We’re baaaaack!
And what a way to return, too – to say it’s been a rollercoaster of a summer for this show and the fandom would be quite the understatement. After a nail-biting period last May in which season eleven ended with the cast, crew, and viewers wondering if the show would be returning for a twelfth season, the show got the good news it’d been waiting for. The news cycle got even more exciting in mid-summer with the announcement that Paget Brewster was planning to return to the show for a handful of episodes, and Aisha Tyler’s promotion to series regular. All was well, everyone was content, the show was chugging along with filming, la, la, la, happy times galore.
Then came August.
The chaos behind the scenes that led to cast member Thomas Gibson being suspended, then fired, from the show has since cast a rather sad pall over what should have been an exciting season premiere, leaving the fandom split and the show and network in a rather awkward position. It hasn’t all been bad news, though, thankfully. Paget Brewster has joined Aisha Tyler in rejoining the show as a series regular, which came as a rather pleasant surprise to many fans, and we have not one, but two completely new characters to get to know as this season progresses. Whew! It’s been enough to make one’s head spin a little.
Now I understand this is a lot of change to adjust to. I understand emotions running high on all sides. I won’t get into my personal stance on the issue itself, or discuss any of the rumors or theories about why things unfolded as they did. The only thing I will say, and I will say it once and only once at that, is that whatever side one takes on this entire situation, whatever opinions they may have about Gibson or the new characters or the changing team dynamics, please, above all else, remain respectful of others. That goes for fans, Gibson, the rest of the cast, the crew, everybody. Disagreement does not equal disrespect, and I hope people can remember that going forward.
Okay. Now, with that out of the way, let’s move on to discussion of the actual episode itself, shall we?
The Case:
A young man is stumbling through the Arizona desert. He’s got some sort of bar attached to his back, his arms spread out across it as though he were on the beginnings of a cross, and he’s covered in blood.
Fortunately, he’s soon rescued by a trucker and brought to a local hospital. The young man is revealed to be Brian Phillips, and upon hearing about his injuries, the police fear that this could be the work of a killer who they’d dealt with a few years prior. They extend an invitation to the FBI to help them, and Hotch and Tara make the trip out to take a look.
Once they see the message carved into the young man’s stomach, however, that’s when things take an even more ominous turn. That message? “BAU”. Oh, yeah. They’re bringing EVERYONE in now.
So just who’s behind this incredibly disturbing, taunting crime? Initially the team believes that an unsub known as the “Crimson King” is back at work. The unsub’s real name is Daniel Cullen, and he had been caught years before, thanks to the previous work of new team member Luke Alvez (more on him later). He was also one of the thirteen prisoners that had managed to escape in the big prison break from last season. He was an “injustice collector” known for carving creepy messages into his male victims’ stomachs and female victims’ foreheads (ow). The main issue the team’s running up against with Phillips is that the wounds to his stomach are much shallower than the ones Cullen used to make on his victims. He doesn’t fit Cullen’s previous victimology, either, nor is the message carved into him consistent with the ones Cullen made prior. But unsubs can and do change their methods all the time, and the fact that there is a message carved, and carved into a male victim’s stomach at that, is enough for the team to consider connecting the crime to Cullen. So is the team right? Has Cullen resumed his crime spree?
Ehhhhhh...sort of. See, he wasn’t exactly working alone this time around. In fact, he wasn’t really working at all. Confused? Well, turns out when Cullen escaped in the big prison break, he happened to run into a killer the team IS very familiar with. Said prisoner kidnapped Cullen, and has been holding him captive ever since.
That prisoner? None other than Mr. Scratch himself, Peter Lewis. And to make matters worse, Cullen wasn’t his only personal prisoner, either. Lewis had also abducted a young man by the name of Brian Phillips, whom he’d met at a DID (dissociative identity disorder) support group. Phillips had shown signs of having a severe form of DID in his childhood, stemming from growing up in an abusive foster care system. His DID was so bad that it caused him to create two very distinct alternate identities known as Eliza and Angelica.
