S4E5 - “Catching Out”

We open with a train whistle. Our POV is as if we’re riding on the train, looking out. We learn we’re in Modesto, California. We pull back and we see the back of a man’s head. The POV switches between us watching the man sneak around, and seeing the man’s POV ourselves, through the lens of a creepy filter. It’s clear his mental state is altered in one way or another. We see that he wears a baseball hat and is carrying a lot of luggage. We watch him walk along the train tracks and approach a house. We see flashes of blurred camera work and screaming, it’s a lot. We switch back to his POV, and he’s in the shower, washing blood of his body. We watch him… huff something??? We see his face, he’s got blisters everywhere. It’s now clear that he has a serious drug problem. We switch back to his POV, we watch him walk past dead bodies, the bodies of the people who owned this house who he clearly killed. He puts on PJs, makes a drink, and gets into bed.

Cut to, Morgan in a coffee house. He gets his coffee, then notices a lady at the counter. She orders a brownie “the big one in the corner”. He drops his coffee in the trash and approaches her and says: “Dessert for breakfast”. And she’s like, yeah I got good news. And he’s like, care to share. And she’s like, nope. And she says: “They must love you here. You throw out your first cup of coffee, and then you get back in line for more. So either you love paying for bad coffee or you did all of that just to talk to me.” And she says this… right in front of the barista!! And then the lady goes “have a nice day, Derek.” And Morgan is like ??? She knows my name??

Cut to Quantico, VA. A very preggers JJ introduces the team to the new case. Six victims have been killed all over CA. He never kills twice in the same town. The unsub crossed jurisdictional lines, but the police finally identified that him because his DNA was found at every scene. They are setting up a joint taskforce. JJ tells the team that the police have already named him the “Highway 99 Killer”. He targets 1-2 person households and kills them while they sleep using household objects. He then ransacks their homes and steals valuables. Then, he sits down to dinner in their homes. He tries on their clothes, uses their showers, sleeps in their beds. He makes a whole night out of it. Prentis says: “It’s like Goldilocks became a serial killer.”

Cut to the unsub, running along train tracks. We see him jump onto a train. Cut to credits. We hear a quote: “Plenty sit still. Hunger is a wanderer.” It’s a Zulu Proverb.

Cut to the BAU jet (hey girl). The team tries to make a jeopardy surface while on the plane. The unsub isn’t going across the county in a straight line like Frank from No Way Out. He’s running all around in no apparent direction, the crime scenes are hundreds of miles spread apart. JJ is like “How many unsubs move around like that?”

Well, JJ, there are apparently two subgroups:

  1. In one model, he’s an itinerant homeless person, someone who’s been displaced. (Like in Season 2, episode 17, Distress about the homeless veteran with PSTD played by Tench)

  2. The second time their occupation allows them to travel. (Like season 1, episode 20, Charm and Harm with the chameleon serial killer)

The BAU discuss these two types, and neither really seems to fit. JJ then alerts the team that a new murder has been discovered. So the team is going to split up. Hotch, JJ and Reid go to Task Force Headquarters in Sacramento. There they meet Agent Liman, who named the unsub the “Highway 99 Killer”. Hotch is like, we’re going distribute a memo retracting the name. Agent Liman is like why??? And Hotch is like, “By calling him this you are detrimentally influencing the investigation. And you’re establishing a relationship in the minds of investigators with only this highway.” Hotch also asks Liman to cut his staff in two. Liman is not jazzed.

