S4E23 - “Roadkill”

We open in Bend, Oregon (or-rey-gon). There’s a man smoking a cigarette in a wooded area overlooking a road. We zoom in closer and see that he’s got blood shot eyes and a creepy stare. He hallucinates the sound of horns blaring, and NORMAN IS THAT YOU??

We cut to a parking garage, it’s one of those under round parking garages. And we see a professional looking woman walking to her car while on the phone. She says: “Well are you gonna tell him, or not? If you think you can live with this on your conscience… that’s not how it works sweetie. Yeah, you can put it out of your head. It’ll just go to your heart. Well then it will go somewhere else. I don’t know… your liver? Your pancreas? Why do you think so many people get cancer? That’s how it works. That’s what guilt does. It makes people sick.” TO WHICH I SAY TRASH. She gets into her red sports car and pulls out of the parking lot, and we notice that there’s some sort of liquid that has leaked from underneath her car.

We follow Lady Pancreas as she drives down the road. She’s still on the phone. “Well, I’m not gonna tell you what to do. Well I’m sorry that it came off that way, but you can understand my position, I’m friends with both of you. No, of course I’m not gonna tell him Janet. I love you, but I’m sorry, a couple glasses of wine does not justify- 3, whatever. Hey I’m coming to a bad spot off 7, I might lose you.” And then Lady Pancreas proceeds to drop the call. And also her car stalls.

So she gets out of her car, water bottle in hand, pops her trunk and prepares to set off on foot. Flip phone in hand she attempts to get a signal, but is unsuccessful. Out of nowhere she senses something, it’s a black pick up truck. She gets all excited, she waves to the truck. Cut to the inside of the truck. It’s got tinted windows. The drive puts in a cassette tape and starts slowly driving forward, revving his engine. At this point Lady Pancreas realizes what’s happening and starts running, but it’s too late, the truck driver runs her down and murders her.

Cut to BAU Headquarters in Quantico, VA. Kevin tells Garcia that he has a job interview with the NSA. Garcia is excited for him, but wonders about the commute as the NSA is based out of Fort Meade which is far away. But then Kevin tells Garcia that actually the position is overseas. And Garcia is like, are you breaking up with me? And Kevin is like NO, move overseas with me! And Garcia is like… YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE THE BAU?

Cut to JJ presenting a new case to the team. We learn about an unsub who kills with his car. Two victims in the last twelve days. Maria Delgado was hit while on a morning jog, and the second victim was Shannon Makely, a stranded motorist. Morgan asks why the local PD thinks the cases are connected and JJ tells the team that the unsub first hit the victims, and then backed over them to make sure that they’re dead. Tire tread marks at both scenes matched. Both victims were attacked in remote areas with no witnesses. Morgan says: “2 tons of metal make a hell of a weapon. With this type of impact, this vehicle will not be hard to pick out of a line up.”

We see some quick shots of the unsub changing his license plate and front bumper, i.e- erasing evidence.

 Cut to the BAU jet (hey girl). The team agrees that the unsub is male- and then we get a lil playfully sexist. JJ jokes that she once dated a guy who washed his car more than his hair and Rossi is like, a nice car needs love and JJ is like- and a woman doesn’t? And Prentis says- “I’m just saying: big car. It’s phallic!” And Hotch says: “So he’s compensating?” And Reid says: “Or over compensating, if the unsub sees himself as physically defective the car not only gives him the power and control he otherwise lacks, but it also serves as a shield.” So now they’re thinking that the running over of the victims by the unsub’s car is a rape? Haven’t we heard this before in the Will Wheaton episode?

Morgan and Rossi visit the latest crime scene and meet Detective Quinn aka Old Detective. Rossi is very suspicious of the crime scene. “What are the odds that she breaks down right here? No phone, no traffic, no witnesses, nowhere to run.” We later learn that someone punctured Shannon Makely’s water pump, which caused her car to break down. At the first crime scene Rossi and Prentis meet Officer Feder (aka Hot Officer) and they go to the first crime scene, it again, is super secluded, and convenient. So basically the unsub was stalking both victims.  

Cut to Bend, Oregon headquarters. The BAU meet with Detective Quinn and Officer Feder and discuss how this stalking behavior indicates that the unsub has a personal motive.  The unsub Knew his victim’s work schedules and driving patterns. Hotch and Prentis later meet with Shannon Makely’s husband, who tells the BAU that he noticed a truck with tinted windows parked down the street from his house in the week leading up to his wife’s death. But the BAU is still looking for a connection between the two victims.

