So did everyone enjoy the recent calm before the storm that this episode brought? After the sheer intensity that was “Entropy” back in January, we got a nice little breather for a while with this show. The team was okay and life was, comparatively speaking, fine.
But now it looks like things are about to start picking up again in quite a heavy way. And I know, I know, that everyone wants to focus on and discuss what happened in the final moments of the episode.
But since there was also a case this week, we must touch on that storyline as well. So let’s get that out of the way first.
The Case:
There’s been a recent rash of killings in the infamous City of Angels. Two women, Isabella Jayne and Gertude Smiles, were attacked and suffocated in their homes. Gertude was killed with a rug, Isabella with some bedsheets, and their killer wrapped them up in the very items with which they were murdered. Gertude was in her forties, a brunette, and worked from home, and Isabella was in her twenties, blonde, and a marketing executive, so there’s no specific similar pattern in terms of victimology. But there was no sign of a break in at either home, so the team theorizes they either must’ve known their killer, or he used some sort of ruse to let himself into their homes. So at least that, along with the particular method of killing, gives the team something consistent to work with.
While the team’s discussing the details of the case and preparing to fly out, we see a man come to another woman’s home. He makes mention of the recent home invasions and murders, and asks to speak with the lady living there. He works in law enforcement, and wants to see if she’s witnessed anything unusual that could prove helpful to the case. After a moment’s hesitation, she invites him in. We learn that her name is Patricia Brannon, and she did indeed see something odd recently: a van with the label, “All City Cable” on it. A possible clue!
As Patricia talks to the man, though, he becomes increasingly uncomfortable. He’s shifting in his seat, tugging at his tie, looking like he’s getting a bit warm. Patricia offers to get him some water.
Big mistake. While she’s in the kitchen, the man sneaks up behind her and…smothers her with a gloved hand, proceeding to wrap her up afterward. This is evidently our unsub, and the team now has a third victim to add to their list.
Once the BAU arrives in L.A., Hotch and JJ go to the police station. They’re greeted by Agent Natalie Colfax, whom we last saw way back in this season’s second episode, “The Witness”. A nice bit of continuity. She informs them that the local police have already crafted a list of three potential suspects, all of which have been involved in previous crimes that looked fairly similar to the ones happening here. Two of the three suspects were caught, and their alibis have checked out, but a man named William Synder is looking rather good. He’s got a history of breaking and entering and sexual violence against women…and he’s nowhere to be found.
Elsewhere, Rossi and Morgan take a look at Patricia’s neighborhood. She lived in an apartment complex, and what looks to be a particularly small one at that, yet nobody seemed to have seen or heard anything unusual. The complex is a gated one, too, which leads Rossi and Morgan to imagine the various ways the unsub could’ve gotten inside. They figure that his ability to get in and out of the complex without being seen or heard proves he’s organized and efficient. This is likely not his first time committing serious violent crimes.
They also notice that the complex has security cameras, so Rossi and Morgan work on getting the footage back to the police station in the hopes of getting more answers, as well as perhaps even seeing the unsub himself.
Meanwhile, at the morgue, Reid examines Patricia’s body. No signs of sexual assault, the unsub stuck to his usual M.O., so this adds to the theory that he’s efficient. He doesn’t spend much time with his victims, and his rolling them in sheets (or rugs) means he’s struggling with issues tied to claustrophilia. Reid also notices there’s bite marks in Patricia’s sheets, meaning she tried to chew through them in the hopes of being able to breathe. That’s an unsettling and heartbreaking thing to picture.
Back at the station, Colfax gets some news on William Synder. Turns out he was recently arrested for a DUI, so he’s a criminal, just not the specific one they’re looking for. She joins Hotch and JJ in observing the recently acquired security footage, and voila! There’s their unsub! What luck! He doesn’t seem to give a damn about the fact that the cameras are there, either – in fact, he knows full well where they are. So he’s clearly not afraid of being caught. The only attempt he makes at covering anything involves the left side of his neck. He keeps putting his hand there, keeps tugging at his shirt collar on that side. Clearly he’s got some sort of identifying marker that he doesn’t want seen.
Hotch and JJ aren’t too focused on that at the moment, though. Rather, they’re more interested in seeing what sort of ruse he used to get into Patricia’s home. A closer look reveals that he shows some sort of credentials. The sorts of credentials that an FBI agent would use. Dun, dun, dun…
“If he’s one of our own, I will take personal pleasure in taking this son of a bitch down.”
