Criminal Minds - Scarecrow - Review: “An Unsettled Calm”

Hard to believe, but we’ve already reached the fall finale of “Criminal Minds”!

Feels like this first half of the season flew by rather quick, doesn’t it? The constant gaps between new episodes and a delay thanks to the World Series tended to add to that feeling, giving us such a short time to adjust to all the dramatic changes that went on in these first eight episodes. We’ve lost a team member, gained two new ones, seen a beloved character return and gain a promotion, set up some pretty big storylines to run through the season, and have watched a troubling threat loom over the team. That’s a lot to cram into a short amount of time!

Which is why it’s probably a good thing that this episode’s case was on the quieter and more typical side. It’s pretty clear that 2017 is gearing up for some big stuff to go down with everything related to Mr. Scratch, and we know Reid’s in for some intense personal drama down the line, too. So a bit of a breather was probably a good way to go. A calm before the storm, if you will. At least the case did give us some interesting elements to keep our attention, and we did get some small movement on the main storylines to mull over during the winter break, so there’s that.

But enough pre-review babbling. Let’s get into the events of “Scarecrow”.

The Case:

A woman is running through a neighborhood, screaming at the top of her lungs. She’s not dressed in much, she’s stumbling about, and she’s terrified. She bangs furiously on the door of someone’s home, begging them for help of some kind, but sadly, she gets no answer. She tries another house, and this time, somebody peeks through their front window and notices her. They immediately go to call 911….but they shut off their light, refusing to actually let her inside.

The poor woman keeps running down the street, trying to find somebody, anybody, who’ll save her from whatever or whomever it is that she’s fleeing. Unfortunately, her already miserable night gets even worse when she’s nearly run down by a car. And judging from her reaction to the person who gets out of said car, they are not going to be her knight in shining armor.

The kicker? There was plenty of opportunity for her to get the help she needed that night. As Garcia informs the team when they get the case involving this woman, there were multiple calls made to 911, all reporting a woman screaming for help. So why didn’t any of the people who noticed her let her in? The team concludes that it’s likely because the neighbors were afraid for their own lives. Maybe her screaming for help was a ruse? Maybe whomever was after her would try and get into their homes to find her? One person who called 911 also presumed the woman was a prostitute due to her state of undress, so perhaps they didn’t want to get involved with that possible situation, either. Understandable reasons, I suppose, but still, it’s hard not to be sad about the fact this poor woman was left to run down the road alone and scared, especially when we learn that those same witnesses also noticed a hooded man taking her away in their car a short time later.

As if this story wasn’t tragic enough, the team soon learns that this woman is just the latest in a string of disturbing incidents in the area, as two women’s bodies have recently been found lying along a riverbank. One,was skeletonized, the other wrapped in a burlap sack and barbed wire, and had likely been dead three weeks. The skeleton woman’s identity is unknown, but the other victim’s name is Deborah. She was a teenage runaway, and had been arrested multiple times for prostitution. The woman at the start was presumed to be a prostitute, too, which suggests a connection right off the bat. Considering these crimes took place up in Washington State, it’s hard not to immediately recall the similarity to the infamous Green River Killer, who became a notorious figure in that state years prior. Could they have a copycat on their hands?

The case gets even more interesting when they learn that the unnamed woman looks to have been dead about three years. This gives the team more questions to ponder: Did the unsub lay dormant between kills? Was he in prison during that time gap? Did he have a job or relationship keeping him occupied until recently, something that kept his urges at bay?

With those curious facts, Emily gets the opportunity to say, “Wheels up in twenty” and off the team goes to Washington.

There is one piece of good news worth sharing. We soon notice that the woman we met at the start of this episode is still alive. The bad news? Yep, you guessed it – she’s being held captive by the unsub, in what looks like some kind of a barn. And the unsub is donning a makeshift messed up mask made of burlap that is truly the stuff of nightmares. Seriously, it has to be seen to be believed, mere description doesn’t do it justice. Barely a few minutes in and already this episode looks like a terrifying one.

On the jet, Reid informs the team about the advantage an unsub would have in using burlap sacks. Apparently, they make it easier for the bodies to decompose. So there’s a pleasant thought to get things going. We also learn more about the unsub’s current captive. Her name is Cheryl “Cherry” Rollins, and her nickname is due to a tattoo of cherries she’s strategically placed on her body. One of the neighbors who noticed her running down the street the other night was right about one thing: she is indeed a prostitute. A friend had reported her missing, and one of the 911 calls mentioned seeing her tattoo, thus confirming it’s her.

