S1E22 - “The Fisher King”
We open with some wildly ominous music. A guy touches a sleeping? Or dead? Woman’s hair. We only see his hands.
Cut to BAU and all of them are getting ready to take time vacation time. Morgan and Elle are talking about going away to Jamaica for a holiday together. Morgan is encouraging Reid to come with them but it doesn’t happen, he’s very salty. Hotch is finally spending time with his family. Gideon is wildly spritely? He’s telling them not to call cause they all deserve a vacation
And then oh no. We cut to another place - the same creepy dude with creepy hands has photos of all the BAU members in his office printed out and strewn all over the desk.The phone rings and he says “yes, thank you”. At this point it is important to note that we have the credits for the guest stars showing up and JANE LYNCH IS IN THIS EPISODE.
Cut to Jamaica. We see Elle and Morgan relaxing on the beach living their best life. Morgan’s friend Jeff is kind of hitting on Elle. Morgan is undressing all the women with his eyes. They are having a grand old time.
Cut to Hotch cleaning in the garage and actually spending quality time with his wife. He’s actually laughing too! Jacob Dawes from episode 14 would be thrilled.
Now we see Gideon cutting a mean onion. He’s groovin and cooking in the kitchen. This is the first time we see Gideon’s home?? Who does he even live with at this point? Aw fuck he’s making pasta??
Now we see Garcia still at work? Playing a medieval kind of video game? JJ joins her. Garcia is telling JJ about the crush she has on the guy in her Camelot game. We know this is gonna be important later on. One might even say it is functioning as foreshadowing.
Cut to JANE FUCKING LYNCH. Goobs is visiting his mom - JANE LYNCH - in a “Sanitarium” Goobs is really uncomfy and ends up not talking to his mom. He leaves saying he’ll come home the next day.
Hotch and his wife are spending some baby-free quality time. We learn that Hotch and Hayley Hotch are high school sweethearts. This episode is steeeaammy? Gideon is having dinner with his lady friend. Candles are out! Music is on! They slow dance. But now things are taking a turn for the worst. Hotch gets a spooky phone call in the middle of the night? Cut to the resort and Jeff is walking in with the police. He’s talking about how there was an anonymous phone call saying there was a murder in room 19. And in fact there was - there is blood smeared everywhere. Next we’re seeing Garcia as her game suddenly ends and all her screens say “no work all play” it is very stressful and overwhelming.
Now Gideon is also getting a phone call during his romantic evening. On his security camera he sees a van coming towards his home. He pulls out a gun and tells his gal pal to go to the bedroom cause “no one should be coming here” He gets a package in the mail, and an envelope that says “save her”. In the box is a head.
The police go into the bedroom and pull a Elle out of bed - we get to see some police brutality as they handcuff the sleeping Elle. There is blood all over the room but she is spotless. Elle is being questioned. Theyre wondering why tf there was blood in her room. But also in the bed above her, written in blood was “save her”. A headless body was found. Garcia has cracked. Her entire computer system is down.
Hotch shows up and is unbelievably sexy. He gives Elle his jacket cause he’s a gentleman. He explains that Elle definitely cannot have killed the man. This feels a little racist and xenophobic.
And now JJ receives a package at the BAU too. its a butterfly “shes been searched for but never found”. Apparently, its a butterfly that is indigenous to Europe. Goobs is back visiting his mom and has also received a package. Its a key. And a note “she will die unless you save her Dr. Reid.”
So Elle has been exonerated and they all go back to the BAU to regroup. They share the different fights they have received in the mail. JJ tells Gideon she received a strange package in the mail and he’s like “is it a head in the middle of the night?” Garcia arrives and tells them of a Sir Kneighf hacking into her account, leaving the possibility that the unsub now has access to literally all of the FBI’s files. But she also managed to find the hacker’s account and the Unsub is likely named Frank Giles.
Frank Giles - long criminal record, has flown to VA. a sex offender, rapist, theft. Etc. A psychopath trying to draw them into his own game. Nellie fox - baseball card. Gideon’s favorite. Butterfly - JJ used to collect them as a child. The unsub knows their schedules and personal lives. Garcia was also able to track his address so...
The BAU swarms the address, Elle & Morgan break in, but its an empty apartment, and the only thing in there is the hilt of a sword. Aka Caliburn in the Arthurian legends. JK its impaled into a dude’s chest and it says “here they quest doth truly begin” in blood on the wall. The body it is impaled through is Frank Giles.
They make comments about how the rest of the messages were written in “modern” english and Elle is like “okay so now we’re looking for Shakespeare”. So this is a common misconception people have about Shakespeare and the English language. Shakespeare and this message is actually written in modern English - but early modern English. Not old English. Old English is like Beowulf.
They realize there is a message written into the blade of the sword. They realize the sword might cast a shadow during a specific hour. Reid comes in with his medieval knowledge and they realize it has to be at 3pm.
They find a box in the wall because Indiana Jones. Its locked. They realize Reid already has the key to open this box. Its a fucking music box. Schubert. Theres another note. Under the lid is a second compartment that has a lock of hair and a CD/DVD.
They watch the DVD and the unsub tells them “you’re on a quest!” to save this “beautiful” girl. But he has some rules for this quest
Rules:
Only the members of your team may participant..
Quest must be completed in the proper way.
He says they’ll be receiving a clue soon. Why is there static if its filmed on a DVD? Gideon is really distraught. Because the cabin he was at was the only “safe place” he had left and this guy has taken it away from him by knowing that’s where he was. It is so sad to see Mandy so distraught.
Hotch’s wife and baby come to the BAU and she has a letter for Hotch - it was delivered to Hayley at the door of their home, so now Hotch is also clearly freaking out. The message was a piece of paper with numbers all over it. Reid says “i think its a coded message of some sort” NO SHIT GOOBS. He thinks its a book code - each set referring to a specific book - page number, line number words, etc. It must be from a specific book & specific edition. They confirm that the hair from the music box belonged to Rebecca Bryant who has been missing for two years.
So for some reason, Gideon decides to not follow the rules from the unsub and to do a press conference. So they do. Like an idiot. And they show a composite sketch of the man who delivered the package to Hayley. They suspect this guy to be white and around 25 years of age.
We see the Unsub watching the press conference, and he’s all “oh no no no, I’m sorry Rebecca i need to go out again”.
Elle is on the verge of passing out after having not slept for like 36 hours due to being arrested in Jamaica, so Hotch insists she go home. A random BAU intern or whatever named Anderson drives her home on Hotch’s orders. Elle is home. She has a nice window seat. She immediately falls asleep in this window seat. Unfortunately, the guy is in her house. And there is a gun pointed at her - the episode ends with the gun being fired and blackout.
Rating Criteria
Criminal/Serial Killer: 18/20
Character development/ character arcs: 20/20
Forensics/Context: 5/20
Script writing: 15/20
Background characters: 11/20
Overall: 69/100