S16E5 - “Oedipus wrecks”

We open near Washington, DC. We meet Rose Clark, she is all dolled up and ready to go on a date. She’s ushered into a huge mansion owned by the Reeves family, and tonight she’s going on a date with eligible bachelor Benjamin Reeves. We meet Benjamin’s personal assistant, a man named Mitch Nevins, who asks Rose to wait while he goes to fetch Benjamin. Rose is overwhelmed by all the glitz and grandeur, my girl sniffs her own breath because she’s so nervous! We’re listening to “At Last” by Etta James. It’s a whole mood. Benjamin arrives, and he says, “I know it’s cliché- but a rose for a beautiful woman named Rose.” Rose is excited to go on her date, but there are a few caveats. Benjamin’s mother is a state senator, Senator Martha Reeves, and Rose has been instructed to turn her phone off to respect both Benjamin's and his senator's mother’s privacy. Rose is happy to oblige.

They go into the parlor, and there’s a huge oil painting of Senator Reeves and Benjamin. Rose calls the senator “so inspiring” and says, “she’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.” Benjamin pours wine for both of them and tells Rose “I’m very lucky to have her as a mother.”  Benjamin tells Rose, “in addition to being discrete, I also do my due diligence.” We learn that Roses's mother died, and she starts to talk about dealing with her mother’s death, and then she gets dizzy. Benjamin has drugged her wine, and she passes out. She almost drops her wine glass, but Benjamin catches it just as she passes out. We also see Benjamin’s assistant, Mitch, show up, implying that he knows about Benjamin’s proclivities.

And what are Benjamin’s proclivities? Rose wakes up in a basement, but because it’s a mansion, it’s more of a dungeon. She’s chained up, and Benjamin tells her to relax. And he smiles at her, and he’s wearing these terrifying metal teeth, which are all sharpened to points.

Cut to Quantico, VA and JJ tells us, “A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth, the first time he bites off more than he can chew,” which is apparently a quote by Herb Kane. JJ and Will are at the doctor’s office, and we learn that Will’s white blood cell count is still high, but the doctors aren’t sure what’s going on. Dr. Harvey seems very calm and tells Will and JJ that the white blood cell counts are going in the opposite direction from where they were “last time.” JJ is like, “what do you mean- last time?” TLDR- Will has known about his abnormal cell counts for months, but he decided not to tell JJ. Which is a shitty thing to do when you’re married to someone.

Will tells JJ he didn’t want to worry her, and she’s like, “NOW I AM WORRIED!” JJ is called into work, and Will tells her to go. He doesn’t seem super worried and tells her that he “just has a few more white blood cells than normal”. There is no sense of urgency. JJ asks if Will wants her mother to come and help out with the kids, and Will tells her no. JJ says: “This is how it’s gonna work. You are gonna tell me when the next set of results come in. And if you don’t, I’m not calling my mom. I’m calling yours.”

Cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. Garcia is meeting with Prentis and Rossi. Garcia says, “Nooo” and there’s some light-hearted, whimsical music. After Garcia says “no” for what seems like forever, Rossi goes: “Are you done?” What a way to start a scene. Prentis explains: “Tyler Green spoke with Sicarius online. That’s evidence, and we need you to help process it.” Garcia is still mad at Tyler (aka her CI), because, remember, he’s the anonymous user who reached out to Garcia via SOAR and demanded that she crack his decrypted coordinates. It’s clear that Garcia does not want to work with Tyler, but they’re running out of options.

We head to the conference room, where Deputy Director Doug is standing around. He tells Prentis that he has been asked to oversee the BAU’s latest case. Prentis is like, “who asked you?” Doug is like, “it just came up, need to know basis. And now you all know.” The rest of the team assembles, and they’re like, okay, I guess Doug is here now. We learn about the deaths of Sandra Hart and Claire Durham. Claire worked in the department of education, and Sandra was a congressional page. Both women lived in DC, but their bodies were dumped in VA. Their phones were turned off, their hair was dyed pale white blonde, they were strangled, and they were… bitten. It’s clear, from the profile and photos, that these two women are victims of Benjamin Reeves, the rich senator’s son whom we met just 7:59 seconds ago.