Upon arriving in Yakima, Emily, Rossi, and Reid head out to the police station to pore over their victim pool and try and find some sort of connections. Given Cheryl and Deborah were prostitutes, they decide to have Garcia do a search for any possible sites where the women might have advertised their “services”. They don’t get any luck on that front, but Garcia does come across a place that offers “no strings attached” sexual encounters. It’s hard to properly identify the women on screen to see if Cheryl and Deborah are there, since their faces aren’t exactly the main focus of the photos, but it’s a start. Now they just need to figure out a general timeline of how long their unsub tended to keep his victims before disposing of them. This information could mean the difference between life and death for Cheryl.

While Emily, Rossi, and Reid handle things back at the station, JJ and Luke go to the coroner’s office to look at the latest bodies. They learn that the skeleton lady was likely stabbed to death, and Deborah has puncture wounds on her body, and her eye and pelvis have been damaged. The puncture wounds look to be from barbed wire, too. This poor woman truly suffered, and it’s likely Cheryl and the other woman are going through and did go through the same sort of horror.

The friend who reported Cheryl missing is also a prostitute, and she’s hesitant to come into the station to talk, so Emily and Reid go talk to her instead. Her name is Rory, and she speaks very fondly of Cheryl. She shares a story about how the two of them had talked about getting out of the prostitution business and opening up a nail salon together, and talks about how supportive Cheryl was of her when she was getting abused by her pimp, how much she encouraged them to keep their dream alive.

Rory also mentions that Cheryl has a son, Christopher. He currently lives with his grandmother, but Rory makes it clear that Cheryl loves her child dearly, and wants to do whatever she can to make sure he has a good life, sending him money when she can so that he can have the good life she didn’t get. The more we learn about Cheryl, the more my heart goes out to this poor woman, and the more I’m rooting for her to make it out, along with Rory. I want them to open that nail salon together, dang it! And I want Cheryl and her son to be reunited, too.

Unfortunately, Rory can’t really give Emily and Reid any information about possible suspicious people in the area...but she does remember a dark car in the area. Her details about the car beyond that are fuzzy, but as always, the team will take any leads they can get, since the unsub was also known to have a dark car. Learning more about Cheryl herself also gives them a better idea of how the unsub might’ve targeted her, and by extension, the other women.

As worried as Rory is about her friend, when we next check in on Cheryl, surprisingly, she seems to be holding her own just fine. She’s managed, for the most part, to placate the unsub, initially trying to flirt with him, then trying to ask him why he’s doing what he’s doing and opening up a bit about her life and her son. There’s a scary moment when she slips by mentioning his dad – flashbacks to a creek and a little boy pleading, “Don’t do it!” seem to indicate that our unsub did not have a good life with his father, and he reacts violently to the memories. His anger seems to be directed more at himself, though, instead of Cheryl; he starts beating on himself. Once again, however, Cheryl manages to get him to calm down.

The next day, he returns with some shears, intent on attacking her. She tries mentioning his dad again, appearing sympathetic and asking him to talk to her about the pain he’d suffered, and we get another flashback with the unsub, this time as a teenager. He’s enjoying a sweet moment with a girl he’s clearly into, only for his dad to come along and start harping on about women being “diseased”, and his soul being damned for eternity if he sins. Well, then. He beats his son violently, wrapping him in a burlap sack as he did so, and tied him to a cross in a cornfield, scarecrow-style. Nice guy.

The memories enrage the guy all over again, and it looks like we’re about ready to say goodbye to Cheryl for good this time. Luckily, her quick thinking saves her once again. She starts speaking as a mother, apologizing to her son and praying for forgiveness. This calms the unsub down once more, to the point where he removes his mask ‘Phantom of the Opera’ style and starts opening up to her. Cheryl’s walking quite the risky line here in her interaction with this man, but I’m definitely admiring her quick thinking skills. Here’s hoping her plan continues to work!

Later, Luke and JJ canvass the riverbank, trying to aid in the search for more evidence. And boy, do they find it – Luke stumbles upon some random fingers, and JJ finds a skull. Rossi and Emily join the search after that discovery, and they soon learn, with horror, that there’s been far, FAR more than just two women dumped in that area. We’re talking a double digit body count here. Clearly their unsub did not just sit around biding his time for those initial three years. In fact, one of the latest victims looks to have been dead five years.

Now that the unsub’s dump site has been disturbed and messed with, the team believes he’ll move on to a whole new area. His search might bode well for Cheryl’s chances of survival, however, since he’ll need time to find a new place. Add in Cheryl’s street smarts she’s developed through her rough upbringing (abusive home life, foster care, being on her own since she was a teen) and her time on the streets, and Emily’s confident Cheryl has a fighting chance at making it out.

