Normally, “Criminal Minds” hasn’t really been the sort of crime drama that does “ripped from the headlines” types of stories. That’s often been more the “Law and Order” franchise’s thing. The show’s certainly used real life cases and criminals for inspiration, of course, but rarely do their cases ever line up almost exactly with real life ones that are still fresh in many people’s minds.
This week’s case was one of those rare exceptions. It’s sort of an unusual combination of the Ariel Castro and Jaycee Dugard cases, with women being held captive and a couple of them being forced to carry their “father’s” children. Fortunately, however, while real life events were a notable inspiration for this story, the episode handled these issues in respectful ways, and still managed to give viewers some semblance of hope even in the midst of so much despair and horror.
The Case:
A young woman is trying to escape out the window of a house. She’s so desperate, she’s using a saw to try and break open the sealed up window. Already we’re getting a sense of how urgent the situation is for her.
Of course, someone’s usually bound to hear a saw going at some point. Fortunately, the person who hears her is not their captor, but rather, another girl. She initially insists the girl trying to break out stop her actions, fearful that they’ll be caught by Daddy (never a good sign when someone says that). But the escapee is hellbent on getting out of here at any cost. After a struggle in which she accidentally knocks the other girl unconscious, she makes her break for freedom, but not before making a promise to a third (!) girl that she’ll be back to help save them. And the third girl is looking awfully ill, so time is of the essence.
The girl with the saw gets away just in time, too. After leaving, a man comes in and manages to rouse the girl who was briefly knocked out. He urges her to come with him, and to leave the sick girl behind. So now we’ve got two girls gone, and one alone and in serious need of medical treatment.
Thankfully, however, after the girl with the saw leaves, she flags down an officer for help. The officer then notifies the BAU, and voila, they now have a case on their hands. The team soon learns that the girl who escaped is named Gina Bryant, and she’s twenty years old. She was kidnapped when she was eight. The police managed to rescue the sick girl, known as Sheila Woods, and got her to a hospital. She’s fifteen, and was also the same age as Gina when she was abducted.
As for the third girl who’s now missing? Her name is Violet. Gina told the officer their captor’s name was Tom, but the team believes that’s likely not his real name. He would’ve changed it to fly under the radar (and by that logic, would’ve changed the girls’ names for similar reasons).
The case gets even weirder when Garcia reveals that the house the girls lived in was owned by an elderly woman named Clara. So is there a chance this sweet, elderly woman is somehow involved in these girls’ captivity?
“Her checking account is active, she pays her bills on time, and if my math is correct, she’s 108 years old.”
Eh, not so much. Her age makes it unlikely she’s even still alive, and even if she were, none of her neighbors have reported seeing her for some time. As the team later discovers, Tom told Clara’s neighbors he was her grandson, and tending to her place, so they never really thought twice about her absence as a result. Of course, this now begs the question: just where is Clara?
But that’s one of the less pressing mysteries at the moment for the team. Right now, their main focus is on finding Violet and arresting Tom. Before leaving, Hotch reveals Tara won’t be joining the team this week, for she’s off on a research project. Looks like it’s just the main five heading out on this case, with their ever-trusty Garcia staying back at the BAU.
So where is Violet? Turns out she and Tom are in a van (of course), driving to who knows where. Violet begs to be let out for a restroom break, but Tom is having none of it. He makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that she will do what he says if she wants to survive, and for the first time we get a glimpse of his cruel demeanor. And I continue to hope that Violet won’t be held captive for long.
Meanwhile, the team continues to learn more unsettling details about the girls’ abductions. They were taken not far from their homes, and the team theorizes Tom must’ve stalked them for a time prior to kidnapping them. Yikes. Hotch divvies up the assignments for the case. Rossi and Morgan will investigate Clara’s house, while he, JJ, and Reid will go to the hospital to try and talk to Gina and Sheila.