As this information is shared, Rossi is watching Deputy Doug. We see a lot of camera cuts to get Doug’s reaction to the information shared on the victims, and he is not his usual frat boy self. Rossi goes- “Let’s just cut to the chase, Doug. You weren’t asked to oversee this case. You had a personal connection to one of these women. It was Claire, wasn’t it?” Doug is like, “Yes. Ms. Durham and I dated briefly. It was completely above board. But after a few months together, we decided it wasn’t working out.” Rossi goes: “Bullshit. She broke your heart!”

Prentis then asks to meet with Doug privately. She tells him that he tightens his mouth when he hides something and calls it “classic, withholding body language.” She asks him what else she needs to know. Doug tells us about a dating app called “the beltway elite.” It was an app found on both the victim’s phones, and Doug admits that he also uses this app. It’s only for government employees and matches them discretely with other employees. Messages and photos delete after each messaging session (kind of a la Snap Chat). Prentis goes, “So it’s like a Raya?” Doug is concerned about his reputation and basically begs Prentis to keep this underwrap. But like, I don’t get it. What’s so embarrassing about being on a dating app??? He says: “Prentis, I am BEGGING YOU!” Prentis goes: “Begging is worthless. I want action. Hands off the BAU!” And Doug immediately goes: “Of course!” He leaves, and Prentis is so happy!!

Rossi and Garcia sit with Tyler Green. Tyler is looking very hot in his orange jumpsuit. I’m sorry that I’m out here loving these mediocre white men on television, but I just can’t help myself. Initially, Tyler is like- I’m not working with Garcia. And Rossi is like, “if you cooperate, we’ll knock your charge down to time served.” Essentially, Tyler knows how to access Daddy Voit’s criminal database. But he can’t physically help the BAU gain access because of chain of custody. So he has to guide Garcia through the process of accessing the database. Tyler starts mansplaining to Garcia, it’s a great scene. It’s funny because remember how Tyler basically begged Garcia to help him. Yeah, that guy is the one mansplaining.  It’s a lot of tech speak, I’m not typing it all out. Essentially, Garcia and Tyler are about to spend a lot of time together.

Tyler continues trying to mansplain to Garcia, and Garcia tells Tyler that she has rules. She says: “I have devised a set of rules for us so that we can work well together, shall I share them. Rule numero uno, we don’t talk unless we have to.” And then he agrees, and I guess that’s the only rule because then we cut to the morgue.

At the morgue, Tara and Alvarez met with a medical examiner who tells them about the special teeth that the unsub used to bite his victims with. After he killed them, he then cleaned all the wounds with bleach, likely meaning that his DNA is in the system, a way of covering his tracks. The medical examiner is going to make molds of the teeth so they can look into it more. They also believe the unsub is escalating, getting closer to attacking the object of his rage. Alvarez thinks that there have to be pre-cursor victims, someone who lived or escaped.

Back at the BAU, JJ easily finds that previous victim! Her name is Jessica Sayer, and she was a sex worker. The unsub (Benjamin) let her live but sent her to the ER. Jessica is clearly terrified, and she claims that the sex with the unsub was consensual. She refuses to share details of the encounter or to provide the BAU with information about him. She says: “When I went to the hospital, that bastard’s assistant was already there with 50 grand and orders to keep my mouth shut.” JJ tells Jessica that the BAU can protect her, and Jessica says: “Are you kidding? Is that a joke? Do you know how this town works?”

Back with Tara- the medical examiner came through with a cast of the unsub’s special teeth. They are terrifying. Alvarez also comes back with a toxicology report- both victims had GHB in their systems (aka the date rape drug). The women’s hair was lightened by peroxide. Also, these medical examiners are like on their shit today. These results came back so fast! Probably because these were white women from an affluent area but whatever. So clearly, the unsub is remaking these women in the image of someone in his life who has traumatized him- Tara suggests perhaps his mother. It’s mommy issues. Last episode daddy issues, in this episode, mommy issues. Luke says: “So he kills these women to turn them into his mother, to get the attention he didn’t get when he was little.”