Since this unsub’s focus is prostitutes, and since his method of killing is very ritualistic, the team believes the unsub is on some sort of moral crusade. Instead of having sex with the prostitutes, he punishes them for their “sinful” behavior. His method also likely has religious symbolism behind it, which has Emily and Luke wondering if the unsub’s involved in some religious group that involves physical pain as a means of trying to “cleanse” themselves. Garcia’s searching directs them to a local new age group called True Believers that seems to fit the bill of what they’re looking for, and sends Luke and Reid to check out the place.

JJ returns to the coroner’s office to learn more about the victim who’s been dead five years. She’s the same age as many of the victims – mid twenties – but unlike many of the other victims, her bones seem to be in surprisingly good shape, including her teeth. This is surprising, as prostitutes generally don’t take very good physical care of themselves. She suffered many more stab wounds than the other victims, too, thus indicating the unsub may have had a close personal connection to her.

JJ pulls out a locket that was discovered with her remains, but there’s nothing inside it. It doesn’t take long before we learn her identity through the locket anyway, though. Her name is Wendy Baldwin, and by all accounts, she was a good kid. No history of running away, no ties to prostitution, she got good grades in school. So the unsub had to have met her some other way – through school or work, and she was likely his first victim.

Rossi and Tara go to speak to Wendy’s parents, and man, my heart goes out to the poor couple. They had to spend years wondering what happened to their daughter, and now they have to learn of her death. I can’t imagine. According to them, Wendy didn’t have any serious boyfriends, instead choosing to keep her focus on her studies so she could achieve her dream of becoming a vet. She kept pictures of her pet dog and pig in her locket, and was known as a caring, kind soul. She also worked at her parents’ store, and was very well liked by the customers. This leads Rossi and Tara to wonder if one of the customers came on a little too friendly towards her, and get permission to look through the store’s customer records to see if there were any sales involving the items that their unsub was known to use.

Reid searches the records, and manages to narrow the list down to three men, all of whom stopped buying supplies at the store right around the time Wendy disappeared. Through process of elimination, they finally get the name of their unsub: Kevin Decker. Garcia’s internet searching brings up a John Decker, who’s his father, and we learn they both lived on a farm, and John’s wife died in childbirth. John was also part of the True Believers group, but left because he felt they weren’t intense enough in their religious studies, which, considering the glimpses we got of how he treated his son, is...yeow. He’s also completely dropped off the grid in recent years, and drives the kind of dark car the witnesses reported seeing the night Cheryl disappeared. Emily sends Reid and Tara out to the river bank to keep an eye out in case John or Kevin show up, while she, Luke, Rossi, and JJ head out to the farm to investigate.

Back at the barn, Cheryl remains ever sympathetic towards Kevin, discussing her own life regrets and her desire to get away from being a prostitute. These words seem to hit just the right soft spot with Kevin, and he actually unties her, as though he’s going to let her go.

Then he goes to grab some barbed wire.

Cheryl’s ready for him, though. The moment his back is turned, she grabs a pair of shears and stabs him directly in the back, giving her just enough time to escape. Kevin’s not so wounded that he can’t run after her, however, and he manages to nab her once again, when she’s slowed down by the discovery of his dad’s body. So there’s our answer to what happened to John Decker.

Kevin then attempts to drown Cheryl in some nearby water, but fortunately, Rossi and JJ arrive at the farm just in time. Their appearance spooks Kevin and he takes off, leaving JJ free to rescue Cheryl and get her to safety. Emily and Luke pursue Kevin, and he leads them right into a grain elevator. He’s got the shears to his neck, threatening suicide and talking about atoning. Luke and Emily try and talk him down, and at first their attempt seems to work, as he drops the shears.

He then apologizes to Emily and Luke...and reaches for a lever. Cue tons of grain some spilling down on all three people. Luke and Emily work fast and furious to try and escape before being smothered, but ultimately it’s Rossi who saves the day, as he manages to get the door open and pull them out just in time. Kevin, meanwhile, settles in, allowing the grain to swallow and smother him whole.

I imagine some viewers were likely expecting the case in the fall finale to have some sort of ties to Mr. Scratch. Maybe the unsub would be one of the remaining escapees the team’s still yet to track. That part of the storyline’s seemed to go kinda quiet in recent months – the only escapee they dealt with was back in the season premiere, otherwise, all the unsubs have just been your typical run-of-the-mill ones, or new unsubs manipulated and created by Mr. Scratch.