Meanwhile, at the latest crime scene. Morgan, Rossi and Prentis meet Agent Daniels. We learn the couple that was killed were the Sullivans. Morgan immediately points out that there are no dogs barking, security systems, and the street is not well lit- the three basic things that burglars look for. Cut to inside of the house, we learn that was the unsub was doing was sniffing nail polish remover. The killings are brutal, showing a lot of rage. So the unsub goes from heated rage to chilling and watching TV in the unsubs beds. He then puts his dirty clothes on the male victims bodies? Maybe transference. Rossi says: “By symbolically dressing Mr. Sullivan in his clothes, he’s equalizing their status.” Morgan says: “This guys got a problem with his station in life.” Rossi says: “He pretends that this is all his. He’s playing out his fantasy.” Morgan says: “Given all this, the cheap clothes, the drug choice, I’d say he’s homeless.” And then Rossi comes to the relationship that the unsub is hopping trains?? Idk how it just comes to him, but it does.

Cut to the unsub jumping off of a stationary train.  We see him break into a house and kill another couple. Cut to the next morning, the unsub makes himself some black coffee. And we catch another glimpse of an old friend, a welcome one. Andre Royo plays the unsub, and he plays the character Bubbles, from the television show that takes place in Abigail’s home state of Maryland, but which Abigail still hasn’t seen… I don’t know if you’ve head of it… THE WIRE!!!

Cut to the train station. We’re 15 minutes in. And we’re about to learn about hoboes. Or as the kids these days are calling them “Bos”. We meet a man who is a “bull” or a railroad cop, who has a huge mustache and a baldhead. He’s a bo expert, apparently. And then all of a sudden, as if it’s the vernacular, Morgan is saying: “So if a bo jumps off one of these trains in a new town, is there some place he goes first?”

Cut to Prentis. Who I guess, has been driving around trying to “see what the unsub saw”. Idk why she’s doing this?? But what she sees are crops.

PROFILE

  • This unsub is not getting around on Highway 99, his travel is linked in close proximity to railway lines.

  • A male, indigent transient, between the ages of 25-45

  • He’s fit enough for the physical demands of train hopping or “catching out” as they call it

  • He’ll be bruised from jumping off and on trains and bruised from defending himself in any kind of turf wars

  • He may look homes, but he’s taking clothing from his victims’ homes. So he’ll be the only transient on the tracks with clean clothing

  • The trains and the rail yard are his home. And when he gets tired of these he chooses a house to make his home.

  • He’ll have a pronounced red, dry rash around his mouth and nose, what’s commonly referred to as a sniffer’s rash

    • He takes household cleaners and he’s abusing them as psychoactive inhalants. Nail polish remover, glue, paint thinner, lighter fluid, whatever is the cheapest high available

    • They’re referred to as “tollyheads” because they derive a high from sniffing toluene, a chemical solvent. Once inhaled the effects are felt instantaneously.

  • He’s living out a fantasy in these homes. The fantasy is that it is his house for the night. He spends hours enjoying the comforts of the victims’ homes.

  • Upon leaving he takes clothing, money, jewelry, and small electronics.

  • If you get close to him you won’t miss him. He will smell like a combination of human filth and paint thinner.

Cut to a ‘bo camp. Rossi and Morgan go talk to some ‘bos One of them is clearly a Tollyhead. One bo offers them some “mulligan stew”.  Mulligan stew is a family friendly easy stew made with tender stew meat, potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, green beans and a perfect blend of Italian spices. This delectable stew is easily made in a Dutch oven but can be adapted for a slow cooker. Rossi berates the ‘bos for not being more helpful. The Mulligan Stew ‘Bo draws on a tree and makes a sign indicating that cops are around. Morgan and Rossi are like- can you teach us the ‘bo signs?

Garcia finds the unsub’s DNA in three more cities. The three new cities are all farm towns that are far from Highway 99. One of thee murders is the first on the timeline, weeks before anyone else was murdered. Garcia also notices that there are big harvests during the time the unsub was in each of these towns, leading the BAU to realize that the unsub was in town for a big farm harvest, and that he is likely a farm migrant worker.

Morgan, Rossi, and Agent Daniels go to the first crime scene, Mildred Younce’s house. We learn that Mildred would allow transients and migrant workers to stay in her home for exchange for work around the household. Then we get an impromptu lesson on Bo Codes. We learn that a little wave drawing with O X O underneath it means “safe water”. While a train means “catch the train out here”. And the, out of nowhere we see a cat. And Morgan says “a cat means friendly old lady”. And there’s a T on the cat, which means “she trades food or shelter for work”.

