragedy
In his late 50's or 60's (because of the sophisticated nature of the scenario)
Met UNSUB B in the court system
Has access to substantial cash
mutilation is not hidden; either he doesn't care if they find it, or he wants them to find it.

UNSUB B - The Enforcer (Tony Meccaci)

"BOSOLA" Alias, Code (couldn't read this)
Uses a Zip gun. No bullet striation, very little residue due to need of shooting very up close.
Always two .22 mm shots - 1 to the heart, 1 to the head.
Uses a tripod for a camera. But where sexual sadists film their crimes so they can rewatch it, this unsub films to have proof of death. (Sexual sadist usually tortures while alive as well, this unsub tortures post mortem)
M.D. Depicts an (couldn't read this)
no-nonsense murderer
careful, methodical, pr(couldn't read this)
very practical
sophisticated
armed and extremely dangerous
hired to carry out the hit
highly motivated

VICTIMOLOGY

Rita Hazlat. Was a social worker, got fired for gross negligence which resulted in a 7-year-old boy starving to death. She was starved and executed. No post-mortem mutilation
Bill Levington. His genitals were missing
Ben Vanderwaal. Took naked pictures of his step-daughter and sexually abused her. Hands sawn off.
Dan Patton. Drunk driver who killed Emma (Schuller's wife)
Boyd Schuller. Judge (= Unsub A)

Victims 1, 2 and 3 all were mutilated, and all were related to crimes against children.
Heather Vanderwaal - wounded, attacked, but surviving. Filed for divorce.
Allison Vanderwaal - living with her biological dad in San Diego. Told her therapist about the abuse, he told the police, but when she refused to have anything to do with the case, it was dropped.

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S)

Hotchner misses out on his sons birthday. The first of how many ?
Rossi finds himself being sent to his hometown. Reid tries to clear himself for flying, but instead Garcia gets to work 'with' him (which results in some very funny scenes, and a highly annoyed Garcia).

In Commack, JJ goes to talk to Heather who saw her husband Ben get dismembered. JJ finds out Ben was abusing Allison, and that Heather filed for divorce.

Rossi goes to talk to some of his old contacts, alone. He end up in an Irish (mob?) pub, talking to Ray.
Ray takes a deal (Sean wil get 2 years in a federal prison for trafficking guns, and there's some talk about a Rico case?) and promises Rossi the hitman - who goes by the Alias "Bosola" will be in his restaurant.
Bosola (the name of a killer in some play) has been active for at lest 20 years, and people only see him once... The team (plus 2, protection for Hotchner in case Foyet is following him) wait outside the restaurant, but they're too late. Bosola is already inside, and kills Ray.

Garcia and Reid are looking through court cases when Garcia finds one that slipped the net. Tony Mecacci suspected victim was shot , same MO as Unsub B. The judge in that case was Judge Schuller. His wife Emma got killed by a drunk driver, and 6 months ago he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Just when they're about to pay him a visit, the judge turns himself in.
Morgan and Rossi interrogate him, Rossi quickly proves that he knew Emma growing up, and claims to have slept with her a few years ago. The judge doesn't want to believe him, but is visibly very upset by that possibility.

Hotchner quickly figures out that the judge is trying to stall - there indeed is a list, an they are running out of time. They deduct that Dan Patton - the drunk driver who killed Emma - is next on the list, but when they race to his apartment they find they're too late. The judge gets transported to another location, they do conclude that he was the last person on the list. Before she gets locked out of the judges computer, Garcia finds that he transfered all his money and left his estate to a support group while he still supposedly has 6 months to live. But again the team is too late. Rossi never gets to tell him his wife was faithful all along.

At the end Sean Finnegan shoots Bosola to death in a parking lot. (I guess he must have seen what happened inside the bar, despite Ray telling him to not be there?)

On the plane back Rossi reveals that Emma was the one that got away. When he got out of the Marine corps, he got involved with starting up the BAU. He got obsessed with the chase, and before he knew it half a lifetime had passed. He warns Hotchner not to do the same.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Garcia: I know that too.

And the "Crator Creator" puzzle problem.
I've gotten as far as (reverse engineering this)
arctangent = inverse of tangent.
crator reversed is the 'arc' part of the solution??

5x01 Nameless, Faceless

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Writer: Chris Mundy
Director: Charles S Carroll

PROFILE / VICTIMOLOGY

Unsub 1 - The Reaper/ George Foyet

The Reaper/George Foyet
Stabbed Hotchner 9 times (and knew exactly where to stab so as not to kill him)
Always takes something from his victims (pages from Hotchner’s day planner, addresses for ‘B’ – he now knows where Haley and Jack live), and leaves something behind (a picture of Haley and Jack)
Main goal is Torture. He stabbed Hotch very slowly - prolonging the torture, and at the end let him live to see him suffer (because he can't see his family as long as the Reaper/Foyet is alive)
Likely to have raped Hotch (thankfully not shown, but alluded to) in some way ('regular way' or through the stabwounds)

Unsub 2 - Patrick Meyers

Wrote Dr. Tom Barton a note, threatening to kill his son Jeffrey (or 1 other person each day he can’t kill Jeffrey).
Has killed 2 people so far, not skilled with a firearm. Both victims were Hispanic males in their 40s.
The note suggests the unsub is male. Women tend to use more adjectives and more details. Males are more direct ( first sentence: I plan to kill your son) and talk more about themselves than about the person they’re writing to.
He’s watched Dr. Barton and his son for a while . Either he has a job that allows him to do so, or is unemployed.
Very likely to be a grieving father.
Note signed with L.C. -> stands for Living Children on a medical form

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S)

Last season ended with The Reaper pointing his gun at Hotchner after escaping.
It takes the team quite a while to figure out something is wrong – mainly because they were not supposed to work, and after only 4 hours of sleep they think Hotchner put his phone on vibrate.

Prentiss finally goes to check on him. She finds the door open, broken glass and blood on the floor, and a big bullet hole in the wall. His car is still there, as are his gun and his cellphone. There are no drag marks on the floor, and 2 pages out of Hotches day planner are missing (a week, and addresses for ‘B’). Garcia calls all hospitals, and finds “Morgan” has been dropped off at an ER. The Reaper stole his credentials.

Hotch is stable, and pretends not to remember what happened.
He wants to know what the reaper took (pages in planner, missing ‘B’ addresses) and left (a picture of Jack and Haley). Haley’s maiden name is Brooks – so a team rushes to Haley and Jack to put them in protective custody.

Hotchner sincerely apologizes to Haley when they come to see him in hospital , and is visibly shaken when he has to say goodbye to his son, not knowing for how long. No one can know where Haley and Jack are until Foyet is caught. He kept Hotchner alive because to Foyet, seeing his victims suffer (Hotchner not seeing his son) is the ultimate goal . When Foyet stops killing they have no way of tracking him, and last time he stopped for 10 years to watch his victim’s life fall to pieces…

While all this is happening, the team also has to work another case.
Dr. Barton got a note from someone threatening to kill his son. Understaffed, and sleep deprived they start profiling. Or mainly, Reid starts profiling while the others keep Jeffrey alive – he overheard them and went to school instead of staying home.

Prentiss keeps Hotchner company in the hospital and discovers that L.C. on a hospital chart means “has Living Children” – it’s used when people might be put on life support and the hospital doesn’t know if there’s a signed DNR or not. The team manages to safely evacuate the school at the end of the day.

Reid and Dr. Barton finally figure it out, dismissing hospital files of all the people Barton operated on that don’t fit their profile. Dr. Barton operated on one of two victims of a car crash. The guy he operated on survived, but the other one didn’t and his dad - Patrick Meyers – blames him for not even wanting to attempt a surgery (that wouldn’t have made any difference).

It comes to a standoff when Dr. Barton walks outside and finds Meyer waiting for him with a gun. Reid ends up getting shot (MGG danced his knee to pieces and they had to write it in – definitely no running scenes for a while), and ends up having to shoot Meyer who tries to go for suicide by cop (Barton saves him though).

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
None

4x04 Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Sin City , Nevada.
Truck driver is driving in the rain and comes upon a car that's parked in the middle of the road.
He downshifts and breaks (the truck sheers) but he can't avoid them.
He crashes into the car, and the car flips over a few times before they both stop.

Turns out the couple inside was already dead (raped and tortured).
Garcia finds 2 similar cases in that area over the past few weeks, and every time the couples disappeared 48 hours before they were found.

Ian and Abby are driving,they are both tired. So they stop at cabin, which appears empty. But just as they head inside, the NO in NO VACANCIES flips on... *queue eerie music*

Opening quite by Hotch:

Thomas Fuller wrote: A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
the rest will follow tomorrow.

4x03 Minimal Loss

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:47:00 +0000

Will follow soon

4x02 The Angel Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie
Director: Glenn Kershaw

INTRO

Delilah Grennan hears a suspicious sound in her home. She goes to investigate, and finds her cat on the kitchen counter.
When she looks out of the window, she sees a shooting star and makes a wish. I'm pretty sure the masked person in the background is not part of that wish.
When she goes to bed at 11 p.m. she does not that the unsub is hiding in her closet.

Hotchner is getting a CT scan. After the blast he is suffering from hyperaccusis, tinnitus, pain, and some hopefully temporary loss of hearing (he doesn't hear his phone).
He is advised to avoid loud places, risking total deafness if he does any further damage.

Reid has new hair :)

BRIEF

Lower Canaan, Ohio.

Delilah Grennan was found dead. Her body was posed, and there were several puncture wounds in her stomach that were inflicted postmortem.
The MO is the same as that of a serial killer who operated in the area 10 years ago. He made six victims in 10 months time, he called himself The Angel Maker.
He was sentenced to death exactly 1 year ago. His name was Courtland Bryce Ryan.
There was semen found in the closet, and it's a match to Courtland's...

PROFILE/VICTIMOLOGY
Unsub(s).

1 (original)

killed his victims with his bare hands.
opened all the windows. (Souls can be released)
puncture wounds in the stomach. (Constellations, heavenly waters - I can't find much on this through Google)
didn't need a template for the puncture marks.
chose women based upon sexual attractiveness
Courtland Bryce Ryan

2 (copy cat)

Bludgeoned victims with a blunt object, possibly a hammer.
This unsub is weaker, or at least sees himself as weaker.
Opened all the windows -> this was not the fact that was released to the press.
Puncture wounds in the stomach, inflicted postmortem. Trace evidence of pieces of notebook paper. -> this is different!
Shot Sid in his head and his groin. - > personal
FEMALE!
She lives in the area, highly intelligent, mid-30s, not just a fan but a groupie. Likely to be attractive, successful, maybe even married.

There are types of people do this.
- reformers, who are on a rescue mission. Raised in oppressive religious environment.
- hybristophelia (attracted to people who commit violent crimes). He gave her the power she lacks, due to low self-esteem, and the lack of a father figure.
She has a rape kit (weapon, and something to rape her victims with).
Uses a template for to puncture marks.
Chooses women based on access.

Victimology.

Small towns suck for victimology - there's too much overlap.
The unsub seeks easy access.
Both women worked from home. She poses as a potential client.

CATCHING THE UNSUB

The team, including Hotchner, flies to Ohio. Hotchner quickly finds out that flying was not such a good idea.
They discussed the case, and the possibility that the semen was smuggled out of the prison to be used later. According to Reid, if you know the right people you can get pretty much anything.

They meet with Sheriff Dobson and the local authorities, and are told that the local newspaper got a letter.
Reid quickly examines the letter, and while he has to examine it closer, for now he deems it authentic. It's either a very good forged copy, or it was written before Courtland was executed.
Sela Dobson comes into the station, informing them that there were problems with the execution, wondering if he still out there.
She also tells them that she's not the only one looking for answers, there are quite a few people standing outside demanding proof that he is really dead.
The sheriff orders for the body to be dug up, even though there is a risk that this may embolden the copycat, resulting in more kills.

When a small crane lifts the casket, Hotchner gets another attack of severe pain and tinnitus.
They find the casket empty.
They meet up with a doctor who pronounced the death, and when confronted by Rossi with the fact that this was his last one, he tells them that Courtland died a very slow death.
There were problems with the catheter (twice), and he was slowly suffocating. Before he died, he told them (on camera, as his last words): death cannot take me from you, I will be born again.
The team goes for a rational explanation, people cannot combat from the dead, and the grave was probably emptied by a fan.

Meanwhile, Garcia has been searching for the Angel maker memorabilia, maybe that largest distributor knows more. Turns out one of the prison guards, Sid Ruttledge, has been selling items online!
When they go to his house, they find him dead, he was shot in the head and in the groin -> this was personal.
When Prentiss finds a bottle of pills, she fears they may have got this unsub all wrong.

The unsub is a woman, who lives in the area.

Garcia comes up with a list of women who all visited Courtland. One name stands out. Char Carlino visited him over 70 times, and she bought a house across the street from the prison.
They pay her a visit, and she tells them that she was not just a fan of Courtland, they were lovers. Not a physical front, it was their souls.
She tells them that there were no other women. She knew there were other women writing him, but they didn't mean anything to him.
Rossi says that every time the copycat kills, she reinforces her love for him. If she doesn't want that to happen, she has to help them stop her. She then confesses that she got a letter from him, months before he got executed, that clearly was not meant for her. It was addressed to "my dove", he never called her that. She then goes on about how horribly written the letter was, and no, she never asked him who she was.

The unsub is going to kill again, she's got a tattoo in her neck, and she is in Maxine Chandler's house. After she kills her, she uses a paper template with holes to put to screwdriver puncture wounds in the right place.
Maxine's body is found the next morning, she runs a day care and one of the dads came to drop his kid off. There were no signs of break-in. The MO is the same, although the puncture marks are in a different place.
Prentiss jotts down the marks in a notebook, and realizes the unsub must have done the same - she used a template.
They discovered at the puncture wounds are constellations. Heavenly waters. Windows are left open so that their souls can be released. This is something the copycat knew, and the team didn't know until now.
There only is one constellation left.

Both victims worked from home, but there are no matching names on their client lists.

The report comes in that another woman has been attacked by a female. But when he goes to crime scene they find the victim is okay and the suspect is not. It's Char Carlino, then MO is all wrong, and she has a solid alibi.
"It worked for her, why not for me?"

Reid is working on the letters addressed to 'my dove'. He figures out the code quite quickly (resulting in Prentiss flicking a finger against his face: he looks so human!).
The Dove established contact shortly after trial. Some of the text in the letters lead them to believe she might have not only have used the semen on the crime scene, but also to get pregnant.
Garcia cross-references kids born on the day the letter was dated, and finds nine names.
When they showed a list of names to the sheriff, he recognizes Chloe Kelcher's name, but can't place it. Reid quickly comes up with the source - she was a member of the jury.
They think the death of her baby prompted her to start killing and finish his work.
Inside her home to find the quite decomposed body of Courtland, they also find her appointment book which has appointments with both victims on the days of their deaths. There also is an appointment for tonight.

Chloe is in the home of the last victim as the team arrives, luckily the windows are still closed.
While everybody gets ready to flood the house with headlights, Morgan goes around the house to look for open windows through which you can get in.
Just in time (it's TV after all) Prentiss takes that megaphone and addresses Chloe, who is just tying Sheila up.

She tells her that she may think she is special to Courtland, but she was not. Dozens of women read the same lines, Courtland was a narcissist who could only love himself.
Morgan saves she and, and they both get out through the window.
When Chloe finds out she is enraged. Prentiss tells her that she's got nowhere to go, Hotchner says she won't commit suicide either because her job (of finishing his job) is not finished yet.
But when she comes out with a gun, and doesn't drop it, the sheriff -who is standing next to Hotchner- is forced to shoot her.
Rendering Hotchner useless (curled up in a ball in pain next to the car), and her dead. Turns out she made herself the last victim, she finished his work. The ninth constellation is carved on her stomach.