It would’ve made a lot of sense to touch on the Mr. Scratch/escapee storyline again in a big way this episode, have the show leave us with a shocker or some notable update in the hunt for him. That’s how they did it in last season’s fall finale. We got a bit of a cliffhanger with Hotch announcing to Garcia they’d gotten a break in the season-long Dirty Dozen case. Instead, we got a typical case, with the sort of unsub we’ve seen many a time before – the religiously motivated moral crusader – and only the briefest mention of Mr. Scratch at the start, in the context of Emily being determined to catch him.

In the end, though, the lack of ties to Mr. Scratch wasn’t really a bad thing, mainly because of the awesomeness that was Cheryl. The case may have been kinda average, but she definitely kept things interesting throughout the episode. I particularly liked the way she interacted with Kevin. Sure, she may have been nice to him mainly for self-preservation purposes, but there were moments where it was obvious the empathy she felt for the trauma he’d suffered as a child was genuine, too. If he hadn’t reached for the barbed wire after releasing her, I honestly don’t think she would’ve attacked him. That kindness and understanding, along with feeling bad about nobody responding to her pleas for help at the start of the episode, were great ways to build sympathy for her, and had me rooting for her to make it out all right from start to finish.

I also liked how the story about Cheryl’s love for her son, and the dreams she and Rory had of a better life. One of the things that really appealed to me when I first started watching this show was its sensitivity and compassion towards women like Cheryl and Rory. No passing judgment on their lifestyles, taking the time to allow us to see them as people worthy of our care and concern, treating them with the same kind of respect any other type of victim gets. It’s nice to see that twelve years on, the show still gets that part of things right. It would’ve been kinda cool to get a scene with Cheryl showing us she was being taken care of somewhere after being rescued, but since we didn’t, I’m just going to prefer to think she was able to get the second chance she’d been looking for. Given this was the last episode before winter break, I’m glad the case wrapped up with a relatively happy ending.

Of course, this show is also known for getting viewers to understand, and sometimes empathize with, the unsub, and that was the case here yet again, as I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Kevin, too. This show’s featured many an unsub over the years who was motivated by religious extremism and parental abuse, and those unsubs are always easy to sympathize with to some degree as a result, because of the horrible treatment they suffered as children. The fact that he was able to let his guard down a little around Cheryl was a nice way of humanizing him a bit as well. All he wanted was to be loved, and it’s kind of heartbreaking to see just how desperate he was to try and get that.

His suicide further added to my feeling bad for him. It was a rather haunting scene in some ways – the guy was clearly in a seriously messed up head space and needed a lot of help. I can’t help feeling that it’s a shame he didn’t get that help in time. That ending actually made me feel a little guilty for cheering when Cheryl stabbed him with the shears!

The fact that we didn’t really learn much about any of the other victims beyond Wendy and Deborah added to the poignancy of the case, too. The unsub died without properly explaining all his reasons to the team or any other law enforcement officials, and there’s so many families who’ll never get full closure, and so many victims we’ll never get to know more about. That’s a rather upsetting thought. There were many victims in “Keeper” we never got to learn more about, either, but at least there the unsub lived and was able to give those families some of the answers they needed, if not all.

So in the end, while a cliffhanger could’ve been a good way to keep fans talking and theorizing through winter break, at the same time, maybe it was better we got a bit of a breather before whatever chaos is likely going down when the show returns in January. The uneventful case was also beneficial in the sense that it allowed me to focus more on the personal stories playing out this week. One of them I knew about going in, as it was announced the show would be adding another team member this episode. The other involved Reid’s mom, and I hadn’t really thought about the storyline with her being touched on in this episode, but given the circumstances, and the fact we’re getting ever closer to Jane Lynch’s return to the show, it should’ve been obvious to me that the show would bring it up again.

Meanwhile, back at Quantico:

“I wanna get this son of a bitch. I can’t let him win.”

When I first heard about a new team member joining the team, I naturally figured we’d meet them early on this episode, and see them work their way into settling in with the team throughout, the way we have with every other team member that’s come through here over the years.

Surprisingly, that was not the case. Instead, the start of the episode had Emily talking to Rossi about the struggle to catch Mr. Scratch, and mentioning the amount of people who’ve applied to join the team. She’s narrowed it down one potential offer, and hopes to hear some news on him as soon as the folllowing day. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was expressing concerns about another person joining the BAU, with Garcia trying to get the scoop, and insisting whomever they were, they had to be nice. She also suggests changing the name of the team from “the Magnificent Seven” to “the Awesome Eight”, but that new name doesn’t go over well with the others.

