S3E1 - “Doubt”

We open, on a cabin in the woods. Mandy Patinkin is in the cabin, writing a letter to someone. We hear a voiceover of what the letter says: “I knew it would be you who came to the cabin to check on me. You must be frightened. I apologize for that. I never meant to cause you any pain. And I also never envisioned writing this letter. I’ve searched for a satisfactory explanation of what I’m doing. All I’ve come up with is… a profiler needs to have solid footing. I don’t think I do anymore. The world confuses me. The cruelty, indifference, the tragedy. When my dear friend Sarah was murdered, it tore a hole in me. And I truly believed the way to handle the pain was to get back to work as quickly as possible.”

Cut to Flagstaff, Arizona. The BAU private jet (hey girl) has landed and the BAU is disembarking from the plane. They meet Detective Jim Griffith. Instead of telling us about the case, Detective Griffith tells us about a college campus. We learn it’s a woman’s only college that draws students from across the county. Detective Griffith also tells the BAU that he’s imposed a 10pm curfew and has security shuttles running every hour so students don’t have to walk in the dark.

Cut to a college? We see a girl running out of the college library, trying to catch a safety shuttle. She just barely misses the shuttle.  I mean, you would think the drive would’ve seen the girl running out or would’ve at least taken the current campus climate into consideration and looked around? But nope. The girl, who we learn is named Amy Deckerman, is SOL. We hear a voiceover of Gideon: “You see, I met Sarah in college. On a campus just like that one, 31 years ago. Campuses are supposed to be places of life and excitement. They’re supposed to be about the future, figuring out who you are and who you’re gonna be.” Amy hears a sound and turns around. And she smiles, and then she’s tased. Gideon continues: “They’re supposed to be about dreams, not nightmares. About hope. I really don’t understand the world anymore.”

Cut to credits. Cut back to the college, the BAU show up on the latest crime scene- Amy Deckerman has been found dead. JJ remarks that she had her mace in hand, but did not use it. She was also killed in a well-lit area. Amy was posed with her arms crossed over her chest, and Detective Griffith advises that all the victims were posed this way. Morgan says that it’s a sign of remorse. Gideon says that he wants a “handle” on this before everyone wakes up. Also Gideon is seeing Sarah everywhere.

Cut to the next day. JJ and Reid talk to the students living in Amy’s dorm. One of Amy’s friends, a girl named Katie rebuffs them and says: “How did you let this happen? You are the FBI, the campus is crawling with police and she gets murdered waiting for the security shuttle?” Reid tells Katie that it’s okay that she’s pissed because she’s actually being helpful. Way to read a room Reid! He tells the students that because Amy was killed in a well lit area and seemed to trust her attacker, this indicates that the unsub is likely part of the campus. JJ also advises the students that all three victims were brunettes.

Meanwhile Gideon, Morgan, and Detective Griffith meet with Dean Suzanne Cole who looks like she sells topaz jewelry. Detective Griffith advises that he is installing security cameras this afternoon. However, Dean Suzanne Cole wants to shut down the school. Morgan advises that if she closes the school down, the unsub will likely leave, and then come back when the school reopens. However, Dean Suzanne Cole is like SHUT IT DOWN. “I can’t justify keeping these kids locked up in a pen while someone hunts them.”

Prentis meets with the coroner who advises that every victim was killed by a single stab wound to the heart.  We learn that the other two victims are Brenda Gladwin and Sharon Stanworth. The unsub has killed the three women within the span of four days- he’s a spree killer. When she heads back to campus BAU Section Chief Strauss calls to “check in”. Prentis is like “checking in??” And Strauss is like: “You will let me know if there’s anything to report”.

Cut to a security guard holding open a door for a girl. We know he’s the unsub because there’s this very visceral violin squeal that we hear when we see his face. So thanks for ruining that for us Criminal Minds CBS sound department!