The news of what all these girls had been through gets even worse when Hotch, JJ, and Reid arrive at the hospital where Gina and Sheila are being treated. According to a doctor, Sheila had complications from a miscarriage she’d suffered, and she was brutally whipped as well. Gina also had evidence of being whipped, and was still struggling with remnants of old injuries, things like broken bones and intense bruising. The doctor’s anger is palpable as he relays the disgusting information, and he begs the team to catch this sick man.
Unfortunately, Sheila is in no condition to be interviewed right then. Her mom is busy staying vigil as the doctors continue to try and treat her. Gina, on the other hand, is in slightly better shape, and once she wakes up, JJ and Reid focus on interviewing her to try and get more information. The first thing Gina shares is her memory of the day she was abducted. She’d gone to a nearby park to get away from her foster family, whom she apparently didn’t have a great relationship with (she “wasn’t worth the money they paid for her”, she claims, which made my jaw drop). My heart’s going out to this poor girl even more – she left one bad situation only to get caught up in another.
It just so happened that Violet was at that same park that day, waiting for her dad to come get her. Shortly thereafter, Tom arrived with a cute puppy. Once he’d won the girls over with the dog, he lured them away under the guise of telling them they could play with and feed the puppy. Then he knocked them out, threw them in his van, and drove away, making threats towards them and their families to help keep them quiet. A chilling reminder of how easy and simple it can be for some kidnappers to commit their crimes.
It’s at this point that Gina starts having a panic attack at the memories, and she starts sobbing over the puppy. “I never saw him again!”, she cries, and knowing what we know about unsubs’ propensity for abusing and killing animals, that leaves me with a whole lot of disturbing questions that I’m quite certain I do NOT want the answers to. All JJ and Reid can do at this point is try and comfort her while she works through her panicked reaction, and try again with their interview later.
Elsewhere, Rossi and Morgan take a trip out to the house where the girls were held captive to do their own investigation. Just when we think we’ve heard it all about the horror these girls went through, Rossi and Morgan stumble upon a room that has a huge rack on the wall and a whole bunch of torture devices…some of which are quite bloody. Rossi also finds bondage and torture porn in the kitchen, of all places. At this point I’m seriously thinking I’ll need an industrial-sized bottle of brain bleach before the episode’s over, ‘cause ye gods… To say nothing of how utterly creepy it is that this man took a sweet old lady’s home and turned it into such a nightmare dungeon.
Funny thing, though – as messy and grotesque as this house is in many respects, Tom’s room happens to be quite neat and tidy. Add that to him taking care of bills and other aspects of the house, and Morgan theorizes this is a sign of his intense need for control. That’s a mild way of putting it.
This leads Rossi and Morgan to continue discussing Clara a little more. Might Tom be a caretaker for her or her home, as a means of allowing himself access to her place? If so, did he kill her, or did he just bide his time waiting for her to die before taking over her place? Violet was the oldest of the victims. Was there a daughter in Tom’s past that he’s trying to recreate in some incredibly twisted way (dear God, I hope not)? Seems this case just keeps bringing up all sorts of new questions.
Back at the hospital, Gina’s finally managed to calm down, and shares more about her captivity. She theorizes that Tom may have taken Violet to what’s known as “the disappearing place”. Gina had never been there, because she talked back too much to Tom, and “didn’t deserve” to go as a result. Sheila had been there once. Violet, however, had been there multiple times. She was Tom’s favorite, it seemed, and she was the “good” one. Gina says she did get to go with Tom “behind a curtain” in the house a few times. She doesn’t elaborate any further, but, well, I think we can all fill in the blanks, sadly. So much ugh here, I don’t even know where to begin.
She also wanted all the girls to remember their real names, and tried to call them by their real names as often as possible. Hers was Rose, and Tom kept insisting on calling her Rose, much to her chagrin. Sheila’s was Daisy. Apparently Tom wanted to name them all after flowers. Certainly not what one would expect from such an evil man. But Clara happened to like flowers, you see, hence why he chose flowers for substitute names. Gina also reveals that the girls, when they were allowed outside, would plant flowers for Clara. Uh-oh. Looks like it’s time to investigate Clara’s yard. Also, if the flower name thing holds, then Violet is clearly not the missing girl’s real name.