Thing is, though, Phillips’ last episode occurred when he was twelve, and he eventually got adopted into a kind and loving family, which helped ease his DID symptoms significantly. He still went to a support group, but otherwise, he believed he’d gotten his disorder under control.
And he had. Until Lewis got a hold of him, that is. Once in his captivity, Lewis managed to manipulate Phillips’ DID and trigger it again, to the point where he forced Phillips to carve the message into his own stomach (thus explaining the shallow nature of the wounds). He also convinced Phillips to attack both a girl he’d befriended in the support group and a cop working the current case. Basically, Lewis had lead Phillips to believe that he was actually the Crimson King, not Cullen, and turned him into a killer. He’s done such a number on Phillips, in fact, that he barely has to persuade Phillips to carve the word “imposter” into Cullen’s stomach, as some sort of twisted symbolic “passing of the torch”.
Luckily, the BAU arrive just in time to put an end to Phillips’ burgeoning crime spree. Tara and JJ ultimately manage to snap Phillips out of his latest episode by appealing to his affection for “Eliza” and “Angelica”, and take him down without further incident.
Peter Lewis doesn’t seem too bothered about losing these latest playthings of his, though. At episode’s end, we see him sitting in a house, looking at a sheet of paper with a list of names. He circles the name Desmond Leto, says, “There you are”, and smiles. Looks like he’s got his next victim in his sights already.
So Mr. Scratch is still using his manipulation ruse and turning innocent people into unsubs. No surprise there, but it’s the new wrench Mr. Scratch throws into this latest sick game of his that’s particularly unsettling.. When Phillips attacked the girl he knew from the support group, he carved a very specific name into her forehead.
That name? Hotch. Cue my stomach slowly starting to sink...
And that’s not all. Oh, no. Lewis also managed to sprinkle other nods to the team throughout the case – an address named after Rossi, the use of JJ’s name as a random caller…
...and his horrifying pièce de résistance: using Reid’s name and other personal information such as his social security number to create a new persona to “hide” under when attending the DID support group (and which he also used to buy things from a sex shop, which was an amusing bit of levity in an otherwise terrifying situation).
And thus we have the setup for a potential season-long story arc, with Peter Lewis working his way through controlling the other unsubs the team has yet to catch, and continuing to haunt their every waking moment. I’ve been excited about this premise since the end of last season, and this episode only further piqued my interest. Mr. Scratch is one of the creepier unsubs the team’s dealt with in recent years, and I’d been curious to see what other havoc he could create for the team at large ever since his debut episode. This setup, of course, begs many questions. What other means will he use to taunt the team? How personal will his attacks on them become? We saw what he managed to do to Hotch’s mind, after all, what he nearly managed to get Hotch to do to his own team. Will he follow their hunt for the remaining escapees and manipulate the unsubs in those cases, too, along with their usual array of weekly unsubs? Will he eventually tire of manipulating people and go so far as to do his own dirty work? So many possibilities here that have me both intrigued…
...and very, very nervous. I’m particularly scared about the fact that Mr. Scratch used Reid’s name not just as his cover, but more specifically, a cover to infiltrate a support group involving a certain mental illness that Reid’s had experience dealing with in the past (Hankel, Adam/Amanda, to name a couple notable cases). Add in the fact that Reid’s mom is going to appear on the show later this season in a “heavy” storyline for Reid, and I’m suddenly deeply, deeply worried about her fate, as well as Reid himself. Is Mr. Scratch going to target Diana Reid down the line? Is he going to try and manipulate her, or Spencer, to do something truly horrific? If Diana is on Mr. Scratch’s target list, will she survive? Every option I keep thinking up frankly sounds worse than the last.
My only hope is that this storyline could maybe play out similar to the one in “The Fisher King” - Diana was a large part of that case, too, but she was spared that particular unsub’s wrath. Yeah, it’d be repeating a storyline if they went that route, but in this particular case, I would accept it if it means Diana survives and Reid is spared the pain of losing yet another loved one. Until then, anyone want to join me in a prayer circle for the Reid family and help build a big ol’ protective shield for them?