Hotchner decides to drive back, Rossi tells them to take the scenic route and stretch it out a day or two.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

MEMORABLE QUOTES.

Opening quote:
We all die, the goal is not to live forever, the goal is to make something that will. - Chuck Polaniuk.

Rossi: elephant in the room. (I couldn't understand most of this?)

Morgan (to Hotchner): You have been cleared to fly, have you?

Morgan: Reid, you're not seriously floating around the idea of an evil twin, are you?
Reid: No, I'm not. I'm floating the idea of an eviler twin.
Traditionally, the concept is a good twin and an evil twin. But in this case it's evil twin, eviler twin

Closing quote: Wendell Berry said: The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it.

My review.

Really great and very interesting episode!
I was wondering who the unsub was until the very end. Glad they didn't for a second go into the whole 'ghost' thing, or assumed he was somehow still alive.
CM in general has gone from great to only getting better! Go writers/actors/crew :)!

4x01 Mayhem

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:37:00 +0000

To be posted.

review:
Really liked the episode, very glad nothing changed over the break (unlike a certain other show..) and its just so great its back on!

That said, it was so long ago that I didn't much care for Kate anymore, I expected one of the team to get very injured and was slightly "disappointed" with that. Especially after CBS telling us about that part, but it was a great start of the season!!

3x20 Lo-Fi

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Writer: Chris Mundy
Director: Glenn Kershaw

INTRO
Madison Avenue, New York, subway.
Suspicious acting guy, who turns out just to be a tourist – and he gets killed on the subway platform (Spring Street Station) by a guy in dark clothes wearing a hooded sweater!

BRIEF

New York - NY.

Hotchner gets a call from SSA Kate Joyner.
Hotchner gathers the team and Garcia, saying there will be a debrief on the plane.
(He interrupts the JJ who is on the phone with Will LaMontagne Jr.)
There have been five killings in New York. All different precincts, which is why it took them a while to connect them. The unsub walks by, shoots his victim in head, and walks on.

PROFILE/VICTIMOLOGY
Unsub(s).

MO: kills our midday, with a single gunshot to the head, .22 . (152 dB, subway is louder)
No witnesses.
MO resembles that of the Mafia, but there's no connection.
.22 is also the weapon of choice for the Israeli Mossad, no proof of that either.
RANDOM targets. (Son of Sam all over again.)
Kills every two days. Around the same time - at least one of the unsubs has a steady job.
He is patient, he targets for the one that gets separated from the flock.
He knows where all the cameras are, he knows what he's doing. Probably does his own pre-surveillance.
Leaves a tarot card ("Death"), only “Death” doesn't really represent death, but change. He's not really familiar with tarot. It's a message to the BAU, the unsub knows they're there.
Card also could mean that they're playing games. At least one of the unsubs is quite intelligent.
At least two unsubs. One who is 6'1" tall (calmly walks away after the kill), and one who is 5'9" tall (runs off).
Motive is not personal/sex/grief.
Hyper vigilant, organized, multiple unsubs, know the movements of the FBI, use a lot of counter-surveillance, hierarchy -> terrorism.

Victimology.

They have nothing in common at all.
Attacks happened in: Hell's kitchen, Murray Hill, lower East side, Chinatown, East Harlem.
The unsub is not a need motivated killer (who will kill inside their comfort zone), but an organized killer (who kills outside his comfort zone, not where he lives).

CATCHING THE UNSUB

The team arrives at the FBI field office in New York. Hotchner meets with SSA Kate Joyner –they “liaisoned” some years back. Everybody notices how much she looks like Haley.
Garcia is granted complete access to the surveillance system. She meets up with Lisa Bartleby, the female cop who's been doing the job for about six months, complements her on her Linux en hardware setup, and settles in.
Reid rattles off some stats and requests a map, which leads to the funniest remark of the episode by the grumpy Det. Brustin: I see you brought your own computer.
Actually the whole local New York team doesn't seem all that thrilled by the BAU being there - Joyner went behind their back when she requested that presence.
Later, Rossi confronts Brustin, it becomes clear that Brustin takes the case quite personally, and he doesn't trust the BAU to do the same. But after shot talk he's a bit more cooperative.
Garcia analyzes the surveillance footage, and although in two cases the results are inconclusive, she can be sure that there are at least two unsubs. One who is 6'1" tall (calmly walks away after the kill), and one who is 5'9" tall (runs off).
Then the sixth person gets killed - he buys a pretzel with mustard and hits the floor two seconds later. This time the unsub leaves a calling card: the tarot card “death”. The DC sniper did the same - at least one of the unsubs is familiar with other cases. The card also somewhat indicates that they are playing games with them, at least one of the unsubs is quite intelligent.
Morgan demands Hotchner to tell them why he's getting such attitude from Joyner - he reveals that Joyner's job is on the line if she doesn't solve this case, and Morgan is on the top off the list of the people who will replace her.

Will is waiting on JJ, he hints at something going on, and JJ tells the team she is pregnant.
They congratulate her, only Hotchner takes her aside, and says she could have told him.
JJ and will talk about how dangerous their job it is, and if they can combine that with the kid. Will doesn't think so, JJ doesn't seem to have thought about quitting her job at all yet…

Usually if there is a team who kill, there is one dominant and one submissive personality.
They tell everyone to look out for a father and son who fit the profile, and they also hand out head shots of gang members. Since the unsubs refer to older cases, where the unsubs later went back to the

Morgan wants to go out of the streets that night, Joyner doesn't - and with Hotchner's backup they do what she says. Morgan later confronts Hotchner, slightly stepping out of line, Hotchner only gets very angry and tells him to take a walk. (Admittedly, she's higher ranked, but Hotchner more or less ignores Morgan and favors Joyner's opinion throughout the whole episode.)
Rossi talks to Morgan, they both know there are no sides to be taken, and Morgan tells Rossi that he doesn't know what to do if he really gets offered the job -but he would like to be in charge. Rossi says the job wouldn't fit him, too much politics.
Then they really get to what's bugging Morgan -the BAU wears people down.
First Gideon, now Hotchner (who has to take a personal day to talk to his kid). Rossi has been married several times.
Rossi promises to pull Morgan out himself as soon as the thinks he's losing it.

Then a seventh person gets shot to death.
Garcia( with "miracle worker” mug) and Lisa see it happen on the surveillance cameras. They try to follow them above ground, but quickly lose him.
From the footage it becomes clear that there is a third shooter.
Tomorrow all teams will be out on the street.

Rossi thinks that the tarot card doesn't make sense, first they thought it was a way of the unsubs communicating with them, but if that were true the correspondent should have escalated.
He thinks the card is meant for the BAU as a sign that they are ramping up for something big.

Prentiss and Det. Cooper are out on the street. Corporate is still not convinced that profiling really can help them. Prentiss quickly profiles him -he is right-handed, but there are two colors of pen on his left hand. He's got a kid who is learning to draw. He doesn't wear a wedding ring, he was very quick to flirt with her, but if she’d take him up on it he would decline. He loves his wife and he would never cheat. Cooper says she's got a point.
Then very nearby the eighth victim gets killed at an ATM. They go in pursuit, and around the corner the unsub waits for them and shoots Det. Cooper.
Prentiss is forced to shoot the unsub, he dies, and Cooper is rushed to the hospital in very critical condition.
The team come to the scene, make sure Prentiss is OK. She says it was almost like it was suicide by cop. The unsub could have easily gotten away, his hands were very steady his eyes were calm.
It was almost like it was deliberate that he killed the eighth victim close to where they were.

They some of what they've got so far, and the dark that this might well be terrorism.
The killings simulate a bombing. The first blast kills innocent civilians, the second blast kills the first responders.
It’s Lo-Fi, the smartest way to plan for a terrorist event.

Garcia checked all 4468 security cameras, and found that on every crime scene they had hacked into at least one camera. They've got all the footage.
Only now the team has an advantage, they don't know that they know that they're watching.

JJ gets a letter from Will. He quit his job for her.

At the end of the day, late at night.
Prentiss and Det. Brustin are at a hospital, Cooper's outcome doesn't look good.
They get in the car.
Read, Garcia, Morgan, Rossi all call it a day.
They all get in their cars.

And then one of those cars explodes.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

!!**All phonetically and quickly jotted down here, googled for a while, but couldn’t find much. Will re-listen one something with better audio than my TV and adjust it on the blog when I’ve found the right names. Help is welcome ;) **!!

Plenty of references!

DC sniper left the exact same tarot card. In that case there was one intended victim, his ex-wife, but he knew he would be the number-one suspect if she was found dead, so he went on a killing spree to mask that fact.

Teams of two who killed:
Ang – Lake (can’t find right spelling online).
Norris –Whitaker (could be Derrick Todd Lee – Whitaker, Baton Rouge??)
The Crey. (????)

Berkowitz (=Son of Sam) - went back to the scene to masturbate later. Send long rambling letters (in crappy handwriting).

Mohammed, Melano – first “normal” messages, then made demand of $ 1 million form ATM (or something). (also ???)

MEMORABLE QUOTES.
(later, I’m off to laze in my hammock outside in the sun!)

My review.

Most evil cliffhanger ever.

3x19 Tabula rasa.

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie.
Director: Steve Boyum.

INTRO

Roanoke, Virginia. 2004.
Morgan is chasing Brian Matloff on the roof of a building. Brian jumps the gap to the next building, but doesn't quite make it. Morgan jumps and safely lands on the other end.
Just as he is about to reach for Matloff who is hanging onto the building, Matloff's hand slips and he falls to the ground.

BRIEF

Hotchner informs the team that the Blue Ridge strangler, Brian Matloff, has woken up from his coma.
They found three of his victims in 2004.

PROFILE/VICTIMOLOGY

Brian Matloff.

Type: brunette, young.
There's a tan line on one of the victims arms, her watch is missing. -> the unsub takes trophies. (He sent them to his mother as presents.)
He leaves them buried face down. -> sign of remorse.
Later it becomes clear that even though the unsub was raised as Polish Catholic he got interested in Native American mythology, which says that if someone is buried face down it traps the soul. That way the soul can't haunt the killer.
Killed three women while they were jogging in the forest alone early in the morning. -> opportunistic. He worked for Forest Services.
Three victims were found, but usually there it is a learning curve. All three victims were found in the same position with the same MO (no "improvements") -> there may have been earlier victim's.
He slowly strangles them -> maximum amount of suffering.
He buries his victims in the forest so he can revisit the scene and relive the crime.
He's bordering on paranoid, probably inserted himself into the case in 2004.

CATCHING THE UNSUB

Garcia and Reid are teasing Prentiss about a very Goth-rock picture they found of her.
Hotchner meets with Cece Hillenbrand at the hospital, she's the attorney who is going to prosecute Matloff. Hotchner warns her that the case might have changed because of the time that's passed - he used to be a prosecutor.
Then there are some more bad news, Matloff seems to have focal retrograde amnesia and doesn't remember a thing, not even his own name. And more bad news: the keywitness was a (known) junkie, and he died of an overdose two years ago.They go to court and appeal for brain fingerprinting. They will show Brian images on a computer screen while monitoring his brain waves. This will tell them if memories are present.
There is some back-and-forth of legal arguments and then Brian volunteers to have the procedure done. They do the test, and it shows that Brian does have no memories at all when it comes to the victims. What they can tell is that Brian does start to get some memories back after the test is done!

Reid meets up with Darcy's father, Mr. Corbett. He is still having a very rough time, and his marriage has ended.

Matloff asks Hotchner if he has any doubts about him and who he is. Hotchner answers 'no'.

Flashback to 2004. Reid has just joined the BAU - a young woman (Darcy) is found dead. Read volunteers to talk to the father who is on the scene, and does really well.

They find out that someone has been visiting Matloff once every six months and her name is Nina.
She read to him and she was very concerned with his pain level (if he was in any pain or not).
The team find out that Matloff was adopted, this person might very well be his birth mother.

The team discusses Matloff's unique case. They're pretty sure that he is the killer, but is he still?
He woke up with his mind completely erased (note the title of this episode!!).
Prentiss argues that he no longer forms a danger to society, Hotchner thinks he still should be punished for the crimes he committed.

The trial continues, the defending attorney summarizes things by saying that the only evidence they've got is the pseudoscience of profiling. Hotchner on the stand quickly explains what profiling consists of: they described a behavior of the unsub before, during and after the crime is committed. Then they make a suspect pool, which they will try to narrow down to one person.

Flashback to 2004.
The team is profiling to case. They wonder how he managed to attack his victims.
Was it the blitz attack or a con (faking an injury, pretending he lost his dog) ?

It's all about control, working for the Forest Service would give them access to surface roads.

They find out that Matloff's birth mother was a brunette with brown eyes and a dark complexion. Just like his victims. It's very possible that his mother is of Native American descent, and that that is why he was interested in native America mythology.

Garcia is trying to find out the name of his birth mother, and she's on the phone with a slightly uncooperative (though righteously so) adoption agency person. All quickly folds once Garcia shows there she is very capable of hacking her system.

Back in court. The attorney tries to undermine the science of profiling, by naming a few examples where the profile of the profilers got it wrong. (See “references to real cases” for the list).
Hotchner quickly and calmly turns to case around, by very correctly profiling the attorney (and slightly making a fool out of him in the process when he reveals that he's betting on horse racing, which has caused him financial trouble).
Reid and Mr. Corbett talk - Mr. Corbett walks to his car and takes a gun out of the glove department.
Later Reid correctly interprets his actions and stops them from shooting Matloff.

Rossi and JJ go talk to Matloff's biological mother. She hasn't told her other family that she gave up her son for adoption. She tells that Matloff contacted her five years ago and that she rejected him. She did visit him in the hospital while he was in a coma, because that was safe.
Then her husband walks in… instead of giving her time to explain it all to her husband, Hotchner asks if Matloff ever send her anything, gifts may be? Turns out he did.

The trophies are presented in court as evidence. Hotchner notices that Matloff has been writing quite a lot on the legal pad. He more and more is getting his memory back.
One of his female guards is very friendly towards him, she gives him a bag of popcorn on the bus, and in general is strangely friendly towards him.
He tells her dad and his mother told him that she had to choose one of her life's. With him, or with her new family. He almost threateningly asks her if she thinks that's true…. and then he attacks her.
He manages to get her gun and escape.
The team quickly tries to find out where he's headed to.
Prentiss wonders if they did this, and by showing him those pictures they got him his memory back.
Reid searches Matloff cell and fines of drawing off a waterfall in the forest.

Matloff is in the forest, and a runner passes him while he is hiding…

They quickly locate Matloff. Hotchner knows that they shouldn't rush him. He tells the locals to position their shooters, and approach is Matloff who's got his full memory back.
He says that it still doesn't seem real, that it is like the memories belong to someone else.
Hotchner: if you are really different, do the right thing.
And Matloff does.

Reid tells Mr. Corbett that Matloff has changed his plea to guilty. He returns Darcy's watch.
There is an inscription on the back, and Mr. Corbett starts to recite the poem, but chokes up.
At the end of the episode, Reid (on voice over) finishes the poem.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

They refer to “Carpenter, related to a blitz attack.”
David Carpenter “Trailside killer”. Murdered 8 hikers around Point Reyes (CA) between 1979 and 1981. Convicted in 1984,

Examples of where the profile/profilers got it wrong.
Olympic Park bombing . Richard Jewell was wrongly suspected of the Olympic park bombing.
The real unsub - Eric Rudolph - fit the profile perfectly as well. Is in jail, avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty.