For much of the rest of the episode, the only other mention of this new teammate comes through occasional discussions amongst the team. Luke tells JJ he’s looking forward to not being the newbie anymore, hoping Garcia will stop calling him such as well (as he finds out at the end, however, that hope is quickly dashed). Tara, meanwhile, wonders if part of the reason Emily’s looking for somebody new is because of how distracted she was during the recent case involving her brother, and Rossi immediately reassures her that’s not at all true. All Emily’s looking for is some extra help.

And at the end of the episode, she and the rest of the team finally get it. Upon entering the office, they notice a man standing in the bullpen. Emily’s the first to recognize him, and we get our first glimpse of Stephen Walker. Rossi apparently knows him quite well, too, because Stephen’s worked with the Bureau nearly twenty years, as part of the BAP (Behavioral Analysis Program). As for how Emily knows him? She and Stephen coordinated on an Interpol case years ago. Their personal experience working with him helps put the rest of the team even more at ease, and Stephen receives a warm welcome all around.

There’s just one person missing from that celebratory greeting, however. Reid did not return to work with the team, and his reason for why brings us to our second big side story of the episode.

“Maybe I wanted to believe it so much that I was getting the placebo effect, too.”

While working the case, Reid gets a phone call from his mom. His initial joy at hearing from her is quickly replaced by deep concern, as she starts talking about some friends of hers she claims have been kidnapped. Reid tries to assure her that her friends are living in Vegas, and the reason she can’t see them is because she’s not living in Vegas anymore. Rather, she’s been moved to a clinic in Houston, Texas, within the past month, where she’s currently getting treated for her dementia.

The longer he talks to his mom on the phone, though, the more he sadly realizes those efforts don’t appear to be paying off. Reid further expresses his concerns to JJ, and his fear that his mom’s been getting the placebo the entire time instead of the much needed medication that could help her. He looks utterly helpless and confused at what to do, and JJ does her best to comfort him. Reid’s worry is so deep that when he’s asked to look through the Baldwins’ files, he struggles to concentrate, his mind playing that call back the entire time instead. He also rubs at his forehead, which is worrying, given his history with headaches.

“I don’t know how to fix this.”

Reid then explains his situation to Emily on the jet ride home, requesting some time off so he can go to Houston and talk to the doctors and look after his mom. He feels guilty about leaving the team in a lurch given all the recent upheaval going on, but fortunately, Emily is very understanding and agrees to his request, her only order being that he checks in every day so she knows he’s okay. So it looks like we’re in for another period where Reid will be missing some episodes, the way he was last season. Given the storyline with his mom is expected to start around episode eleven or so, though, thankfully, it seems his absence will be a brief one.

Reid’s news this episode just further adds to the concerns I’ve expressed about this coming storyline with his mom. We’re used to seeing Reid distressed over his mom’s situation, of course, but he seemed especially emotional about it this episode. There wasn’t the same amount of determination that we’ve seen in the past, just heartbreaking resignation and a feeling that he was at a complete loss of how to help her. And if his headaches do make an appearance again, will they tie into this storyline with his mom somehow? Are they simply going to be the result of the intense pressure he’s under with worrying about his mom, or could they be a sign of something more serious going on? Will Mr. Scratch exploit that health issue somehow, if he is indeed planning on targeting Reid?

So many troubling scenarios to worry about here. But maybe we’ll be lucky and there’ll ultimately be a silver lining in this storyline, one that lets Diana and Reid get some good news at long last, and gets them both the help and support they clearly need to make it through this latest rough patch. One can only hope.

As for Walker, judging from the brief glimpse we saw of him here, I think he’ll click well with the rest of the group. He’s played by Damon Gupton, whom I greatly enjoyed as Dr. Edwards on this past season of “Bates Motel”, and I liked the connections the character had to Rossi and Emily, as it’ll help make his integration into the team a little easier as a result. I just wonder how the show will manage to handle juggling eight team members. It feels like a lot to take on in a season that’s already had so much change to deal with.

But maybe he’s only going to appear here and there throughout the remainder of the season. He’s listed as a series regular, sure, but he’s also coming in when the season’s nearly at its halfway point. Perhaps that’ll affect how often he shows up, and how much focus he gets. Tara’s a series regular this season, too, and she missed an episode early on as well. If the show can manage to find a way to properly handle a team of eight, I’m all for it. I hope they can, too. The show’s dealt with enough people coming and going for a while, and it’d be nice to see a settled cast for a while.

And that’s a wrap for the first half of this season of “Criminal Minds”! The show won’t return until after New Year’s, so I shall see you all then! In the meantime, happy holidays to everyone, and may 2017 bring many good things for you all!

What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy seeing Cheryl fight back against Kevin? Are you looking forward to Walker joining the team? Are you hopeful that things will work out with Reid and his mom? Share your thoughts in the comments!

""