S16E4 - “Pay-Per-View”
The episode opens with Daddy Voit cleaning up blood from Moose’s attack on the substitute neighbor “Not Hal”. Daddy is doing his thorough cleaning, and we see Moose covered in blood and with a muzzle on. While Voit is cleaning, he sees the reflection of a man in the spilled blood, and hears the man’s voice talking to him. The man says: “That neighbor of yours is one lucky son of a bitch, you know why? Need I remind you…” Daddy cuts him off by saying, “I know my own rules.” The man then counters and says: “Your rules? They’re my rules. Don’t you ever forget that.” And Daddy goes “How can I?”
Now Tara and Prentiss are watching Tyler Green. Apparently, back in 2007, his sister Alison was reported missing. She was twenty-three at the time and had a two-year-old son. She was last seen leaving an apartment with her boyfriend, whose name was Lee or Louis or something along those lines, who the police were never able to find. Allison is still listed as a missing person in DC. We learn that Tyler searched for his sister for years, but abruptly stopped. This is because Tyler is convinced that Alison’s boyfriend killed her. Tyler is also convinced that the boyfriend is Sicarius.
As for Tyler, he was kicked out of the military due to his lack of trust and defiance toward authority. He had the skills from the military to infiltrate Sicarius’s network, so he definitely has the skills and insight to help the FBI. But because of his attitude toward’s authority, he’d probably rather serve time than help them. However, Prentis suggests that Garcia may be able to convince Tyler to help, as he specifically reached out to her for assistance.
Garcia goes into Tyler’s holding room and introduces herself as “HelperCat220”. He instantly knows who she is and demands that she leaves the room. Garcia reminds him that he’s the one who reached out to her and essentially forced her to work on the case. Tyler is so pissed and tells her that he cannot believe that she turned over the thumb drive to the FBI. And Garcia is like - what did you expect I was going to do? Garcia starts telling him how he isn’t going to get out of prison if he doesn’t start talking and helping the BAU. Tyler has a mighty big sentence looming over him. Tyler remains dismissive and rude, so Garcia leaves.
Cut and we see Will/Bill making breakfast – he says during the COVID-19 lockdown, he was able to perfect the LaMontage Frittata. JJ is sitting at the kitchen table – all leggy and everything. JJ tells Will/Bill that her mom wants to know if she can bring the boys to Six Flags, which means that it might be an overnight trip. She admits that she was wrong about not wanting her mom to move closer initially, but now she’s appreciative of it. They flirt, and it’s cute. They have yet another conversation bout their relationship, and things start to get steamy, and the frittata is forgotten, when the doorbell rings. It’s an insurance adjuster who Will/Bill forgot he scheduled. They are updating their life insurance policy.
Now we see Prentiss and Rossi, and it turns out that Rossi crashed at Prentiss’s apartment. Rossi says he heard what happened with Deputy Director Doug Bailey, meaning what happened in episode 3. Rossi was fired because he refused to call off Alvez and JJ when they apprehended Tyler. Deputy Doug told Prentis to appoint someone new in charge, and Prentis appointed herself. Doug was like “oh goody, now I can fire you if you mess up!” Ultimately, Rossi is very appreciative of Prentis having his back, but is concerned about the amount of work Prentis will be doing.
Forensics did come back with details on the incendiaries from Tyler’s kill kit. There are no prints, and no DNA, but the pH and the soil indicate that the locker had been down there for at least five years. The CCTV footage had nothing of interest to show either. Rossi is still confused – was Sicarius intentionally setting up Green to be caught? He thinks that Sicarius figured out that Green was a mole. Rossi also talks about how they have every kill kit except for two. One is set up near Indio CA, and the other in Rockville, MD.
Now in Miami, FL, we see a couple walk into a hotel room- David and Leticia Crawford. The couple are celebrating the fact that they’re finally on vacation after 2020. She turns her cell phone off, and his phone keeps chirping because of the motion-activated cameras set up in their home. The husband initially thinks that possums are setting off the camera, but when he checks the live stream, we see that two men have broken into the Crawford residence.