Back with Benjamin, he’s in his creepy dungeon listening to music on a record player. He’s murdered poor Rose from the beginning of the episode, and we watch him apply a thick white paste to her hair, lightening it. Justice for Rose.

Now we’re back with Garcia and Tyler. It’s the next day. They have some banter. I feel like they’re gonna fuck? Maybe I’m reading the vibes wrong? Garcia asks why Tyler demanded that she assist him in decrypting Daddy Voit’s files. “You had tons of hackers who could have helped you with the network. Why me?” Tyler deflects by asking her why she has so many pictures of cats on her computer. He calls cats “weird and standoffish.” Can we put him in time-out for that? Garcia says, “That’s why I love them. You have to earn a cat’s respect.”

But Rossi has a hunch- he believes Daddy Voit was screening perspective killers through private chats. They pull up some of the questions Daddy used when questioning

Tyler. Here are the messages:

Daddy: You’ve been arrested?

Tyler: Believe it.

Daddy: How many times have you been locked up?

Tyler: Handful of times.

Daddy: Really? Are you telling the truth?

Tyler: Why would I lie?

Daddy: What were you in for?

Tyler: Theft, assault, other things…

Daddy: Damn

Tyler: Ain’t no thang.

Daddy: Must’ve been tough. Was that frustrating for you?

Tyler: It’s all good. Eventually got off on each. Wasn’t made to stay in a cage.

Daddy: I understand. You said you got locked up for ‘other things’. What ‘other things’?

Tyler: You don’t wanna know.

Daddy: But I do.

Tyler: Ladies.

Daddy: What do you mean by this? What about them?

Tyler: Let’s just say their daddies would cry if they knew.

Daddy: What do you do to them?

Tyler: Whatever the heck I want. Til they cry.

Daddy: And then what?

Tyler: I keep going 😊

Daddy: What a charmer you are. Well all’s well that end’s well.

Tyler: My dad used to say that.

Daddy: You have a good relationship with him?

Tyler: He was a friggin dirtbag.

Daddy: Did you ever attack him?

Tyler: Oh, many times, yoo many too county

Daddy: What would lead you to do that?

Tyler: He ever gave me crap, I’d punch him in the face.

Daddy: Really?

Tyler: Last time I saw him I cracked a beer bottle over the back of his head

Daddy: How come?

Tyler: He just was giving me crap about mom being around. Calling me ungrateful.

Daddy: That was the last time you saw him?

Tyler: Yeah but screw him!

Tyler tells Rossi and Garcia that he believes Daddy divided people into two groups- the wannabees and the inside group. Tyler couldn’t figure out why Daddy was asking the questions he was. Rossi figures it out though- apparently, it’s the PCL-R, aka the psychopath checklist. Rossi says, “once he finds them, he manipulates and seduces them. Shows them how to kill if they just follow his rules.” This is interrupted when Rose Clark’s body is found.

At the latest crime scene, Alvez is trying to figure out a connection to the three crime scenes. They need Spencer Reid here to make his jeopardy surface! Prentis suggests that the locations have an emotional significance to the unsub, and Luke is going to look at real estate surveys.

Back at the BAU- JJ is pacing in front of the elevator. She is STRESSED! The elevator doors open and Will is there, and he looks relieved. He tells her that the results are in. He only has an inflamed thyroid. It’s “so not life-threatening”. Hell yeah! He just has to take some pills. JJ is so relieved, and then she tells him not to ever do this to him again because “it’s not fair.” And Will is like, “Not fair? This is our marriage, this is what we do?” He goes on to make some really good points about JJ’s communication with him. How she is out in the line of duty and puts herself in danger, and does not communicate with him about how much danger she realistically is in. Or she tells him, but way after the fact.  JJ immediately admits that there’s truth in what he’s saying. I mean, both of their jobs put them in risk, but they both agree to start communicating more openly. JJ pinky swears and promises to call Will before she gets into a dangerous situation at work.