Cut to an office. We meet Gil Bonner, who is falling asleep at the job. Gil is actually the man we saw dramatically smoking a cigarette at the beginning of this episode. His coworker comes over to him and is like, “Maybe you want to take an early day, I can smell the booze man. You’re sliding man, mistakes, missed deadlines. Is everything okay?”  And Gil is like, I’m good man.

PROFILE (BASIC)

  • The unsub is proficient with cars

  • He has a flexible work schedule or might not be working at all. Stalking someone, getting to know their schedule is a pretty serious time commitment. 

  • Probably has some sort of criminal record

We cut to a parking garage, and we’re watching  a man in scrubs walking to his car. It’s a red car, and we see that his rear taillights have been smashed. He gets down on his hands and knees to investigate further, and we see that the black truck unsub is parking right behind him. Black Truck Unsub starts his tape and goes to run the scrubs guy over, and just barely misses him. Scrubs guy takes off in the parking garage and the unsub pursues him. Scrubs makes a run for the elevator. There’s a man already in the elevator and scrubs calls out to him “hold the elevator!” and the guy just stares at him as the doors shut. And then the truck runs scrubs down.

The BAU arrives at the scene with Quinn and Feder in tow, and we learn that the latest victim is Victor Costella, a podiatrist, who worked in the building. And Reid goes: “So much for the vehicular rape theory.” Mr. Costella had a reserved park, so it was super easy for the unsub to post up and wait. An Xray tech apparently saw the unsub hanging out in his truck, listening to music and smoking at 10am. So the unsub spent 7 hours hanging out. I literally couldn’t last two hours at a stakeout before having to pee. Rossi finds some cigarette butts and asks Prentis if she ever smoked. And she goes: “I used to do a lot of things.” And Rossi says: “Bet you never did this.” Apparently the unsub “field stripped” his cigarettes, which is something they teach soldiers to avoid leaving traces in the field. So the unsub is likely x-military.

Back at Bend Headquarters, Reid has found a connection between the victims. All the victims drove red, 2 door coupes. Detective Quinn is like: “Could this be a coincidence?” And Reid says: “It’s statistically significant.” Hotch points out if the unsub is specifically targeting people in red cars, then the unsub’s initial contact with them must have been in a car. Apparently all three victims utilized route 7 on their daily travels to and from work. And Ole Man Quinn is like “Route 7? Maybe we should take a drive.”

So we do. And we’re actually at the same overlook spot that Gil The Smoker was standing at during the beginning of the episode. Ole Man Quinn tells us that anyone living outside bend who commutes towards Eugene (Oregon, why do your towns have such bizarre names??)  uses route 7. Apparently it’s “the most dangerous stretch of highway in the state”. Apparently locals call it “Suicide 7” which does not bode well. Reid says: “Two lanes, no dividers, I would imagine there are a lot of head-on collisions.” Now Hotch thinks the unsub was involved in a crash involving a red car on Route 7. But Reid thinks that something isn’t quite right about the motivation verses the profile. He says: “The idea that he’s avenging his own physical suffering speaks to a victim mentality which is inconsistent with the profile.”

Cut to the unsub having a bad dream. And it’s not Gil the Office Guy. This is a different guy. He dreams he’s driving along with a pretty lady, and then a horn blares, and his pictures her face all bruised and bloody and she says “wake up honey”. We then see him get into a wheel chair and roll to his truck and holy moly we are truly #blessed in this season. Ladies and gentleman- it’s another hot unsub.

PROFILE

-   White male in his early 40s

-   The unsub is ex-military, most likely army or marines

-   They believe he is physically handicapped from an automobile accident that occurred along route 7, where the unsub finds his victims.

-   He’s going after red coupes because he holds the driver of a comparable vehicle responsible for his accident.

o   And this person is the object of his rage, but unable to confront them, he’s taking revenge against a surrogate.

The BAU have the Bend PD go through accident reports over the past few years looking for accidents involving red coupes, and to also reach out to rehab facilities where the unsub may have gone to recover. As JJ gives the press conference, Gil Bonner watches the conference at home with his wife and daughter His wife drops glass on the ground and asks for his help, and he just goes: “I think I have to leave” and she’s like “can you just help me with the glass???” And Gil just walks out and she goes “What’s happening to you?” And Gill walks out the front door of his house and we see a red coupe parked outside.