Of course, I would be remiss in addressing the obvious, equally troubling, elephant in the room: how is everything with Mr. Scratch going to impact Hotch’s upcoming exit from the show? Hotch is always going to be Mr. Scratch’s main target, given their face-off a couple seasons ago, and he made that abundantly clear on this case with the carving of Hotch’s name into a victim’s forehead. Is he going to make Hotch mysteriously “disappear”? Will we learn down the line that Mr. Scratch got the upper hand and killed him? Will he drive Hotch to resign, never to set foot in FBI headquarters again?
As of now, my feeling is that, compared to the rest of the team, Hotch might actually get off relatively lucky here. I know many are naturally concerned about the possibility of Hotch being killed off, but I’m sticking to the belief that the show won’t make young Jack an orphan. There are two main outcomes I think seem most likely here:
1. Hotch resign because Mr. Scratch has him so concerned and he wants to avoid a repeat of the Foyet tragedy. On a personal level for Hotch, this one makes perfect sense. He was clearly distraught over how affected Jack was by seeing him arrested in last season’s finale, and he wouldn’t dare want to put his son through any more tragedy and pain if he could help it. He’d also want to spare Jessica the same potential fate as her sister. Yes, he’s dedicated to his job, but he’s also fiercely protective of his family, and recent events could finally be the wake-up call Hotch needs to ease up on the job and spend more time at home.
On a professional level, however, this possibility wouldn’t quite fit, because given that Mr. Scratch is a personal nemesis for Hotch, and given how equally protective he is of his team, no way would he just up and quit and leave the team in a lurch to deal with Mr. Scratch himself. He would want to solve that case, for the BAU’s sake as well as his own. So this leads us to the second possibility.
2. Hotch is ordered to take an assignment elsewhere, but still manages to keep tabs on Mr. Scratch from where he is, and passes any observations and information he has on to the team.
This option seems the most fitting and logical way to go. We already know that the show will be having Hotch on some other assignment as a means of explaining his absence. And given the DOJ investigation of him at the end of last season, if they still believe he had some role in that prison break, or if they believe there could be a conflict of interest with him working this Mr. Scratch case, or, hell, if somebody in the DOJ happens to secretly be working with Mr. Scratch, it seems fitting the higher ups would order his attention elsewhere, either as a distraction or punishment.
And yet, even though we won’t see Hotch, if we hear the team mentioning any information Hotch gives them, that can be a good way to imply that he’s still helping the team from afar, which is just the sort of thing Hotch would do in such a situation. That angle would also be nice in the sense that it would be a way for the show to possibly try and placate any viewers who are sad that Hotch isn’t there, and reassure them that the show and Thomas Gibson haven’t completely burned any bridges, that no matter the personal issues, they still have a fond affection for Aaron Hotchner himself, and want to keep him alive and show him being there for his team.
If the show doesn’t make any further reference to Hotch after his last episode airs next week, however? That’s when I’d start worrying about his fate. Even Gideon got mentioned from time to time after Mandy Patinkin’s abrupt, poorly done exit from the show, though, so I like to think this isn’t the last we’ll hear of Hotch.
Two other team members find themselves particularly affected by this case as well: Tara Lewis and new guy Luke Alvez. Tara spends much of the episode in the hospital, attempting to get Brian Phillips to open up about his past, his attack, and his “friends”. She succeeds, but it’s at a price. She tells a local cop about the list of Phillips’ fellow support group friends, and it’s the cop’s mention of that list that adds him to Phillips’ list of victims. Needless to say, Tara is deeply shaken by this turn of events, and winds up blaming herself and feeling immense guilt over the entire situation. JJ tries to reassure her that she was simply doing her job, but Tara doesn’t seem convinced.