Sheila’s mom also shares some information about her daughter. The day Sheila was abducted, her mom had received a call that she hadn’t shown up at school. I can’t even begin to imagine the terror of that sort of call. It’s at this point that Reid returns with a huge break in the case. Turns out they’ve got a sketch that may be that of Tom, and huzzah, Gina confirms that is indeed a picture of the man who took the girls. From there we learn that the team was right: the unsub’s real name is not Tom. Rather, his real name is Michael Clark Thompson. His mom died when he was young, and his dad was married and divorced five times. He was also abusive, and had a propensity for prostitutes. And apparently Michael decided to emulate his dad’s nasty behavior. What a prince. But at least the team knows who they’re looking for now, so finally, we can celebrate a bit of good news in the case.
Sadly, that good moment passes just as quickly as it arrives when a bunch of doctors suddenly rush into Sheila’s room. By the looks of Sheila’s mom breaking into sobs and the doctor standing there resigned, things are looking pretty grim. And they only get worse: Sheila passes away from her injuries. How cruel a situation for her mom – she finally gets her daughter back, only to lose her again, this time for good, not long afterward. This latest blow just further adds to the team’s resolve to get this guy.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for them to do so. Tom’s still been driving around with Violet, but decides to stop for a break so he can rest. He gives her some food to keep her occupied. Morgan and Rossi, however, get an alert on his van, and eventually corner him. Tom tries to run away, but Morgan’s faster, and takes him down in no time flat. I must admit to feeling some satisfaction over Morgan’s complete lack of sympathy for breaking Tom’s wrist in the process.
So yay, Tom’s been caught! Thank goodness. But it’s not even close to the end of the episode yet. Clearly there is more to this story yet to come.
JJ and Reid take over interviewing Violet. They try and ask her what her real name is, try and tell her the truth about Tom. She’s not having any of it, though. She continues to state that Tom is her “Daddy”, demanding to go see him, insisting the two of them have to go somewhere. Tom’s brainwashed her, and she is as devoted and faithful to him as ever. It’s an unnerving sight.
That said, when JJ breaks the news about Sheila’s death, Violet is deeply upset by the news. She cared about her “sisters” as much as she does Tom. She’s still got some compassion in her. JJ figures this is her way in in terms of trying to get Violet to open up.
Hotch starts interviewing Tom, and the creep actually has the nerve to claim he was “disciplining” the girls, a lie which Hotch swiftly shuts down. He also claims he didn’t kill Clara, and on that, he actually is telling the truth. There’s no evidence she died at his hand. Turns out she passed away in her home of other means, and Tom just happened to get rid of her body after the fact. Not that this somehow makes him any better in the team’s eyes, of course. Tom continues to defend his actions, shows absolutely zero remorse for any of what he did, and doesn’t even seem fazed by the infamous Hotch glare. Talk about a piece of work.
“Nothing to hide, my ass, he’s full of it.”
Rossi isn’t even trying to hide his disgust over Tom, either, and I honestly wouldn’t have complained one bit if he’d hauled off and decked the jerk. While Hotch and Rossi seethe, however, JJ’s stuck on Violet’s intense desire to go somewhere with Tom. Her theory: Violet has a kid she’s desperate to go see. Cut to a shot of two little girls in some dark, small room. One’s offering the other water, reassuring her they’ll both get out soon. Looks like JJ’s on to something.
JJ goes back to try and ask Violet if Tom had ever gotten her pregnant. Initially Violet refuses to discuss that, out of fear of what Tom would say. But finally, through JJ’s reassurances, she opens up. She did get pregnant, and gave birth to two daughters…aka, the two girls held captive in that room. Their names are Lily and Jasmine, and she wants Tom to take her to the place to see them and make sure they’re okay.
While all this is going on, we get a brief moment with Gina coming in to pay her respects to Sheila. She actually apologizes to Sheila’s mom as well, insisting she’d tried to help save her daughter. Sheila’s mom doesn’t respond, but her expression indicates she doesn’t hold her daughter’s death against Gina. It’s one of the most, if not the most, touching and utterly heartbreaking moments in the entire episode, and my god, I just feel a strong urge to hug both of these women.
