Five episodes into the eleventh season of “Criminal Minds”, and this is the third twisty, unpredictable case we’ve dealt with in that time. This episode’s storyline fits well alongside the labyrinth that was the introduction of Montolo and his gang in “The Job”, and the coincidence-heavy case featured in “The Witness”.
This is also the second episode of the season to be directed by a cast member, with Thomas Gibson stepping behind the camera this time. His confidence as a director is showing more and more with each episode he’s done as well - his style seems to fit comfortably in between Gubler’s creepy surrealism and Mantenga’s simple, back to basics style.
As a result, this episode was one of the stronger ones of the season thus far, with its unpredictable nature and tense atmosphere working in its favor.
The Case:
So often, this show either starts us off by dropping us right into the crime the team will be solving or begin with a totally innocent, happy scenario, leaving us waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But then there’s those few times when the opening scene is a mix between the two, and we’re unsure right off the bat as to who to trust or what we need to keep our eye on. This episode follows in that particular vein. As some dramatic opera music plays, we see someone decked out in a hoodie and spraying graffiti on a wall late at night. At first, one could chalk it up to a simple bout of mischief…
…except that we also see a giant mouse trap along the side of the building wall, and someone hanging upside down in front of it. It’s a very elaborate, bizarre setup, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this scene isn’t going to end well. Indeed, a short time later, we hear the sound of the trap releasing, and every viewer winces in response on behalf of the poor unknown victim. An unusual way to start off an episode, to be sure.
After a briefly amusing scene in which Rossi tries to tell a joke about the late great Yogi Berra to Reid and fails, the BAU is called in to discuss that strange mousetrap murder at the case briefing the next day. They learn the name of the poor victim: Russell Pearson. He was a city reformer whose image recently took a hit thanks to a corruption scandal involving bribery. Possible motive?
They also learn that this warped version of street art was signed by a mysterious artist named Morpheus (random note: wasn’t there a music file sharing program with that name back in the early 2000s?). Morpheus seems to be following in the tradition of the noted and similarly mysterious artist Banksy. Nobody knows their real identity, but they’ve apparently been making their art well known throughout the city of Detroit. Is Morpheus now a murderer, too? Time for the team to find out.
But before the opening credits roll, we see our unsub sneak into a very nice house…and, via computer footage, watch with growing dread as he picks up a baby and, after covering the screen with spray paint, absconds with it. Looks like that mousetrap murder is only the beginning, and we’re in for a very scary case.
Garcia updates the team on the abduction of the baby, named Corinne Wallace. Her parents are apparently very wealthy and well-known within the city, and her father’s business was recently vandalized, with street art that appears to match Morpheus’ style. Her mother is even more hysterical upon realizing that not only is Corinne missing, but so is her stuffed giraffe. You feel even more for the poor parents here, and sympathize with the team’s attempts to try and reassure them while hiding their own concerns about just what the unsub taking the toy could mean for Corinne’s welfare.
As Garcia continues to try and help the team learn more about the enigma that is Morpheus, Morgan interviews a rather confrontational man named Marcus. To say he’s not a big fan of Morpheus would be an understatement. He recently took down one of Morpheus’ works, seeing the street art world as a cutthroat competition, and he’s also convinced that Morpheus would commit murder as a sick sort of attempt to gain publicity and relevance (and the sad part is, that sort of plan could actually work, because fans are weird sometimes). Meanwhile, creepy unsub is still being creepy around Corinne, and while I know in the back of my mind the show wouldn’t dare go there and kill a baby, I still can’t help but shudder at the way the guy hovers around her and am mentally yelling at him to back the you-know-what off.
Marcus further gains the team’s attention when they learn that he never made it to a gallery opening he was to attend that night. They investigate, and stumble upon a very chilling scene. There’s a crib with a soft blue blanket and the stuffed giraffe…but there’s no sign of baby Corinne. There’s also a mobile hanging over the crib – and hanging amongst the stars and moons and other decorations is…Marcus! I must admit, though, that upon looking at that macabre mobile murder, my initial thought was, “Someone’s clearly been spending a lot of time around Gubler when directing…”
Elsewhere, Rossi and Reid make some notable observations in relation to the case. Reid uses his knowledge of street art, as well as more “classic” forms of art, to further analyze the artwork to see if it is indeed Morpheus’ handiwork. Seems his time spent at that art gallery in “Somebody’s Watching” paid off, then? Thanks to his analysis, he makes the important discovery that the signature on the artwork is a forgery. Now the question becomes: who’s framing Morpheus?