Baton Rouge - profile predicted a white man living in the city. Unsub was black and lived in the suburbs.
Derrick Todd Lee – Baton Rouge serial killer. Seven confirmed victims, serving life without parole.

Dennis Rader, the BTK killer - profile predicted a divorced impotent man. Unsub was married with two kids. Murdered 10 people in Sedgwick County (in and around Wichita), Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. Sentenced to 10 life terms.

MEMORABLE QUOTES.

Hotchner: "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." Anatole France.

Reid: (examining Prentiss' high school yearbook picture) It's remarkable. Something like this makes you question everything you thought you knew.
Garcia: Yeah. Like the monolith in 2001.
Reid: So there was actually a time when something like this was socially acceptable?
Garcia: Oh, you're young. The 80s left a lot of people confused. This is especially sad, though.

Hotchner: So what’s your plan?
Cece Hillenbrand: Plan? Try him and fry him.

Detective Jarvis: You're a little young,aren't you? No offense.
Reid: None taken. In fact neuroprocessing speeds reach their maximum at around age 15, so when it comes to being affected by crime scenes and other graphic visual input we are all really the same age.

Morgan: I thought nobody could beat this test.
Reid: The damage to his parietal lobe must have been more extensive than previously thought. The brain injury could have literally deleted his memories.
Rossi: Oh, he did the murders and we'll prove it. What he remembers doesn't matter.
Prentiss: Doesn't it? I mean, if those experiences are gone forever, doesn't that make him... I don't know…
Reid: A different person?
Prentiss: Yeah…

Morgan: Hey, what's that new tech girls name?
Reid: Ahh...Gomez I think.
Morgan: Excuse me, Gomez..
(Garcia doesn’t respond)
Morgan: Hey, babygirl!
Garcia(looks at him over her shoulder) : Babygirl?
Morgan: Forgive me, I just didn't know the real...
Garcia: I've been called worse. What can I do for you?

Rossi: Of course it went well, I taught him everything he knows about testimony.

Garcia: Yes I know what a closed adoption means. Do you know what a court order means?
JJ: We don't have time for a court order.
Garcia: You know what mam, I'm done being nice. If you look to your cursor you will notice it is moving on its own. That's me hacking your secure network. Now I've got her file, now I've got her social. And now because your grumpy, I'm gonna send your boss those Jamaican vacation photos. Check you out, no tan-line!

Brian Matloff (to guard): Today when my mother talked about having to choose one life, do you believe that's true? ... Don't you think you'd have to choose?

Mr. Corbett: It's Wordsworth. "What though the radiance that was once so bright be now forever taken from thy sight, though nothing can bring back..."
Reid: "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower; we will grieve not, but rather find strength in what remains behind."

My review.

I really very much liked this episode!!
There was a very interesting read thread running through out all of it : tabula rasa.

The eternal question: are we born as “blank slates”, is it nature or nurture, or both?
I also really like the background information we got on Reid and when he joined the BAU.
And also on how Morgan got to call Garcia baby girl :) !!

There also were a lot of references to real cases, which hasn't happened in a while (and me watching Most Evil is finally paying off).

Brilliant move from Hotchner, profiling the defense attorney! Very funny!
I loved Garcia hacking the poor woman's computer too - she probably didn't know what hit her!

3x18 The crossing

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer
Director: Guy Norman Bee

INTRO

Silver Spring, Maryland.

Keri Derzmond is picking up her dry-cleaning, and makes a stop at the pharmacy.
At both places she gets asked for some personanl information – like her phone (?, it started with 101...) number and how her last name is spelled.
When she gets home there is a package with a card waiting for her on her porch. She opens the card, and flees back into her car when she sees the picture of a biceps there.
She phones someone; “ He's back” .

Rossi and Hotchner are giving a seminar on Terrorism in Boston. Eve walks up to them, asking for their help in a case where a woman killer her husband. Her attorneys are claiming Battered Wife syndrome.

BRIEF
JJ is set on taking the stalker case, especially when Keri rushes in and writes down the names of the people that should be notified when she's dead.
Ed Derzmond, Ryan, Lou.
She's been getting notes from her stalker for the past 2 years, and he's also included photographs of himself (torso, arm, leg).

PROFILE/VICTIMOLOGY

Audrey Henson.

When they talk to her daughter and son it becomes clear that their father continuously put his wife down. She was fat, a bad wife, a bad housekeeper, and a bad cook.
She needed constant supervision because she was stupid.
The children say their father is the one who was abused since he was the one who had to put up with being married to her. He constantly told her he loved his children more than he loved her.
She never attended any of the events her children participated in ? she didn't want to embarrass them in public.
She didn't clean up the crime scene because she wanted to hide what she did, but because she knew the police would be coming into her house, and her husband would have been furious if she left it a mess.

-> No physical abuse, but profound psychological abuse. Stockholm syndrome.

Stalker.

Moved with Keri from Atlanta to Silver Spring, and kidnaps her dog ? very determined, desperate and obsessed.
Sent notes in which he meticulously described Keri's activities during the day. He also wrote about their future life, living together, kids.. ? He's delusional.
The pictures show the unsub has gotten quite a bit more muscular of the years, and he's also gotten more tan. ? He is trying to impress her, also by copying the appearance of her fiancee.
The first card was dated March 21st 2006. This date must be important to the unsub, or he wouldn't have mentioned it.
Had been rejected his whole life and because of that created a very vivid fictional world for himself in which he was liked and accepted (by Keri).
Sent a package containing his grandmothers earrings ? Wants Keri to be part of his family.
Can be very dangerous when he realizes he might loose Keri.
When he gets enough compliments to boost his confidence, so that he will contact Keri, it will seem to her as if she's talking to a 12 year old.
He writes and never calls ? might be afraid he will not sound right. Lower education? Speech impediment?
Won't stop unless he is caught.

CATCHING THE UNSUB

Rossi and Hotchner talk to Audrey. She confesses to killing her husband right from the start.
Garcia finds no hospital records or other proof of physical abuse, and there also is no insurance. In fact, her daughter Sarah is the beneficiary.

The team talks to Keri. They make it very clear that's this is not something she cause.
The unsub somehow felt a connection with her. They have to find out what that connection is and how they crossed paths.
Then Ryan, Keri's fiancee, calls to let her know there is another package. They rush over there, and find it's a pair of earrings. The note says that they are his grandmothers and that he expects a gift back. They arrange for local police to regularly, at random intervals, drive by to check if everything is OK.

That evening Keri and Ryan are at home when they hear their dog, Brody, barking loudly. When they check on him they find the gate open, and the dog missing.
A local cop instantly is present, and tells them to go back inside and lock the door.
He returns minutes later with Brody's collar. The unsub has taken him.
The team consider having Keri make a flyer, hoping the unsub will make contact or return the dog. They also warn Ryan and Keri that the unsub could see Ryan as a threat and go after him next. And if he finally realizes Keri's not at all interested in him, that he'll loose her, he might turn on her as well. They warn Keri that, if somehow he does get her, she has to play along with his fantasy to stay safe.

Rossi and Hotchner take a break, have some (good looking) food, and they start to discuss their failed marriages. Rossi said that, if there would have been kids involved he might have tried a bit harder. Hotchner looks up and says he gave it his all, both for his marriage and his work. Rossi realizes he may have said something slightly offending – even though Hotchner doesn't really take offense – and concludes : “ Everybody has a breaking point. Your wife met hers.”

Garcia, reluctantly, goes through Keri's life. Every little detail matters.
She finds out that, despite great health insurance, Keri went to a woman's clinic. Three times.
Keri hesitates, and then tells Prentiss and JJ that she had an abortion.
And sadly Ryan overhears. He storms outside and finds his car is a mess, which really doesn't improve his mood one bit.

Keri's outside, and then notices the unsub across the street. She recognizes him, and then also knows where she's seen him before. She sits down with a sketch artist, and the team assures her that she's doing everything she can. She is prepared and protected.

Back at the House Ryan notices someone walking Brody (their dog), and while he attacks him the unsub sneaks into the house and takes Keri.
She shows an incredible amount of self control, as she tries to say the right thing while at the same time trying not to panic (and to not show repulsion).
The team with Garcia's help found that the unsub worked on Keri's computer (February 21st 2006!), and they know he'll take her NOT to a safe place for the both of them, but to the place he thinks SHE wants to go to.
They are right, and it comes to a standoff. Keri talks the unsub into putting his gun away by pretending she wants to live happily ever after with him, and Morgan overmeesterd the unsub.

Rossi leaves the office, noticing how Hotchner is still working (and there's a picture of his son on his desk).
Prentiss leaves the office too, walking past JJ's ofice asking her for drinks. She declined, and when Prentiss leaves JJ sighs and calls (that cute guy) ..
We really have to talk, I'm pregnant.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
JJ tells Prentiss about a woman who was not granted a restraining order until after she was splashed in the face with acid. This is likely a reference to the recent high-profile case of Maria Djelaj, a Detroit woman who was murdered by her husband only a week after her request for a restraining order against him was denied. (source: TV.com)

MEMORABLE QUOTES
(will follow)

My review.

Great episode.
Very impressive how Keri handled being stalked, very surprising how no one interviewed Audrey to the point of knowing it *was* abuse.
And I liked how they wrote in JJ's pregnancy.

3x17 In heat

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:09:00 +0000

Will follow soon

3x16 Elephant's memory

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:11:00 +0000

Writer: Andrew Wilder.
Director: Bobby Roth.

INTRO

West Bune, Texas.

A slightly drunk Rod Norris stumbles out of his truck, threatens a tree, and lights a cigarette. And as soon as he enters his house, the whole place blows up.
Deputy Lou Savage and Officer Byron Letts arrived at the scene. While Savage radios for help, Letts films the scene with his cell phone.
And then suddenly there is a blaze of automatic gunfire, and they both go down.
Someone wearing dark cowboy boots and a trenchcoat approaches Savage, and shoots him through the head as well.

Reid is attending his first meeting, explaining that 10 month ago he had a problem with Dilaudid, that he quit but that since one month he's got cravings.
A few sentences into his introduction, his cell phone goes off.
He ignores it and explains that the cause of the cravings is probably that a suspect got murdered right in front of him, and that he couldn't save him.
He just wants to forget and escape.
His cell phone goes off again and this time he walks out.
Someone follows them outside, obviously a high-ranking man within the Bureau.
He hands him has one year medallion,it took him six years to get it.
Reed explains that he's only been sober for 10 months. John says that he never leaves home without it, they knows that otherwise he will lose everything. Reid can give it back to him when he earns his.

BRIEF

JJ briefs the team.
She shows them the movie officer Letts made, saying Rod Norris was found DOA in a tree and that there is the second unidentified body whom they suspect is Rod's daughter Jordan.
Reid arrives late, given a smooth lie about being at the movies.

JJ warns them that they have to be cautious of the locals, they are anxious and scared and they want revenge. Because of an alert – they are close to the border – the local suspect terrorism. That however is very unlikely, terrorists rarely know their victims personally.

PROFILE

Owen.

(blowing up Rod Norris's house) well-known terrorist tactic:
the first wave take civilians, the second one takes out first responders.
knew Norris was a smoker
shot Savage through the head, even after he was dead. Overkill, personal involvement, rage. ->He knew him.
had serious gun training, enough to be able to handle a full automatic weapon.
type of school shooter: injustice collector. Avenge perceived wrongs. Jordan gives him a reason to live, so he doesn't go out and kill as many people as he can and then commit suicide.
he had a textbook miserable life, he was bullied, failed and got blamed for it while it wasn't his fault,and he disappointed his dad.

Victimology.

Rod Norris worked at a chemical plant, his wife left him, and left his daughter Jordan with him. He beat Jordan and belittled her.
Lou Savage – his son Owen is dating Jordan Norris.
Letts was not a target, he walked right past him while he was still alive, to Savage who was already dead.
Kyle was killed by a single gunshot to the head: hatred because he took advantage of Jordan.

CATCHING THE UNSUB
The team pays a visit to Rod Norris's house, where they meet with Sheriff Hallum.
Rossi smells cordite and gunpowder.
They find that the whole place was sealed off, everything was set up so that the person coming through the door was the main target.

They then drive to Savage's house, his son Owen is not there.
Hallum explains that Savage's wife Hope was killed by a drunk driver in 2002.
Actually, she was the driver. Savage was serving in Afghanistan, and Owen lived with him until he came back. Reid notices the lack of pictures of his wife and son in the house. When he bluntly states Lou must not have cared a lot about them, Morgan warns him to check himself.

There is this safe in the living room, when the birth dates Hallum tries fail, Hotchner suggests he tries the Marine Corps birthday. 111075.
The safe opens, but it is empty. Bad news, Lou is the tactical trainer, and the safe should have been filled with guns and ammunition.

Morgan and Reid have a look around in Owens bedroom. There is a poster on the wall of the wreck of James Dean's Porsche, no posters of the man himself.
The mirror is painted black,Owen must not have liked what he saw.
His computer is password-protected. Morgan points out that probably is a smart thing with his dad being a cop, but Reid wryly adds : “if he cared enough to snoop”.
Reid says Owen is just a misunderstood loner.

Outside, Sheriff Hallum has trouble keeping Lett's wife Sarah out of the house.
He tells the team that they found Owens car, empty,on the side of the interstate-with victim number five next to it. It's Kyle,they went to the same school. He was killed by a single gunshot to the face, a sign of hatred.
Kyle worked at the gas station, and inside they find that Owen took a lot of food, but mainly perishables and no water. He's not running.
They also learn that the second unidentified body and Rod Norris's house was not Jordan. It was three hams and a couple of rib eyes stuffed in a pair of jeans.

So far every move Owen made,has been very clever and well-planned.
Hotchner says they have to go to the high school to question his friends, in order to find out where he's going.

Owen and Jordan are in old man Stratman house. Owen surprises Jordan with flowers after he put the cloth over the dark blue Camaro he stole from Kyle.
They enjoy a nice breakfast, and Owen talks about all the money he saved up to buy a house for them.Jordan obviously doesn't know her dad is dead, she fears he will come after them to kill them, Owen tells her everything will be okay.

At the high school they talk to Owens counselor. Both Jordan and Owen were in special ed. The counselor blames Owens bad grades on a lack of effort and bad attitude. Reid reads Owens file and contradicts him.
The A in math and science shows that Owen is actually very gifted. The D in English and history show that he had difficulty reading. the F in geometry shows that he has a lot of difficulty with spatial relationships, this is further confirmed by his atrocious and illegible handwriting. The fact that they has trouble with hand eye coordination makes it very likely that he was not into sports. The counselor confirms that Owen only joined the wrestling team for one year because of his dad, and that it didn't work out.

Read concludes that Owen is a brilliant but severely learning-disabled student.
He is the smartest kid in his class, but he can't prove it, and all the teachers do is tell them that it's his fault. And being the smartest kid in class is like being the only kid in class, you miss all of it. Reid says that it makes sense, Hotchner contradicts him. Without severe emotional abuse this level of violence doesn't make sense.

They talk to Eileen. When they ask about Jordan's dad , she tells them that he thought Jordan was dumb and that he hit her. Before Owen Jordan thought she deserved it. Owen really stood up for her. When her dad took her phone, he bought her a PDA. Eileen helped Jordan out after a senior took advantage of her - Kyle.