Breaking news! The BAU has zeroed in on the significance of the three disposal sites to the unsub. Doug comes rushing in, and Prentis tells him that the bodies were all dumped next to properties belonging to Senator Martha Reeves from VA. Doug is like, “fuck”. Furthermore, Prentis and Tara believe that the Senator’s son Benjamin fits the profile. And we see a picture of him, and of course, it’s him, and we even heard Daddy Voit say his name way back in episode 3. He is user “twiceshy”! Tara tells us some crazy things “Multiple arrests for assault as a teenager, including an assault on Martha’s third husband on their wedding night.” Doug says: “We are not arresting a sitting senator’s son on a theory.” Prentis asks to put Benjamin under active surveillance and Doug is like “no.” And Prentis goes: “Douglas, do you want to catch Claire Durham’s killer? Because you can either protect the people you serve or protect your ass. But you can’t do both.” Doug tells the BAU that they can’t put Benjamin under surveillance, but they can put his staff under surveillance.

Cut to- The Reeves residence. Mitch wakes Benjamin by saying, “I got word from a friend that the FBI is interested in a case that involves us.” Benjamin tells Mitch to handle it, and Mitch is like, “it’s a federal investigation, I can’t just handle it.” This conversation is interrupted when Senator Martha arrives. Mitch excuses himself, and Senator Martha tells Benjamin that she RSVP’d on his behalf to an event she’s having because he needs to “rehabilitate his image.” Benjamin immediately goes for the alcohol and is dismissive of the event. “Last I heard, you were down with MILFs by 6 points. Showing up with me on your arm isn’t going to make you mother of the year.” Martha tells him to put the glass of hard liquor down. She then makes him come over to where she’s standing. She makes him kneel. Then she touches his head with her hands. She gets really close to him and touches his lips and says, “You will be there, and you will not argue, am I clear?” It is… hands down, one of the creepiest things I have ever seen on television ever. EVER.

Back at BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. We’re back in the conference room with Rossi, Garcia, and Tyler. Garcia is still verbally sparring with Tyler. Garcia and Rossi believe that Daddy Voit was not tricked by Tyler. They believe that Daddy Voit knew that Tyler was trying to infiltrate his network and specifically goaded Tyler on, so that Daddy Voit could come to the park and figure out who Tyler was and why he was trying to infiltrate. Tyler was unaware of this and genuinely believed that he had Daddy fooled. Tyler then puts it together for us. Tyler snagged the encrypted coordinates for the kill kits, and figured that Daddy was being careless. When really, Daddy was aware that the coordinates had been taken all along. Tyler couldn’t crack the coordinates by himself, so he enlisted Garcia’s help. When she cracked him, Tyler then intercepted one of the kill kits and disabled it, which further confirmed Daddy’s suspicions that Tyler was a mole. Then Daddy went to Allaband Park to find Tyler and figure out who he was, but the BAU got to Tyler first. Super convoluted. Fool me once…

Garcia tells Tyler “You got lucky. At best.” And Tyler says: “I did. Just like I got lucky when I searched out the biggest, baddest hacker of all, called the Black Queen. When I found her on a social media network I was like… what, this is her? The kitten memes, the unicorns. But then I was like… this is a way in, if I told her that people would die that she would get me whatever I wanted. And that is how I got my hands on the kill kit. So maybe he tried to trick me, but I tricked you.” Garcia then storms off and leaves the room.

Meanwhile, Mitch, personal assistant to Benjamin, turns himself into the BAU. Tara interviews him. Mitch asks for immunity. Tara shows Benjamin pictures of the deceased girls. Mitch is like… very into the photos. Mitch claims that he’s done things, but not with Benjamin. The BAU initially think it may be a partnership, but it’s unclear how much involvement Mitch had or what else he is eluding to. The BAU search Mitch’s car and find Benjamin’s teeth. The BAU realize that Mitch is a smoke screen and he’s buying Benjamin time. Mitch then asks for a lawyer, and Tara and JJ realize that Benjamin must be going after Jessica Sayer because Benjamin thinks she told the BAU who he was.