The team finds a potential answer to that question in a suspect named Cory Marlin. He was an associate of Morpheus at one time, and fits the general timeline Reid constructed to determine Morpheus’ whereabouts across the country. Unfortunately, any hopes the team has to get more information from Cory are soon shattered when he too becomes a victim of our unsub. That’s one way to narrow down your suspect list, I suppose.
Reid also makes an intriguing discovery regarding the baby blanket. One half of the blanket was used in an odd piece of art by Morpheus which involved a burned car that contained a deceased homeless woman and her baby. The other half of the blanket was at the scene of Marcus’ death. But they’re both the same, aside from one half being a little more faded. Obviously, Reid realizes, there’s got to be a connection.
Rossi, meanwhile, muses at one point over what could’ve possessed the unsub to take Corinne. It doesn’t look to be a trafficking situation (thankfully), because Corinne’s family is too high profile for anyone involved in that shady business to take that risk. And the case doesn’t seem to scream “maternal desire” as a motive, either. But there’s the pieces of blanket, and the fact that one half of it was used in such a poignantly heartwrenching piece of art…the kidnapping has to be personal on some level.
Eventually, Hotch and Tara finally get in touch, via a laptop at some random abandoned building, with Morpheus, who’s using a voice distorting device. They actually manage to make a little headway in talking with the artist – until they make mention of the blanket. Morpheus reacts with utter shock at this news, and immediately ends the interview. Very suspicious.
The interview is a success in one incredibly revealing aspect, though. Tara’s study of Morpheus’ manner of speaking, as well as their concern for the baby’s welfare, leads her and Hotch to the shocking revelation that Morpheus is a woman! Raise your hand if you too did NOT see that coming.
Turns out Morpheus is also known as Ellen Clark. She was married to a man named William, and they had a baby of their own years ago. Unfortunately, the baby drowned. Ellen dealt with her grief through her art (hence the piece involving the homeless woman and her baby), and came up with her secret artist identity as a means to shut herself off from the world to properly mourn.
William, however? He took their child’s death particularly hard, and blames Ellen for the loss. Upon finding out about that art piece that used a portion of their baby’s blanket, his anger towards her only grew. As a result, he chose the route of murder, picking off people who knew Ellen personally, either as associates (Cory) or rivals (Marcus), and making it look like she was the one who was responsible. And now he’s going after Ellen herself, taking her captive and taunting her with a cruel choice: either he kills her, or he kills baby Corinne.
The team manages to make it to the place William took Ellen, and the scene culminates on top of the roof, with Hotch trying to talk William down as he holds Ellen hostage. We’ve seen this sort of scene play out dozens of times before, right? We know how this’ll end.
Except in this case, we’d be wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. In keeping with the general twisty, unpredictable nature of the episode, William falls backwards off the roof of the building…and drags Ellen down with him. My jaw actually dropped at that moment, but I still held on to hope that maybe, just maybe, Ellen would somehow survive the fall.
Sadly, that winds up not being the case. Reid comes to check her pulse, and she’s as dead as William is. A promising artist’s life is tragically cut short. Thankfully, though, Corinne is rescued – the bright spot in an otherwise heartbreaking, dark, and creepy case.
I was particularly struck by the way Ellen dealt with her grief over the loss of her child versus how William dealt with the loss. A lot of the time, most shows have the woman being the one who struggles emotionally, while the man is the one who clams up and tries to put on a stiff upper lip. Even “Criminal Minds” itself has gone this route, a notable example of that scenario being “Hanley Waters”.
But I liked the way the episode flipped that typical setup around here. Ellen’s generally stoic demeanor fit well with the mystery of her alter ego, and William’s trauma and grief over the loss of his son gave him the necessary sympathetic bent the show brings to its unsubs (though not too much of one, mind, considering he did kidnap a baby and put their life in grave danger). In some ways, I think it would’ve been particularly interesting if Morpheus herself had wound up being the murderer. Not only would it be novel to see a woman committing some of the more grotesque crimes shown in this episode, but her being the murderer could’ve added a little more menace to her mysterious persona.