Speaking of parents, Violet’s actual parents, the Hawthornes, arrive to see her. Violet insists she doesn’t know them, though, and is understandably wary and scared about seeing them. Her mom pulls out a photo, hoping to jog her memory, and her dad calls her by her nickname, “Mellie”. It was short for her real name: Amelia.
Unfortunately, Amelia doesn’t react well – her dad is Tom, after all, and that will never change. The meeting between her and her parents does not end well, and her parents are ushered out of the room.
Meanwhile, Tom’s complete and total gall shows no signs of stopping. He actually dares to ask for a deal before telling Hotch and the team what they want to know. His biggest demand is to see Amelia. Naturally, Hotch isn’t exactly keen on giving this guy what he wants, but after a talk with Rossi, they agree to give it a shot and see what happens, more so out of desperation to save Lily and Jasmine than anything else. The two girls have been alone for a week with very little food or water, and if they don’t get rescued soon, they could end up like Sheila.
Once Tom and Amelia meet up in her room, Amelia apologizes for telling the BAU everything. Tom isn’t angry with her, though. He simply continues to reaffirm that he’s the only person she can trust. He also tells her that they’ll be separated for a while, and she initially doesn’t take this news well at all. She keeps babbling on about how they have to go “get groceries” and “go to the store”, and keeps insisting Tom needs to take her there. Despite all of JJ’s efforts to try and help break Amelia’s devotion to Tom thus far, she’s still very much under his spell.
Or so it seems, anyway. Amelia’s real parents return then, and something miraculous happens. After Tom tries once again to remind Amelia that he’ll be her “daddy” forever, Amelia takes one look at her actual parents, thinks about how they treated her in comparison to how Tom treated her, and that seems to be the deal breaker. She states her real name, angrily dismissing Tom. He’s horrified by her reaction, but before he can properly react, Rossi and Hotch escort him out of the hospital room. As they do so, Rossi tells Tom he will not be getting his deal, to which I say, “Thank God”.
So the team runs with this whole “getting groceries, going to the store” thing, and through some of Garcia’s awesome internet skills, they’re able to find out where Violet’s daughters are being held. Apparently Tom kept Lily and Jasmine in another house that was owned by another person who’s now deceased. Lily hears the team coming, and tries to wake Jasmine to alert her that they’re being rescued.
But to our horror, Jasmine’s not responding. This case has been tough enough to watch already, if they lose one more child…
By the grace of any and all deities above, though, Jasmine survives, and there’s a beautiful, emotional reunion between Violet, her daughters, and her parents later that night. Amelia and Gina also share a heartwarming moment later on as well. Two girls who went to hell and back, and who made it out with their strength intact. In the midst of such a dark and tragic case, that kind of hope and testament to the human spirit is sorely needed and welcome.
As the episode comes to a close, Hotch and Rossi are escorting Tom out, and Rossi is gleefully gloating away about Tom’s upcoming time in prison.
And then there’s a gunshot.
All of a sudden, Tom’s bleeding out on the floor, and hospital security is slapping the cuffs on Sheila’s mom. And that’s how the episode ends. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m left hoping that Sheila’s shooting Tom will be seen as justifiable and she’ll get a very light sentence at most, and wanting to say “good riddance” to an evil man.
A very tough, difficult case to watch, to be sure, but certainly one of the more powerful ones of the season thus far. This case seemed to have echoes of “Mosley Lane” throughout, with these young girls having to escape after years of captivity at the hands of abusive adults, and being made to believe you’re someone you aren’t. And yet despite the similarities, this case still held up on its own merits, and didn’t play as a mere replica of a much stronger episode.
