S3E13 - “Limelight”
We open on a storage unit bidding war where armature storage connoisseurs Stu and Dwayne are bidding for a unit. They win with a bid of $450, even though $250 was there cutoff. Stu has “a feeling” about this unit, and thank goodness he does. The boys open a chest in the unit and find bondage porn and creepy murder notes. At first they’re like “dude, this is wrong”. They then find pictures of bodies and drawings of torture machine and then they’re like “dude, we gotta call the cops.”
Cut to the BAU. Rossi has been sent the storage unit case by an agent in the Philly Field Office. He and Reid take a road trip to Philly and Reid is so excited about the prospect of a road trip with Rossi he says: “Sweet I have books on tape with Peter Coyote reading the entire Foundation trilogy”. A landmark of science fiction's "Golden Age," Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy—which comprises the novels Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation—has long been regarded a visionary masterpiece whose astonishing historical scope perfectly conveys science fiction's sense of wonder.
We meet Agent Jill Morris in the Philly office. She is a SUPER fan of Rossi. She is also, a little too enthusiastic about the storage unit case. “What strikes me is the prose. It screams of high-order sexual predator. I think we’re on to something big.” Agent Morris believes that the owner of this storage unit is a sexual sadist who has committed crimes. Due to the nature of what was discovered in the unit, she’s confident that they’ve discovered an active serial killer with a body count.
Agent Morris already ran the previous owner of the storage unit’s name, which was a fake one. The storage unit went into arrears when they owner stopped making payments, and thus it was auctioned off. Rossi agrees with Agent Morris that the owner of the unit / the person who wrote the essays about torture porn and bondage, is likely an organized person who is very methodical, therefore it’s unlikely that they would’ve forgotten to pay for the unit. The owner made the choice to stop paying, knowing the unit would be auctioned and the torture porn discovered. And furthermore- it’s not a crime to enjoy a fetish. And Rossi is skeptical that any crime has been committed.
Rossi and Reid review everything, and then report back to Agent Morris. Rossi says: “The materials are the product of a disturbed individual. But there’s nothing there to convince me that this person has acted on this fantasy.” Rossi is ready to fuck off back to Quantico when Agent Morris is then like: “There was something else in the box.” And she pulls out a lock of long blonde hair in a plastic evidence bag that she just had been keeping in her desk? And Rossi is like- I guess I’ll call the rest of the team.
Cut to the rest of the team showing up in Philly. They discuss that they’ll have to link the items in the unit to actual crimes. As they prepare to part ways, Rossi gives them some words of encouragement. He says: “Find the fetish, find the fiend.”
At the storage unit, Morgan and Prentis decide to play a little game called “Best Insight” in which they make guesses about the unsub’s personality based off of the items in his storage unit. Loser buys the winner lunch. Prentis finds a box of things from the unsubs’ childhood. She says “A happy kid. Well rounded, varied interests.” She also finds colored drawings from the childhood dated 1976 – meaning the unsub is 38. Blonde and Caucasian. Prentis notes that the mother leaves after a certain amount of time and the drawings get more sad.
Morgan finds textbooks for engineering, mathematics and a cab manual meaning that the unsub was in trade school. Meaning he likely worked in a fix-it field. And then Morgan pulls out dresses. They were all originally different sizes, and were altered, probably to fix the unsub. Prentis calls the unsub a “cross dresser” which is such a shitty term. And both Prentis and Morgan give each other a knowing look which is so shitty!! Like, they’ve cracked the case!! Fuck off!!
Back at Philly headquarters, Hotch and Reid realize that the unsub is most passionate about electrocution as a form of torture. Because… in his writing he’s writing so hard about electrifying women that he tears through the page??? So they begin looking for potential victims in the area who died from that. And they find Dana Foster, a real estate agent who was murdered 5 years ago when she went to meet a potential buyer at a house. Her body was later discovered in the basement of the house. The crime was never solved. The unsub used the name “Louis Ivy” when he asked Dana to see the house. Agent Morris says: “Could this guy be more perfect?” And Hotch is like… wtf?? Hotch and Rossi later visit the crime scene and realize that the unsub pulled power from the house to electrify and torture Dana.
Meanwhile Agent Morris has come up with some potential names for the unsub. She asks JJ which name she likes the best. The names are: AC/DC Killer, ETK – Electrocute Torture Kill, High Voltage Slayer, Fusebox Butcher, and the Shock Therapist. And JJ is like… “We generally try not to mythologize these guys.”
Garcia has found three more other cases where victims were electrified. Three females ages 31-38 whose bodies were discovered off of freeways in Maryland, NJ and NY. The unsub disposed of the bodies across state lines to avoid detection. Apparently the unsub liked career women??? Or they call it “upwardly mobile”. The last known victim was found 5 years ago, but Morgan and Reid don’t believe he’s stopped. Agent Morris asks how many Reid thinks the unsub has killed in total, for his body count, and Reid guesses 19 additional? So 24 total.
PROFILE
White male in 30s-40s
Knowledge of circuitry and wiring, he likely works as an electrician or an electrical engineer
A job that may give him access a victim’s home or workplace and the opportunity to observe his targets
These targets are attractive, professional women. He sees them as strong, righteous and unattainable.
So he seeks to tear them down and to reduce them to base sexual creatures and to punish them
He’s a sexual sadist – anger excitation (sexually aroused by the killing of these women)
Killing these women is an afterthought. Their pain is what he’s after and he takes his time to exact maximum stimulation
Trophies- they believe he’s using them as a rehearsal fantasies. By keeping them and wearing them he can relive the torture. It’s during this time that he most likely pleasures himself in order to reinforce his association between suffering and gratification. When he becomes dissatisfied with this, he seeks out a new victim.