Morgan is still trying to guess Owens password for his computer (why doesn't he immediately call Garcia?). After a few wrong tries, he notices that the girl on his desktop image is wearing a necklace that spells Hope.
He finds a very disturbing video on Owens computer, it looks like members of the wrestling team forced him to masturbate in the showers while they filmed him.
The counselor confirms, adding that the video was put online, and that instead of punishing the boys who made it, he told Owen that dealing with bullies is part of growing up. When he checks, it becomes clear that none of the boys who made a video turned up for school.

Garcia calls, there is a new MPEG file online, it shows the three boys being executed. It was sent from Jordan's PDA, but Owen hacked the SIM card, anonymized it so that it cannot be tracked.
Reid quotes lyrics of a Johnny Cash song (the same one we heard in the opening scene of this episode): “there is a man going around taking names”.
Rossi says that it makes sense, accept Owen is not collecting names but injustices.
Hotchner decides that it is time to give out the profile.
JJ has to argue a little with local law enforcement, explaining that Owen is watching them which is why it's not a good idea to start knocking on doors. And that they both one to resolve this without anyone getting hurt. They're on the same side.
Again Reid steps out of line, by pointing out that this could all have been prevented.
Hotchner takes him aside, sternly talks to him, and then sends him on his way to find something useful in Owens room. Reid storms out while JJ apologizes for him.
They decide to release the MPEG to the media, to buy them some time.

Owen and Jordan are having dinner, he opens up a nice bottle of wine, and she talks about wanting to live someplace cold so that she can have snow at Christmas.

Then a car stops nearby. Jordan thinks it might be her dad, and Owen reassures her and goes out to take a look. It's Ike Stratman, and while he apologizes Owen stabs him to death. Then he goes back inside, and lies to Jordan, saying it were Mexicans and that they're gone now.

Garcia has restored all Owens e-mails. Morgan and Reid talking Owens room.
Morgan tells Reid that he is not the only one who identifies with Owen, that in high school he might have been a Jock, but he wasn't at first. He started out as a 5'3” 120 lbs boy, until he hit the weights and grew 6 inches. It wasn't about vanity, it was about survival.
Reid opens up and tells a horrible story of his youth.
He was sitting in the library when Hartford Hillman came up to him, and told him Alexa wanted to meet him. She was the prettiest girl in the school. And she actually was there, but so was the rest of the team. They stripped him naked and tied him to a goalpost. Everyone watched at no one did anything to try and stop them. Eventually they got bored and left, and it wasn't until midnight and he came home. His mother was having one of her episodes, and she didn't even realize that he had been late.
Reid never told anybody. It was just one of those things that he thought that if he didn't talk about it he would forget.
Morgan says: “you know, we forget half of what they teach us at school, but when it comes to torment and the people who inflicted it, we all got an elephant's memory”.

Garcia points out that Owen talks a lot about saying goodbye in the e-mails. Reid realizes that Owen never had a chance to say goodbye to his mother. He's got severe abandonment issues. They also know that if they take Jordan from him he will commit suicide. But they know the only way to prevent him from hurting himself or others is to take Jordan. They have to tell her about the murders or she won't leave him. They get Eileen to help them and she texts her.
At first Jordan doesn't believe them, and disconnects, but then she looks out the window and sees that Jordan is burying Ike. She runs to car, and then the team gets a text from Owen...

Luckily she walks into a police station moments later. She sells them they were at Stratman's ranch. At the ranch to team finds and notes from Owen saying that he's getting his mom's necklace. Reid takes off his bulletproof vest, he's not going to be part of killing Owen.
The rest of the team and drive to Owens mother's grave,but he's not there. Hotchner realizes Reid knew where Owen was going, and he's trying to save him.

Prentiss and Reid are at the police station, she asks how Reed knows that Owen's coming to them, and he answers that is what he would do.
And Reid is right. He gives is a gun to Prentiss, and without a vest he walks up to Owen who is carrying an automatic weapon. Rossi,Hotchner and Morgan arrive and all draw their guns, but Reid is blocking the line of fire. he talks to Owen and gets him to surrender, when he promises to take him to Jordan so he can say goodbye and give her the necklace.

Back on the plane Hotchner talks to Reid, saying that if he does anything like this again he will fire him. Reid thanks him. Hotchner adds that, when they land, Reid should go back and attend the rest of his 'movie'.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
none

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Reid: "A sad soul can kill you quicker - far quicker - than a germ." John Steinbeck.

John: Here. Take this. That's my one year medallion – it took me six years to get it. For the past thirteen years I've never left home without it because I know if I forget that, I'll lose my gun, my credentials, my home, everything. Hold on to it.
Reid: I only have ten months.
John: I know.
Reid: It's your most prized possession.
John It is.
Reid: And you're just giving it to me?
John: No. In a couple of months when you get your year, you give it back to me.
Reid: I really don't understand.
John: You will.

Morgan: You know, we forget half of what they teach us in school, but when it comes to the torment and the people who inflicted it, we've all got an elephant's memory.

Prentiss: Somebody please tell me we didn't just get Jordan killed.

Hotchner: (to Reid) You knowingly jeopardized your life and the lives of others, I should fire you.

Hotchner: I know it's painful when the person you're identifying with is the bad guy.
Reid: What does that make me?
Hotchner: Good at the job.

Hotchner: What were you thinking?
Reid: That it would be the second time that a kid got shot in front of me.
Hotchner: You're keeping score, just like Owen.
Reid: It was my turn to save someone.
Hotchner: Doesn't work like that.
Reid: It should.

Hotchner: I know it's none of my business, but when we land I think you should go and attend the rest of that movie.

Reid: "We cross our bridges when we come to them, and burn them behind us with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that once our eyes watered." Tom Stoppard

My review.

It took me a while to figure out all the names and the people.
I watched the first 15 minutes twice, but after that it was a really great and very enjoyable episode.
I really liked how it unraveled.
Matthew Gray Gubler was excellent!! Great performance.

3x15 A higher power

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:09:00 +0000

Will follow soon.

3x14 Damaged

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:25:00 +0000

Writer: Edward Allen Bernero
Director: Edward Allen Bernero

INTRO

Rossi wakes up (alone) from a nightmare. He dreamed about walking into a house, finding 3 children covered in blood, screaming. It takes a few long seconds for the mental images to vanish, and he reaches for the charm bracelet on his nightstand.
Late at night he knocks on Garcia's door, and although it's obvious she just came out of the shower, he lets himself in without waiting for an invitation. He is agitated, impatient, and demands information about the case he had her look into. A double homicide in Indianapolis, of which the 20th anniversary is coming up. Garcia does her best to calmly explain she doesn't have a lot of information for him.
And then Kevin steps out of the shower!

In Indianapolis a woman is walking out of a strip bar, finding a man leaning against her car.
She has a little trouble getting him to go away, until she pulls a knife on him.
But then her troubles aren't over yet. There is a pickup shining it's lights on her, and she finds a toy monkey with a ribbon on her dashboard.

BRIEF
The team find Rossi's office empty with a lot of paperwork scattered around on the floor.
As Prentiss points out, for Rossi this is as close to asking for help as it gets – so she 'forces' Garcia to tell them everything about the case she was looking into for Rossi.
The team get on the jet and fly to Indianapolis.

Hotchner and Reid are in a prison, getting ready to interview Chester Hardwick – he's scheduled to get the death penalty in a week, and he has contacted them. The assistant Warden eagerly confesses that serial killers are a hobby of his, and while Reid is happy to talk to him Hotchner rolls his eyes.
They take the opportunity to talk to him for the Criminal Personalty Research project of the BAU ,and maybe he will even cleared up a few things or confess to more crimes he committed.
But Hotchner's mind isn't into it, especially not after Hailey calls him.

PROFILE(S)

Rossi's case

Killer sends yearly gifts.
Either he is a sadist who wants them to relive that day.
Or he feels guilt/remorse and this is his way to apologize.
Usually this is a person with a very low IQ who accidentally killed.
Other person (older relative, usually parent?) rationalizes by saying the unsub would never try to hurt anybody.
He/She is the one who wiped the place clean, and left only 1 print.
Likely mentally disabled, wants to play with kids, but he scares them by his size.

Chester Hardwick

Hardwick claims to have had a very average childhood. Hotchner interrupts him, telling him he has no time for lies.
He grew up in bad neighborhoods. There was abuse, he was a peeping Tom who went burglarized his neighbors underwear drawers, and he started hundreds of fires for which he spent 2 years in juvenile detention.

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S)

Connie – the woman who works at the strip club – wakes up from a nightmare. She is one of the three kids Rossi dreamed about. And her life doesn't seem to be going that well. She's living with her brother George and sister in a house that was their grandmothers, and it seems to be falling apart a little. They are struggling to make ends meet. She hates being a stripper, and on top of that only made 53 dollars the night before. Her brother just got fired from his job because he hit someone, and her sister went God-knows-where for 1 day with some guy in a Jeep, without letting anyone know where she was at. And when she does come back home she mouthes off to her big sister.
All three of them discuss the yearly gift they get around the time their parents got killed.

Rossi is watching the house where the murder took place from out of his car. He bought it at an auction two years after the murders. He's kept it clean and maintained, and empty.
A local detective, Willis, joins him. Rossi explains why he's there, and why he's gotten so attached to this particular case. He hopes Willis has new leads, but with the case being 20 years old no one is even actively on it anymore.

Reid and a slightly distracted Hotchner get a quick explanation from an over-eager Assistant Warden about how the prison system works, and then they are let into a room where they will be interviewing Hardwick. Despite Reid muttering something about it being a good idea to leave the chains and shackles on, Hotchner gives permission to take them off.
Hardwick agrees to talk to them on the condition that the small window in the back wall can be opened, he walks around the room a little.

They ask him about Sheila O'Neil, and he says he needs to see the pictures. His memory is excellent, but to him they were toys, objects. They didn't matter, and he certainly didn't bother to remember their names. Hotchner asks why he asked them to come, and wonders if it was so he could look at the pictures and relive those moments. But Hardwick says it was because he wanted to smell the air one last time. Hotchner has rushed the conversation the whole time, and now clearly has enough of it, so he rings the bell that lets them out.
And then Hardwick has a little surprise for them. He knows the schedule, and it's going to take at least 13 minutes for anyone to open the door.
He looks at Reid, informing him that it took only 5 minutes to do what the pictures show.
He adds that there's no way he's going to die in a week, especially not after killing 2 FBI agents.

Hotchner takes off his jacket and tie, looking as if it's taking some self control to remain as calm as he is, and gives Hardwick a quick profile. He tells him that he always went for victims who were easy to subdue, that he was a coward, and that now he'll have someone who's willing and able to fight back.
Reid verbally jumps between them, saying he can give Hardwick what he wants to know. Namely: why he is the way he is. He starts to talk very quickly about Hardwick's parents, their abuse of each other and him, their history of mental illness, and various brain chemistry mechanics involving the hypothalamus. Hardwick listens intently, seemingly starting to understand his own behavior. And then Reid concludes: Hardwick claims his victims were dead from the moment he wanted to kill them, he says they had no choice, but in fact it was Hardwick who didn't have a choice.
And then finally the door is opened.
Reid gives some vague answer to Hardwick's “Do you really think I didn't have a choice?”, and in the car Hotchner apologizes. ( I actually expected Reid to be a lot less OK with this.)
He explains Haley called him about signing the divorce papers.

Back in Indianapolis Rossi finally gives in and fills in the team. 20 years ago he and his partner/team were the first on the scene. It was a warm night and through the open bedroom window he heard the three children crying and screaming as their parents were laying dead in their bedroom.
They found 1 fingerprint, and there's no match for it in any database. The unsub might be dead, but he has to be sure.
The axe (the murder weapon) belonged to the family, and Connie told him her dad bought it to cut down the Christmas tree. Ever since, Rossi hasn't been able to put up a Christmas tree himself.

They all go to Connie's home, where Rossi gets a very unpleasant surprise: they do not want him there. Connie pleads for him to stop searching for the killer, to leave them alone. They don't care anymore. And she also asks him to never send gifts again.
Rossi was about to retreat, but now stops and looks at her.
They are invited into the house, and look at the gifts. Although most gifts were thrown away, the ones that remain give them an idea of what kind of unsub they are dealing with. It's very likely to be someone with a very low IQ who accidentally killed their parents. And it's very likely that he had an older person with him, probably a parent, who wiped the place clean after the crime took place.

Garcia finds a very interesting pattern where parents reported someone fitting the profile bothering their kids in parks and playgrounds.

Last week of March, First week of April: Illinois
Two weeks later: Springfield Illinois
Two weeks after that: Demoins, Iowa.

It's the same schedule every year... combined with the cheap toys, they quickly deduce that it must be someone who travels with the Carnival.
Connie remembers the day before the murder they went to a Carnival, and they left early because a clown ( making really bad balloon animals) kept following her, making her mother uncomfortable.

They find the carnival, and while Prentiss and talk to the father ( who's trying to cover up) JJ and Morgan follow the clown.
Finally his dad confesses, saying his son didn't mean to hurt those people, saying he's made sure it never happened again. And he reassures his son, who is being arrested, and tells him he's a good boy.

Rossi hands Connie the keys to her parents house, saying he's kept it clean and that the money from selling it should give them a new start.
He also hands her the charm bracelet, telling her it was her mothers. She pauses for a moment, and then hands it back.
Can I call you, to let you know how we're doing?
Anytime.

Back at the BAU Kevin is waiting for Rossi.. he wants to talk, man to man.
I'll cross my fingers for his PC !

Hotchner sits down behind his desk, and signs the divorce papers.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
none

MEMORABLE QUOTES

(knocking on the door)
Garcia: There is really no acceptable excuse for violence, but for you I am making an exception.
(she opens the door)
Oh my God Agent Rossi!

Rossi: What kind of a researcher are you?!
Garcia: I'm not a researcher, I'm a technical analyst.
Rossi: What the hell does that even mean?
Kevin (naked, just out of the shower): You left the middle of my back totally unlufa-ed.

Rossi: "Within the core of each of us is the child we once were. This child constitutes the foundation of what we have become, who we are, and what we will be." Neuroscientist Dr. R. Joseph.

JJ: So, you were in the shower with Kevin Lynch?
Garcia: Come on JJ, I'm being serious, I need your help!
JJ: With what?
Garcia: Agent Rossi! We're not supposed to date fellow bureau employees.
JJ: From what I hear Rossi is the reason most of these fraternization rules even exist.

(talking about Rossi)
Prentiss: He might need our help.
Garcia: He didn't ask anyone for help.
Prentiss: Penelope, Rossi is a guy who color codes his handwritten notes in his notebooks. Blue pen for evidentiary items, red pen for supposition and theory. The guy is a fussy, anal retentive neat-freak who never leaves anything out of its place. (pointing at the mess in Rossi's office).
I would say this is a scream for help.

Kevin sneaks up on Garcia.
Garcia: What are you doing here?
Kevin: I work here too.
Garcia: Yeah, in your own office two floors down.
Kevin: I can't come over and visit?
Garcia: Are you insane?
Kevin: What's wrong?
Garcia: Haven you forgotten last night?
Kevin: I will never forget last night.

Garcia: You want to straighten out agent Rossi?
Kevin: No, what I want is for me to be able to come up here and kiss my girlfriend.
And if that means I have to talk to him, then that's what I'll do.
Garcia: Girlfriend?... Kevin?
Kevin: Yes.
Garcia: If you get within 100 feet of agent Rossi I will unleash an unrecoverable virus on your personal computer system that will reduce your electronic world into something in between a Commodore 64 and a block of government cheese. Call me later.