Gil turns himself into the BAU and tells them that the accident the unsub suffered was his fault. Apparently he spent all day in Eugene with his mother in December of 2007. He was driving home when his cell phone started ringing, and when he reached down to grab it, he knocked the phone off the seat. He reached down to grab it and swerved into the oncoming lane. When he looked back up there were lights and a horn was blaring. He swerved at the last second, and just kept driving. In his rear view window he saw the car swerve off the road and just pretended nothing happened?? He says: “It was the truck you’re looking for it. It’s come back for revenge.”

However, there were no accidents reported in December of 2007???? So the BAU is doubting Gil’s story.

Morgan and Prentis talk to Dr. Ridgeway at a rehab facility. They give him the profile and he tells them about Ian Coakley. September 28, 2007 Ian and his wife Sheila were driving east bound on route 7, and their car was run off the road. Sheila died at the scene, but Ian survived. He fractured his T6 and T7 vertebrae and he’s paraplegic. He also suffered amnesia, which explains why he can’t remember the exact details of what happened during the accident. They also learn he was a former light wheel mechanic in the army national guard. Apparently the patients at Dr Ridgeway’s rehab facility are encouraged to write and draw daily, and Ian spent his time drawing murder trucks?? Ian has also drawn red cars. Dr. Ridgeway says: “When his memory came back it was fluid, his mind was trying to find out the truth of what happened.”

Garcia tells the team that Coakley’s house was foreclosed on 10 months after his accident, and she can’t find any records of Ian after that. Garcia looks at auto suppliers in bend, and finds the one Coakley is using to find his current address. The BAU rolls up to Coakley’s house, but Coakley is MIA. However, in his garage, they find discarded grills covered in blood from his past victims’. They also find really big photos of the victims Coakley was stalking. In the photos they find the picture of someone they don’t recognize, but helpfully, the person’s license plate is included in the picture, so they quickly find the next victim. 

Cut to Garrett Burke- the next victim - biking away from his house. We see him bike on to the street and meet up with some other bikers, we later learn he’s in a “club”. And by bikes I mean cyclists, not motorcyclists. We see Ian Coakley in his truck following close behind.  Hotch, Rossi and Morgan show up at Burke’s house, but he’s biking, so they hurry after him in police cars. So it’s Hotch and Ole Man Quinn in one car, and Morgan and Rossi in the other car.

Meanwhile, back at Ian Coakley’s house, JJ and Prentis are looking through Coakley’s belongings. JJ goes through a digital camera, remember those? And she sees that Coakley’s deceased wife’s car was a red coupe. And the accident reports indicated that Coakley was driving his wife’s car during the accident. So Coakley caused the accident himself, because he fell asleep at the wheel. But because of his amnesia, he doesn’t remember that.

The unsub has almost caught up with Garrett Burke, but Hotch sees his car, so he yeets his car into Coakley’s car and both cars crash. And this kind of works? Because now Hotch is fucked up but so in the unsub. And Ole Man Quinn says: “You can’t blame other people for what you’ve done Coakley.” And Hotch starts yelling: “Detective! It’s not going to help!” But Ole Man Quinn continues: “There was no other red car, was there?” And Coakley freaks out and tries to drive away, and Ole Man Quinn starts shooting at him, but Coakley gets away. Rossi and Morgan pursue Coakley, but unfortunately Coakley runs his car off the side of a cliff and dies. As he’s dying he hallucinates that he’s with his dead wife and it is super fucking sad.

Back at Bend Headquarters Ole Man Quinn says: “I haven’t had my bell rung like that in a long time.” JJ also meets with Gil Bonner, the man who thought he ran the red car off the road that night. JJ tells him that she did some fact checking and found out that he did run someone off the road one night in November, but the man survived with no injuries, but Bonner will be held responsible for fleeing the scene and damage to the person’s car. 

Back at BAU Headquarters, Kevin tells Garcia that he didn’t get the job. And Garcia says: “Only a fool would hire somebody over you for that job.” And Kevin goes: “Oh no, they didn’t hire anybody. The position just… went away.” And Garcia says: “Went away?” And Kevin says: “Yeah apparently there was a security breach? Someone hacked the project database and the whole project was put on hold.” And Garcia is like: “It probably a blessing in disguise. With your delicate stomach, you wouldn’t have been able to stand the food in Karachi.” And Kevin says: “…I never told you that it was in Karachi.” And then he says: “It’s okay, I could not have gone without you.” And Garcia says: “And I couldn’t have gone with you, this place is my home.”

Rating Criteria:

  • Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20

  • Character development/ character arcs: 5/20

  • Forensics/Context: 10/20

  • Script writing: 15/20

  • Background characters: 5/20

Overall: 52/100

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S4E24 - “Amplification”

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S4E22 - “The Big Wheel”