Hotch offers to stay behind at the station and keep an eye on the officers working there, observe their general demeanor. Agent Colfax leads JJ and Rossi to the S.C.I.F., a secret room that allows easy access to anything that helps them properly scrutinize any and all male agents in the Bureau. Garcia uses her trusty computers and research skills to try and help, but she doesn’t see any connection between the male agents and the crime scene coordinates. Nor can she find any recent incidents of FBI credentials being reported stolen. Rossi offers to stay at the S.C.I.F. with Colfax and continue digging through the list of possible suspects, and JJ heads out meets up with Reid and Morgan to work on other aspects of the investigation.
Rossi and Colfax manage to narrow the list down to five men who’ve had disciplinary issues, and Garcia’s continued searching knocks it down to three. Mike Belmont, Dennis Giza, and Marcus Levi. Colfax rules Belmont out – he’s an upstanding officer and has nothing in his background that would indicate this sort of behavior. Giza and Levi, however, had their cell phones ping near three of the crime scenes. Levi’s was at the first and second ones, Giza’s at the first and third. Could there actually be two people involved? A team killing?
The latest victim winds up disproving that theory, though. Her name is Mary Lenahan, and her home doesn’t fit within the comfort zone, nor does the timeline of the killings fit. So that takes Giza and Levi off the suspect list. Plus, if it were two killers, the M.O.s would likely have some variance along the way. But just like all the other women, Mary was suffocated and wrapped up. Only instead of sheets, she was found in her shower curtain.
JJ and Reid interview Mary’s husband. He’s clearly grieving, regretting not saying goodbye to her that morning. His schedule did allow for Mary to be alone for a period of time, but he also did have some flexibility that would allow him to come home early in the day (which is how he found her). JJ finds this a bit odd, given the unsub’s meticulous planning. He stalked all his victims beforehand, so surely he would’ve known that there was a risk he’d run into her husband along the way. And Mary’s the only one of the victims who was married as well – what made him pick her instead of another single woman? Considering he’s also not concerned with being seen on security cameras, maybe the risk was part of the thrill? If he’s willing to take more risks, though, and if his time between kills is getting shorter and shorter, that means he’s becoming more and more dangerous.
Fortunately, one of Mary’s neighbors is able to give JJ, Reid, and Morgan a little more information (side note: it’s a good thing all three of them were standing together at her door as they flashed their badges, ‘cause if only one of them came to talk to her, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she slammed the door on them out of fear). She claims saw a man come out of Mary’s apartment around 10:30 am. She just assumed Mary was having an affair with this man, though, because he was buttoning up his shirt and straightening his tie as he left.
But she also noticed something that seemed, to her, out of place with his sharp business outfit – a spider-web tattoo…on the left side of his neck. The tattoo proves that he’s not an FBI agent, since that would not be regulation. Rather, he’s done time in prison, thus explaining his criminal planning skills. He’s arrogant, too, thrives off the respect being an officer of the law gets him, and loves to prey on the vulnerable. But how did he learn to pretend to be an FBI agent? And where are his claustrophilia issues coming from?
An exploration of one of the neighborhoods leads Rossi and Morgan to run into a local officer guarding another house in the area. Their conversation leads to an intriguing, and terrifying, discovery. It turns out that shortly before all the murders, there was a homicide or a rape that happened within mere blocks of where all of the victims lived. This leads the team to conclude that that’s how this man makes his ruse so believable: he looks for any reports of violent crimes in the neighborhood, and comes to women’s doors claiming to be an FBI agent investigating said crimes. Naturally, they trust him and agree to help, and ta da, he’s got entry to their homes. It’s a disturbingly simple plan.
Based on this latest information, the BAU works with the officers in setting up a ruse to lure the unsub in. They’ll claim there was a crime of the sort he’s looking for, and hope that he responds accordingly. At first, their plan looks to be working. We see him listening to a scanner and checking what crimes are being reported, and he finds one that looks appealing to him. He appears to be falling right into their trap.
But along the way, he’s stopped by a local officer. The man asks to see his credentials…and that’s when the unsub snaps, shooting the officer and hightailing it out of there. Busted.
