Criminal Minds - True North - Review: “Total Recall”

After nearly a month’s break, “Criminal Minds” finally returns tonight with the final three episodes of the season. Hard to believe we’re at that point already, isn’t it?

Before we get there, though, we have to talk about what happened before the break, both on and off the show. On the plus side, fans got the good news earlier this month that the show will be returning for season thirteen next fall, so that’s something to celebrate and look forward to. And in regards to this episode, Reid’s memory started to sort itself out, causing his storyline to move forward at long last with some bombshell revelations and new avenues for the team to explore. Hooray!

On the minus side, this episode also featured a really weird and kinda blah case, and a big cliffhanger from the previous episode was, well, left hanging, for reasons I can’t begin to fathom.

So let’s explore the positives and negatives of this episode, most notably, the shocking ending that no doubt sprung up tons of theories and questions for viewers.

The Case:

Again, we return to the usual “discovery of a crime” scene this episode. A grizzly-looking old man wanders through the Arizona desert, metal detector in hand as he searches for some cool trinkets. He’s not having much luck, though. All he winds up finding are a pair of keys…

...and a group of stakes in the middle of the desert. With three dead bodies tied to them.

When the team gets this bizarre case, they instantly wonder if this is an attempted crucifixion ritual of some sort. As Rossi notes, many a nutjob likes to hang out in the desert, and the heat can mess with one’s fragile mental state. The fact the victims all have shock collars on their necks seems to further indicate it’s a ritual, but what it would symbolize, that they’re still puzzled about. All three people also have some sort of silky fabric wrapped around their shoulders, another curious, mysterious detail.

And then there’s the grossest part of the case – due to staying out in that hot desert sun, all the bodies have started decomposing. Ew. They’re also decomposing at different rates, thus indicating they weren’t all killed at the same time. So yeah. Buckle in for what looks to be yet another strange case, everyone!

Thanks to Emily being busy with things related to Reid’s current situation and the hunt for Mr. Scratch, Rossi takes over as team leader once again. Tara also stays behind in Quantico, juggling both working the case and helping Reid. So it’s a small team that’ll be working the case this episode. As per usual, Garcia passes on some additional info on the jet ride: the names of the victims (Carol, Oscar, and Peter), their ages (all in their early twenties), and their general backgrounds, which look pretty impressive. All three of them attended college out of state; however, they each returned home to the Tuscon area not long before their deaths. They were excellent students, too, to the point where the local media actually did stories on their academic achievements.

When their deaths were announced in the news, some of the locals wondered if an area cult, known for its weirdness, was responsible. That theory was instantly shot down, however – they didn’t claim credit for the murders, and they were, as Garcia notes, extremely pro-life, to the point of not even eating carrots since they grow in the earth. Wow. So the chances of them having any desire to kill people were pretty well nil. Still, given the ritualistic nature of the murders, the team isn’t ready to completely rule out some sort of cultish behavior just yet.

Lately it seems JJ and Luke are the ones visiting the crime scenes, and this episode is no exception. Upon observing the area, they conclude that the unsub, or unsubs, had to use a vehicle of some sort to get out here. Problem is, there’s no visible tracks to indicate such a thing...but, as the local officer notes, the wind-blown sand could cover them.

Just when we thought this crime scene couldn’t get any odder, what with talk of shock collars and being tied to stakes, JJ and Luke make note of two more unusual details. First, there’s water bottles found by each of the victims. Second, as Luke notes, there were a couple boulders moved around. And they weren’t exactly light boulders, either, thus indicating their unsub is either super strong, or they had help of some sort.

The boulders were also sat next to the victims. That, along with the water bottles, leads JJ and Luke to wonder if the unsub(s) watched these murders, the way one might watch an execution, and would taunt the victims with the water they were so cruelly denied. If that’s the case, that’s pretty dang cold.

The next question is, how exactly did the victims die? Stephen goes to the morgue to find out, but he doesn’t quite get the answers he’s looking for. The coroner saw no signs of strangulation, none of the victims were shot or stabbed, there isn’t any head trauma of any sort, nor were any of them drugged or poisoned. So that rules out the most common murder methods. Severe dehydration looks to be the main cause of death at the moment.