We cut to a parking garage. Benjamin easily abducts Jessica and tells her, “You look good enough to eat.” They get into Jessica’s car, Jessica sits in the driver’s seat, and Benjamin sits in the back and holds a gun to her head. He asks Jessica if she missed him and says, “I bet you think about my every day, don’t you?” Jessica still has scars from the bite marks on her body, and Benjamin is very turned on by them. The BAU track Jessica’s phone and hurries to save her. Jessica tells Benjamin that she didn’t tell the BAU anything, and he goes, “that’s the problem. You might”. The BAU shows up at the parking garage, and Benjamin quickly types “911” into his Beltway Elite app. Benjamin is taken into custody, and thankfully Jessica will be okay.

Back at Quantico, Doug is pissed that Prentis arrested Benjamin. But the power dynamic has completely switched now that Prentis has the goods on Doug. She is in charge, and she lets him know it. I do love a betta cuck. But my god. I want my blorbo back! Luke is currently in trying to interrogate Benjamin, but it’s not working. Also, Benjamin has not called for a lawyer. Prentis says: “I’m gonna have to thread the needle just right to get a confession out of him.” Doug says, “Prentis if you go in there, we will all get fired.” Prentis then asks Doug about Claire Durham. She reveals that Benjamin was one of the founders of the Beltway Elite app. He literally founded it to stalk women.

Prentis then determines that what Benjamin needs is a mother. She gets a little sexy, and Doug is like, “What are you doing?” And she goes, “giving him what he wants- mommy.” Before entering the room she says (loudly, so Benjamin can hear) “Get out of my face or I’ll cut your balls off and feed them to you.” Luke quickly exits, and Prentis starts in on Benjamin. She says: “Benjamin, you’ve been a bad boy, haven’t you?” I’m just gonna play the scene. I can’t even do it justice. It’s… so much.

Prentis starts touching her hair. “There’s this idea about women of a certain age that we’re not relevant anymore sexually. But I have gotten so much attention. My kid doesn’t like it, but fuck him, whatever.” Of course, we remember that Prentis is child-free! She calls him a “footnote in his mother’s obituary.” Benjamin then starts listing victims from the shipping container. None of these names are public knowledge.

Derek Sessper – Sicarius spiders

Carmen Gomez from 2007

John Harris – he was a wimp

Susan Abel

Caitlin Jones

Benjamin then tells Prentis about Whitfield County, GA. Tells her there’s more buried treasure. Outside the interrogation room, Doug gets a call, and a lawyer shows up to defend Benjamin. Guess who else is here? Senator Martha! She is PISSED! Senator Martha gets her son released. Tara goes to talk to Mitch and tells him that Reeves is going down, and she begs Mitch to confess. She tells Mitch not to go down with Reeves, and that justice will be served. Mitch says: “Justice? There’s no justice in this country. This country’s a kleptocracy, always has been. Now take me to jail.”

JJ and Luke are going to Georgia, and the Atlanta Field Office is setting up a SWAT team to assist.

Rossi then asks Tyler about Benjamin Reeves, and Tyler identifies him as user “twiceshy”. He has Rossi search the chat records for the phrase “overbite.” Tyler tells Rossi that Sicarius needed a wealthy benefactor, and in exchange for money, Sicarius was going to teach Benjamin how to kill. Benjamin had a bit of a dental issue that I guess was never fixed. He had a bit of an overbite. You would think- Senator connections- he would have gone to an orthodontist, but I guess not. Anyways, TLDR, Daddy made Benjamin’s teeth. “The device is on its way, it should fix your overbite.” And then apparently, they went into a private chat that the BAU does not have access to. Tyler tells Rossi that he doesn’t know how to access the private forum, and Rossi is like, Garcia could access it. Rossi then tells Tyler to make nice with Garcia.