Fortunately, the officer, while wounded, survives the encounter. He tells Rossi and Reid that he didn’t quite recognize the guy at first, assuming perhaps he was a boyfriend, but once he saw the neck tattoo he knew this guy was their man. He also noticed a baseball cap that had a rifle design – white and red, crossed in an x form – sitting in the window of the unsub’s car, and that particular detail jumps out at Rossi.
Turns out the rifle picture was a design for official caps for Camp Brussell, a firing range at Quantico. The place shut down ten years prior, but when it existed, each class that came through had a unique design on their official caps. This particular rifle one, according to Rossi, was from the class of 1988. Cue some more investigation from Garcia, and she finds an Agent Ed Solsbeck who was in the academy at that time. Reid and JJ go to interview him…only to find him shot to death. More investigation into Ed’s life shows that he volunteered at an organization called New Start, which tried to help criminals get back into society. The unsub, whose name is Andrew Meeks, was among the criminals Ed had tried to help. Andrew learned all about the FBI through Ed’s stories of his work with them, and unfortunately used all he learned for his own nefarious gain.
They also learn more about Andrew himself. He served fifteen years in prison for attempting to murder a high school classmate. Seems said classmate, along with some girls, wrapped him up in a gym mat as part of a humiliating prank, and he was evidently still very traumatized over that incident. He had an unpleasant home life, too – his stepfather made him wear his soiled underwear in public (ew). Further humiliation. Andrew also showed signs of severe antisocial tendencies, to the point where a psychiatrist actually warned about his violent nature prior to his release from prison. Ed apparently tried to sound the alarm as well, and that’s what wound up costing him his life.
Thankfully, Andrew doesn’t stay in the wind for long. The local police, as well as Reid and JJ, corner him. Unfortunately, he’s holding a woman hostage. Reid and JJ proceed to try and talk Andrew down, Reid pleading for him to give up, JJ trying to use an empathic appeal. For a moment, it looks like JJ’s words have made an impact on Andrew, because he thankfully shoves the woman away from him.
But then he turns his gun on JJ and begins shooting at her! Luckily, she ducks just in time, and it’s all over in a matter of seconds as Reid shoots Andrew dead. There’s a sweet moment of relieved affection between Reid and JJ afterward, but as she and Reid investigate Andrew’s “credentials”, they realize that he merely pasted his photo on top of Ed’s in the badge. Creepy. At least Andrew’s demise means the people of L.A. can breathe a little easier once again, though.
The promos for this episode kinda gave away the general premise, but I still found the setup an interesting one all the same. This certainly isn’t the first time the team’s worked cases where people in trustworthy positions of power – medical employees, community mentors, officers – have warped and abused that trust, but those cases always remain some of the most chilling ones for me all the same. Sadly, this is something that happens in real life, too, and the fact that it’s often so easy for these people to create these ruses to commit their crimes is horrifying.
I do wish the episode had touched on that aspect of things a little more, though. I liked seeing Mary’s neighbor who, despite her nosiness, was still wary of talking to the team, given a neighbor right across the way had just been murdered by someone claiming to be an FBI agent. And the scene between Patricia and Andrew early on in the episode was a good example of how knowing what’s about to happen just makes the scene that much more horrifying and tense. But perhaps it would’ve been interesting if one of these women had managed to survive their ordeal, and we got to see them struggle to deal with the realization that they were nearly killed by someone they presumed to be trustworthy.
Or maybe the episode could’ve explored the issue of Andrew’s looks a little more, too. Yes, he covered his tattoo so as not to be identified, but would these women still have let him in if he hadn’t hidden the tattoo? Many people have them nowadays, after all, even professional people, so it wouldn’t necessarily be that unusual, contrary to what Mary’s neighbor believed. The women also let him in because he looked trustworthy and flashed a badge. There’s plenty of men who look like him, plenty of men with badges both false and real, who’ve committed crimes, yet people still believe men like him can’t possibly be criminals, or don’t look the way they believe a criminal would or should look. I think that could’ve been an interesting aspect to touch on a little further.
I’m also a bit torn on whether or not I would’ve wanted Andrew to be an actual FBI agent. On the one hand, creating this huge ruse definitely added to his creep factor, as did seeing just how easy it was for him to come up with a whole new identity.
But if he had been an actual agent, or even a local officer, that could’ve added to the tension, too. Seeing the team working with people they may or may not be able to trust is always fascinating, as is seeing them react to one of their own going down a dark path. Plus, if this guy had worked his way through the FBI and had the sort of legit control and power that such a job gave him, that would’ve made him an even more intimidating and imposing unsub.