Stephen does get some solid information about the variety in decomposition rates, though. The first victim, Oscar, was killed two months ago, the second, Carol, two weeks ago, and the third, Peter, just a mere week ago. Can we say “escalation”? The team also learns that there was one source of DNA on all of the water bottles...but unfortunately, despite putting that DNA through the database, they can’t find a match. So their unsub doesn’t look to be in the system already – he’s a newbie to the criminal world.

Back at the station, the team also learns a little more about Oscar. He seemed like a stand-up guy – worked hard, was the first member of his family to go to college, and came from a very humble background. All three victims gave back to their communities and did their part to help others succeed the way they did. Given all the accolades and admiration these victims received, the team starts to wonder if this is what’s motivating their unsub to kill. Could they be envious of the success and praise these people received, to the point of punishing them for all of it? Luke also wonders if the unsub’s railing against the conformity that comes with “perfect overachiever” mold that colleges create.

Unfortunately, the next scene doesn’t immediately give us those answers. We see the latest victim, a young man named Joey, being tied to another stake, begging for his life. The unsub does the usual preparations – shock collar, silky fabric – and proceeds to open a water bottle. And that’s it. What he does with the collar or the water, we don’t get to see (though, honestly, I’m okay with that). We do learn a bit more about Joey himself later on, though, and strangely, he doesn’t fit the general victim pattern. The other victims, as noted, were all top students, well-respected in their community. Joey, meanwhile, flunked out of college, and is unemployed. So of course, the question is, why the sudden change? Considering the team believes the unsub himself is likely an academic failure, maybe it was just as upsetting to see Joey throwing away his good fortune as it was hearing about the overachievers? Perhaps the shock collars are the unsub’s way of mocking the students’ obedience.

Once more, JJ and Luke visit the crime scene, and they notice another interesting detail this time around. Joey, along with all the other victims, were facing what’s known as “true north”, hence the episode title. Apparently, “true north” is geographically accurate in comparison to magnetic north. So basically, this unsub is really, really interested in being as specific and detailed as possible. This latest discovery leads Luke to do a little schoolwork for the rest of the team, and through a recreation of the crime scene involving papers and coffee sticks, he concludes the unsub is trying to make a human sundial. So we’ve had an unsub obsessed with sinkholes and Satan, an unsub who lived in the sewers as a vampire, and now we’ve got an unsub trying to make human sundials. Really going out of their way to make the unsubs as weird as possible this season, aren’t they?

Anywho, Luke also notes that the specific setup of the stakes are similar to the time of day, and apparently the unsub is counting down from “four pm” to “one pm”. Apparently this means he’s got an endgame in mind, and this whole “true north” thing is meant to be some sort of metaphor or message. The team also learns that the unsub isn’t drinking the water from those bottles, so there’s no sadistic taunting aspect to his crimes. The water clearly has some sort of importance, though.

That’s when JJ and Stephen hit upon the obvious explanation: these victims are being electrocuted. They wear the shock collars, the unsub pours the water on the collars, and the victims die a pretty unpleasant death. Rossi comes in with more helpful information that connects all the victims. They all went to college on scholarships (thus explaining Joey going to college despite his lack of any sort of ambition or decent grades). Garcia begins a scholarship search – if they can find the sort of scholarship(s) given to each victim, perhaps that can lead them to their unsub along the way.

“I’m gonna live and die and rot right here in this hellhole.”

While the team continues to fill in the blanks, we get to spend a little more time with the aforementioned unsub, whose name is Ben, and suffice to say, it’s actually rather easy to see why he’s so angry. The guy’s home life is depressing. He tries to do right by his elderly mom, going so far as to bring home a lovely gift of a flower lei for her to enjoy...only for her to immediately accuse him of stealing it from someone’s grave. Ouch. Turns out Ben had actually made that lei, decorating it with a variety of Hawaiian flowers for his mom. She’s always wanted to go to Hawaii, you see, and it’s apparently been his lifelong dream that someday he can save up the money to take her there. A pretty sweet and touching dream for an unsub to have, no?

Unfortunately for poor Ben, his mom has long ago given up on that dream ever becoming reality. She proceeds to brutally mock her son, complaining about his lack of a college education and any sort of decent employment (aha), her ex-husband (there’s very clearly no love lost there), and complains about the flowers on the lei so obviously being fake (they don’t sell real Hawaiian flowers here, Ben tries to explain). She then proceeds to throw the lei in the trash. Basically, she’s a bitter piece of work, and it’s hard not to feel a little bad for her son here.