These two men’s faces are distorted. It looks like some sort of creepy mask, but we later learn it’s some sort of cubist makeup technique. These two men have kidnapped a security guard from the company that the Crawfords use to protect their home. Essentially, the unsubs triggered the alarms, the security guard showed up, and the unsubs grabbed him. The two unsubs start beating up the security guard declaring to Mr. and Mrs. Crawford that the show has begun.
Mrs. Crawford makes a frantic call to 911, but because 911 is based on location, she has to be rerouted back to Maryland. In the time it takes the dispatchers to do that, the unsubs have shot and killed the security guard.
Now we see Garcia looking up information about Tyler Green. Alvez enters her office, and they start discussing Tyler. Garcia says that, apparently, Tyler was the last one to see his sister alive, and those details are kinda hazy. So they think maybe if they can help uncover some of those memories, he may be able to identify Sicarius. They are summoned to the round table room, and Prentis starts briefing them on the murder we witnessed moments before.
The victim’s name is Kevin Warren, and he was a security response officer. He was killed in the Crawford’s home in Germantown, Maryland. The reason the BAU is interested in the case? The Rockville, MD, kill kit is only 10 miles from this attack. So perhaps these unsubs are part of Sicarius’ network. From the security camera footage, the BAU determines that these unsubs are a dominant and submissive pair, and the brutalism is indicative of younger assailants.
Garcia and Alvez talk to Prentis about how they think they should give Green a cognitive interview, and she agrees that it is a good idea. Tyler will just need to be convinced of this. Garcia meets with Tyler and tries to get on a better foot with him. This does not work. The sexual tension is REAL. Garcia ends up yelling at Tyler. She’s pissed that he essentially bullied her into helping with this case, and now he’s refusing to help. After she yells at him, Tyler tells her that her little speech is the first honest thing she’s said. He agrees to sit for the interview.
JJ answers a phone call from her husband, and they talk about how they should stay in touch more throughout the day. Not sus at all. JJ tells him about the home invasion and tells him that he makes her feel safe. And then he says that she makes him feel safe. And that’s it. That’s the convo.
We cut, and we see an amazon delivery driver walking to a house to drop off a package. Except that’s a disguise- this is one of the unsubs dressed as a delivery driver, and the other unsub is in the back of the delivery van. The one in the van is the older dominant, and the submissive younger one is inside. The one who goes in the house is live streaming for the one in the van. We learn that this residence belongs to the Murrays, who are not currently home. The unsubs were under the impression that the Murrays were going out of town on vacation, but inside the house, they find evidence that the Murrays canceled their trip.
Now we see Alvez beginning Tyler’s cognitive interview Garcia and Prentis watch from another room. We get flashbacks of Tyler and Alison. He tells Alvez that the air conditioner in Allison’s apartment was busted, and her apartment smelled like dirty diapers. She had called him to babysit his nephew Blake. She was going to go on a date with her new boyfriend, Lee, aka Sicarius. But Lee was unaware that Alison had called her brother over to babysit, and he and Alison got in a big fight right before they were set to leave, and Lee stormed out.
Alison then begged Tyler to come along to dinner with both her and Lee. She tells Tyler to call their mother and have her watch Blake, probably because she feels unsafe and wants Tyler there as backup. Tyler does not get the vibes, and he slacks off. Although he calls their mother to come to take care of Blake, he never goes to dinner with Alison. Later that night, Tyler got a phone call from Alison’s phone, with no voice on the other line. Alison was never seen or heard from again, and two days later, the Green family filed a missing person’s report. And two days later they filed a missing persosn report.
We cut and see security guards roll up to the Murray residence. Remember- the new house the unsubs were targeting. It looks like they got called because of a disturbance. They do not think that the disturbance is due to anything serious. They split and walk the parameter of the home, but one of the guards, Calvin, stops responding on his radio. The other guard rounds the corner and sees Calvin on the ground with one of the unsubs looming over him. The unsub has a gun pointed at Calvin and has his face done up in creepy makeup. To the other guard’s credit, he points his own gun at the unsub and demands the assailant leave Calvin alone. But then the other unsub creeps up behind the second guard and points a gun at him. So many guns. Ultimately the unsubs knock both the guards out, drag them into the house, and begin their live performance. and then we’re in the house.
