The show opens with someone lighting a cig. A woman asks, “how are you feeling today?” and the other is like, well you’re letting me smoke. It looks like s therapist and a patient? Or someone in jail? The therapist is like, “let’s talk about Adam? Is he still missing? The other woman is like yes, but says she will not help them find him. She says she’s not hiding anything, and then is like “the better question is, what are you hiding Doctor Reid?”. Reid steps out of the dark corner of the room, like a creep, and says he is looking for Adam. The is like, this isn’t about being smart, and Reid is like, no its about doing the right thing, and the lady is like “I did the right thing.”

Cut and we now see some fireworks, loud music, and a Spring Madness Break 2009 flag. We see a bunch of white people dancing and partying, all wearing swimsuits. They have glow sticks and sparklers. Next we see a guy get a text inviting him to a party the next night. He calls someone and we see him follow a girl into an elevator. He introduces himself as Dan and invites her into his room. We see them participating in what is probably supposed to look like BDSM but is actually assault/murder. Ye! He is tied to the bed, and next we see a plastic bag around his head while it is intercut with partying scenes.

Next we see Adam – Aka Jasper – in the lobby of the hotel. A lady at the desk calls him over, and she asks if he can turnover a room 319 because there was another early check out. He puts on headphones and starts cleaning, quite thoroughly actually. It is while he is doing this that he notices there are lots of clothes still in the room, and oh! A body in the closet!

Cut and JJ is briefing the team on the murder. His name was Daniel and he was a junior at Franklin College (?). He died of COD asphyxiation. Additionally, this is the second murder that has taken place this week – there was another guy who died the exact same way, and both of them had been sexually assaulted prior to death. Prentis is like?? Men?? Raped and murdered?? Both of these happened at Hudson Hotel. Additionally, both were discovered by hotel staff. Reid points out how it is interesting that both of the men were posed in the fetal position – this is probably a message. They believe that the unsub is likely another student who is also spring breaking, so they don’t have very much time, given that many students will probably be going home soon. Spring break ends this weekend!

On the BAU jet JJ shares that national media has already picked up on the story, so they will have to make a statement when they land. Garcia also shares that there was tons of DNA left at the scenes of the crime, so it is impossible to distill who it could be. Additionally, there isn’t any obvious connection between the victimology of either of the victims. They went to different schools, no funky credit card stuff going on, etc. the only common denominator between the two is that they were staying at the same hotel, although the first guy, William, wasn’t even a registered guest at the hotel. Morgan talks about how this is kinda common with college students, and Hotch looks like he’s gonna flip his lid saying “we need to check every guest, whether they were on the books or not.”

JJ talks about how the victims had been raped, and speculates whether this means the unsub is gay. Reid talks about how in male rape, sexual preference usually has less to do with the crime than the power and dominance the attacker feels from the act itself. The BAU arrives at Hudson Street Hotel, and they are immediately greeted by Julie, the manager. She shares that they have security cameras, but not enough. They get all the major entrances/exits, but not the hallways.

In the bedroom of the crime scene, Reid notices the scratch marks on the footboard, and deduces the victims were bound before the struggle began. Rossi asks the obvious question – was it consensual or coerced?

Hotch, JJ and Prentis meet with Reese Evans who i think is a cop? She says that the father if the first victim has arrived, and the girlfriend of the other is on her way. Reid, Morgan and Rossi walk through the different scenarios of how the victims could’ve been bound. If it wasn’t consensual, the unsub would’ve needed a weapon, such as a gun. But this also means that the victim could not have tied himself up because of the distance, and the unsub couldn’t have done it one-handed (other hand holding the gun), so it was either consensual, or the unsub has a partner who did it for him. Additionally, the smart thing here is that the unsub hides the body in the closet, making it look as if the room is in normal condition, so once the cleaning staff comes in, they automatically start cleaning away any incriminating evidence before they find the body.

Now we see JJ and Hotch interviewing the father. According to dad he had no history of drug abuse, and they ask if he was gay. Now Morgan is meeting with Jasper, asking about how they found his body. He is hiding out on the roof smoking ouid? Reid asks if Adam had seen either of the boys before, or noticed anything strange about the rooms prior to finding the body. He says that he’s seen a lot of frat guys, and how they walk around like they own the place.

Hotch shares with the rest of the team that neither of these victims were gay, and Dan’s girlfriend even described him as “Overtly sexual and aggressive towards women.” yikes girl. Apparently this caused problems in their relationship, and according to his friends he had been out partying prior to his death, and he was willing to overlook the fact that he had a girlfriend. Rossi talks bout how there were no signs of a struggle at the crime scene, so perhaps it is two unsubs – a woman luring them in, and then the other coming in for the kill with them – treating these alpha males the way they treat women. Feminist icons lmao.

Cut and we see a party at a pool. We see two guys getting drinks, and a woman eyes them from across the floor, getting the attention of one of the guys. They start dancing and we know he’s gonna die.

The next morning we learn that this fella’s name was Carl Cade, another spring breaker, and he was killed in a different hotel. He was partying with friends, and the friend saw him dancing with a girl in a green dress. He was also posed in the exact same way. They suspect that perhaps they went to another hotel because they knew the FBI was at Hudson Street.

Now we get the profile:

One of them is either a guest at the Hudson Street Hotel, or possibly an employee there.
But since kids on Spring break migrate from place to place, we cannot be positive they are still on site
We’re looking for a dominant/submissive team, a man and a woman probably in their 20s.
- A heterosexual male who is most likely submissive in his everyday life, with everyone except for his partner – with her he his dominant.
- The gal in this duo will be socially awkward or average intelligence, and emotionally unstable. She will be reclusive, have a problem with authority, and can’t interact with dominant personalities.
Additionally, this rape is about power and dominance, not sexual orientation.
This team is targeting alpha personality males who think that women are their right.