Any sympathy we might initially have for Ben doesn’t last long, however, as he eventually nabs another victim. Unlike his twentysomething victims, however, this latest one is an older woman, and instead of leaving her on a stake in the middle of the desert, he brings her to his home and locks her in his room. She obviously doesn’t understand why Ben’s targeting her, nor does she appear to remember him. But he remembers her. Oh, boy, does he ever remember her.

His plans, whatever they are, get a bit sidetracked, however, as he soon notices that his mom has been badly hurt from what appears to be a stroke-induced fall. At this point, he starts panicking, and brings the woman out to sit with him and his mom in the living room. And it’s here we find out the root of his rage. Apparently, back when Ben was in school, he was a finalist in a science fair with a project that involved the use of shock collars (ahhhh), to see how to make them more humane (?). And Ben really, really wanted to win this science fair. The prize was a scholarship to college – the same sort of scholarship all the other victims wanted to win. With that, Ben could get out of his miserable hellhole life, make something of himself, find a good job, and perhaps finally be able to help take care of his mom the way he always wanted, and maybe take her on that Hawaiian trip as well.

Doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out how those hopes turned out for him, does it? The winner of that science fair turned out to be Joey, and anyone want to take a guess what his science project was about? If you said sundials, you win. Ben became incredibly bitter over losing this scholarship, to the point where he began targeting all those who were lucky enough to get one and live out the dreams he never got to experience. And the woman he’s currently holding hostage? Why, she was the judge in that fair. She’s the one who gave the prize to somebody else. As far as Ben’s concerned, she’s responsible for destroying his dreams, and Ben forces her to tell his mom that fact. I’ve seen many unsubs on this show over the years who’ve struggled to let certain slights go, but that...is one hell of a deep grudge, I gotta say.

Unfortunately, Ben’s mom seems to be so out of it that she doesn’t get to really hear this explanation, so Ben does what any loving son would totally do in this situation. He proceeds to put one of his leis around his now practically unconscious mom’s neck and sets her feet in a tub of water, allowing her to imagine herself in Hawaii at long last. Then he grabs a nearby fan...and proceeds to drop it straight into the water, watching as his mom is violently electrocuted to death. It’s a truly disturbing moment, and my reaction is pretty similar to that of the poor woman being held hostage, as she absolutely freaks out. And as the unsub so ominously tells the poor woman, she will not receive the same sort of comparatively “peaceful” death his mom got. Oh, dear.

Fortunately for this woman, however, the team arrives right around that time, and JJ and Luke do their best to try and talk Ben down. At one point, JJ slinks away, having apparently noticed something, leaving Luke to deal with Ben alone. He tries to suggest Ben take his mom’s ashes to Hawaii, spread them over the ocean so that she can be at peace there. His attempt doesn’t seem to be working, though – Ben looks pretty determined to kill himself the same way he killed his mom. And he’s just about to do it, too…

...when JJ, hidden elsewhere in the house, kills the electric grid, thus sparing Ben’s life. Ben is then taken into custody, and the team wraps up another case.

This case was just plain weird and kinda “meh” for me. Clearly the human sundial was his way of railing against Joey’s project, so why not just have him go around taking other students who participated in that science fair, the way he did Joey and the judge? Why take random people who had no ties to the science fair at all? I get he was resentful of academic achievers in general and that was his initial aim, but then in that case, the sundial aspect should’ve come in later, once he’d refined his target to people at the fair. If he was going to go with the human sundial setup from the get-go, his targets should’ve been fellow competitors and classmates who’d done good, instead of choosing top students at random.

And again, as noted earlier, the whole setup was just so over the top in general, a theme that’s run through many of the unsubs this season. Yes, there are unsubs whose killing methods are out there and bizarre, but most of them are not this elaborate and extravagant in their crimes. I think the show is trying to balance the craziness that is the Reid storyline with equally crazy unsubs, but honestly, I think it’d be better for the show to keep things a little more low-key on the case side. Many people’s focus is on the Reid storyline as it is, so it’s not like they’re paying all that much attention to the cases, but for those of us who do still care about that part of things, I think keeping the cases more “normal” in comparison would be a welcome reprieve of sorts from the intensity of Reid’s storyline, and allow us a chance to catch our breath a little. We’ve already got an over the top unsub in Mr. Scratch. We don’t need the case of the week unsubs trying to match or beat him.