And we’ve got a rough profile:

PROFILE - SPREE KILLER

• Someone with access, he’s managed to move in a small community with a high police presence without raising suspicion

• Because he kills white, brunette women he likely has a stressor that has something to do with a woman in his life who matches the same description (wife, mother, girlfriend) the women he’s killing are his substitute

• The people around him have seen him devolving

• He may have recently found religion, been drinking, or harming himself

• He may feel emasculated- rejection is a common theme throughout his life

• This unsub displays a great amount of anger – he stabs his victims repeatedly even after they’re dead

• Seconds later, he feels remorse – it’s possible his guilt is because his victims were in a position to trust him and they don’t fight back

One of the people working with Detective Griffith quickly points out that the unsub could be a campus security guard. The unsub could be tasing the victims and then stabbing them so that they can’t fight back. Prentis (who is not a medical professional) looks one of the wounds on the latest victim and is like “this is a taser burn”. The BAU requests a list of all the campus security guards, and asks Detective Griffith to find out if any guards showed up at every crime scene.

Cut to heavy metal sceamo music The lyrics are: “Gonna scream. Yeah. Whoo! Where’s the commotion? Oh, gonna go big. Yeah. With my… motion!” We see the creepy security guard from earlier. He’s hanging out in his apartment, listening to scream, and tearing up a picture of what must be his ex-wife and his daughter. His ex-wife is a white woman with brown hair.

Garcia runs the security guards through her system but doesn’t find anything suspicious. Prentis and Garcia try to dig deeper into their pasts. Prentis goes: “You’re a security guard”. Garica says: “I’m not sure I like where this is going.” Prentis says: “You probably had higher ambitions. Could you cross check these guys against police and military records.” Garcia finds one! Nathan Tubbs who was rejected from the police academy because he failed his psych evaluation. Also Detective Griffith finds out that Tubbs showed up to all the crime scenes. Apparently Tubbs’ ex-wife was awarded full custody of their daughter six days ago.

The BAU and SWAT team smash down the door to Tubbs’ apartment. Thank goodness the bad scream is not playing. But Tubbs is not there!

Cut to Tubbs! He’s driving in his campus security car- spots a girl walking alone on campus. He talks her into getting in his car because “it’s not safe”.

They round the corner and the police and BAU are there to arrest Tubbs! Gideon interrogates Tubbs. Because Tubbs’ victims show so much overkill, Gideon is hoping to wind up Tubbs and to get him to confess. The BAU has lots of circumstantial evidence, and we the viewers know that Tubbs is guilty because of the jarring violin noise earlier, but there’s not really any evidence that can hold Tubbs. Also Tubbs’ deranged acting choice is biting his nails. Eventually Tubbs asks for a lawyer so Gideon has to back off.

Tubbs’ lawyer tries to get him out, but Detective Griffith can hold Tubbs for 72 hours without charging him. While the BAU and Detective Griffith are discussing this, Tubbs take a little nap in the interrogation room. Gideon says: “Only a guilty man can lay his head down and sleep when he’s facing three murder charges. It’s physically exhausting- the killing, secrets, evading the police. It’s almost a relief when you don’t have to hide anymore.”

The rumor that the unsub has been caught quickly spreads around campus. Katie and her friend Helen approach Reid and JJ and thank and hug them. We cut to later that night while Katie and her friend Alissa are at a party on campus. Their dorm RA Stephanie who is the only POC not in the main case to have any lines is very upset that everyone is partying and not studying. However, Alissa decides to leave the party and go study. On her way back to the dorm she is attacked and murdered.

But hold on- the unsub is in custody? What’s going on?? Cut to the next morning and everyone is pissed at the BAU. Detective Griffith is ready to release Tubbs, but after a cursory examination of the crime scene, Gideon is not convinced that it was the same unsub. Alissa was knocked out by a rock, not tasered, and she wasn’t posed (a detail of the previous crimes that was left out of the papers). Also- the stab wounds are shallow, indicating hesitation marks and an inexperienced killer. A typed note was dropped a the precinct saying: “He’s innocent. I’m still out here.” Reid says: “The first unsub showed remorse. He wouldn’t brag about our flaunt his latest kill.” Also Katie runs up on the scene and confronts JJ and spits in JJ’s face. And Reid tells a security guard: “You need to keep people out of here man.”