Rossi: Did anything come back yet on that print?
Garcia: No, no matches, nothing on file, sorry.
Rossi: What about my notes?
Garcia: Those I have. do you have a PDA, cause I can send them to you.
Rossi: What's a PDA?
Garcia: It's a Personal Digital.. never mind.

JJ: I can make anything a BAU case if I want to. It's all about paperwork, and I know the paperwork.

Hotchner: Have a nice trip Chester, you're going where you belong.
(rings the bell to be let out of the interrogation room)
Chester Hardwick: It's 5:17. Evening yard started at 5 o'clock.
Guard staffs outside with population. There won't be anyone to open that door for at least 13 minutes. (pointing at the pictures). And it took me less than 5 to do this.

Rossi: When we arrived on the scene, before any of the other units got there. I could hear them. Before I even got out of the car. It was a warm morning and the windows were open in the upstairs bedroom. And their voices floated out into the street. They were crying and calling for their mommy and daddy. Three terrified children screaming for their murdered parents.
I've seen so much death and pain, but it's been 20 years and I can still hear them screaming every night. Crying. If I can't tell them for sure that whoever is responsible will never do it again, that screaming might never stop.

Hotchner: "There is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings." Arthur Rubinstein.

Connie: Agent Rossi, I'd like you to have these. (She hands him the charm bracelet).
Is it OK if I call you sometime? Just to let you know how we're doing?
Rossi: Anytime kiddo, any time.

My review

Finally a new episode! And one that solves the 'Rossi's charm bracelet' mystery!

I really liked Prentiss' new hair!
Didn't really get why Reid/Hotchner interviewed Hardwick.

It wasn't the "usual" CM episode, this one had a lot more personal things going on with the main characters. Kevin and Garcia dating, Rossi chasing demons from his past.
So there was a lot less "chasing the unsub"and "profiling the unsub" involved.
I think it was a lighter episode than usual, with a few more humorous moments.
(Garcia and Kevin out of the shower, Garcia and Kevin 'secretly' dating, Kevin scaring Garcia to bits by sneaking up to her, Garcia threatening Kevin with a killer computer virus if he talks to Rossi, Haley routing her call through JJ, Rossi: “What's a PDA?”. Reid not getting the “Garcia and Kevin sitting in a tree” song.)

Great twist that, where everyone expected a brutal serial killer (like the one Reid and Hotchner were interviewing) , it was an unintentional killing by someone with limited mental capacity. He remained uncaught for 20 years because his father made sure there was no evidence left behind. And he also made sure he kept a very close eye on his son, so it would never happen again. Almost anti-climactic for Rossi who spent 20 years chasing him.

I was surprised that Reid took Hotchner's actions in the prison so lightly.
I would have thought he would think twice before stepping into a cell with Hotchner and a sadistic psychopath serial killer again.

3x13 Limelight

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie
Director: Glenn Kershaw

INTRO:

South Philadelphia, PA.
The contents of a storage unit are being auctioned off. Two guys hoping to find hidden fortunes win the lot, after outbidding an older man.
Later the go through the pile of items inside the unit, and they find bondage magazines, pictures of a woman bound to a chair, and several journals detailing bondage, schematics of torture devices, rape kit details, and an abduction plan.

Time to call the police.

BRIEF:
Special Agent Jill Morris (FBI field office in PA) faxed a few pages of the journal to Rossi, she read his books. Hotch sends Rossi and Reid there to take a look at the case. (Or as Reid puts is: Road trip! Nice!)

PROFILE(S):

Gave fake name when renting the storage unit: Louis Ivey.
Very neatly written and drawn journal, printed/small caps -> Ordered personality
(but then: why miss 6 months payment on the storage unit?) extremely meticulous and well-planned.
Lot of pressure (-> excitement) when writing about electric shocks.
Books on engineering, mathematics and a CAD manual -> construction? Home improvement? Electrician? Electrical engineer? (all jobs would give easy access to his victim's home or workplace.)

Drawings: unsub is about 38, Caucasian.
Started out a normal happy life, but then his mom left or died, and his dad struggled.
Probably found his dad's stash of nude magazines (trigger), but progressed from Hustler to torture porn.
Dresses (taken from victims), but altered -> crossdresser.
= trophees, used for re-enactment.

Accelerating (time between known killings: 10 months, 7 months, 3 months, unknown.)

Sexual sadist, anger excitation (gets aroused by suffering of his victims). Torture is his main goal, killing them is almost an afterthought.

Unsub calls about "a bleeder stripped of its clothes."
"bleeder", refers to the woman's menstruall cycle
(which the unsub sees as a sign of weakness), and the "it" indicates depersonalization.
Narciccist.

VICTIMOLOGY:

- Will have electrical burns.
- 31 to 38 y/o, Caucasian, career women.
He sees them as strong , righteous and unattainable, and he reduces and punishes them. Controls them.

Dana Foster
- Real estate agent from Blue Bell, found dead 5 years ago.
Her (nude) body was found in the cellar - she'd been strangled and raped, and the body showed signs of electrical burns.

Mimi Adams and Sara Coswell
- Sharing a shallow grave on the roadside. Went missing on the same day -> unsub's doing doubles.

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S):

Reid and Rossi go to Philadelphia, but conclude that it's unlikely the unsub has enacted his fantasies. They are about to go back to Quantico, but then Morris takes an evidence bag containing a few strands of hair out of her desk drawer, claiming this was found in the storage unit too. (I wondered why on earth she "saved" that for last ?!).
So Rossi calls in the rest of the team, to see if they can find some of his victims.

Hotchner, Rossi and Reid continue analyzing the journals.Prentiss and Morgan search the storage unit. Prentiss finds children's drawings.There were no macthes in AFIS for the fingerprints they found.

JJ comes up with a picture of Dana Foster, her nude body was found in a cellar, and there were electrical burns. The team goes to the house, and the current owner lets them take a look at the – now unused - cellar. The owner blames the malfunctioning electronical wiring on the age of the house, but Rossi finds an outlet that's tampered with. Also there's a beam on the ceiling that fits the unsubs drawings. This is where he tortured, raped and killed Dana Foster.
JJ goes to see Morris in her office, and finds a lot of awards on the walls..and Morris is trying to come up with a catching name for the unsub. Not what the team had in mind.

Garcia ID's three more victims, the unsub managed to stay under the radar by killing in three different states. The time between the killings is getting shorter, and they know he wrote about a home made excinerator. Reid estimates that, given the killing rate, there are about 19 more victims out there.
Hotchner, Rossi and Prentiss give out a profile of the unsub to the Philly local agents, but are interrupted by JJ who shows Hotchner and Rossi a TV screen. Morris is giving a press conference, saying she'll catch the serial killer that's on the loose.

Morris claims it wasn't really a press conference, and Hotchner has a 'nice' talk with her.
He points out to her that she will ruin this case if she focuses on trying to make a name for herself. She responds by saying she is trying to protect her city from a serial killer as prolific as Charles Cullen. Hotchner mentions a few other names to herand slight annoyed she says she doesn't know them. He tells her they were Cullen's victims - the people who are forgotten every time an agent puts a story before a case. Rossi is listening in from outside in the hallway.
Reid, Prentiss and Morgan are having lunch,and Reid says Morris' excitement level at the prospect of finding more bodies worries him. Morgan brings up Morris trying to find a name for the unsub, and Prentiss thinks that if Morris was a man, they would both have said something different.

Later that night Morris goes to personally apologize to Rossi, and takes him to a local bar for a drink. Rossi starts to profile her, and also tells her she was attending a seminar he gave years ago. At first she's somewhat flattered that he remembers her, but he quickly counters her. He know she fabricated evidence. In stead of feeling guilty about it, she points out she was right about there being a serial killer. Rossi warns her she'll only harm the case.

The next day a lot of people saw the "press conference" and the all come forward with "tips"..
And some tips are good. Two parents show a picture of their daughter in a blue dress, and the unsub is listening to a recording, wearing the dress, reliving it, but this time playing both roles.
The call center gets a call from someone claiming they saw a body being dumped in a hole : "a bleeder stripped of its clothes." Reid recognized the term "bleeder" from the journals, it refers to the woman's menstruall cycle (which the unsub sees as a sign of weakness), and the "it" indicates depersonalization.

The team goes to the indicated dumpsite and indeed find a body.. and it turns out there's another body laying underneath. Prentiss has to make it clear to Morris that she caused the unsub to point them to the two bodies, and she seems pleased, seeing 'more evidence' as a good thing. Rossi is wondering if 'showing them who he is' was the plan all along – since not paying for the storage unit doesn't fit the profile, and he must have known they'd find the pictures/journals there. It's very likely that this is his end game.

Katrina Townsley, a reporter for The Chronicle is driving through the city, talking on her cellphone, when a white panel truck rear-ends her. They both get out of their cars, and when the man goes to get his insurance information and she does the same, he hits her over the head with a flashlight. He opens the sliding door on the side and throws her in the back of his car.
Garcia talks to Morgan, about where - whens she got shot - she knew eventually the pain would end, but these women know it won't.
Morris gets a call from Katrina Townsley. She tells Morris to check her email.
There's a partial scan of a handwritten note, in a handwriting very like that of the unsub's.

Morris notices something off in Townsley's voice, but when Townsley insists she's fine she lets it go, and agrees to meet her. But down in the parking garage the killer knocks her over the head, and throws her in the back, with Katrina Townsley.

JJ comes up with another picture of a missing woman. Reid notices that the woman's hair color matches the hair samples Morris found. But Rossi (finally) tells them Morris fabricated that evidence. He explains his actions by saying Morris is like him, 20 years ago. He knows other agents think he crossed a line when he became a best-selling author - that he glorified the killers while no one remembered the names of the victims. Prentiss interrupts, saying Katrina Townsley from The Chronicle went missing and her car was found empty. Rossi recognizes the Chronicle and finds the unsub's e-mail on Morris' computer. Rossi conclused that Morris is his final chapter. They try to track her cellphone, Garcia traces the IP address to an internet cafe outside Germantown. At the parking garage Reid finds a few drops of blood and drag marks. Rossi blames himself for Morris being abducted. Reid reassured him that he couldn't have known Morris would go off by herself, but Rossi did know. It's what he would have done.

In a room with concrete walls, the unsub has undressed Katrina Townsley , only leaving her underwear on. Morris is bound and gagged nearby, looking on, and scared. Both are tied to something on the wall. The unsub connects the stripped ends of two wires together and there are electrical sparks. He then shocks Katrina and when she cries out he tells her to "go louder." When she passes out he turns out Morris. "Beg me not to hurt you". She stares straight at him, not saying anything. He grabs her face and says, "You will."

At the internet café Hotchner talks to the employee, who has trouble remembering a face – too many people going in and out. When Hotchner suggests a white man in his 30s or 40s, solidly built, physically imposing with a blue collar job he clerk remembers seeing a man with blond hair leave in a white van. Reid maps the café and the garage Morris was taken from, then they call Garcia to find the unsub, using that triangulated area and all the other criterea they came up with. It takes a while, but she finds him.

As the unsub starts to undress Morris the police break down the door and rush inside.
They both hearthe footsteps approaching but this doesn't seem to worry the unsub." It will never be over for us". He calmly lets himself get arrested, and Rossi comforts Morris.

Morgan interrogates the unsub, Jeremy Andrews. He came from a broken home, went to trade school - he matches their profile perfectly. He's already admitted to killing 17 of the women from the missing persons list, and they haven't even gotten to the 2006 files. He hasn't told them anything about finding the remains, he just points at the files.

At the hospital Rossi is trying to keep Morris from leaving, but she doesn't want to hear about being traumatized, being a victim. In stead she marches outside, briefly hesitates when faces with choosing between taking the ride home that's waiting on her, or talking to the press.
She chooses the reporters. Rossi watches from a short distance, then slowly walks past, glancing at her.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
Morgan refers to "Gerard Schaefer, who took his cue from Ted Bundy"

Gerard John Shaefer (March 25, 1946 - December 3, 1995 ) was a police officer in Florida.
He was convicted for 2 murders, but suspected of many others (30+).
He was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate.

Jill Morris refers to Charles Cullen as an example of a prolific serial killer who operated in Philadelphia. He also killed people in New Jersey. Cullen is a former nurse who has confessed to killing at least 45 patients by injecting them with lethal doses of digoxin and insulin. He is serving several consecutive life sentences.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Rossi: "I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils." Euripides

Rossi: When I interviewed Bundy he had a theory about pornography. He said, "If you want to stop people from becoming like me, don't burn Catcher in the Rye…"
Hotchner: "…burn Hustler." I read your books, too, Dave.

"For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world, and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won." Lucille Maud Montgomery.

My review:

Another great episode, well thought out case, and nice to get some insight into Rossi. Didn't he want to leave as the "best selling author who made everyone remember the killers and not the victims", is that why he came back?
I knew Morris fabricated the evidence right from the start, it didn't make sense for someone so eager to impress Rossi to withhold impotrant evidence.

Guess it'll be a really long wait before we get any new episodes now… I'm ready for the strike to be over!

3x12 3rd life

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Writer: Simon Mirren
Director: Anthony Hemingway

INTRO:

Chula Vista, California.

The body of a girl is found, but both the face and hands have been destroyed so it's impossible to make an ID right away. Another girl is still missing. Katie's parents and Lindsey's dad (+ meds) are waiting behind the tape anxious to learn which girl is still alive.
Garcia restores the audio of the last (very garbled) message Katie left her parents over the phone.
It turns out to be both girls talking/screaming, as one of them is about to be strangled to death.
Both dads listen to it, and Katie's dad desperately tries to get confirmation that it's not Katie who's died…but it is.

BRIEF:

Katie Owen and Lindsey Vaughan have been missing for 18 hours.
5 hours ago Katie's body was found.

PROFILE(S):

Abducted from brightly lit area, Face and hands destroyed -> she knew the unsub (this delays the authorities making the connection, gives him time to get away).
Abandoned house too messy to be mob related.
No one heard screams despite prolonged torture –> no neighbors
Dump site 9 miles from abduction site, kill site probably in between.

US1 (submissive).

Douglas Silverman.
Found dead. Killed by dominant unsub(s).

USD1/USD2

Ryan Phillips, Taylor Coleman. (Ryan is the leader.)
Consider themselves bad-ass, breaking rules, kicked out of school, probably have a record.

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S):

Prentiss and Hotchner go to the movie theater both girls were last seen outside, smoking.
They find a brightly lit area; no way there was a struggle when someone took them, that would have been noticed. They also observe two other girls, and accurately predict their behavior and motives.

Garcia finds Katie's vlog online; she talks about Lindsay, and about not liking Lindsey's dad.
She also finds Lindsey's background is exactly like the "Lindsey" in the book "The emerald sea of dreams".

Rossi, Reid and Morgan search Jack Vaughan's house. For some reason Pat Mannan is also there. Reid tries to get a look at Vaughan's computer, but finds that it's set to automatically wipe the history and temp files. Garcia also can't find anything using his IP address; he must be using a proxy.
The team confronts Jack, and Pat, with what they've found: Lindsay's room is very uncharacteristic for a teenager. No posters on the wall, no framed pictures, muted colors on the wall.She's shy, keeps to herself, and only confides in Katie. Her phrasing in the phone message indicates that either she was coaxed, or she's had experience with sexual abuse before. Pat needs to restrain Jack before he jumps someone, which shows he's carrying a gun, which sends the team into high alert mode, and they all pull their guns. Turns out Pat is a Federal Marshall, and Jack and Lindsey are in the Witness Protection Program. Hotchner is quite mad to learn this, instead of being told right away.