As much as I felt for Tara here, I love that the show allowed her character to get so personally invested in this case. Every team member gets to that point where there’s a case, an unsub, that haunts them for the rest of their life. Hotch had Foyet, Reid had Hankel, Morgan had Buford, Elle had Garner, and so on and so forth. Perhaps this case, this unsub, will be Tara’s. I very much hope the show can explore this aspect of her character as the season goes on, because I think it would reveal a lot of fascinating layers for her.
There’s also her comment to Phillips at one point about how his attack doesn’t define his life. Sure, that’s something the team says to victims regularly, but the way Tara said it here seemed to imply she has some firsthand understanding of that statement. Wondering if my assumptions about that will be proven correct.
As for Luke? His personal connection to this case becomes clear right away. In fact, it doesn’t take us long to learn much about him at all.
My Name Is Luke:
Another season, another new team member to get to know. In a rather refreshing change of pace, however, instead of going through the ever-revolving door of new female team members, this time it’s a man joining the team. When viewers first see him, he’s in the midst of working a case in Texas with his current unit, the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force. He’s doing undercover work, trying to stop what looks to be some sort of attempt to smuggle fugitives across the border, and he’s pretty good at it, too. So good, in fact, that Rossi meets up with him, and personally offers him an invitation to talk with Hotch and join the team. He feels Alvez’ skills will prove quite useful in helping them nab the remaining escaped killers they’re trying to hunt down.
He’s right, too. Luke plays a prominent role in helping take down the Crimson King and his copycat buddy. Hotch even asks Luke’s opinion on the profile at one point, sensing that he knows something is off with the team’s understanding of the case. Luke even shares his thoughts on an odd aspect of Peter Lewis’ methodology, proving his ability to study up on BAU case histories.
As for why catching this particular unsub was so important to him? Turns out it’s because a former partner of his was one of the Crimson King’s victims. He’d tried to save him, but it was too late, and he had to be a horrified witness to his partner’s death. Because of that, Luke’s not just content to want the Crimson King captured and jailed. No, he wants him dead, to the point where he’d be more than happy to take the fatal shot himself if he got the chance.
It takes a discussion with Hotch to get him to temper some of his anger. Hotch has been there. He knows the desire for revenge, he’s gone so far as to actually kill an unsub who took away someone he cared about. He understands exactly where Luke’s coming from. And it’s for that very reason that he advises Luke against killing the Crimson King when they recapture him. Hotch has also spent enough time in the aftermath of killing Foyet to know that it didn’t bring the closure he thought it would, nor, obviously, did it bring Haley back to him. And that understanding becomes even more apparent in his thoughts about Mr. Scratch. He wants to capture him, there is no question about that. But he has no plans to kill him. This was an intriguing insight into the lessons Hotch has learned from Foyet, and a subtle way for the show to acknowledge that Hotch’s pursuit of this latest unsub would, hopefully, play out very differently from his pursuit of Foyet.
Another nice thing about Luke is that when he does express disagreement, like in the above discussion with Hotch, or when he offers suggestions or aid, it never once comes off as some sort of arrogance or disrespect for the BAU’s methods. Rather, he ‘s quite eager to help, and he knows how to prove himself without appearing desperate. In fact, for most of the episode, he’s actually rather hesitant to join the BAU full-time. Not because he doesn’t appreciate what they do, but because he’s concerned about his own ability to handle the stress and time-consuming nature of their job. After a brief, reassuring talk with Hotch, however, he accepts, and so begins Luke’s journey with the team.
Luke also comes off as a likeable guy in general on a personal level. He’s aware of and respects Reid’s issue with shaking hands, and he’s got some knowledge of the team’s abilities and comes across very complimentary and friendly. He can disagree with Hotch without it turning into a battle of dominance, a sharp contrast to Hotch and Morgan’s tendency to butt heads. Yes, he’s taking over Morgan’s spot on the team, but aside from the fact that both men happen to be quite good-looking, Luke is definitely not a Morgan 2.0.