Despite the notorious cases that inspired this story, I very much appreciate that the show didn’t handle the storyline in a sensationalistic way. We didn’t have to witness Tom torturing these women (thank goodness), nor did we have to spend much time in the place that became their prison. Instead, the focus was entirely on the women and their struggle to adjust to their newfound freedom, as well as the impact of their captivity on their families. Also, Tom was treated like the scumbag he was, there was virtually no sympathy for his evil deeds. This episode was a good reminder that sometimes the team does encounter unsubs whose evil is so deep that they’re unable to comprehend, understand, or sympathize with it.
The comparison between Gina and Amelia’s struggles to break away from the mind control they’d been subjected to was handled well, too. Gina had an easier time with it, whereas Amelia took longer, but despite the differences, both women’s struggles were treated with equal respect and sympathy. The actresses were fantastic in their roles throughout, knowing just how to make us viewers care for them and their plight.
I also loved seeing the way this case impacted the rest of the team, and the division of team assignments throughout. Rossi and Morgan working together when exploring the house was a good idea, because they would have similar reactions to the horrors they discovered. Their shared anger was very apparent throughout, and a great means of catharsis for viewers who no doubt felt a similar sort of anger and revulsion at Tom’s crimes.
And Hotch may have stayed at the hospital with JJ and Reid the entire time, but he did a seamless job of being the go-between for everything regarding Gina and Amelia as well as the investigation into Tom. His anger was quite apparent, too, of course – he kept it a little more restrained than Rossi and Morgan did, but it was very much there. But he’s the team leader, and he had to keep everything running smoothly, and he did that perfectly. Well, at least up to the very end, anyway.
As for Reid and JJ, having them spend time with the women was a perfect touch, because of their shared gentle, calm, soft-spoken demeanors. Reid didn’t intimidate Gina and Amelia, making it easier for them to trust and talk to him. The scene with him pushing Gina’s wheelchair at one point was a sweet touch, too, as was his genuine and obvious emotion for these girls as he heard about all the tragic things they went through. And I loved the way he and JJ worked together throughout – waiting in Gina’s hospital room, sharing interview duties, keeping the women safe and protected both from Tom and the trauma of everything with Sheila for as long as possible. They were a united front, and were just as quietly supportive of each other as they were of the girls.
As great as everyone was on this case, however, this was a standout episode for JJ in particular. I absolutely loved the way she talked to Gina and Amelia throughout. She was great at being serious when needed while still trying to have a few lighter conversations with them (explaining how tablets work, for instance). She was comforting, knew all the right questions to ask and how to ask them, and I liked how she used motherly thinking to help alert the team to the situation with Lily and Jasmine. It was a great throwback to her media liaison days in many ways, and her ability to talk to and comfort victims and their loved ones.
And while the episode never explicitly touched on or talked about it, it was also very clear the mentions of Sheila’s miscarriage, as well as the torture all three women went through, had quite an effect on JJ. I could almost see her mind going back to everything with Askari and Hastings throughout. And while I wouldn’t have minded a little actual discussion between JJ and another team member about that aspect of the case, and the memories it might’ve dredged up, at the same time, I think keeping JJ’s reactions subtle throughout spoke volumes, and made her role in the case that much more powerful and important. These are the sorts of cases I like best, the ones where we get to see the effects on everyone involved to some degree or another. It’s episodes like this that drew me and many other viewers into the show, and it’s great to see that eleven seasons in, they can still pull out powerful and emotional stories like this one.
Just like with “The Bond”, there wasn’t really anything going on on the personal story side of things this week. Instead, we’re left with a case that ended tragically in many ways, but which still gives us a glimpse of hope that Amelia, Lily, Jasmine, and Gina may one day regain full control of their lives.
Looks like we’re on another break between episodes next week, but after that, we’ll be back to a regular weekly pattern of new episodes for a while. So once again, I will see you all in a couple weeks!
What did you think of this week’s episode? Did you like seeing how invested JJ was in helping the girls? Did you enjoy Hotch and Rossi’s combative interaction with Tom? Did the nod to such a notable real life case help draw you in further, or did it hit a little too close to home? Do you feel Tara’s absence in this episode is a sign she’ll be moving on soon, or is it just a temporary absence? Share your thoughts in the comments!
