S2E22 - “Legacy”
There’s an old man being pushed on a gurney by a surgeon down a long yellow tiled hallway. The surgeon is whistling, and it’s this whistling that wakes the old man up. The old man is dazed and confused, covered in blood. The old man wakes up and looks are confused. “Is this a hospital?” He asks. As they walk down the hallway they pass a number of threatening looking rooms with various surgical equipment in them. “Did I make it out?” The old man asks. The surgeon ignores him and keeps whistling. They pass a room that looks like a straight up crematorium. The old man goes: “This isn’t a hospital.”
Cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. Mandy has found some reels of Charlie Chaplin and is playing them on an old time film reels in his office. Mandy is delighted by Charlie. Hotch walks in and says: “What is this?” And Mandy says: “It’s genius.” Anyways we learn that Gideon’s great grandfather was an accountant at S&A studios in Chicago, and when the studio closed down , Gideon’s great grandfather took some mementos. We learn that Gideon plans to show these reels to his cadets in his class to show them how to relieve stress. Also Morgan shows up and calls Charlie Chaplan the OG player.
Cut to JJ’s office, she’s going through potential case files because someone has to do some work around here. A Detective Magee from the Kansas City Police department shows up. We learn that he previously spoke to JJ last week and requested assistance, and JJ asked him to send his files to her for review. Detective Magee advises that he does not have “official” files, he just has a… theory. He advises JJ that he was assigned the skid row area of Kansas City, and he has noticed that less and less people are populating the area that he’s assigned to. Magee actually was given an award last week from the Mayor’s Office for cleaning up crime in the skid row area. But Magee tells JJ he hasn’t done anything. He tells her he believes that someone is killing homeless people and other people who utilize that are, but he doesn’t have any proof because there are no bodies. He says: “Crime went down because the people committing the crimes have disappeared.”
He tells JJ: “over the past few weeks, people seem to be disappearing a couple ever day… I can talk to somebody at lunch and by dinnertime they’re wiped off the face of the Earth.” JJ is not really taking him seriously, she asks how many people he thinks he have disappeared and he stone cold goes- 63. At least 63. And he got a threatening note in the mail last week, after his award was publicized in the paper: “There are two types of people in the world. The people that do the work, and the people in the world. Those who do the work and those who take the credit. You should be ashamed.” Cut to the not-a-hospital and we see the old man remains being flushed down an industrial size drain.
Detective Magee and JJ brief the team on the situation, but it can’t be an official case until the BAU is invited by a commanding officer (police chief or chief of detectives), Magee is too far down the ladder. Magee advises that he’s tried to alert his superiors, but they seem uninterested. Reid says: “The very nature of homelessness suggests a lifestyle of fluidity, yet honestly, they’re not as transient as you think.” Garcia asks for names, addresses or descriptions. Magee only has his notes which are written in tiny pocket notebooks. Magee advises he has run people’s names through “the files” and couldn’t get any hits. Hotch and Gideon hemm and haw about whether or not to take the case, and they decide to accompany Magee back to Kansas City, and to offer to assist his superior.
Magee is very nervous about his notebooks leaving his side, and the BAU team all makes mention of this. Hotch calls it OCD behind his back. Which is… shitty. But Hotch, JJ and Magee travel on the private jet (hey girl) to Kansas City. Emily, Morgan and Reid decide to create a preemptive profile, on the off chance that the BAU is invited to Kansas City. Morgan instantly realizes that the unsub is a “house cleaner”. Reid defines this as a “mission-based killer who believes that his murders are helping society.” Morgan also points out: “These guys devolve rapidly until they’re just killing machines.”
Cut to Skid row on Kansas city. We meet Maggie, in lady in a full denim outfit. She is stopped on the street by a man in a van who tells her: “someone wants company”. She agrees to get in the van for $500. The man in the van is super twitchy and agrees to her stipulations. Before she gets in the van she says: “Twitchy little thing aren’t you?” We have a quick cut to Maggie, passed out on a cement floor in an unknown location. She wakes up, rolls over and says: “What did you do to yourself girl?”
She stiffly gets up, instantly realizing that she was drugged. Her shoes are missing and she’s discombobulated. We know, after seeing the old man previously, that there is a 98% chance that she is currently inside the torture dungeon we saw before. Maggie says: “You took my shoes? What are you some kind of freak?” She looks around and walks to a door and bangs on it. When she finds it unlocked she goes inside and finds an empty hallway and another door, but this one is red. She opens that door and finds yet another hallway with a red door. She says: “Look if this is your idea of a joke, I’m not laughing.” She goes through the red door, finds another hallway with a red door, tries to go through that one and smashes her head into it because it’s locked. She throws her weight against it and busts through.
Except… the room is filled with broken glass. Like, so much broken glass. Like, I Would Like To Play A Game amount of broken glass. Maggie lands on her stomach in the middle of the glass. Now, you would think at this point that she realizes that she’s in trouble and that the driver who brought her here in the van is not her friend. But Maggie, ever the optimist, thinks, maybe he’ll help her? She says: “Oh, hey man. I’m hurting. I cut myself. Would somebody please help?”
Meanwhile, JJ, Hotch and Magee arrive in Kansas City. Magee’s Commander, Captain Wright does NOT want the FBI’s help. He is PISSED at Magee. Hotch has to have a conversation with Commander Wright in his office. JJ confronts Magee. “You should of told us they already knew.” She says. He sighs and says. “Would you have come?”
Cut to Maggie in the glass room. We know that she is being monitored, because the door on the other end of the room opens. The only way out is to crawl through the glass. Maggie starts to have the right idea. She takes her jean jacket off and tries to clear the way as best she can using it as almost a glove so she doesn’t cut her hand, but it doesn’t really work. Finally she just gives up and starts walking on the glass and then jumps the rest of the way, hurting her leg.