But Detective Griffith is not convinced. He’s wants to release Tubbs. Also Morgan suddenly doesn’t believe that Tubbs is the unsub?? Even though there are really obvious changes in the way the latest victim was killed? Morgan gets into it with Gideon. Morgan says: “I know how bad cops want to believe they got the right guy. I’ve been on both sides of that.” FINALLY SEASON 2 EPISODE 12 HAS BEEN REFERENCED. The BAU reconvenes to discuss the possibility that this latest victim is from a copycat killer.

PROFILE - COPYCAT KILLER

• Most common examples are ones that people don’t always think of as being copycats:

  • Kids who commit school shootings

  • Teen suicides

• With both the above models, we’re talking about an age range that’s consistent with the campus.

• School shootings- they want their own piece of the glory- they’re competing.

Morgan reminds the rest of the BAU that the note that was delivered to the police department isn’t about glory, it’s about freeing Tubbs. JJ asks if Tubbs could have a partner and Morgan is like, no, Tubbs is too antisocial. The BAU then pivots to the idea that this second unsub might be a groupie. So the BAU is gonna release Tubbs, believing that the groupie will try to contact Tubbs and then they can do a two-birds one stone thing.

Cut to a teenage girl cutting her hair and cutting herself, potentially in her dorm. We’ve got some music of course. The relevant lyrics are: “You got it, I want it, you got it, I want it.” We also watch her dye her hair from blonde to brown. Which is--- suspicious.

Cut to Katie talking to Stephanie. Stephanie asks Katie for help talking to a dorm mate of theirs- Anna Beggly is acting strange. Stephanie tried to tell her that the college is officially closing tomorrow, and Anna tells Stephanie that she won’t leave the school.  Katie goes to talk to Anna, and notices that Anna has dyed her hair brown. Katie also notices newspaper clippings about the killings hung up all over Anna’s wall. Anna says that Katie should tell Stephanie that after tomorrow she won’t be anyone’s problem. She then slams the door in Katie’s face. And we see that Anna has a knife. Katie reports Anna Beggly’s strange behavior to the BAU. Katie tells JJ that Anna “thinks she’s some goth chick Sylvia Plath”.

Meanwhile- Tubbs is back to work. And the other security guards are ostracizing him. Good! Also apparently he lost his job at the school. As he’s walking off campus Anna Beggly stops him and asks him if he likes her hair. They then walk off together.

The BAU follows Anna and Tubbs using the recently installed security cameras. They only have visual though, the audio isn’t really working. Morgan and Prentis sneak up on Anna and Tubbs, waiting to see if one of them admits to murder. Tubbs is SUPER SUS of Anna, thinks she works with the police. But Anna shows him her knife and tells him that she killed Alissa. But Morgan and Prentis can’t really hear what’s going on. Anna then asks Tubbs to stab her, but Tubbs says: “Listen you stupid bitch. I’m not gonna say or do anything to you!” So Anna stabs Tubbs and then Anna kills herself.

We hear a voice over from Gideon: “Profiling requires belief. Belief in the profile. Belief in yourself. After Sarah I no longer trust myself at home. But after Tubbs, I no longer trust myself in the field. And without that, I have nothing.”

Back at Quantico VA, Strauss confronts Hotch. “Did you really let a disturbed college student meet with a suspect?” He says: “It wasn’t the outcome we hoped for.” Strauss asks for his badge and suspends him for two weeks without pay. She says: “If it was up to me, you would need get these credentials back.”

We cut back to Gideon writing at the cabin, saying the reason he’s leaving is because Hotch was fired because of something that was Gideon’s fault???

Rating Criteria:

• Criminal/Serial Killer : 10/20

• Character development/ character arcs: 20/20

• Forensics/Context: 10/20

• Script writing: 10/20

• Background characters: 17/20

Overall: 67/100