Meanwhile, the unsub strikes again. This time he kills a Hispanic couple, all the other couples are white. And this time he leaves a newspaper at the crime scene which had an article calling the unsub the “Highway 99 Killer”. I thought Hotch asked Agent Liman  to retract that name? The unsub has also sped up his timeline and is killing just days apart. If they don’t find him soon, he’s likely to be killing tonight. Or, as Prentis says: “Goldilocks will be sleeping in someone else’s bed tonight.” JJ also gets a tip regarding the unsub, and the BAU gets a picture of his face, obscured by the baseball cap. Apparently the unsub sold some goods from one of the crime scenes at a local pawnshop.

We learn that the big harvest farms set up camps for migrant workers during harvest season, and because they’re subsidized by the state, so they require photo IDs and signatures, giving the BAU a way to see if the unsub stayed in any of these camps. Garcia also highlights one specific team of migrant workers whose labor path seems to mimic that of the unsubs, they are called cuadrillas. Garcia puts Hotch in touch with Cesar Jimenez, from the local housing authority, who they ask to identify the unsub. He doesn’t recognize the photo from the pawn shop, and tells the BAU that the migrant facilities have a zero tolerance policy towards drugs. So if the unsub had been in the camps, he would have been kicked out.

Hotch, Prentis and Rossi discuss why the unsub is here at all. If he’s pawning goods that he stole from his victims’ houses, there’s no reason for him to be following the migrant workers. Garcia realizes the unsub is - Armando Sallinas, a Mexican National. Customs and immigration have a rap sheet on him for theft and assault, and he’s wanted in connection to burglaries. AND his fingerprints were one of 17 found at Mildred Younce’s house. Hotch, Prentis and Rossi track down Armandos’ cuadrilla. And one of the members of the cuadrilla is like, Armando is my brother.

Armando’s brother’s name is Ruben Gacia, they are half brothers. Apparently Armando was kicked out of the cuadrilla because he was doing drugs. So Ruben rejecting him was the stressor? Armando has been in trouble his whole life, and he even spent time in a jail in Mexico. Apparently Armando has been following his brother around and leaving money for him at the migrant camps. Prentis interview Ruben and he says: “When he was a kid, he slept on the floor. In jail, he slept on the floor. All he ever talked about was having a house of his own. A bed to sleep on.” But this is said with very dramatic music and the actor is like, making it sound menacing??? But there is nothing wrong with this! This is so sad.

Cut to, a lady in her house. She’s snuggled up on the couch with a blanket, watching the TV. She sees a news story about the unsub warning residents to lock all doors and keep lights on. She gets up immediately to lock her front door and sees- the unsub! And he takes off into the night.

Rossi and Morgan track Armando down to a railway yard. They look through box cars, trying to find him. A train approaches, and Morgan finally spots the unsub. He chases after him, only to see the unsub on top of the departing train, getting away. So… he climbs on top of the train???? So the train is training, Morgan and the unsub are fighting on the train, Hotch is pursing the train in a car with Agent Liman. The unsub is kicking Morgan, he’s about to fall off, and Hotch shoots the unsub, who falls of the train.

So then Prentis has to go tell Ruben that Armando is dead. Cut to BAU Headquarters, JJ introduces us to Jordan Todd, who will be taking over from her when JJ is on maternity leave. AND IT’S THE LADY FROM THE COFFEE SHOP!!

Rating Criteria:

  • Criminal/Serial Killer: 10/20

  • Character development/ character arcs: 15/20

  • Forensics/Context: 20/20

  • Script writing: 3/20

  • Background characters: 10/20

Overall: 58/100

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S4E6 - “The Instincts”

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S4E4 - “Paradise”