Cut back to Hotch and Captain Wright. Hotch tries to reason with Captain Wright and to get him to ask for the BAU’s help on the case. Wright reveals that he assigned Magee to the skid row section to basically get rid of him. “Babysitting skid row”. He refuses to accept that there is a serial killer. Hotch tells him that 63 people missing from a localized area is problem. Wright says: “Are you kiddin’ me? Bums, whores, junkies? Can these people even be missing?” Hotch says: “Sir, this unsub is relatively easy to catch. Nobody else has to get hurt.” But Wright is still dismissive. Hotch says: “What if they were cheerleaders? Or teachers or mothers? How did you put it? Can bums even be missing? Well sir they can. They can be hurt, they can be scared and they can be killed.”
Just then, JJ realizes that the letter sent to Magee was postmarked in Kansas City MI, which is right across the state line, which means the case is federal and the FBI can take over the case!!! Wright is initially pissed, but he also kinda wants to watch the FBI burn. So he’s kinda like… knock yourself out.
Cut to Kansas City. The rest of the team has arrived. Possibly in their private Jet. They’re ready to give the profile…
PROFILE - HOUSE CLEANER
“Cleaning house” or “fixing what’s wrong with the world”
He’s deeply rationalized this behavior. He knows that killing is wrong, but he believes that he’s doing the world a great service.
Ultimately this type of unsub becomes a loner, there will not be too many people that can still tolerate him
If he does have a relationship at all the person will not be his equal, it will be someone subservient to him
He’ll be fastidious, tending towards OCD
He’ll have an overwhelming sense of indignation towards the things that he’s judged to be wrong. He won’t even consider the reasons why someone might disagree with him.
He’s likely not working. This many victims and the devolution that it brings, a job just wouldn’t leave him time to practice his true calling.
We cut to the unsub watching Maggie through a creepy computer setup, very a la Tobias Hankel in The Big Game. We see Maggie move some rocks she found somewhere around to mark doors she’s already been through, which is super smart. However, the unsub has rigged the 130,000 square foot facility with noxious gas? Maggie tries to sit down and rest (not sure why girl you got until sunrise get going) and he pipes it through a stairwell, forcing Maggie to go in a particular direction. As Maggie says “It’s not fair you son of a bitch”. But she has no choice but to follow and go up the stairs.
The BAU take to the street of Skid Row talk to the residents. Unfortunately none of the residents have relevant information. However, we learn that all the sex workers Reid talks to proposition him. And Morgan has a great convo with a homeless lady. He offers to take her to a shelter and she declines. “I’ll take my chances in the park. At least I’ve got the birds I can feed there.” And he says: “Be careful, you hear me? This world needs all of its beautiful ladies, and that means you to Mona.” Also Emily is wearing a gorgeous leather jacket!! Captain Wright is like hahaha you stupid FBI. All of a sudden, Morgan notices Mona about to get into a social services van. It’s the middle of the night. And it’s a blacked out van. Morgan, due to his contract, jumps into the van to stop the potential suspect. The suspect is… a pussy… so the BAU is like, this must be the unsub’s subservient partner?
Cut back to Maggie. She runs into a German Shepard??? Leave. The Doggos alone. Thankfully she gets into the next room before the dog attacks. This next room is filled with the old man’s body parts suspended from the ceilings, much like piece of meat in a butcher’s shop. Also his head is just sitting on the table. Maggie runs out and falls down a flight of stairs. Then she sees her shoes, just sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She hurries down and sees more shoes. Like, so many shoes, and a door leading outside. The sun is just coming up! She made it! NOPE! The unsub locks the door and sprays whatever that spray is and knocks her out. But not before she says: “Not fair.”
Cut to the unsub’s stupid subservient partner. His name is Steven Foster and apparently he has no bank accounts or credit cards. Gideon says: “He has devoted his entire life to helping the unsub. The unsub takes care of everything for him. In return Steven provides fresh victims.” Captain Wright, still dubious says: “How do you know there’s another guy?” And Hotch is like: “This guys a pussy, that’s why” no actually he says: “Does he look like he could cleanly pull off 63 murders?” Anyways, Hotch just goes in there and is like, yo, the unsub is like, so mean to you. And Steven’s like, yeah he totally is. And Hotch is like, if we let you go, the unsub is going to just be meaner to you. You should just tell us his name. And Steven tells them that Steven’s family has been working for the unsub’s family for generations. Get it? Literally subservient!! Also Magee is here the whole time (not sure why, he doesn’t say anything). The unsub is Charles Holcombe and he owns the old meatpacking plant.
Cut to… Maggie strapped to the gurney, much like the old man in the beginning. The unsub dressed as the surgeon, whistling as always, is pushing her down the corridor. Maggie says: “That old man was begging, I’m not gonna give you that you son of a bitch. I’m not gonna beg you anything.” The unsub looks down at her and says: “But you will beg whore, they all do.”
And then the BAU shows up. They’re like “FBI! Don’t do it.” Holcombe is like: “LET ME DO MY JOB!” And he lunges at Maggie and the BAU shoot him. Then Maggie demands to look at the unsubs face as he’s dying. And so Morgan pulls off the Charles’ surgeon mask and Maggie looks at him while he dies, she is still strapped to the gurney, and she says: “I won!” Iconic.
Rating Criteria
Criminal/serial killer: 10/20
Forensics/context: 15/20
Character development/character arcs: 10/20
Script writing: 12/20
Background characters: 18/20
Overall: 65/100