Garcia video chats into the team and says although there are no reports of male rape in the area, or anything fishy on the surveillance tapes the days of the murder, she did find footage of William Browder, victim number one, talking to Madison Cook, the hotel manager. In the footage, we see him grab her, Adam Jackson – Jasper – intervenes, and William shoves him to the ground. We see Adam pause, and then as Garcia puts it – “goes postal”, and he jumps and shoves William into the pool. So this is shady, not because of his interference necessarily, but because Adam had told Reid that he hand’t previously met either of the victims. Hotch tells Garcia to look up everything she can about Adam.

Cut and Rossi asks for Adam. One of the managers defends Adam, so Rossi goes to the roof top to try to find Adam. Garcia says Adam’s past reads as a “how to make an unsub” manual – he grew up in Corpus Chrisite, his mother was a victim of spousal abuse, and she suddenly died at 5. He was in the custody of his step father, and he was also physically abused, until he was emancipated at 16. Morgan and and Reid find Adam on the roof and bring him in to questioning. Morgan believes it was him, especially given his patterns and behavior, and how he has issues with authority, but not Reid as much lol. While he is being questioned, Reid is like, “you’re in a lot of trouble Adam,” to which Adam is like “all I did was leave work early without telling my boss”. He also says he needs to see Julie.

Reid asks about the fight he had with the first victim, however Adam says he cant remember. He starts breaking down. He starts to get more aggressive. JJ learns from Garcia that Adam doesn’t only work at the hotel, but he also lives there. He was kicked out because of drugs and petty theft, so he moved into the hotel, and Julie actually pays his bills, and has bailed him out of jail. She is also the one who told the managers to cover up the fact that Adam had had a fight with the first victim. Their history goes back to when Julie was in college, and she was involved in the foster care system that Adam was a part of, so she was kind of the surrogate for his mother.

Garcia begins looking into Julie. They track down her location, and now we see a party/dance scene at a bar. A guy comes up to a brunette woman and we see them canoodling on the dance floor. But she is unable to take him away because the BAU is at the door.

Now we cut and we’re back in the therapist office? We see the women from the beginning asking if she feels any remorse for what she did, and the woman with the cig saying “why should I? They got what they deserved” Reid asks if Adam got what he deserved.

Now we see Adam and Reid in questioning again. Adam justifies defending Madison in that altercation. From the conversation, it sounds like Adam had blacked out during the altercation. Now we see Hotch questioning Julie as she smokes a cigarette. He asks why she had her employees lie to the team, and she says its cause Adam has a record and she didn’t want the murders to be pinned on him. Hotch asks about the relationship between them.

Cut and Adam says they’re friends, not lovers, and he works at the hotel so he can pay her back. Reid asks Adam if she also pays for drugs, and he’s like “I told you I get migraines…” Reid is like “so take prescription?” and that bothers Adam, he’s like “I thought you were different”. Hotch reveals to Julie that he knows she was sexually assaulted several years ago. He asks her again if Adam would kill for her, and she still doesn’t answer.

So now they both take a polygraph. We know these are not accurate…

Turns out they both pass the polygraph test. As Julie and Adam are leaving the office, Reid is studying the tape of Adam going postal, and then notices an intense staring experience that Adam is also currently doing? Across the room? Towards Reid?

Cut and we see Julie and Adam leaving, Julie says her couch is calling, and Adam is going to go clean the pool and change the AC filter, change heat lamps, etc. They depart ways. Reid continues to study the tape, and then asks what question Adam was faulty on with the polygraph. It was a geometric baseline question, and Morgan is like, it doesn’t mean anything, he was just intimidated. However, Reid proposes a theory that Adam actually lied about not knowing the answer to the question. Adam had said he wasn’t getting any rest, he takes midday naps because he’s always exhausted, he has a history of blackouts and reclusive behavior, and Reid believes that it isn’t an unsub couple, rather Dissociative Identity Disorder.

While Reid is talking, we see Julie double-back and inspect Adam’s room. There are sheets covering mirror everywhere. Spooky. She also opens the bag and we see the green dress from Cade’s murder. Christ. So they believe that Adam has multiple personalities, and he doesn’t actually know he killed these fellas because it was a different personality doing the killing. Morgan is like, I don’t even know what we do with this, and Hotch is kinda like lol we get him into custody and let the courts decide!

Now we see Julie on the roof. She confronts Adam with the dress, and Adam has meltdown. She suggests they go to the police together, and then we see him change. Oh my GOD. his personality switches to Amanda, and he pushes her off the roof. The BAU swarms to the Hotel, and they find Julie on the ground, she’s injured but okay? Reid realizes that Adam is probably going to go after his dad, and thankfully Garcia has the information on his whereabouts.

The barge in and find Amanda/Adam in the midst of suffocating his father. Reid is able to sort of talk Amanda/Adam down? Reid is like, please stop it and come with me and I can help you. But Instead Adam/Amanda almost kills himself, but doesn’t. They are able to apprehend Adam/Amanda without there being bloodshed, but its…fucked up. It seems that Adam is gone and Amanda is the dominant one? Reid beats himself up over it all, and wishes he had been able to notice it sooner because of his experience with Tobias Hankle.

We realize that the lady smoking the cig at the beginning of the episode is actually Amanda, and Reid has been visiting Amanda because he wants Adam to come back. Amanda says Reid will be waiting for a long time for her to do the right thing.

Rating Criteria:

Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20

Character development/ character arcs: 15/20
Forensics/Context: 13/20
Script writing: 18/20
Background characters: 19/20

Overall: 85/100

S4E20 - “Conflicted”

S4E21 - “A Shade of Grey”

S4E19 - “House On Fire”