Ultimately, I’d prefer it if the show just sidelined the case of the week elements in general so they could have more time to give the whole “hunt for Mr. Scratch/Reid in prison” setup the necessary attention (to say nothing of the continued hunt to track down the remaining prison escapees from last season. Remember that? Where’d that go? Why aren’t any of these recent unsubs one of those guys?). But since I’m pretty sure the network and the basic procedural setup won’t allow for that, if they’re going to keep having cases, they should keep that part of things simple. Especially since the more over the top the unsub, the harder it is for us to try and empathize with them. Initially, I did feel sorry for Ben in this episode – those of us who’ve struggled to make something of our lives, who’s seen dreams be dashed, can relate to the frustration he felt. That part of the case I did like, and I was all for the show exploring that struggle further.

But while I can understand his anger over being denied that scholarship, at the same time, the intensely bitter grudge he held regarding it felt a bit...much. In some ways it made sense – his mom clearly had a lot of things she couldn’t let go of, either, so the fact her son was the same way was no surprise. And the fact that he went so far as to consider suicide, and killed his mom in such a disturbing manner, indicates some deep underlying mental issues that would explain his inability to let go as well.

Still, by the time Ben had brought the judge home and forced her to tell his mom it was her fault he didn’t win that science fair, I couldn’t help thinking, “Dude, get over it already.” I just feel like there were better ways the show could’ve demonstrated his deep grudge and resentment that didn’t involve the kind of extreme moments and killing methods we saw here. If the show insisted on going all out this episode, the team’s initial assumption that a cult was responsible for these killings would’ve made far more sense than the idea of some guy having a personal vendetta.

On a somewhat more positive note, I did like Luke’s whole thing with the sundial and the boulders and the whole “true north” deal. Mind, in some ways, it all felt like the show’s attempt to have somebody fill in the “unusual Reid-like discovery” aspects of the case, since he wasn’t there (because you know he would’ve picked up on that stuff). But I also felt it was a neat little insight into another aspect of Luke’s personality – he’s clearly an outdoorsy type, so his observations of the boulders and the “true north” thing made sense in that regard. And I kinda like the idea that he’s got a bit of a geeky side to him as well, that he knows so much about things like sundials and nature. It certainly explains why he seemed to enjoy Reid’s facts and statistics earlier in the season, and If and when Reid does finally return to the team, I think it’d be neat to see him and Luke bonding over these sorts of things more.

So that concludes the case side of things. Time to turn our focus to the progress in the Reid storyline.

Memory Lane:

It’s been a while, but those of you with strong memories will recall that the episode prior to this one ended on a pretty dramatic note. After Reid apparently tampered with some drugs that other prisoners had planned to smuggle into the jail, virtually his entire cell block became violently ill, to the point of winding up in the infirmary. Reid, meanwhile, was left panicking at this turn of events, fearing he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life. With a cliffhanger like that, surely this episode would focus on the fallout from Reid’s actions, right?

Well, sure, if you count Reid bitterly telling Tara she had no idea what he was capable of or a brief scene with Reid looking forlornly at the guys in the infirmary as fallout, that is. Seriously, that was all the mention we got of that whole plotline this episode, which I found rather surprising. Not that I necessarily expected Reid to actually get in trouble for his behavior here, mind – the prisoners likely wouldn’t rat him out because a) they hate snitches, and b) even if they did rat him out, they’d be implicating themselves in the drug smuggling. And since nobody saw Reid mess with the drugs, they wouldn’t have any concrete proof he was responsible.

But still, I would’ve thought we’d at least get into Reid’s headspace a bit and find out how he was dealing with what he’d done, or maybe even clear up just what all he intended to do when tampering with that batch. Many fans were pretty visibly confused as to what exactly his intentions were in that episode, whether he simply wanted to ruin the batch or target the guys smuggling it in as retaliation for the hell they put him and Luis through. So it would’ve been nice to have some kind of official explanation.

And between the way he looked at the prisoners and his bitter words to Tara, he feels immensely guilty for what he did, but it still would’ve been good to touch on that more. No doubt he’s likely worrying about how this could impact his chances at getting out of prison if anyone finds out, right? And while Rossi’s words about Reid being a “good person” did come back to haunt him at the start of this episode, again, that’s all the farther they went with any exploration of his guilt. It’s just very weird that the episode decided to basically gloss over such a big moment as it did. Maybe they’ll address it in the final three episodes somehow?