Details about why they are in WP are kept vague, but Vaughan does tell Hotchner that if it's related to him, they need to look for 2 Irish American men who flew out of Boston.
Garcia searches flight records and motels.

Lindsey is sitting in the corner of a large bathroom, her wrists tied behind her back, and the dripping tap is driving her nuts. She finally struggles to stand up and closes the faucet, cracking some teeth in the progress. The unsub appears behind her."You could have just asked." Defiantly she tells him he's going to die, but he's got his reply ready: "Ladies first."

The team takes Vaughan to the BAU (and can't tell Katie's dad that it's not because they think he did it…) where Rossi observes Vaughan and remarks that all killers have that same thing in there eyes. He tells them he used to work for the McCrellan Company – code for the Irish Mob notorious for never getting in trouble because they eliminate all threats immediately. Vaughan will testify against them in the trial, which is in 2 weeks. He himself never sent "messages" like this, but always went straight to the source. Looks like Rossi was right.
Someone found something in an abandoned house in the area Reid indicated was likely the unsubs would be holding her, and the team rushes there to have a look.
It's littered with empty bottles, cigarette butts, there seems to be some blood on the floor, and there's a pink cell phone with the initials KO in rhinestones. Katie's.
There is a blood trail leading outside. The spread out and search the surrounding vacant homes.
Hotchner finds the body of 1 unsub. From the defensive wounds he can tell this unsub didn't want to get through with it anymore, and the other one(s) didn't agree. Reid helps Garcia narrow down her search and she identifies him as Douglas Silverman.
Hotchner and Prentiss go to inform his father. He's devastated, and tells them Doug recently hung out with a new, slightly older, friend; Ryan.

Lindsey's still in the bathroom and the 2 other unsubs come walking in, arguing. Ryan tells Taylor to get his dad's gun – he seems to think there still is a way out of this. But as soon as Taylor's gone and Lindsey reminds him that won't work because she saw him kill Katie, he tells her no one will make it out alive.

Vaughan learns that this is unlikely to be related to his mob past (but Mannan tells him it's Karma paying back..) . Vaughan tells the team Lindsey know about his past life, including that it wasn't her mom who was supposed to die in the "car accident". He knows Lindsey was always protecting Katie, he taught her to stay away from guys like himself.
Garcia is still watching Katie's vlog, and she talks about Lindsay warning her to stay away from a guy who was "not right".

Bruce, Katie's dad, asks for a moment alone with Jack Vaughan, to apologize.
But in stead he seems to know about Vaughan's past, and where to the BAU he pretended not to know Douglas when they showed him the picture (they noticed), now he tells Vaughan he did recognize him. He also knows where he hung out. The two men get away in Pat Mannan's car.
Garcia finds Ryan Phillips' name at roughly the same time.

Reid narrows things down using an overlay map, and find that it's most likely Ryan is keeping Lindsey at Mayford High School. Vaughan arrives at Taylor's house, gets the shotgun Taylor was about to get, and when he doesn't tell him what he wants to hear, he shoots him in the leg.
A few moments later Vaughan rushes into the high school with the shotgun, and very shortly after, Reid follows him, gun drawn.

He finds Vaughan and Lindsey in the bathroom. Vaughan's pointing the shotgun at Ryan who is begging for his life, as Lindsey is trying to convince her father to shoot him after what he did to Katie and her. Reid tries to talk him down. "You promised your wife you'd protect Lindsey".
(Why doesn't he also bring up "being in jail" isn't very protective?)
Reid goes on, saying Jack grew up in violence and that, if he does this, Lindsey will too. He finishes by asking Jack when the cycle of violence will end.
Jack answers, "Tomorrow", and pulls the trigger. (Didn't expect that!!)

When minutes later the rest of the team arrive Jack and Lindsey come out of the bathroom, and Reid is still inside, standing very still, looking very shocked at Ryan's body.

"I tried".

When he's regained his composure a little he asks what will happen to Jack now.
Rossi answers: Depends on how important a witness he is.

Jack and ~~Lindsey~~ Katie arrive in Atlanta, GA. Starting a new life.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
When it becomes clear the unsubs are teenagers, local authorities react surprised.
Prentiss then refers to "Lords of Chaos".

The Lords of Chaos – Kevin FosterIn 1998, Kevin Foster was convicted of leading three Fort Myers teens in a plot to kill their music teacher, Mark Schwebes. The three boys – Pete Magnotti, Chris Black and Derek Shields - were also convicted on plea bargains. Foster received the death penalty. The three other boys, who had called Foster “God” received sentences of life imprisonment

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Hotchner: "No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies." - Daisy Bates.

Jack Vaughan: (to Taylor) You've got two legs, I've got one question.

Pat Mannan: You have no idea what you're dealing with here.
Hotchner : Then enlighten me, or stay out of my way.

Hotchner: “It is a wise father who knows his own child.” William Shakespeare.

My review.

Finally another Criminal Minds episode, and a good one!
Although there were some very small things that confused me a little.

Like: why was Pat Mannan with Jack Vaughan (until it was explained he was the WP Fed that didn't make a lot of sense). And why was Lindsey confident enough to defy the unsubs like that, if she was supposed to be this shy girl. Was her dad right in that she was "just like any other teenager" with the added "bonus" of her dad teaching her some of his mob skills, was the lack of a teenage room just part of the WP cover?

3x11 Birthright

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Writer: Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer
Director: John Gallagher

INTRO:
Will be updated soon

BRIEF:

PROFILE:

CATCHING THE UNSUB:

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

MEMORABLE QUOTES

My review.

3x10 True Night

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Writer: Edward Allen Bernero
Director: Edward Allen Bernero

INTRO:
Will be updated soon

BRIEF:

PROFILE:

CATCHING THE UNSUB:

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

MEMORABLE QUOTES

My review.

3x09 Penelope

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Writer: Chris Mundy
Director: Felix Enriquez Alcalá

INTRO:

Quantico, Virginia.
In the previous episode Garcia got shot. The bullet went through her chest, very close to her heart. She is rushed to the hospital where the rest of the team anxiously wait in the hallway until they finally get the good news. She’ll make it.

BRIEF:
The unsub asked Garcia out on a date, and goes by James Colby Bailer.

PROFILE:

Revolver – no casings. He probably didn’t give Garcia his real name.
He could have been watching her for a while.
Sadist getting off on gaining her trust, then killing her?
It’s probably not a coincidence that the unsub shot an analyst for the FBI.
Lawyer, white US 4 door sedan that smelled new – rental?
Wears a fake Rolex, tried to impress Garcia by taking charge.
Monogrammed cuffs – JCB. Initials are probably correct
-> Jason Clark Battle.
Went to school in New Haven (=Yale), Law in Boston, or technically Cambridge(=Harvard).
Told Garcia he worked in a private practice – but Reid says city attorneys don’t try murder cases. He knows enough to use the proper terminology, but he’s not a lawyer.
He either didn’t pass the bar, or he failed out of law school.
Narcissist, faking humility.
He picks the worst table in the restaurant, he’s got his seatbelt buckled behind his back – he wasn’t using a rental car, he was doing surveillance.
Angel of death.
- nurses who put people out of their misery
- someone who intentionally puts people at risk, so he can save them
Hero homicide complex (most common: a firemen setting fires).
He keeps getting bolder.
He’s trying to cover his tracks, and if that doesn’t work he’ll die shooting.

CATCHING THE UNSUB:

Garcia makes JJ promise they wouldn’t talk about her like a victim.
Hotchner and Rossi go to Garcia’s place, and have to disagree with the local authorities . This probably was not a robbery gone bad.

Garcia remembers he smelled good, and that he bent over her after he shot her. She held her breath so he’d think she was dead.
The unsub goes back to the crime scene and learns Garcia is ok, and there are no leads.
He buys another revolver.

Four days later they still haven’t gotten a lot further. No hits on the sketch.
Reid and Morgan are playing things through with Garcia at the hospital.
(Really nicely filmed by the way, as if they were there and can pause the scene to ask questions).

They bring in another tech, Kevin Lynch, to go through law databases and look up James Colby Bailer. He is very impressed by Garcia’s system. (All Open Source, Linux based). He finds an encrypted file on her computer.
They ask Garcia for the password. Gillman Street ( lousy, lousy password for a computer tech! And one the other tech could easily have cracked… I googled it and it’s an independent music venue?).
The file contains information of everything the team does – Garcia needs to keep track of that and thought it best to protect that after Elle got shot.

The team is pulled off the case, and Garcia is suspended.
She is really shaken up, and tells Morgan that the last thing she told JCB was “ Everything happens for a reason” . She needs to keep faith in that, or nothing in her life makes sense anymore.

The team digs deeper into Garcia’s past. Her parents died (drunk driver) when she was 18, and she went off the rail. She dropped out of CalTech, lived underground, but kept teaching herself code.
She was on a very short list of computer geniuses (the reason she was on that list remains unknown) and the FBI offered her a job.

Morgan takes Garcia home – past the not quite yet vanished bloodstain on the stairs.
It’s a full, cozy and very colorful home filled with the little girly gadgety things you’d expect Garcia to have. She tells Morgan that she volunteers once a week - she counsels family members of murder victims. Morgan insists he’s staying until JCB is caught, and very luckily so, since outside JCB kills one of the cops standing guard with two quick shots.
He forces a terrified Garcia into the corner and orders her to fire at anyone coming through the door (er.. you might want to agree on a signal if it’s you? And I usually don’t shout at my TV, but I yelled a “ Stay in the corner!!” at Garcia).
JCB and Morgan exchange shots. Morgan chases JCB out of the building and across the street and then goes back up, where luckily Garcia doesn’t shoot him.
They decide to take Garcia to the BAU where she’ll be safe, and she suddenly remembers more about JCB. Rossi gets somewhat aggressive and gets in her face to get her to remember more. And she admits she tags unsolved murder cases related to the family members she counsels, so that it’ll appear the FBI considers them important.

Although they’re off the case, Hotchner strongly hints at Garcia breaking in to her own system to find out who had access to those files.
A very amusing hacking battle between Kevin and Garcia follows (Garcia wins).
The same deputy was the first responder to 3 of the cases (drive by’s, shot with a revolver), his name is Jason Clark Battle. Angel of death. Garcia recognizes his picture. They know they have to approach him with extreme caution.
Kevin also sees the picture, and minutes later sees JCB standing in front of him in the hallway at the BAU. He’s local law enforcement “checking on the case”.
Kevin very cleverly uses the computer to signal to Garcia that JCB is at the BAU.
Morgan calls Hotchner, and gives him an updated profile. Hotchner alerts Rossi.
And Morgan calls JJ – the only one who can get behind JCB.
But JCB realizes they’re on to him, takes Adam Fuchs hostage, and everyone pulls their gun. It’s a very tense couple of seconds that follow, and then JJ shoots JCB.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES
Rossi: Kemper, Bundy, Robert Anderson all had an element of it. (sadist getting off on gaining her trust, then killing her).

Kemper: Buried his family cat alive at the age of 10, then cut off its head. When he was 14 he shot his grandparents. When he was 23 he killed 2 of his roommates, and hid their bodies in his room. He accelerated, and killed 6 other people, including his own mother. Necrophelic and Canibalistic.

Reid: Frank Abignail, if you can’t beat them, hire them.
Movie Catch me if you can. (on how Garcia got hired ).

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Garcia: William Shakespeare wrote, "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

Morgan: Who the hell uses a revolver?
Reid: Someone who doesn't want to leave shell casings behind as evidence.

Garcia: When I was in the ambulance I could hear the song “Heroes” playing in my head. I kept flashing in and out of consciousness, everything was really bright and I remember thinking, “Wait, is David Bowie really God?”

Rossi: You look like crap.
Hotchner: Four days, no leads. I feel like crap.

Kevin Lynch: (accessing Garcia's computer) This might be the coolest girl I’ve ever met.
Rossi: You’ve never laid eyes on her.
Kevin Lynch: Well, her GUI is mindblowing.

Morgan: Take this gun.
Garcia: I don't believe in guns.
Morgan: Trust me, they are very real. Take it.

Prentiss: (to Garcia, looking at Adam Fuchs) Oh, don't worry about your reinstatement papers. He'll sign them as soon as his hands stop shaking

My review.
Great part 2 with a nice “pieces of the puzzle” falling into place. Also really good that we learned a lot about Garcia, and that she might get a change to date a good guy fo a change!

3x08 Lucky

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:14:00 +0000

Writer: Andrew Wilder
Director: Steve Boyum

INTRO
Garcia buys coffee at her regular coffee shop and comes across a guy whose computer froze up on him. Garcia mutters something like: Figures, Windows, temperamentful... and helps him out after which he introduces himself – James Bailer, friends call me Colby - and ask her out. Garcia accepts and replies her name is Penelope Garcia, her friends call her wonderful.
Morgan immediately notices a change in Garcia’s behavior as she greets him at the BAU, and tells her to trust her instincts.

BRIEF

Bridgewater, Florida.
A 19-year-old college student, Abby Kelton, went missing and was found dead and half eaten by alligators three days later. An inverted pentagram was carved into her chest.

PROFILE(S)

Floyd Feylinn Ferell

Inverted pentagram. Satanic cults are a debunked urban myth, but this does point to the possibility of the unsub being a ritualistic sadist.
Reid explains there are two types, the unsub is likely the second type:
1. Teen sadist, rebels, minor crimes. Could get violent if combined with drugs.
2. Adaptive, typical serial killer who rationalizes his fantasies by blaming outside forces.
But his only sadistic act is that he fed one of his victims 10 fingers, from 10 other victims. The fingers were a message: I’ve done this before.
Was in a mental hospital. (Neat row of books).
Bridgewater local – void in map with the location of his other victim is where he resides.
Cannibalism (no sexual trauma, cuts off legs, fed fingers to other vic).

CATCHING THE UNSUB

On the plane Hotchner warns everyone to keep an eye on the locals, and on each other since they are dealing with something satanic. When Morgan replies that “this devil thing doesn’t spook me one bit”, Reid suggests that may be because he never bought the God thing either?
Morgan is visibly offended, calling Reid “kid” and countering his claim.

The ME found 10 fingers in Abby’s stomach.

Morgan really does not want to go talk to the priest, in stead opting for delivering the bad news to Abby’s parents, but Rossi decides otherwise.
The priest instantly knows Morgan hasn’t been in church for a long time ( “Occupational hazard. Priests and dentists can spot an overdue visit from miles away”), but Morgan briskly tells him he’s not there to talk about himself.
While JJ is comforting Abby’s mother, Rossi talks to her father – telling him he really does not want/need to see his daughter’s remains. That is not how he should remember her.
Garcia blows Colby off over the phone, pretending to be sick, and reports back to the team that the 10 fingers belonged to 10 different prostitutes. Morgan tells her it was a smart move to blow Colby off, but this upsets Garcia a lot. She tells him he sucks, angrily hangs up, and rummages through the trash to retrieve Colby’s card.

Tracy Lambert walks into a restroom, and closes the door of the stall behind her, only to see an inverted pentagram carved into the door. Someone was hiding in the stall next to her, and now slowly and calmly approaches her. She screams.
Later Detective Jordan and the team inspect the scene. They conclude it was a blitz attack, and find a neat row of books in the other stall. Rossi knows their unsub likely was put in a mental hospital. When they get out and stop the meds the chaos returns, but they keep some of the order the hospital taught them. In this case the books.