There’s just one glitch in Luke’s interactions with the team, and it comes in the form of one Penelope Garcia. Unlike the others, she’s not quite ready to accept Morgan being gone, and somebody else taking his place. This is nothing new for Garcia, of course – she was wary of Alex Blake when she replaced Emily, and struggled with JJ’s departure in season six, to the point where she did background checks on Blake and Ashley Seaver, respectively, when they joined the team. Luke may want to make sure he’s got nothing suspicious sitting out there right now, is all I’m saying.
But as the episode goes on, we see her resolve to not accept this new guy slowly crumbling. She literally holds her tongue when Luke makes a comment during a discussion about investigating sex shops that would normally lead her to make a suggestive innuendo, and she can’t quite help babbling about herself when the two of them find themselves in the elevator (to hilarious effect – her “fingering technique” comment alone had me facepalming on her behalf!). We also learn that Luke has a special someone at home that he adores. Ten bucks says that special someone is a pet.
Luckily for Garcia, Luke respects her resistance and distance, simply deciding to roll with her awkwardness as best he can. I’m thinking it won’t be long before these two forge their own sweet friendship. It may not hit the heights of her special history with Morgan, no – what relationship could, really? But I do think they’ll learn to get on just fine in time. Perhaps Reid can try and help her learn to adjust to Morgan being gone. I was rather pleased to see he got on well with Luke right off the bat. I don’t doubt he still misses Morgan very much, of course, and I’ve heard we may see mention of that fact as the season goes on.
But it is nice to see Reid still willing to make new friends, even after losing so many people he’s become close to over the years. Mind, once Hotch leaves the team, it’ll be interesting to see if and how that impacts Reid’s ability, or Garcia’s, for that matter, to befriend anyone new.
As noted at the beginning of this review, Luke isn’t the last of the new team members we’ll get to know, either. It was recently announced that a character by the name of Stephen Walker is expected to join the team in episode eight, bringing our grand total of team members to eight people this time, instead of the typical seven. Just another in the long line of changes coming this year, alongside the recent news that Emily Prentiss has rejoined the team full time, and will be taking over as unit chief at that. I admit to being rather unsure and concerned about how the show will manage to juggle eight team members, but I am curious as to who this Walker guy is and what possesses him to join the team. Luckily we won’t have to wait too much longer to see how that plays out.
Meanwhile, back in Quantico…:
Not a whole lot to share in terms of non-case related storylines this week. The only real story of note is that Reid wound up taking his mom to Paris, a trip he’d been planning at the end of last season before everything with the prisoners distracted him. Happily, according to Reid, she also seems to be doing okay (well, about as okay as somebody with onset dementia can be) – she was relatively lucid during the trip and was able to actually properly enjoy the sights, as well as her time with her beloved son. That was very happy news to hear, and I am going to cling heavily to that joyous news as we move ever closer to the Reid storyline. Please, please, PLEASE, show writers, I beg of you, let the Reid family make it out of this season alive and intact? That, and keeping Hotch alive, are my only requests for this upcoming season. Shouldn’t be too much to ask, should it?
And with that, season 12 is off and running! Next week is Hotch’s last episode of the show, so naturally we’ll all be preparing and bracing myself for that one. Fortunately, Emily Prentiss returns soon, so hopefully that’ll help the pain of losing Hotch go down a little easier. Talk about your mixed emotions, eh? This fandom, and the show itself, have managed to withstand numerous changes and drama over the years, though, so I have faith that this season will be no exception. Whatever happens, I look forward to navigating all those changes with you guys once again.
What did you think of the episode? Did Luke win you over, or is Garcia’s reaction more your speed at the moment? What do you think Mr. Scratch’s plans are for the team over the course of this season? How do you think he’ll play into Hotch’s exit from the show (or do you think it won’t be tied to that at all)? What are your hopes and wishes for the characters and storylines this season? For those who’ve chosen not to watch this season due to the behind the scenes drama with Thomas Gibson, aside from bringing him back, is there anything the show COULD do to entice you to watch again? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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