We open and see Reid, Hotch and Prentis in what looks like a basement. They are clearly looking for something - or someone. Reid goes off by himself and we see him walk down a long hallway - at the end is a door to a basement. In the basement they see a kid who must be dead in a closet - he is six years old. And then there is a baby? Reid is like “JJ we can’t let your baby be at a crime scene.”

And jump - he wakes up and is on the BAU jet. He had been dreaming. He explains the dead kid and a baby at the crime scene to the BAU, and Morgan is like hey dream analysis, but Reid says he doesn’t believe in dream analysis. The rest of the team is like bud, you’re stressed, the case we’re working on involves a dead kid - hey you know we’re going back to LA maybe that’s why - did you tell your mom you’re visiting? Reid does not seem to appreciate any of this analysis at all and is like “why aren’t we reviewing the case file?” to which they’re like - uh because you fell asleep.

So the case is that a kid named Ethan Hayes, 5 years old, two weeks ago had been abducted out of his parents front yard. His mom had run inside to get her purse, and police found his body exactly one week later in the desert. He was dressed in a new change of clothes, combed hair, clipped nails. They believe he was smothered, and there were no signs of any sexual assault. So the unsub may consider this to be a merciful death.

Now there is another kid. Michael Bridges. Yesterday he set out to walk himself to a friends house a block away, and never showed up.

We know that these cases are connected because the Unsub called the parents, essentially taunting them. There was no demand for ransom. So the unsub shows remorse and then is like hah sucks to be you!

Now we see Michael in a closet walking with the obscured unsub. We see him get on the bed and the unsub approach him with a pillow - but there isn’t any smothering. A fake out! No, instead we see the unsub put their arm around him, as if they are cuddling.

In Las Vegas, we see the BAU appear at the super suburban town where Michael has gone missing. This does look like a super manicured safe neighborhood. JJ asks the local sheriff how the parents are handling the abduction and he says “separate” which doesn’t seem promising.

The mother is like, I don’t want to hear about the other kid, i just want to know about Michael. They ask if Michael had walked to a friends house before, mom gets defensive, but then dad is like, no he had only done this a couple times. JJ had to explain that this could have been a routine that was stalked.

We see Morgan and Reid at the morgue speaking to the mortician about Ethan’s cause of death. The mortician says this case is really strange - Ethan had no bruising, etc. But he was noticeably thin and his stomach and intestines were completely empty - he was being starved, but there were no signs of starvation, so he was getting nutrients SOMEHOW.

Now we see Rossi and Prentis go to where they found Ethan’s body. They realize that Ethan must have been groomed after being dumped in the desert, because fibers etc. also why did they dump him close to the road? So the unsub could drive by and see the boy - that’s why he had groomed him.

The funeral for Ethan is scheduled for the next day, so Hotch asks that the funeral be open to the public and the parents of Michael Bridges attend – it is likely the unsub will come.

JJ has some girl time (sorry that’s so cold) with Michael’s mom. The mom knows that she is not handling it well and blaming her husband when she shouldn’t, but at least she’s self aware.

Now we see Mr Bridges preparing to answer a phone call that is from the unsub. Amy - the mother answers. They know she must keep him on the line as much as possible. She answers and the unsub has a voice filter thing on. The unsub asks if she is home and alone, she says she is there with her husband, and the unsub is like “why are you home? You should be out looking for your boy!” next we see Hotch acting like an overly involved parent at their kids dance competition as he writes down notes and gestures about what she should or should not say. The unsub is like he’s better off with me, and Amy is like, okay yes. And the unsub is really rude, saying he’s in a better place, and that she is a bad mom. The call ends when the unsub is like “your three minutes are up!”

Thankfully Garcia was able to somewhat track the call and come up with a general area in which the call could have been made from, but it is tricky because the unsub called on a cellphone so the unsub is mobile.

Amy mom is very distressed; she says she needs to lie down. Morgan and Reid have shown up, they are going to be night watch for the parents. They also report to Hotch about what they learned at the morgue.

And now Reid gets to do his Will Graham cosplay and have nightmares again! His dream is almost identical to the dream he had on the jet, but now he also has leeches on his body. Reid wakes up screaming, and wakes up the Bridges. Dad is unhappy, but mom is a little more compassionate and actually asks if Reid is okay. Reid is super ashamed and embarrassed. Morgan is like everyone needs to fuckin sleep.

Now we see the Bridges preparing to attend Ethan’s funeral. Amy goes downstairs and tells the BAU that she can’t handle it, and Morgan and Hotch try to convince her that her going is an important move because it could help them find Michael.

And now we get the profile -

A white man in his 20s - 30s.
Given the quality of clothing he put Ethan in, he probably comes from a middle-class background.
This is not someone who will attend the funeral in a high end or well tailored suit
Might be paying a lot of attention to the Bridges
May drive a4 wheel drive vehicle.
He is trying to separate his actions from himself
This is about remorse

Amy agrees to go. Morgan explains that she should look out for anyone paying extra attention to them - to pay attention to the hairs on the back of your neck, since we are conditioned to sense fear.

Reid and Morgan talk about dream analysis again. Apparently this dream that Reid is having is a dream he has been having versions of since his was a kid.