Because the Murrays are still local when they see what’s happening at their house, the BAU are alerted very quickly. JJ and Tara are on their way to the Murray residence. They showed up 3 minutes after the 911 call. Tara and JJ realize that the unsubs barricades themselves in the Murray’s safe room, so Tara and JJ are able to get in with Garcia’s magic. Once they entre the room, they realize that the unsubs set up a Bluetooth speaker in the room so that they got distract the BAU and get away, and they have fled the scene. The two bodies of the deceased guards are in the room.
Back at the BAU, the team is unpacking the latest crime. Tara talks about how she has figured out how the unsubs are distorting their faces in the videos – it’s a cubist makeup technique called “CV Dazzle” in which the pattern somehow confuses camera lenses. Additionally, the guards are just victims of opportunity rather than a specific target. Rossi thinks the makeup and computer stuff could have been in a kill kit.
PROFILE
These Unsubs are between 18 and 35
One or both of been trained in computer science we believe that they’re related, most likely brothers with a shared profound trauma, a trauma not unlike the attacks they are carrying out
These brothers are, without doubt, mission-oriented and bent on avenging a personal injustice.
However, these homeowners they are targeting are surrogates, which means they are not just working up to their actual real target but also building up the courage
Based on the timing and method used to escape the Murray’s home, they are probably local
There is one real wildcard in everything they have profiled about these brothers – they may be receiving help. And they think this is Sicarius.
We see the unsubs targeting another house, but things seem different. Both unsubs are wearing no makeup, and they seem to be more familiar with the house. They creep inside, and we see that there is a woman asleep in the house. One of the brothers refers to her as “sleeping beauty,” meaning that they know this woman.
Back at the BAU, Tara tells the BAU that they have received a cold case from the MoCo (Montgomery County) police. It is a home invasion in Redland, Maryland from 2012. The owner of the home was Cameron Bruneue. Cameron was married at the time and had two sons, Jude and Gale. Cameron was a home security consultant, he was protecting the home with state-of-the-art equipment. However, drug-addicted transients managed to break into his home and catch the family off guard. Cameron and younger son Jude managed to get into the saferoom and out of harm’s way, but Cameron’s wife and older son Jude were stuck outside. The intruders threatened Cameron and said they would kill his wife and son Jude if Cameron did not open up the safe room and give them access to the safe that was inside. Cameron either thought they were bluffing or chose money over his family, and the intruders killed his wife before fleeing the house.
JJ looks the family members up and sees that Cameron lives in Montgomery Village, and the sons both live in Baltimore. We see Cameron walking into work when he gets an alert on his phone that there is a disturbance in the living room. He watches the live stream and sees his sons harassing his new wife. She has been tied up and is on her knees. She spits in one of the son’s faces, and the little sicko like intentionally tastes her spit. Gross. They taunt their father about how they never got to know their new stepmom and want to put on a show.
State troopers arrive at the MoCo village house – this is fancy moco village. Rossi approaches Cameron and tells him that they need to stay online with the boys to keep them distracted. Cameron at first says he can’t watch, but then agrees to help. Meanwhile, the BAU is hard at work. Garcia cuts the power to the live feed camera to distract the unsubs. Gale freaks out because his show is being disrupted, and he runs out of the room to fix the camera. Meanwhile, Jude holds his stepmom hostage wth a knife at her throat. JJ and Alvez rush in with their guns. Gale hears them and runs back into the room with his gun pointed, and the BAU shoot and kill him. Jude releases his stepmother and takes the knife to his throat, but eventually allows himself to be taken into custody.
We now see Jude in orange jumpsuit in an interrogation room. His head is on the table, but he becomes more alert when Rossi comes in and asks about Sicarius. Jude is all – we already confessed?? What more do you want me to say?? They weren’t working with Sicarius at all! No kill kits, no evidence on the computers of any sort of connection. A false flag!!
Rossi and Prentis meet with Tyler again, and they talk about how Allison deserves justice. Tyler needs to help the BAU, because without his help, they’re afraid they’ll never catch Sicarius. Tyler says he figured out how to keep communication with Sicarius, but his condition is to be left out.
JJ arrives home from work and Will/Bill offers her a drink. She declines. He is instant. They sit down and talk and JJ’s like “hey, is everything okay?” No. Things are not okay. Will/Bill has a high white blood cell count. They are running tests on him now, but the doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him. TLDR- it could be cancer.