It is Silver Spring, MD BABY. a woman is in a dry cleaner, but she cant find her ticket. I’m actually really impressed, because she gives the correct area code as the lady tries to look it up for her - there is a line out the door and this woman is holding up the line, but she openly shares her phone number and it is all resolved for her. We see her leave and now she’s in a pharmacy, where she has to have her named spelled out to get her prescription. This is all to show us how much personal information is shared on a daily basis.

Now Keri is home. But on her porch is some flowers and a card - in the card is a bunch of letters and the photograph of a tricep/bicep. She immediately drops everything, and calls someone saying “he’s here! He’s found me”

In Boston, Hotch and Rossi are at a Terrorism Seminar giving a talk. After their talk is over, a woman approaches them and introduces herself; she reveals she didn’t come for the seminar, but rather to talk to them. She opens and a file and details how a woman, named Audrey Henson admitted to murdering her husband two days ago because of abuse, but no one seems to believe her because there was never any on-paper evidence or history of abuse. Hotch is like, aight, cool, so why are you talking to us, and this Boston cop is like “i want you to help prove that she’s lying”.

Over at the BAU, JJ and Prentis meet Keri, the woman from the beginning. Apparently, Keri wrote a letter that was “begging and pleading” the silver spring police, and they said “no <3” which sounds about right. So because the cops are cops, Keri reached out to the FBI and arranged this meeting with JJ.

We learn that Keri has been getting these letters and photographs for the last two years. She moved to Silver Spring from Atlanta 6 months ago, and she thought she was safe, until the letter she received at the beginning of the episode. JJ says she’ll present the case to the team. Keri whips out a notebook and writes down three names, verbalizing them as the writes. She hands JJ the note, and JJ is like “what is this?” and Keri is like “those are the names you will be calling when you find me dead”. Girl lets have some positivity!

We see a little vision board someone has made of Keri, and we see the classic Criminal Minds bit of only seeing the Unsub’s hands, because 5:02 is in is too soon to see their face.

Next is my favorite line of the episode i think - JJ walks into the BAU conference room where Reid and Morgan are sitting, and Morgan goes “Where’s mom and dad?” to which JJ goes “Hotch and Rossi are still at the seminar in Boston” without missing a beat. She explains that they cannot wait on this case, and JJ briefs them on what is going on.

Keri Derzmond, as we know is from Atlanta GA, and two years ago she started receiving anonymous notes. The notes described, in meticulous detail, what she did throughout the date, but the local authorities where never able to find out who it was that was doing this! Additionally, given that this stalker includes photographs, they know the same stalker is the one who has followed her here. Reid analyzes the fact that the stalker never shows his face - only random parts of his body, and suggests that this means he is either trying to protect himself, or he has self-image issues; controlling what parts of himself he shows. Additionally, he believes Keri is in love with him, and talks about how they have a future together.

We cut to Hotch, and he’s on the phone with Garcia. Garcia is saying that there is nothing - no name on checks, bank account, car titles, mortgage; outside of a birth certificate and marriage license, there is no actual record that Audrey Hensen exists. No life insurance either; Sarah their daughter is also the beneficiary of life insurance, not Audrey.

Next we’re back in SS. the local department is like, why are you guys even helping, this is just a stalker case. Apparently the higher ups don’t think JJ should’ve had them take the case, but JJ doesn’t care. Morgan goes through the case, and we learn that the initial communication from the stalker started at Keri’s job, and then escalated to her home. Reid also talks about how the first card is probably like an anniversary of sorts - the first time he saw her, or first face to face meeting. What is helpful is that he actually wrote the date on the card - March 21st, 2006. A Tuesday.

Keri says the move to MD wasn’t because of the stalker, but it definitely helped. Prentis and JJ have Keri make a list of names of anyone or everyone she knows. Keri gets a call from Ryan, her husband, and he says there is a package at their door. Reid notices how the muscle tones in the photographs of the stalker has been changing - he is getting stronger and tanner. the y suspect he might be trying to make himself look like Ryan.

The package from the stalker contains earrings - a family heirloom that belonged to his grandmother, according to the note he sent along with them. He also says he hopes Keri sends him a gift sometime soon too.

Now in Boston, Hotch and Rossi are talking to Sarah Hensen, and she seems shocked at the news that her father allegedly hit her mom. She is saying that if anyone was abused, it was her father not her mother. Her brother backs Sarah up. They call their mother stupid, and calls their dad their “only real parent”. Apparently she was jealous that he loved the kids more than her.

Now we see Keri and her fiancé Ryan. They are getting ready to make dinner, but then their dog Brodie is barking. They go outside and their gate is open, Brodie, their dog is missing. Additionally, the only way the gate can be opened is from the inside - so someone scaled the fence and opened it from the inside. SS PD is there, and is like “I saw him!” and then finds the collar in the neighbor’s lawn.

Next, the BAU is like this is fucking bold. This is serious escalation to take the dog. Morgan is also saying that this means he could start confronting people - especially Ryan. Prentis tells Keri that if he was to abduct her alone, she would have to play into his delusions - within reason. Make him think she’s down with it.

In Boston, Rossi and Hotch are investigating the crime scene. Rossi says that their house is in perfect condition - everything is perfect even though the kids say she couldn’t keep home. Additionally, they had two mattresses, one covered in blood - but where is the rest of the blood?