These are just minor nitpicks, though. The case wasn’t a bad one, it was pretty quick-paced and had a few unpredictable elements to it (I liked the bit with the team setting up a ruse, and the unsub scanning for crimes in the area as a means to cover for the ones he committed was a creepy touch). Just theorizing about a few other routes the story could’ve gone, other avenues that would’ve been worth exploring if they had the opportunity.
Admittedly, though, even without those nitpicks, the case still wound up being more of a passing interest in general for me. Knowing what we know about the episode following this one – it’s named after Morgan, and involves him being abducted – I had a sinking suspicion this episode would end on an ominous cliffhanger. So I was pretty much on pins and needles most of the episode, observing everything going on with Morgan and just waiting for any hints of something bad happening on the horizon.
Obviously, I was right to be worried.
Meanwhile, on the personal front…:
“You’re probably completely screwed, but good luck anyway.”
We start the episode with Morgan having received a very ominous-sounding text from Savannah, which consists of two short, to the point sentences: “Dinner tonight? We need to talk.”
As most people will confirm, the phrase “We need to talk” is generally never a good sign for any relationship. Morgan even points out that fact to a rather unhelpful Rossi (who’s also evidently familiar with that phrase, having been married three times), noting that he’s received that sort of text enough times in the past. A breakup must surely be on the horizon. Brief jokes and teasing comments from Rossi and Garcia aside, though, Morgan doesn’t get a chance to mull over the text, or talk to Savannah, because the case provides a (welcome?) distraction.
On the plane ride home, however, Morgan finally gets a chance to sort all this out. He texts Savannah back, and happily, she sounds a lot more chipper in her responses to him. She still doesn’t tell Morgan what she wants to discuss with him, but she does ask him to stop by the store and pick up a few things – notably, some strawberry ice cream. Hmmm. Could that be a hint as to the kind of discussion she wants to have?
Morgan’s starting to feel even more relieved when we later see him leaving a grocery store with a few bags. This time, he gets a chance to give Savannah a proper call, and while she continues to remain tight-lipped about the specifics of this talk, she assures him that it has nothing to do with a breakup (whew). In fact, when we see a glimpse of Savannah, she looks to be attempting to hold back an eager smile, and she also tells him she’s actually very happy (again, hmmm…).
So hooray! All’s well that ends well.
Or not.
Morgan’s so caught up in talking to Savannah that he randomly bumps into not one, but two guys as he heads down the sidewalk. The first run-in appears to be just a simple “didn’t see you there” sort of incident. No biggie.
The second time, however, the guy Morgan bumps into immediately becomes very antagonistic towards him, telling him to watch where he’s going. He continues to egg Morgan on, acting like he wants to challenge him to some sort of fight, but Morgan just wants the guy to back off so he can go home. Meanwhile, we hear Savannah on the other end of the phone, sounding understandably confused and a little concerned as to what’s going on.
Unfortunately, as Morgan tries to respond to the man’s anger, he becomes more and more woozy…and what’s worse, he also starts to waver and appear incredibly dazed. Uh-oh…
By this point, some other men have shown up and are crowding around him, and considering none of them are rushing to help Morgan or chase the angry guy away, that’s a very bad sign. One member of the group holds up what looks like some sort of needle or pin or something, and another mutters that “it’s taking too long” as he watches Morgan continue to struggle and stagger about. Morgan’s been drugged.
Before completely blacking out, however, he thankfully manages to urge a now deeply panicked Savannah to call Hotch. That’s the last she hears of him, though, for after that, the men begin to jump Morgan and beat the crap out of him, and his phone is destroyed. Suddenly, a possible breakup has become the absolute least of Morgan’s worries. And judging from the sheer terror that is the promo for the next episode, things are going to get even more unbearably nightmarish for him.
Strap yourselves in, guys, ‘cause it looks like we’re in for one hell of a bumpy ride.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Did the case make you think twice about opening the door to law enforcement officials? Did you think the case would’ve worked better if the unsub had been a member of law enforcement, or did his pretending make his ruse all the more chilling? What do you think Savannah wanted to discuss with Morgan? And lastly, and most importantly, who do you think has kidnapped Morgan, and how do you foresee this attack, and its aftermath, playing out for him going forward? Share your thoughts in the comments!