They set up a search and rescue operation, keeping a list of volunteers (Garcia cross-checks them with mental hospital records - the unsub will probably insert himself into the operation). Morgan objects to the priest being there, but Det. Jordan invited him.
Then one of the searching volunteers, Sheryl, goes missing too. While this information gets radioed to all units, one cop actually stopped the unsub. But he just tells him to slow down – the “old/vinyl sounding” music drowns out Sheryl screaming in the trunk of the car…

Garcia calls Prentiss to tell her the cross check didn’t come up with anything. Prentiss knows something is up with Morgan and Garcia. After some prying she informs Morgan that, when a woman tells a man about her feelings, she doesn’t want him to fix her, she wants him to shut up and listen. Morgan and the priest also go over the list. Morgan is convinced the priest knows the unsub, it’s someone who fakes faith but only goes to church because everybody else goes. Father Marx points out there are more people fitting that description.
Morgan pushes on, showing him a picture of Abby’s body (or what’s left of it), and telling the priest that prayer won’t be of much help to Sheryl and her family. They need to find him.
Father Marx asks him what happened that makes Morgan have such contempt for a priest he hardly knows. Morgan replies that, when he was a child and terrible things were happening to him, he went to church for help, but nothing changed. His God is expecting way too much of 13 year old boys.
The priest leaves, and outside Rossi points out to Morgan that he looked quite upset. He also noticed Morgan still seems mad about Rossi “forcing” him to talk to the priest. He explains he only did it to give Morgan an opportunity for personal growth. Morgan counters him, saying he told Rossi he didn’t want to talk to him, to offer hím that chance. Then he walks back in to the church to apologize to the priest, but instead he finds another dead woman.

At the ME it becomes clear it’s the body of Maria Lopez. She went missing 9 months ago, but had been dead for 72 hours . The unsub froze her. There are no signs of sexual trauma, and the unsub cut off her legs. He’s a cannibal!

Garcia reports that it’s very likely the unsub was admitted to Hazelwood, but they had a fire in 1998 which destroyed the records. The team goes to Hazelwood, and find that Dr. Lorenz died in the fire after going back in. He did throw his journal out of the window. Reid starts to read and quickly finds the information they are looking for. Floyd Feylinn Ferell was admitted after biting a large piece of flesh out of his 9 months old sister. He believed he was possessed by flesh eating demons.
The locals do recognize that name, he dropped the last part and now goes by Floyd Feylinn.
Rossi points out that Feylinn believes Satan will protect him from getting caught, so he didn’t bother to alter his name any more than that.

They raid Feylinn’s house, find a cool cellar full of bodies, Cheryl – OK – in a cage, and downstairs in the cellar there is Feylinn sitting at his self-made shrine. Inverted pentagram, music, neat row of books, blood smeared altar, and copies of Francisco Goya paintings.

Morgan interrogates him, talks about Feylinn’s recipe book (skinny ones use drugs, they taste funny) while Feylinn is trying to spook him by telling him his watch has stopped (it has).
He will only tell father Marx where Tracy Lambert is. They get him in with Morgan and Feylinn, but Morgan does the talking. Feylinn finally reveals that he put Tracy’s remains in the soup that was handed out at the search party ( he owns a BBQ restaurant and provided the food). Hotchner and Rossi rush in, and have to restrain father Marx who is about to strangle Feylinn – who seems quite pleased with himself.

On the plane, Rossi explains Floyd’s guilt wasn’t completely taken away by blaming his actions on the devil, so he had to trick others into participating in his crimes.
Morgan is really upset summing up all the breaks Floyd had (released from the hospital , getting stopped but not found out with a woman in the trunk of his car.)
He must be the luckiest guy around…or did he maybe have some help?
Rossi replies that is irrelevant. Their job is to find evil and stop it. And it’s a hard enough one as it, let someone take the job to find out where it came from.
He concludes that Reid was right after all: if you believe in one, you have to believe in the other.

Morgan walks into another church and sits down.

Colby walks Garcia home after their date. Garcia tells him that she doesn’t believe in luck, but that everything happens for a reason. Colby leans in to her, but in stead of kissing her he hugs her goodnight. Garcia is somewhat disappointed and looks at him with half a smile as he walks away, then turns around.
He smiles at her “I’ve been thinking about doing this all night,”. He points a gun at her and pulls the trigger, Garcia gasps in shock as the bullet enters her chest.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Morgan: 16th century English novelist Thomas Deloney wrote, "God sends meat and the Devil sends cooks."

Colby: Uh... I'm James... Baylor. My friends call me Colby.
Garcia: Penelope. Garcia. My friends call me wonderful. Or Garcia.

Morgan: Good morning, Princess.
Garcia: Good morning.
Morgan: Pump... your brakes. Every day I say 'good morning.' Every day you say, 'I'll show you a good morning, Hot Stuff.' Every day. Not today?
Garcia: I hate profilers. You know that?

Rossi: "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'intrate."
JJ: Well, thanks for clearing that up.
Reid: It's from Dante's Inferno. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."

Garcia: Ah, that guy from the coffee shop asked me out, and I took your advice and I blew him off.
Morgan: Oh, um, well good, smart move! Something was definitely wrong with him.
Garcia: (sarcastic) Wow, you are some profiler. You could tell how wrong he was from what little I told you.
Morgan: Garcia, I didn’t mean…
Garcia: I wonder, was it that he was too handsome or too interested in me that tipped you off on how wrong he was?
Morgan: Garcia…
Garcia: Just because you wouldn’t cross a crowded room to hit on me does not mean that a more perceptive, less superficial guy wouldn’t. Hey, Derek, you want snappy? You suck!

Morgan: What?
Prentiss: When a woman tells a man about her feelings, he doesn't want him to fix her. She wants him to shut up and listen.

Morgan: “Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters.” Francisco Goya

Reid (about the Goya paintings): He was exposed to them as part of his art therapy.
Prentiss: Don’t think it worked.

Rossi: He doesn't kill because he believes in Satan. He believes in Satan, because he kills.

Garcia: I'm not the girl men see across a smoky bar and write songs about.

Rossi: ...I was just giving you a chance for personal growth.
Morgan: I get you, Dave. You're not a mystery to me, man. They said you couldn't interview serial killers. You did. They said you couldn't put together a profiling team. You did. They said there was no way in hell you would ever come back here. You did. It's in your nature, Rossi. It's who you are.
Rossi: Well, if you knew all that, why would you tell me you didn't want to talk to the priest?
Morgan: I was giving you an opportunity for personal growth.

My review

WHAT?!?! GARCIA ?!!!!!!

3x07 Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:16:00 +0000

Writer: Oanh Ly
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton

INTRO
Francis Goehring is speeding along the highway, he’s eating pumpkin seeds and when he looks in the mirror he touches a scar that runs across his left cheek.
Two police cars are in pursuit – they saw him speeding, called in his plates and found the car to be stolen.
He gets pulled over, and the cops are carefully approaching. Goehring patiently waits for more backup to arrive, and then he pulls the pin out of the grenade he’s holding.He takes his own life, and that of one of the officers.

BRIEF

Great Falls, Montana.

Over the last 14 months 3 women have gone missing.
After an extensive search they are all presumed to be dead.
Now a fourth woman has gone missing. Her name is Angela Miller and she was abducted from the parking lot of a grocery store.

PROFILE(S)

Francis Goehring

He’s got a ‘type’: young Caucasian brunettes.
Probable military background, but discharged (resents the structure). ->
1 year in the army. Discharged for bad conduct (bar brawl).
In Federal Database linked to aggressive militia group.
42 year-old male.
Sadist.
Manifesto:
The dream starts with 9 acres.
1. Build a castle
2. Arm and protect and fortify the kingdom
3. Will keep women as serfs to serve my every need. It’s my right as a man with free will in America.
I will make my Kingdom reality. -> It’s possible that the women are still alive.

Partner – Henry Frost.

Obsessively neat.
Drives a pickup truck.
Early- mid 20’s. 5’8’’, slight built, shy, retiring. Medium-short blond hair.
Like Goehring he is unlikely to surrender if cornered.
Submissive, but in crisis after Goehring died -> depersonalisation disorder

CATCHING THE UNSUB

Reid is boring Morgan to bits with a rant on astrophysics, and Morgan decides to check out Rossi’s office to see what he can learn about him.
Prentiss and Reid follow him, they very briefly discuss their agreement not to profile each other, but Morgan doesn’t want to hear about that.
Prentiss comments on the color of the wall. They analyze the expensive art, and the lack of plaques and awards. But Rossi overhears it all, walks in and quickly disproves most of their theories.

On the plane Reid starts to work on a map so that he construct an algorithm which will narrow down the locations where the unsub most likely resides.
He’s likely to be part of on of the aggressive, heavily armed militia groups in the area.

Prentiss and Hotchner go to meet Angela’s husband. Hotchner tells him that they will assume she’s still alive, and explains why he needs to know everything her husband can remember.

Morgan is going to walk the other abduction sites.

The rest of the team goes to set up base, work on a geographical profile, and establish contact with the locals.

Hotchner warns them: Tread carefully, they’re watching us.

Garcia ID’s the unsub. His name is Francis Goehring.
Rossi tells the team to order Goehring’s wife in for questioning – she doesn’t live with him.

Then Rossi and Reid go check out his last known address. There are a dozen signs hammered to the outside of the trailer of his neighbor.

“No trespassing” “No Solicitors” “Keep Montana Armed”

Reid’s friendly approach is clearly not working, (Pipecleaner – the way you’re wearing that gun, you’re begging for someone to take it off you.) and Rossi steps in. More aggressive, more effective. The neighbor shows them Goehring’s trailer.

It looks like he mainly used it as a mailing address. He clearly doesn’t sleep there. They do find some interesting books about the Spanish Inquisition, and the History of Medieval Feudal Society.

Reid mentions Ruby Ridge to Rossi, and finds that’s not something he wants to discuss. Rossi finds a handful of MiniDV tapes in an army chest which contain Goehring’s manifesto.

Back at the station JJ questions Goehring’s wife. She tells them – somewhat reluctantly – that ‘they’(she and the militia) threw her husband out when they find out what he did to her. She shows relief when she learns he blew himself up.

Again Rossi steps in with a more aggressive approach. He says that her husband was a sadist, made her do horrible things. He did the same to the women he too, but where she had the protection of the militia, they don’t.

She tells them he forced her to give him her parents land. 9 acres. And she point out the location on Reid’s map – it’s in his grid.

They go the Goehring’s land, carefully sweep the house for explosives, and check the perimeter. They find Angela Miller, she’s dead.
But she’s still warm, it couldn’t have been Goehring who killed her, he’s got a partner. They find empty gun racks in the - obsessively neat – garage.

Prentiss points out there are different rose plots in the garden. They find 3 bodies.

The local sheriff informs them the leader of the militia owns a bar.
Rossi sends Morgan and JJ there – you’re the last face they expect to see.

They step into the bar, after Morgan warns JJ to not turn her back on the door.
It’s a tense/ fake relaxed threatening next couple of minutes in which Morgan tries to get the racist militia boss and the people in the bar to come forward with information, without letting the insults get to him.
It’s a battle of minds that Morgan wins with ease.

Meanwhile the team has a look inside the house where Goehring and his partner lived. They find a lot of unspooled tapes which get sent to Garcia, and there is a list with rules on the wall.

RULES

All actions must serve to please the master
Insubordination will result in punishment
Any attempts to escape the Kingdom will result in death.
The Master demands cleanliness, messes will not be tolerated and (… not shown..)

Reid points out that Master and Kingdom are capitalized (And I noticed high-crossed t’s, large l’s and no dots on the i’s .. I’m not too sure of the validity of handwriting analysis when it comes to character, but well…)

His partner is the serf, Goehring is the King. Reid wonder’s which role the females fulfill, and Rossi comes out of the bedroom with the answer.
There are a lot of home-made torture devices.

Poor Garcia reports back after having been ‘forced’ to watch every single frame of torturous film. The partner was never shown.
But they do notice that the partner never frames the victim, only Goehring. He’s jealous of the victim, and he’s in love with Goehring.
They also deduct that he must have been the one to buy all the roses, someone must have noticed.

So they go visit the nurseries.
One employee identifies the partner as a colleague. His name is Henry Frost.

The team goes to his trailer. He destroyed all his belongings, and outside they find barbecued pictures of Frost with his face missing.
He didn’t only depend on Goehring for structure and purpose, but also for meaning. Now that Goehring is gone he’s wiping the slate clean and starting over.. but as what?

Frost abducts a new woman at the gas station. Only because he has to do it all alone now, he leaves his truck, a witness, and his face on camera.
The team go to the gas station, where they piece together how Goehring and Frost worked together:

Frost chauffeured Goehring, Goehring picked up the victim and abducted her on foot (?), and then they drive off in separate vehicles.

Rossi and Hotchner go back and forth, discussing out loud , and assuming the role of Goehring/Frost. It was clear on the camera footage that Frost has made himself to be Goehring.They have to act as if he's still the one calling the shots.

While Frost drags his victim up a mountain by a leash, the team figures out the most likely location he’s taken her. (By the way, I think Becky is doing the right thing by telling Frost her name and so on? Less likely to kill “her” than “it”?)

Goehring talking about ideal land and higher ground, combined with a picture of a mountain lead them to Black Eagle Peak, which was once used as militia training grounds.

The team drive to Black Eagle Peak, and the sheriff has gotten the best sniper in the area. To the team’s frustration it’s the militia leader/bar boss.
Hotchner tries to talk Frost out of killing, and Rossi orders the militia leader to take the shot. They know Frost will not surrender. The militia leader brings up Ruby Ridge, but Rossi sticks to his orders.

He takes the shot and instantly kills Frost, then he tosses the empty shell to Rossi (who catches it, the guy must have some serious heat proof hands) – telling him this kill was on him - too?

Morgan is still hung up on profiling Rossi, and he tells him that he will find out.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge refers to a violent confrontation and siege on August 21, 1992 on Weaver’s property on a hillside between near Naples in northern Idaho.

The two parties involved were:

Randy Weaver, his family, his friend Kevin Harris
Federal agents (US Marshals) and the FBI

The US Marshals had a warrant for Weaver’s arrest. It resulted in a firefight in which Samuel (Weaver’s son) and US Marshal William Degan were killed.
Federal agents stormed the house where an FBI sharpshooter shot at Weaver and Harris, injuring them and killing Vicki Weaver as she held her baby daughter. The stand-off ended with a truce arrangement. Weaver and Harris were arrested.
They both were acquitted of all charges – only Weaver was charged for missing his original court date and violating bail conditions. He was fined and spent a total of 22 months in jail.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Rossi: "An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects." Martin Luther.

Reid: (ranting about astriphysics, Morgan walks off)...
Where you going?
Morgan: Taking back the last five minutes of my life.
Reid: You can’t go in there.
Morgan: Don’t you wanna know about this guy?
Prentiss: I do.
Reid: I got it all memorized, his books, his bio.
Morgan: Yeah, books that sold over a million copies.
Reid: So?
Morgan: That’s a million reasons not to come back, if you know what I’m saying.

(On the jet. Reid is drawing lines in on a map.)
Prentiss : You know, I could have gotten you a coloring book at the airport.

JJ: That's the third time I've been hung up on.
Rossi: Try not saying FBI.

Rossi: There are some very committed people in those parts.
Hotchner: Who love their firearms.
Rossi: Almost as much as they hate us.

Garcia: (looking at Goehring's record) He also appears in a federal database for... get this... aggressive militia groups.
JJ: Aggressive militia groups. Is there any other type?
Garcia: Uh hmm. That's your federal government at work. We specialize in redundancy.