But ultimately, I did like the idea of a notable female artist making waves despite nobody knowing her name, and I think keeping Ellen innocent and allowing her to gain our sympathy worked well. It was also an interesting take on Rossi’s initial comment about “maternal desires” – William didn’t have them, of course, but Ellen attempting to be his conscience with her pleas to let Corinne go worked.
I also loved that yet again, this episode was a strong showcase for Reid’s unusual expertise. Whatever one’s opinion of the cases themselves in all the episodes thus far, it’s been fun seeing the various ways in which Reid’s actively worked each and every one of them, and discovering just how deep his well of knowledge about this or that topic continues to go. I love the idea of him being so knowledgeable about art, particularly street art. I don’t know if Vegas has a notable street art community, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he observed some of that growing up. Or perhaps it was just a topic he wanted to study on his own time. Either way, it’s another nice dimension for his character.
The show’s also been using Tara well to bring in the female perspective on these crimes. We got to see that in full force a couple episodes ago, with the case of the murdered brides, and it was nice to see that aspect show up again here, too. I also liked that the team’s sorrow over not being able to save Ellen in time came through nicely at the end. It was brief, but the emotion was there, and one couldn’t help but feel for them.
Meanwhile, on the personal front…:
“You’re more interested in a guy who killed little kids than you are in me.”
Remember Tara mentioning she was engaged a couple episodes ago? Well, we got to meet her fiancé at the start of this episode. His name is Doug Fuller, and honestly? He came off as kind of a jerk.
We’ve certainly seen and heard the loved ones of other team members share their frustration and despair over what this job does to the person they’ve been with over the years. Late hours, being alone so often while your loved one’s off in some random town in the U.S., broken plans, watching them struggle with the emotional and mental stress this job brings, worrying about them getting hurt (or worse) on the job…I don’t blame the spouses for their frustration and sadness. It’s even tougher when there’s children involved, as we’ve learned through Haley Hotchner and Will LaMontagne’s rants over the years.
But it felt like we were just suddenly dropped into this tense situation between Tara and her fiancé. He’s immediately grouchy the moment she walks through the door, and is right on her case from the get-go. And she’s not really putting up much of a fight, which isn’t too surprising. Tara’s come off as a fairly mild-mannered, polite woman thus far, and her reaction to her fiancé’s protests and complaints seemed to imply she’d been through this so many times, to the point that she was just tired of fighting.
Still, though, I kept expecting her to show a little more anger, a little more passion. The synopsis for this episode implied that we’d see Tara struggling with the job and her fiancé, but the fiancé actually checked out right at the start of the episode, announcing his plans to fly out to San Francisco the next day, and Tara barely mentioned it the rest of the time. She was sad, sure, but she seemed to kind of just…deal with it. I did like that she briefly talked to Rossi about her problem on the plane ride home, though – his ability to sympathize with her situation, and attempt to reassure her that she’d be okay, was sweet. I like it when Rossi’s in “wisdom dispenser” mode.
This would explain, though, why Tara sounded kind of dispassionate a couple weeks ago when she was talking about how much she loves her fiancé and brought up her concerns about women being more attracted to him now that he’s engaged. From the brief snippet of him we saw here, I could see why she might’ve worried about him straying.
Bottom line, though, he’s gone, and it looks like he’s gone for good. Whether or not he returns next episode and they manage to patch things up, nobody knows, because at the end of the episode, we see Tara meeting up with a prisoner named Leonard for an interview. He taunts her a little, making insinuations about why she’s really there, and things get rather unsettling for a brief moment.
True to form, though, Tara shrugs off his remarks, and continues the interview. Seems she’s made her decision for the time being. We do know, though, that her time is going to become even more minimal once JJ returns in a couple weeks, if not altogether non-existent eventually. So it’ll be interesting to see if she continues to stay on the job, or if she ultimately does decide to hop a plane and join her man in San Francisco, or if she goes off to some other job entirely. Time will tell.
What did you think of the episode? Did you guess the twists and turns, or were you just as surprised by them? What’d you think of the creepy nature of the case? Did Morpheus’ mystery work for you? What do you think Tara’s going to do in regards to the job? Share your thoughts in the comments!