Those criticisms aside, however, let’s focus on the good things that happened in regards to Reid this episode, because it’s been a while since we’ve had something good to even report. The team finally got some news regarding Mr. Scratch, and Reid’s attempts to remember what all went down in Mexico proved much more successful this go-round, culminating in one hell of a surprise ending.

At the start of the episode, Stephen, Tara, and Emily meet up to discuss a major break in their hunt for Scratch. Apparently, Stephen’s colleagues recently managed to find some footage of him wandering through Latin America around the time of Reid’s unfortunate Mexican adventure, and they believe this is proof that Scratch definitely was in Mexico as well. And since his crimes cross various countries, and since he’s posing a threat to the FBI by targeting the BAU, Stephen’s decided to label Scratch a major threat by “massaging the definition of international terrorism”. As a result, Scratch becomes a top priority for the Department of Justice, giving the team a much needed shot of help. Pretty sneaky, clever move on Stephen’s part there.

To further add to the good news, since Scratch is now an international priority, that gives Emily an excuse to travel to London this episode and get Interpol on board as well. Her trip proves successful, too – she manages to get her former co-workers’ support, and what’s more, the NSA has agreed to help if Reid can officially confirm that Scratch was indeed in that motel room with hm and Nadie.

And that’s where Tara comes into play, as she and Emily do some sneaky work of their own. Thanks to the recent lockdown, the team hasn’t been able to make their regular visits to see Reid. Normally, this would pose a problem for the team in terms of trying to help Reid jog his memory, as none of their efforts to get other organizations on board will work if they can’t talk to him and get him to remember exactly what happened. But Emily’s got a way to work around this issue this time. She asks Tara to go and try another cognitive interview with Reid...and she suggests Tara use her doctor credentials to bypass the lockdown, under the guise of treating Reid as a “medical necessity”. Tara’s fully on board with the idea, and ah, I do love this team and their crafty minds.

“You shouldn’t be here, it’s better if everyone just stayed away from me right now.”

Luckily, the plan works, and Tara’s able to come see Reid. Problem is, Reid’s in a visibly agitated state when Tara arrives. He’s talking about wanting to be by himself – yeouch – and he’s still not sleeping much, if at all. Nor does he think another cognitive interview will help anything. Basically, he’s just a bundle of frustration and despair right now, and it’s quite troubling to see him like this. Tara points out, however, that his exhaustion could actually help make it easier for him to slip into the necessary state for a cognitive interview, and that, combined with her news about Scratch’s whereabouts, finally has him agreeing to give this interview a shot.

At first, Reid’s story goes over the familiar beats we’ve heard before. He met Nadie at the motel, remembered her looking rather upset as they stood by a window, and the man coming in and attacking both of them. About the only new things he recalls are seeing this guy actively stabbing Nadie, and a vision of himself and holding the knife. That’s not surprising – we knew Reid had to touch the knife at some point, because of the cut on his hand and his DNA being found on the weapon.

Still, those memories are understandably upsetting to Reid, and he blanks on what happened next. Tara believes his mind is going through a psychological block to try and spare him the traumatic memories, and he’s too scared to allow himself to think of them. She allows him a moment to collect himself, during which he asks her about the motel air vents. Maybe he’d been drugged that way, and that explains his inability to recall certain things. Unfortunately, Tara tells him there was no evidence of drugs in the vents. This block is purely a protective move on Reid’s part. She encourages him to try going through the story again, choosing to start with Nadie’s reaction to the intruder.

Her words seem to work this time, because boy, do the floodgates start opening now! This time around, Reid remembers that Nadie was surprised by the intruder – she clearly wasn’t expecting him, or didn’t know him. Reid can’t recall any physical features about this man, though. He’s basically just a shadowy blur. All Reid can remember is his own futile attempts to save Nadie, and can remember the guy lurking behind him.

Then a horrifying image crosses Reid’s mind. He’s got the knife in his hand...and he’s stabbing Nadie with it! My reaction at this point? “Oh, crap.” Could his, and our, worst fears be coming true? Is Reid actually a murderer after all?