Cut to- Garcia’s office. He tells Garcia that he needs her and that she’s the best. Garcia asks, “How do I know that you’re not a boundary-breaking jerk face forever?” And Tyler brings her a kitten? It’s a black cat with a pink collar. Apparently, Rossi helped Tyler get the cat. Tyler is still like, “lol I hate cats”. Garcia is like, “a rescue cat is a terrible peace offering, if you want me back at the table, you’re gonna have to take things one step further.”

Cut to- Doug and Prentis meeting with Senator Reeves. Senator Reeves is like, “You arrested my son?” And Prentis is like, “Yes.” Senator Reeves is like- “You pretended to be me?” And Prentis is like, “Yes. My interrogation strategy necessitated me talking to him like the woman he hates.” Senator Reeves says, “Let me be clear, you’re going to drop all the charges against Mitch.” She threatens the BAU and DOJ. Prentis turns to Doug and is like, “are we doing this”. And Doug says, “for the sake of the BAU, we should back off.”

Cut to- The Reeves residence. Senator Martha is pissed! She tells Benjamin to “get in the shower and wash the stench of that jail off.” But guess what! Daddy Voit is there! He’s got a gun. He points it at Senator Reeves. Benjamin is delighted. Senator Reeves offers Daddy money. She turns to Benjamin and pleads. She says, “I raised you, I love you.” Daddy Voit says, “Okay, I’m gonna give you 5 minutes with her.” Benjamin says: ‘The police took my teeth.” Daddy says: “You don’t need them. She’s your mom!”

Cut to- a little while later. The BAU arrive at the Reeves Residence. Senator Martha is dead- she’s been chomped. Prentis is pissed at Doug. She says: “It’s not pretty, is it? Especially considering she’d still be alive if you’d listened to me.” And I’m like?? Prentis? He’s your boss. He’s not responsible for Senator Martha’s death- her killer, her son Benjamin is. Doug is like, “Prentis, I’m trying,” and Prentis is like, “it’s not good enough!” The Reeves jet is in transit, and the BAU learns that Benjamin is headed to Whitfield County, GA. They radio to JJ and Alvarez, who are on route to Whitfield County that they will “have company.”

Cut back to BAU Headquarters- Garcia and Tyler are still working on trying to get into Daddy Voit’s super secret private server. Also- Tyler is now holding Garcia’s cat. Rossi comes in and is like, “Nice cat.” After some discussion, Garcia and Tyler realize that Daddy Voit and Benjamin have been chatting on The Beltway Elite app under some super secret code.

Cut to- Whitfield County, GA. Daddy Voit and Benjamin are in a car, and they pull over. Benjamin tells Daddy that he can get them to a country that doesn’t expedite. Daddy says that the spot they’ve picked is “the perfect spot.” He tells Benjamin that Benjamin won’t want to see what he’s about to do. But before Daddy can do anything, his system on Beltway Elite detects the BAU’s breach. So Daddy shuts the site down, and Garcia gets a weird message that says, “Fuck You Try Again.” It’s a graphic that has laughing heads, I can’t quite identify who these heads are? Is it Benjamin? I’m not sure. Anyways, Daddy knows that the BAU are on to him.

JJ and Luke pull up at Daddy’s storage container in Whitfield County. Apparently, the local FBI unit used satellite imaging and found an area where there were concealed units underground. The SWAT team is on their way, but JJ and Luke are like- let’s just go in without backup. It’s almost like- JJ didn’t learn from The Big Game.

Before JJ and Luke head into the underground storage container, she calls Will. The call goes straight to voicemail, and she leaves a message telling him that she loves him. They turn on their bodycams, and the BAU gets a satellite upload of what’s going on. JJ and Luke enter the container- none of the BAU team members are like, “hey- why aren’t you waiting?” Doug is there, and Prentis is like, “how should we proceed” and Doug is like, “idk… do whatever you think is right.” As JJ and Luke enter into Daddy’s storage container, something goes off and starts beeping, we realize that it’s a bomb. Luke tells JJ to run, the team is horrified, but the signal cuts out just as the bomb explodes. We have no idea what happened to them.