And now it is profile time.

He thinks he’s courting his soulmate, who in reality, is a total stranger
He is making physical improvements, but even if he’s able to get enough confidence together to speak to her, she’d find it more like talking to a 12yo boy - but a very dangerous one, as his obsession has heightened.
He writes to her instead of calling, which means he is perhaps afraid of how he’ll sound; perhaps he is less educated, or have some physical issue of sorts, such as a speech impediment.
He wouldn’t have written the first letter on that specific date if that date didn’t actually mean something to him - possibly it was the first time he saw her.
His move here - following her, means he is committed. And unless he is caught, he will not stop.
If he thinks she is no longer committed to him somehow, things could turn extraordinarily violent.

Now Hotch and Rossi are having dinner. Hotch asks Rossi if he was ever happy in any of his marriages. Rossi is like “who knows!”. He also says he may have tired harder if he had any kids. And Hotch is starting to crack a bit - saying he tried hard at the marriage, kid and job. But he isn’t going to be trying and less hard for his kid. They have a heart to heart, and cynically joke about the four failed marriages between them, so they must be goo d at something.

Garcia reveals to JJ that there is something funky - Keri has the best health insurance, but she went to a clinic three times last year for some reason. Turns out - and Ryan doesn’t know - she was pregnant, but had an abortion. Ryan walks in in the middle of this conversation, and it causes an emotional dispute. Ryan goes outside and sees someone has smashed his windshield.

Now we see Keri WEARING THE EARRINGS. And as she’s outside she believes she has seen the stalker.

Rossi and Hotch meet with Audrey Henson. She’s like, year i shot my husband what else is there to say. She says she had to kill him, despite it sounding terrible. she said he never hit her, and he was very patient with her. She says she let herself go, and she’s a terrible cook. She says she was doing a terrible job at being a mother/housewife, she didn’t want to embarrass her kids even more by showing up to their school functions.

Keri is at the police station; she is telling the BAU about the man she saw. She is emotional, but feels better. The sketch artist is there doing an awful job at drawing anything to resemble the unsub, but he must be extremely confident in his work, cause JJ is like “we’ll get this out immediately” without even showing Keri the sketch. Reid thinks he is setting himself up to talk to Keri, which is dangerous. Keri gets a call form Ryan, who says he is gonna take a couple days off to clear his head, but wants to talk to her first. So Keri goes back to the house to meet with him.

IN Boston, Rossi and Hotch meet with the police woman from the beginning. They say that Audrey was in fact abused, but it was entirely physiological. She is not happy with their evaluation, and being like “why do men always believe the woman!” which is simply not true.

Back in SS, Ryan gets home and sees a man walking Brodie!! He attacks the man, and there is a fight of sorts. Ryan thinks the man walking the dog is the stalker, but NOPE he is in the house with Keri!!

As it turns out, the man walking the dog says a dude in a van paid him 50 to walks p and down the street with Brodie. All of Keri’s things are still in the house, so they know that Keri must have been snatched.

Keri is in a van? With the stalker, and she’s doing what Prentis said and playing along. She compliments his haircut, etc. he gets very upset when she says she might cut her hair.

Garcia looks up some stuff, and they realize that a man named Mike Hicks is probably the guy - he is unemployed, but he works in IT. this is probably how they met - he probably worked on her computer. They also realize that he would not take her somewhere he likes, but rather take her somewhere that she likes - they suspect the Chesapeake because that’s where Ryan proposed to her.

Now Hotch, Rossi and Alexander meet with Audrey. They ask her to go through, step by step what happened before she murdered her husband. She says she was doing the laundry, looked over at him on the bed and was like, yep, has to be now. So she picked up the gun, loaded it, and shot him. Hotch is like okay, then you sat and waited for someone, and she’s like no no no no, i had to clean it up. There was blood everywhere. She says she was not hiding what she had done, but because the police would be coming and Philip would’ve been furious if she let police into the house with a mess like that.

Now Keri is still playing along with the stalker. She manages to get him to untie her, and he starts like, rubbing his face all over hi hands. She still doesn’t seem to know where he knows her from, but she acts as if she does. She lets him kiss her and she is like...can we go for a walk, its stuffy and I want water.

Outside of the van, the are definitely near the Chesapeake. He has a gun with him, but they easily are cornered by the BAU. he puts a gun to her head, so they try to deescalate the whole thing. Keri does really well, talking to them and getting him to calm down, he puts the gun down and Morgan tackles him, per his contact. He is apprehended and taken away, and JJ and Prentis comfort him. He had worked on his he had worked on her computer.

At the end of the episode, we see Rossi leave, nd Prentis comes to check on JJ. JJ is like, you should go, and Prentis is like, okay but what’s going on you seem a little off. JJ is like, I’m just tired. But then we see her pull out a paper and she then makes a phone call, and we all know what she’s gonna say, she says “. We just really need to talk. I’m pregnant.”

Rating Criteria

Criminal/Serial Killer: 15/20

Character development/ character arcs: 17/20
Forensics/Context: 10/20
Script writing: 13/20
Background characters: 18/20

Overall: 73/100

S3E18 - “The Crossing”

S3E19 - “Tabula Rasa”

S3E17 - “In Heat”