Reid abruptly ends the interview at this point, demanding to be let out of the interrogation room. He’s so freaking keyed up and antsy in a way I’ve rarely ever seen, and it’s very unsettling. Tara allows him to take a break for the day, but she refuses to believe his vision of murdering Nadie is real. You’ll remember that part of Mr. Scratch’s M.O. was making people believe they experienced traumatic events that never actually happened. Tara’s convinced that’s got to be the case here, and her certainty is quite reassuring.

Tara further manages to calm everyone’s frazzled nerves when Emily calls to check in on Reid. Emily’s concerned about Reid’s emotional and mental state, but Tara thinks that he’s actually holding up better than he believes he is, and feels he’ll make it through this ordeal all right. The stress of the past few months has just overwhelmed him, is all. Given Reid’s tense behavior this episode, and knowing what he’d done with the drugs in the previous episode, I’m a bit surprised by her assessment. But honestly, at this point, I’ll take any glimmer of hope being offered.

The next day, Tara returns for another interview. Will the third time be the charm, as the saying goes?

“You have no idea what I am capable of.”

Well, Reid’s still understandably freaked out by the memory he had the day before, but Tara tries to reassure him of his innocence. She understands the toll prison has taken on him, and assures him that she’s sympathetic to the fact that he may have had to do some awful things just to stay alive. It’s a very sweet, nonjudgmental speech, and thankfully, her words seem to get through to Reid. They start the interview, and he goes through the sequence of events again. He freezes up when he gets to the image of him holding the knife, but Tara urges him to keep pushing onward. Reid does, and he realizes, to his relief, that he didn’t kill Nadie after all. Rather, he simply grabbed the knife in order to toss it aside so he could tend to her. And with that, a collective “WHEW” was heard among the fandom.

As Reid’s memories continue to return, other helpful details start spilling out. He distinctly remembers the familiar hissing sound and feeling of of something being sprayed into the room onto him, a notable part of Scratch’s crimes. And he’s getting ever closer to actually noticing the unsub’s features as well, to the point where he swears he can actually see Scratch’s face! There we go, then! Mystery finally solved!

Hold up. Not so fast. All of a sudden, Reid starts referring to a “her”. This sudden switch confuses Tara – the only “her” she can think of is Nadie. But Reid keeps insisting it’s a her he sees in these memories, and that she’s holding keys out to him and saying, “time to go.”. And suddenly, there’s a shadowy figure with long hair standing in front of Reid and speaking in a feminine tone.

So yeah. Apparently, Reid’s attacker, and Nadie’s killer, is a woman. Hands up if you did not see that one coming!

Obviously this twist brings up a hell of a lot of questions. There’s other aspects of this case that are clearly the work of Scratch – the sprayed drugs, the false memories – so there’s no question he’s involved in all of this somehow. And remember, Mr. Scratch never killed people. Rather, he manipulated others to kill on his behalf. So it makes perfect sense that he wouldn’t be the one in the motel room with Reid and Nadie as a result.

But who is this woman Reid encountered? How does she know Reid and/or Nadie? How does she know Scratch? What is she getting out of this interaction with Scratch? Does she have an endgame of her own? Spoilers for the upcoming episodes seem to give us a hint as to who this woman is, and it’s a character we haven’t seen since season three’s “3rd Life”: Lindsay Vaughn.

Yeah. Seriously.

That particular callback is random enough in and of itself, but the weirdest part is that when we last saw her, she wasn’t even an unsub. She was just a mere high school girl then, a victim of a man who’d kidnapped both her and her friend Katie. So if she is indeed the woman targeting Reid, what on earth would be her motive to go after him all these years later? You’ll recall that Lindsay’s dad was in Witness Protection in that episode, and that was a big hurdle for the team as they tried to work the case involving Lindsay in that episode. Since Hotch and Jack are currently in Witness Protection, perhaps there’s some sort of connection there that she and Scratch are exploiting? Maybe Reid’s (futile) attempts to talk Lindsay’s dad Jack out of killing the unsub in that episode affected Jack in some negative way, and she resents Reid for it?