Reid: Speaking of reading material, I've read all your books.
Rossi: Thanks.
Reid: One thing that struck me as odd, you really just sort of glance over Ruby Ridge. (Rossi's expression changes.)
Reid: (quickly backing off)You don't have to tell me about it.

Morgan: Nobody sent me here, I came here to do right by her.
Goehring’s partner is out there somewhere, so we completely understand if you boys are just to afraid to tell us about him. I get it. But just say so.

Garcia: That’s it, the whole tamale. Every horrific frame. I’m done.
Prentiss: No luck seeing the partner?
Garcia: No. He’s... I scanned every frame. He’s holding the camera.
Prentiss: You okay?
Garcia: No.
Prentiss: I’m sorry.

Hotchner: We need to stop thinking like Frost and start thinking like Goehring because he is still calling the shots.

Morgan: There’s one thing you’ll learn about me, Rossi. I’m relentless. I’ll find out.

My review

I typed this out the day after I watched it so hope that my memory serves me well and that all is accurate.

Great episode!
I like Rossi and he is definitely is very different from Gideon. More in your face, more aggressive. I’m not at all comparing them when I am watching.

On to next week…we’ll see when the screen goes black/writer’s strike has visible effects.

3x06 About Face

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:48:00 +0000

Writer: Charles Murray (II)
Director: Skipp Sudduth

INTRO
Retired SSA David Rossi is hunting in Little Creek Reservoir, VA. Strauss calls him, and he tells her to cancel her plans because he’ll be coming in. He dresses up, gets his gun, and pockets a charm bracelet with 3 charms: Alicia, George and Connie.

BRIEF

Carrollton, TX
Michelle Calluci went missing after she found a “have you seen me?” flyer on her door.
When Det. Yarborough – who initially thought it was a prank - went to check on her after she reported it, he found a lot of flyers and a mask with ONE in red marker written on the forehead.
4 days later she was found dead, floating in a creek.
She was sexually assaulted and with her face removed with a sharp instrument.

PROFILE

He first psychologically tortures his victims by telling them they’re going to be missing, and then he physically tortures them -> textbook sadist.
But the elaborate flyers indicate he is a sophisticated one.
The particular mask he uses is known as a “false face”.
Masks often represent a state of mind, although this one is blank, the removal of his victims face indicates rage. It gives him power, which might make him arrogant, but it won’t make him more notable.
The masks with the number on them represent his victims.
The flyers represent himself : Have you seen me? Does not refer to his missing victims, but to the fact that they didn’t see him.
No one notices him – he is very average.
Only where everyone else brushes off being overlooked, he takes offense and thinks it’s intentional. Even more so when it’s from the object of his affections.
Shoeprint analysis-: 5’11’’ 165 lbs.
Witnesses: white male.
Degree of sophistication and patience indicates a certain maturity.
He’s in his mid 30’s-40’s.
(Attempt to) weigh down the body –> connection to the victim.
Kept victim alive for 3 days -> has access to a house.
Cell phone interceptor/ Photo- editing and printing -> Fairly tech-savvy.
He’s not seeking publicity himself, he wants the police to find his messages.
He obsessed to the point where it turns into rage and he has to act on it and attacks.
Michelle was a loner workaholic. Extremely low-risk. She either knew him, or he stalked her.

Michelle and Erin are linked!
Michelle designed the floor plan for Techno Communications in Dallas. Erin worked there.

CATCHING THE UNSUB

It’s Halloween and Reid is fooling around in a Frankenstein costume.
Morgan admits he is creeped out by Halloween, and by masks in particular.

Rossi and Strauss seem to know each other – and either they had some argument in the past, or a relationship that went wrong. They don’t seem to really get along that well.
Hotchner and Rossi however appear to be old friends – and he introduces him to the rest of the team. Reid is start struck and speed-talks himself through the first 2 minutes, asking about the Scarsdale Skinner, until Hotchner stops him.

Enid White walks her dog and finds “missing” flyers of herself plastered all over the neighborhood.
She’s reported missing the next morning.

Morgan and Prentiss go to Michelle’s home. They are trying to figure out how the unsub took her, and conclude there is no way he could have been watching from the street – he would have been noticed. In her backyard they find a lot of footprints in the soil – this is the spot.

JJ and Hotchner go to Erin White’s home and find local authorities are very helpful. Hotchner wonders where Erin’s dog is.

Rossi , Reid and Det. Yarborough go to the creek where Michelle’s body was found.
She hadn’t been there long, the unsub kept her somewhere for 3 days.
The unsub unsuccessfully tried to weigh down her body. Rossi recalls the Green River Killer case where the bodies weren’t weighed down at all. Reid informs him they now know that was because he didn’t care if they were found or not.

Garcia alerts the team that Erin’s credit card has been used, and that she bought a shotgun.
Just when they are about to figure out if it really was her, she calls them. She’s been in hiding, but can’t stay awake much longer.
They rush to her location – which takes only 20 minutes – but find only her dog in the motel room, and flyers and a mask with TWO written on it. It looks like the unsub left in a hurry – he didn’t have time for the flyers – he must have known they were coming by intercepting the call Erin made.

Rossi asks Garcia to – privately – look up an old case for him. The Gayland family and their 3 children.
It’s connected to the charm bracelet he’s carrying.

Hotchner beliefs they can get the unsub to contact the.
But Rossi is ahead of him, he has already leaked information to the media claiming the unsub is impotent. This all behind Hotchner/team’s back.
Hotchner is not at all happy about that. He informs Rossi this is NOT the way things work now, that he forced their hand. But JJ interrupts them: Garcia found a link between Michelle and Erin.
Techno Communications in Dallas.

The unsub calls them, and Rossi talks to him.
The unsub is very nervous and agitated, and talks in a hushed tone.
Rossi is very confrontational, ignores the team’s obvious hesitations about his approach, and when he calls the unsub a loser he gets told he just signed Erin’s death warrant.
He’s suddenly a bit less sure he’s going at thing the right way.

They rush to Techno Communications, and instantly put the building on a tight lockdown.
As the rest of the team goes to search the floors, Hotchner and Rossi stay in the lobby.
They display their credentials, and pretend to have a photo of the unsub – carefully studying the crowd. The unsub sees them and tries to remain unnoticed, but Rossi is on to him.
When it becomes clear the unsub has no intention of surrendering, and in stead is planning to shoot the first person coming out of the elevator (in this case Morgan), Rossi is forced to shoot him.
But probably knowing that if it weren’t for him things might have turned out differently?
Thankfully Erin is at the unsub’s home, and still alive.

The team hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Rossi is visibly less secure about his role in the team, but Hotchner pats him on the back.
He tells Rossi that it’s because of him that they do what they do. He and his people are the ones who started the BAU. Since then things have changed, but he’s still in.
Hotchner also tells him that he needs to share more.
When Rossi points out Hotchner hasn’t told the team about Haley, he draws a strict line between work and personal life. Work has to be shared, personal life is optional.
Rossi admits he’s got some unfinished business, and that that’s a big part of why he’s back.
He walks to the empty office next door, and removes Gideon’s name plate.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

Scarsdale Skinner
Reid asks Rossi if he can ask him about the Scarsdale Skinner case, because he finds psychological linguistics very interesting. (no info found through Google).

Green River Killer
David Rossi refers to Green River Killer case.
Gary Leon Ridgway was caught in 2001 when he was linked (DNA/paint) to 7 murders that were attributed to the Green River Killer – a case in the 1980s, named so because the dumping ground was near the Green River. In 2003 he admitted to having killed 48 women, and police think it might even be more. Ridgway avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty and is serving a life sentence.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Rossi: (about Garcia) She's different.
Hotchner: You have no idea.

Rossi: (watching JJ leave) Wow. We didn’t have that 10 years ago.
Hotchner: What do you mean?
Rossi: Communications Coordinator.
Hotchner: Right. Well, a lot’s changed.

Morgan: Masks. Creepy, I rest my case.

Rossi: Relax, Hotch. I’ve got this.
Hotchner: Now that’s the problem, Dave. There is no “I.” We function as a team.

"What else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage." – Erasmus.

My review

Great introduction episode of Rossi!! We already know a lot about him.
The ‘poor’ guy’s got some adjusting to do/ 10 years of technology and changes to catch up on, but I think once he does, he’s going to be great! And even if he doesn’t it will be very interesting.
Good ‘serial killer’ case, (is it a series when it’s 2 linked ones?) with a somewhat abrupt/fast ending of them finding the unsub and shooting him dead.
Even with the overdose of Halloween (which we don’t have here*) on TV lately, it was a great episode with a good mix of fun (Halloween, info on Rossi) and serious (case).
Looking forward to next week!

*We do have St. Maarten, on November 11th. For kids up to age 12/13
(Dressing up, and walking house to house with lanterns, sing a song, collect candy.)

3x05 Seven Seconds

noreply@blogger.com (Corien) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:37:00 +0000

Writer: Andi Bushell
Director: John Gallagher

INTRO
Mom – Beth(blonde)
Dad – Paul (red shirt)
Daughter – Katie

Aunt – Suzan
Uncle – Richard (white shirt)
Nephew – Jeremy

Aunt calls 911 – they are all looking for Katie Jacobs who is missing. (Is this a House reference?)

BRIEF

Mall in Potomac Mills, VA. 6-year-old girl missing. Week before: 6-year-old girl (Jessica Davis) was taken from the mall and murdered within 1 hour.

PROFILE

Possible connection with the case 1 week earlier -> unsub might be a preferential pedophile who feels comfortable at the mall.
Assuming Katie knew not to walk off with a stranger, it may be someone she felt safe with, or a person in uniform.
Katie was walking in the direction of stores unattractive to kids – she may have been lured.
Katie’s necklace has been ripped off – indicating rage. There might not be a connection with last week’s case, this seems more personal.
The mistreated doll suggests abuse.

CATCHING THE UNSUB(S)

They put the mall in lockdown and set of to methodically search the whole mall together with CARD and mall security and local law enforcement.
Agent Franklin, who found Jessica Davis’ body, is also there.

The whole team is there, including Garcia – who has to make do with a pretty ancient security system. From the camera footage they can tell Katie and her abductor are still in the building, and they’re running against time. The person who took her is not visible, since it’s only seven seconds of footage.
On top of that Katie has asthma and is without her inhaler.
The team tries to get some useful information out of Katie’s mother, but she is too distraught. They do get a picture of her cell phone to hand out to everyone.

Hotchner and JJ debrief Katie’s parents separately – standard procedure - and they find no connection with Jessica Davis. They do get a sweater, which will help the search dogs. They get on her trail, but the scent of the foot court (combined with all the other scents in a busy mall) confuses them.

Morgan, Reid and Marie Samuels – the head of security at the mall – start at the arcade. The place Katie was seen last, with her cousin Jeremy, before she went missing.
Prentiss talks to Jeremy, but the stress combined with a father Richard (Katie’s uncle) who pretty much blames him, result in him not remembering anything, or not wanting to tell anything. Richard also half suggests Katie might have just wandered off.
When they talk to Jeremy without his parents present, and pressure him a little more he gets a panic attack. Hotchner decides to take him back to the arcade and do a cognitive interview. Jeremy remembers a little more, including that he wasn’t too nice to Katie, but it seems as if he is still holding something back.

Beth, Katie’s mom, makes a plea to the kidnapper over the Mall’s sound system.
She does really well in following JJ’s instructions of not addressing what the unsub has done, but in stead focus on Katie to remind him/her that she is not an object.
Everyone is moved by it.

The dogs pick up the scent again and it leads to a trashcan. Inside they find Katie’s necklace. It seems to have been ripped off, and since it’s 24 karat gold with real stones, JJ doesn’t believe Beth’s story when she tells her Katie found it in the schoolyard.

They ask, and get permission, to search Katie’s family’s home.
There Morgan finds that Katie has been wetting the bed, and he also finds a very mistreated dog. Since most girls covet their dolls as extensions of themselves, he believes Katie might have been molested. Since she lied about the necklace it’s unlikely it’s her father.

So Prentiss and Hotchner start interrogating Richard, while Reid tries to get Jeremy to talk by relating to him, and by explaining that, as a profiler, he can tell a lot of things by reading body language. Still Jeremy seems to be holding something back.
Hotchner is surprised at how little Richard knows about his son – only that he locks himself in his room and listens to metal music, and that at the young age of 13 he has a record for stealing a necklace for a girl he liked. He doesn’t even know the name of said girl, nor does he know the name of any of his friends. He does know surprisingly many things about Katie. It’s not unusual for a molester to only focus on his victim.
Hotchner presses on, and although Richard keeps denying it they know it’s him.
The only thing that doesn’t fit is the rage – he’s not the one who took her.

Then Prentiss remembers Susan saying she worked in the mall, and that she had a lighter inscribed for her husband’s birthday. This mall – she knows it like the back of her hand - and he gave up smoking a month ago.
Prentiss confronts Susan. A bit too loudly, so Katie’s parents overhear, and when they’re in a more private area she breaks her down. Susan only says “ no” and “ please stop”.
Saying that getting rid of the girl would end her problems, and that she probably got the idea when she heard about last week’s case. That her husband made Katie feel horrible about herself, that she has been protecting him. But instead of shielding her from more pain, you blamed her for yours.

Finally they find Katie in a storage closet. She’s not breathing, and it takes a long time to resuscitate her, but luckily in the end she pulls through.

As his parents get arrested Jeremy asks what will happen to him now. Reid assures him he will make sure he is OK.

Agent Franklin stops to talk with Hotchner, saying there still is a guy at loose.
Hotchner replies there always will be.
Then he goes to Haley’s sister – where Haley and Jack are staying – and is allowed in to spend a few minutes with his sleeping son.

REFERENCES TO REAL CASES

Daniel Westerfield.
Morgan refers to Daniel Westerfield who kidnapped Danielle Van Dam out of revenge when her mother rejected him.
In February, 2002, Daniel Westerfield, kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 7-year-old Danielle Van Dam who lived next door to him.
He was sentenced to death. He is currently in San Quentin prison, awaiting execution.

Richard Allen Davis.
Reid refers to Richard Allen Davis who strangled Polly Klaas just to prevent her from identifying him.
Richard Allen Davis abducted 12-year-old Polly Klaas from her home in Petaluma, California during a slumber party. Davis had a long record, including robbery and sexual assault. He was sentenced to death and is currently awaiting execution in San Quentin.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

Agent Franklin: It’s all chance, really. Wrong place, wrong time, no logic, no sense. How does a parent reconcile that? Hotchner: They never do.

Hotchner: Seven seconds. Garcia: That’s all the images I could find, sir. Hotchner: That’s all it takes for a child to disappear.

“Nothing is easier than denouncing the evildoer. Nothing more difficult than understanding him.” - Dostoyevski.

"Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed." - G.K. Chesterton.

Morgan: Well, can't you get a better angle (on the camera)? Garcia: Sugar, I'm not London here. I can only work with what they have. And, believe me when I tell you, the 1980s just called. They want their security system back.

My review

Great, but slightly confusing episode!
I really liked not knowing who the unsub was from the start, but I found it a bit confusing to have two men looking so similar playing two roles.
I first thought there was 1 guy (never pay too much attention to clothes, since in most series I watch they change to indicate different days..) which made the whole family relationships very confusing.
It also wasn’t immediately clear to me if Richard, the uncle, was the molester, or if it was Jeremy. Since Richard claimed never to would have hurt Katie. Guess that was only his perception of things… ?
But I re-watched the episode, noted the shirt colors, and it all became a lot clearer. Looking forward to next week when Rossi is introduced!!