S1E7 - “The Fox”
SINCE RECORDING THIS EPISODE, WE HAVE GONE BACK AND GIVEN THIS EPISODE A 100!
We open on the Crawford family (Parents Christopher and Allison and kids Emily and Sam) and their dog Ben the night before their big 12 hour road trip to Disney World. We later learn that the Crawfords are based out of Maryland! Not sure where though. Cut to the next morning, Allison Crawford wakes up to find her husband trussed up like a turkey in the chair next to her bed. And we see that someone is in the bed with her…
Cut to the BAU team in Quantico, VA. Hotch has just had his baby! I don’t know if we learn this episode but his son’s name is Jack. JJ briefs the team on the Crawford family case. We learn that the whole Crawford family was found dead in the basement of their home three days ago, and that Maryland state police believe it was a murder suicide (Father killed the rest of the family). However, the BAU is not so sure.
A month ago another family was found murdered in the basement of their home- the Millers. The Miller were also supposed to be away on vacation when they were found. Mama Miller is Reese and she is recently remarried to a husband whose name I didn’t get. She has a daughter whose name I didn’t get, and her son’s name is Ty. Both these families were discovered five days after their vacations were supposed to have started, but the coroners had ruled the death was only 24 hours previous to discovery. Meaning that the unsub stayed in the house with the families for five days! YUCK.
A possible suspect is Eric Miller- ex husband Reese Milller, who was found hiding in Virginia with the blood of his children on him. Mrs. Miller had a restraining order on Eric because he was physically abusive to her. However, there is no evidence that Eric knew the Crawfords and none of his DNA at their crime scene. Reid is assigned to interview him.
Eric is aggressive towards Reid, tries to scare him, and Reid goes stone cold profile on him telling him that his aggressive tendencies and abusive behavior were due to his alcoholism and the abuse he received as a young child (don’t care for that). Reid also notes that Mr. Miller is still wearing his wedding ring (even though he and Reese Miller were already divorced) and Reid deduces that he is not the murder. Eric confesses to breaking into the house to confront his ex wife, only to find her, their two kids, and her new husband dead in the basement. Eric states that Ty was holding a painting when he died. Wow what an acting scene!
Hotch and Elle review crime scene photos of the Crawfords, and Hotch discovers that Christopher Crawford is missing his wedding ring. Morgan and Gideon examine the Crawford crime scene. Gideon states that both the lawn and roof are overgrown, and Chris Crawford’s car is in need of service. However, the Crawford children attended private school, house has designer magazines, and modern furniture- the Crawfords were living above their means. Gideon says: “Allison spent money on the things her friends could see and neglected those they couldn’t.” Gideon also finds a black and white drawing hanging on the Crawford’s fridge that Emily drew.
Morgan notices the electronic dog door with an alarm- states that it is large enough for a small person to climb in. We learn that the Miller family also had a doggy door. Morgan is a black belt in judo. Also Gideon yells “Help Me” and screams (LOVE THIS), and notices that the neighbors’ lights turn on and dogs bark. He asks Morgan, why didn’t anyone hear the Crawfords scream?? Gideon deduces that the unsub must have separated every member of the family to control them.
We learn that the Crawfords were seeing a therapist. This whole part is confusing, but the BAU ends up at the home of Freddy Condore (not the therapist, not sure why they end up at his house), where they find a colorful picture that Emily Crawford drew hung up on the fridge. Gideon later interprets this painting and says the colors indicate self-confidence, an outgoing personality, and above average intelligence. It’s discovered that Mr. Condore is Allison Crawford’s brother who is manic-depressive and off his meds. He visited the Crawford’s house when the unsub was at their house, and he describes Allison and Crawford kids having dinner with a “friend”. When asked to describe the friend he says that the friend “really tiny man with red hair”. LEPRECHAUN.
Cut to another family. A father, mother and daughter smiling down at the newest addition to their family- a baby. The dad says “maybe we can just watch him sleep for a while” and the daughter says “can I kiss him” and the mom is like “hell no, we’ve got a long day tomorrow”. Pan over to the family’s luggage, they must be going on vacation. After the family has left the room, we see a dark figure emerge from the baby’s closet, and tenderly put a pacifier in the baby’s mouth.