Now we’re at the funeral, and sorry? Why is the coffin so big? We watch the Bridges and the BAU scan the crowed for someone watching them. Amy definitely senses that the unsub is there, but cannot pin-prick who it is specifically. JANE LYNCH shows up, and Reid has a flashback of attending a funeral there before.

Prentis notices a guy on a flip phone during the service and make their way over to him. Rossi approaches and is like “are you a friend of the family?” the guy is saying he isn’t but he felt sad because its a young kid. And Prentis points out that he has been videotaping on his phone. They walk away with him and now we see him being apprehended.

Cut and we see them questioning this guy - he is not setting himself up to look good. He is obviously nervous. Rossi and Prentis grill him, and this guy is definitely shady. He says “I never would’ve molested that boy!” uh oh! This isn’t him; this guy does not know the details of the murder - rather he is a preferential sex offender.

Next Morgan pulled a file for Reid, one about a kid named Riley Jenkins who was murdered at the age of 6 in the town, - Reid would have been about 4. And Reid says he had an imaginary friend named Riley.

Cut and now we see a four wheeler roll up to a house in the desert, and see Michael locked in the bedroom. He has handcuffs on and runs to hide in the closet when the car shows up.

The Bridges get a phone call and the unsub demands that they talk to the FBI. the Unsub says they only have 3 minutes. Insists they only have 3 minutes - and the unsub also talks about how they love the boys, and says that Michael “sleeps better with me”. The call ends the same way as it did before - saying that their time is up. After the call, Reid says he doesn’t think the unsub is a man. Morgan backs him up, saying that the also thinks that the Unsub is woman. This is because of how the unsub talks about the clothing that the boys have been dressed, and how compassionate towards the kids.

Reid also points out that he thinks that this unsub has been institutionalized, given how she only believes she can talk on the phone for 3 minutes. However, because of patient confidentiality, Garcia cant see who would’ve been institutionalized.

Reid goes to the facility his mom is staying at, and he speaks to one of the workers there and asks for assistance on finding someone who matches the profile, and who may have been released shortly before the abduction of the first kid. The good news here is that Reid also says hi to his mom while there. He also asks his mom about Riley Jenkins – his mom says that Riley Jenkins was made up though.

Unfortunately, the guy working there says that he couldn’t find anyone who matched the profile Reid provided. He does say though that depending on the condition of the patient, it might be more of matter of making sure that the unsub stays on their medication than necessarily what their condition is. After this doctor leaves, Reid’s mom says that she went off her medication shortly after having him. This gives Reid an epiphany and he approaches the doctor again, and asks if a woman could think a 5 yo is her own newborn. The doctor says yes, if her psychosis is serious enough and she’s off her medication then yes. Reid calls Hotch and says that he believes he knows why the medical examiner was confused - he thinks the unsub is breastfeeding the boys.

Reviewing the footage from the funeral, the mother is able to pinpoint a blonde woman at the funeral who she says is the unsub.

Now we see a shot of the unsub breastfeeding her baby, but the shot moves and we see that yes, she is delusional and thinks that Michael is her baby.

Garcia has found the woman, her name is Claire Bates. She was institutionalized three years ago, and she had a baby 3 weeks ago - but social services took her baby from her after 7 days. This 7 days makes sense because that is how long she is holding the boys for. Additionally, in the notice from social services, they said that even though she has been committed to the baby and stayed with her medication, given her history of violent and delusional behavior there is a risk to the child. Andddd they find her address!

The BAU drives out to her home and we see her covering logs with a lot of gasoline. This is gonna be one hellevua fire. The BAU zoomies on over and approaches her house. They enter the home but it doesn’t seem that she is in there - until they see her run out the back. She is carrying what looks to be the boy, and she is making her way towards the fire she has now build. Sidebar, but Rossi does not look happy about the fact that he is RUNNING.

Claire says that her baby is dead, and Prentis is like, actually no. Reid rolls in and makes his way into the house while the rest of the team is talking to Claire in the yard. Reid finds Michael in one of the rooms and Michael gives him the biggest hug!! We see that what Claire was hiding and threw into the fire was actually a teddy bear and not a kid.

Now we see Claire being apprehended and having some pointed eye contact with Amy. and Amy is reunited with her son, and Dad somehow just appears there too? And Amy tells JJ she is gonna be a good mom. And its a happy ending! But Reid is still bothered by the Riley Jenkins case - how did his mom have a sense that he was in danger when he was 4, when Riley died, but insists that he didn’t know Riley. Morgan tells Reid he probably just memorized the case details from something else, and he should jut enjoy that today was a good day.

Reid asks Hotch if they can wait til the next day to day home, and he’s like “Do you think that there is anything you can do to keep yourselves occupied tonight?” and Morgan is all hellyea baby.

Reid stays at the hospital with his mom over night and its cute. We get a cute montage of them all having a happy time, but then we end on a cliff hanger as Reid has the dream again, but this time his DAD is the one harming Riley.

Rating Criteria:

Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20

Character development/ character arcs: 15/20
Forensics/Context: 13/20
Script writing: 13/20
Background characters: 17/20

Overall: 75/100

S4E6 - “The Instincts”

S4E7 - “Memoriam”

S4E5 - “Catching Out”