He’s been doing this for a long time and he’s been thinking about doing it most of his life
He’ll continue to evolve, finding new ways of challenging himself and increasing his stimulation threshold. There are no boundaries for this man
While the BAU was briefing the Philly PD about the case, Agent Morris went on TV to do a press conference. Which the unsub sees!! Hotch then yells at Agent Morris because she blew up their spot. Hotch says: “Nothing tears a case apart faster than an agent trying to make his or her name on it.”
Morgan, Reid and Prentis get coffee at a diner and discuss how Agent Morris is WAY too into this case. Reid says: “I have no doubt that she’s highly capable. I just find her excitement level at the prospect of finding more bodies somewhat unsettling.” Prentis says: “And yet, if she was a man, you’d say she has balls.” And Morgan is like NO! Then Reid pulls out his jeopardy surface and tells Morgan and Prentis that the location of the abductions and disposal sites mean nothing significant. There isn’t enough data for him to come to any conclusions about the unsubs’ comfort zone. Morgan says: “So there’s a woman out there who has to die so we can do our job.”
Agent Morris shows up at Rossi’s hotel room???????? She apologizes to Rossi for doing the self-serving press conference and talks Rossi into getting a drink with her. She then justifies the press conference by saying: “female ambition can be unseemly in the eyes of some people”. I mean… this isn’t about feminism… Rossi then profiles Agent Morris by telling her that her father raised her and she grew up to see him as weak. She then tells Rossi that she heard him speak when she was in Quantico. Rossi then asks her if when he came to speak she had longer, blonde hair? She’s now a brunette. And she says – oh you remember me? And Rossi is like- no, the piece of hair you said was found in the storage locker was a lock of your hair from back then! “You held onto it as a vestige of the femininity you relinquished in the pursuit of your career ambitions.”
So she MANUFACTURED EVIDEDENCE for a BAU case?? Rossi is like- I see a lot of myself in you. When I was younger I was reckless and career driven. And Agent Morris is like- stop profiling me. I did it for the greater good.
The press conference Agent Morris gave brings in a bunch of new leads, almost too many leads. One woman is looking for her daughter who vanished on her way home two months ago. She was wearing a blue dress the last time she was seen, she shows the BAU a picture.
Cut to the unsub wearing the same blue dress. Listening to a recording of who must be the woman from the picture. The unsub is wearing the dress and re-enacting the torture.
Cut to a 911 operator who gets a call about “a bleeder stripped of its clothes” of I-95. Cut quickly to Agent Morris and Hotch discussing the call. Agent Morris is like “anything strike you as odd?” and Hotch is like “stripped of ITS clothes objectifies the victim”. Um… IS ANYONE GONNA TALK ABOUT HOW THE UNSUB CALLED THE VICTIM A BLEEDER?? Okay so Reid brings it up. BUT STILL
Cut to a woman driving in a car, we later learn her name is Katrina Townsley. Someone rear-ends her and she pulls over and it’s the unsub! He abducts her!
Cut to the field, they find body of a woman. They’re unsure of the cause of death, but she does have electrical burns all over her body. Just as they’re bagging up this bleeder, they find another body! We later learn the names of the victims are Mimi Adams and Sarah Coswell. Garcia realizes that both woman were reported missing on the same day, meaning the unsub is doing “doubles”??
Back at the Philly office, the BAU discuss the progression of the case. If the Unsub wanted notoriety before, he could’ve shown them the bodies of the two most recent women sooner. Rossi believes the unsub led the BAU to his storage unit by not paying the bill, because he wanted them to chronicle his life’s work.
Morris then gets a call from The Chronicle, one of her contacts- Kat Townsley. Kat Townsley tells Agent Morris that the unsub has contacted her directly and sent her a letter. Morris gets all excited and is like I’ll meet you! I’ve gotta see the rest of that letter! And she sneaks off to see a Kat. And of course we know that Kat was abducted by the unsub.
Cut back to the BAU members discussing the case. Rossi tells the other members of the team that Morris fabricated evidence. And Hotch is like wtf why didn’t you tell us? And Rossi explains that he sees a lot of himself in Agent Morris. And Hotch is like, okay, but she FABRICATED EVIDENCE! JJ then rushes in to tell the team that another woman has been grabbed. Katrina Townsley, a reporter for the Chronicle. And Rossi is like… wait a minute… that’s the phone call Agent Morris made? The BAU then realize that Agent Morris is… on the LAM! No actually she’s been abducted by the unsub as well. Rossi is like “she’s his final chapter”
Rossi blames himself: “I told her. Slow down, check your ego, use your team.” Reid says: “David, there was no way you could have know that she was gonna go off by herself.” And Rossi is like “I did know. Sure as I know myself.”
Cut to ??? Kat Townsley is tied up to a bed frame and is being electrocuted by the unsub. Meanwhile Agent Morris is tied up, and she’s being forced to watch Kat being tortured. The unsub kills Kat and then asks Agent Morris: “Are you ready? Beg me not to. You will.”
Reid uses his jeopardy surface and Garcia uses technology to find the unsub’s address? The BAU arrives just in time to rescue Agent Morris. Morgan doesn’t even get to tackle the unsub, he just goes willingly. Rossi unties Agent Morris from the bed frame and she keeps apologizing and he hugs her, and we think maybe… maybe this is what you get for being a career-driven woman.
Agent Morris gets out of the hospital and immediately does a press conference.
Rating Criteria
Criminal/Serial Killer: 5/20
Character development/ character arcs: 10/20
Forensics/Context: 3/20
Script writing: 8/20
Background characters: 15/20
Overall: 41/100