When Morgan gives the following profile we see someone who could be the unsub at his desk. He gets up to leave, places his pen on top of his notebook and walks away. Mid profile montage Morgan reaches down and picks up the pen and drops it. The unsub turns back and puts the pen back on top of the notebook.
THE PROFILE ????? FAMILY ANNIHILATOR
· Organized
· Skilled workers with above average intelligence, takes great pride in his job
· High birth status
· Male
· Socially confident in the workplace / sexually confident with women
· Targeting the victim is almost as satisfying as the actual kill
· Everything has to be in its proper place
· Prior knowledge of the victims
· They do exhaustive research on their victims
· Everything has to be detailed in a book or journal
Gideon believes that Emily Crawford was coerced to paint the black and white painting they found hanging on the Crawford’s fridge. Hotch mentions that both of the husbands were missing their weddings rings, this is the first unsub we’ve seen take trophies. Gideon “He lost his family, so he takes someone else’s and plays “Daddy” for a few days. And nobody is the wiser because the family is supposed to be on vacation!” Morgan realizes that both families had government employees in them- Chris Crawford worker for the IRS ????? (you’d think he’d be better with his money) and Reese worked as a secretary for someone government related. Morgan and Gideon interview co-workers at Mr. Crawford’s job with the IRS. Also Morgan is SO RUDE to the IRS agent.
Elle and Hotch interview Mrs. Raleigh, a co-worker of Reese Miller. Mrs. Raliegh is just giving her monologue doing her best, just absolutely killing it. We learn that Reese Miller was also seeing a therapist!
Garcia and Reid try to match up the Crawford’s marriage counseling and Reese Miller’s therapist. Garcia hacks into the government’s HMO company’s website. Reid asks if that’s legal and Garcia says “Of course not. We’ll both go to prison and you’ll be someone’s bitch.” Reid and Garcia find out that the therapist for both families was Dr. R Howard- R as in Rachel! Criminal Minds said Feminism!
Cut to Morgan and Hotch interviewing Rachel Howard, a therapist. However, she says: “I have four teenagers. If I had any time to myself I wouldn’t spend it killing clients.” Mrs. Howard is also SO DONE with the BAU. She turns out to be an intake worker, not the case manager. She checks her files and finds out that Karl Arnold was actually the two families caseworker. Morgan kicks down Arnold’s office door and Doctor Howard says “Someone will have to pay for that” and without missing a beat Hotch goes “Karl Arnold will”.
We discover that Karl Arnold’s ex-wife, Faye Arnold took the two kids (Sarah and Karl Jr)and moved to Idaho after the relationship ended five years ago. Faye Arnold confides to the BAU that she is terrified of her husband, but has no idea where he is. The family picture the BAU has of the Arnold kids is hilarious- Karl Jr. looks mid-sneeze.
The BAU realizes that the Dunkens are the next target. The Dunkens were also Rachel Howard’s case and she says that they were planning a trip to the Adirondacks. We also pan past a dead dog outside of the Dunken’s house (aw). Karl Arnold has Baby Dunken in the basement and is SUPER creepy. Arnold throws the baby at Gideon (who catches it) and Morgan easily incapacitates Arnold. Arnold says hi to every single person he meets.
The BAU is unable to tie Arnold to any other crimes because there is no forensic evidence, so they need confessions. Gideon hangs Sam Crawford’s foot up with the Miller family photos, and Arnold can’t help but tell the BAU how the photo sets are not correct.
Arnold gives an amazing performance and the monologue at the end: “Wives wither. Children perish. But me, I’m an excellent father.” Omfg. Hotch finds the wedding rings at the end- but instead of two there are eight rings. Meaning there are six other murders by Arnold that the BAU didn’t catch. Group sitting around at the table looking like they need some goddamn citrus!
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20
Character development/ character arcs: 10/20
Forensics/Context: 15/20
Script writing: 13/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 75/100