Heck, for all we know, could this image of a woman simply be another false memory implanted in Reid’s mind? Reid’s had a tough history with female unsubs – Diane Turner, Maggie Lowe, and Cat Adams are a few notable examples that come to mind. Each of them have managed to chip away at some part of him, emotionally and mentally. Maggie taunted a girl that Reid was close to. Cat played on Reid’s emotions regarding his mom’s illness (which has been a major plot point this season) to her advantage. And Reid’s faceoff with Diane led to a tragic ending involving his girlfriend Maeve. Perhaps Mr. Scratch is manipulating that painful history somehow, making him relieve some of the most heartbreaking, stressful moments of his life in the process? I honestly cannot make heads or tails of this particular casting, so these are the best theories I can throw out there right now, but if anyone has any better theories, please feel free to share them!

As for the news about Mr. Scratch, obviously I’m happy to see the team finally get some good news in regards to him, but I feel like it might’ve been better to have this revelation come a couple episodes sooner than it did. The last few episodes seemed very stalled out in regards to the team’s attempts to help Reid or find Scratch, and I think dropping tidbits like this earlier could’ve kept some of the momentum going, and reminded us that the team was on top of things instead of standing around wallowing. It also could’ve perhaps given Reid the spark of hope he so desperately needed after everything with Luis went down. Maybe then he wouldn’t have taken such dramatic actions with the tampering of the drug supply, and fought back some other way.

Still, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and the news that Scratch is in their sights and they’ve got a ton of help is music to my ears. I absolutely loved the way Stephen and Tara worked around the rules this episode, and Emily leaning on Interpol for help was a great move as well. This is the sort of action I want to see from this team, pulling whatever strings they can and getting around whatever regulations they can in order to help a teammate and friend. That’s the tough, “get out of my way” BAU I know and love.

The best part of the episode, however, was Tara’s interview with Reid, and not just because Reid’s memory finally started working properly again. We haven’t had a lot in the way of heart-to-heart moments between Tara and Reid these past couple seasons, but the few interactions we have seen have been rather sweet. Tara’s got a bit of an older sister vibe towards Reid, and her quiet yet fierce protectiveness is just the sort of thing he needs right now. I loved how she wasn’t fazed by his harsh, dismissive tone or any of his momentary freakouts. She had a job to do, and I like that she kept her focus on that aspect of things.

I also loved the way she was able to calm him down, and helped him stay the course during the interview. She did well at balancing her professional doctor side with her caring friend side, and it makes sense that that combination helped make it easier for Reid to focus. They’re just close enough that Reid can trust her and open up to her, but Tara doesn’t have the history with Reid that people like Emily, JJ, or Rossi do, and that allows her to keep some objectivity. Emily had a hard time remaining completely objective when she tried to interview Reid in Mexico, after all, and I think that would’ve been the case here as well.

As noted, I was also comforted by Tara’s assurance that Reid is doing all right mentally and emotionally. True, the fact that she doesn’t know Reid as well as the others do means one could argue that she’s not aware of the signs he’s struggling in ways that his longtime friends would be. His stressed out behavior this episode did have me rather concerned for him, after all, and depending on what goes down in these final three episodes, I can’t help but continue to worry about where he’ll be mentally and emotionally when this season is all said and done.

At the same time, however, again, Tara’s objectivity in regards to Reid has been a good thing thus far. She doesn’t seem the sort who would lie to Emily, or anyone else. She’s a “no BS” sort of person, and was clearly sincere when giving Emily an update on how Reid was doing. Obviously I don’t expect Reid to come out of this whole ordeal completely unscathed – the fact is this whole thing will affect him on some level, and I really hope the show doesn’t skimp on exploring his emotional and mental aftermath next season.

That said, however, I also want to know Reid will make it through this situation all right. I want to know that the Reid we know and love is still there to some degree or another. I want him to take the lessons he learned from this ordeal and use them to help himself improve going forward. Tara’s words to Emily give me hope that that will be the case when all is said and done.

Until then, however, we still have three episodes left in the season. There’s so much that could still happen between now and the finale, and if the spoilers are any indication, the show has no intentions of letting this season end quietly. I am both excited and deeply nervous to see what happens both with Reid and the team’s hunt for Mr. Scratch. As always, however, I look forward to discussing all the craziness with you guys.

What did you think of this episode? Were you surprised by Reid’s revelation at the end? How do you think she’s connected to Scratch, or Reid? Did you enjoy the interaction between Reid and Tara? Do you agree with Tara’s assessment of Reid? Were you frustrated by the lack of discussion of that prisoner poisoning? Did you want to tell this episode’s unsub to get over his years-long grudge? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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