S4E9 - “52 Pick Up”
We open at the club in Atlanta Georgia. We see two blonde sisters arguing about whether to leave the club. The older one, Vanessa, feels uncomfortable and is ready to head out. Her sister, Ashley tells her that it’s just an off night “At any moment Mr. Right is gonna walk through that door.” Then we see a man wearing a bedazzled fedora approach them. The man wearing the bedazzled fedora approaches Vanessa and leans in sensually.
Cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico VA. Agent Todd introduces the team to Vanessa, the girl from the club’s, case. We learn that the man wearing the bedazzled fedora took Vanessa back to her house, forced her on her hands and knees, and cut her open just below the stomach. In other words, he gutted her. Reid tells us: “Gutting causes the intestines to spill out. You can survive for a few hours actually, a few days.” We learn that Vanessa left the club at 1am and the unsub slit her throat around 5am. Cleaning products: bleach, ammonia, and trash bags were discovered in a triangular pattern. Vanessa had bleach and ammonia under her fingernails, meaning that the unsub made her clean up her own murder.
Agent Todd has believes the unsub is a fedora wearing serial killer, because there have been several other deaths with the same MOs, but these deaths were from over a year ago. Gutted victims found with those three cleaning products and cleaning product residue under their fingernails. However, these were sex workers found in motel rooms, not their own homes.
The opening quote we get is: “The moment people fall in love, they become liars” from Harlan Ellison. Okay.
On the BAU private jet (Hey girl). The BAU focuses on the fact that the unsub went from killing sex workers to killing non sex workers. Once again we’re back to the shitty “sex workers are lesser beings” trope that this television show continues to perpetuate. Rossi says: “We’re missing the forest for the trees here. This guys started with prostitutes, a high risk victimology, took a year off, came back, killed a socialite. So how does our unsub go from loser of the year to Don Juan.” So they have to build two profiles? One for the unsub who kills sex workers, and one who goes to the club. Reid is gonna work up a geographic profile (surprise surprise).
At the Atlanta Police Department we meet our first female detective in a LONG time- Detective Harding. She meets with Hotch, Morgan, Reid and Agent Todd. She tells the BAU that there is no DNA evidence on any of the bodies, BUT lots of Club goers saw the Unsub doing his Thang. She produces a sketch that is vey basic. The Atlanta PD also has security footage of the Unsub picking up Vanessa at the club, but his fedora is obscuring his face. Hotch says: “So he’s drawing attention to his face while simultaneously obscuring it.” And Reid says: “It’s called Peacocking, the adornment of some sort of flashy affect to sort of try to distract witnesses.” And apparently IT WORKED! None of the club goers can provide Atlanta PD with an accurate description.
We learn that Vanessa’s family, the Holdens, are reluctant to help the police because Ashley Holden, who brought Vanessa to the club, is getting a lot of negative press. Trolls be trolling. Hotch, Morgan and Agent Todd speak with Vanessa’s mother, who is reluctant to let them speak to Ashley. However, Agent Todd tells Vanessa’s mother that her own sister died tragically when she was young. She opens up to Vanessa’s mother, and it works! Vanessa’s mother relents and allows them to speak to Ashley. BUT AGENT TODD WAS LYING! WE LEARN A SECOND LATER, AFTER VANESSA’S MOTHER WALKS OFF WITH AGENT TODD, THAT TODD IS AN ONLY CHILD!
Morgan and Hotch speak with Ashley about what happened the night Vanessa was killed. Morgan describes the unsub as “dressed like a rocker”. Ashley tells the BAU that the unsub was negging Vanessa and kept asking her if she recognized him. Apparently he was wearing different colored contact lenses. She verifies that he was mid to late twenties, close to their age. Ashley left the club first, and the last thing Vanessa said to her was: “I had the best time tonight.”
After they finish with the Holdens, Hotch admonishes Agent Todd for lying to the Holdens. He tells her that from now on, everything goes through him. He tells her to go back to Atlanta PD Headquarters and to prepare a press release, and to not release it until he looks over it.
Back at Atlanta PD Headquarters, Reid further perpetuates classism by saying that by killing Vanessa Holden, the unsub was climbing the social ladder. The BAU believes there must be some sort of secondary trigger that caused the unsub to change how he targets victims. The BAU think he may have used self-help books or a class. Apparently the two previous victims who were sex workers advertised in the news papers, and the unsub saw an add for pickup artist lessons. The add reads: “Learn How To Pick Up Chicks: Let’s face it. We all want to have sex. But women are a mystery. Take my class and learn how to unlock desire 1-800-555-0044”.
Cut to the club. A cute woman is dancing with the unsub and she says: “I like your style.” Cut to the next morning, we learn that this cute woman was Becky Williams. From the looks of this crime scene, it looks like Becky has been pushed out of her apartment window, eight stories up. Cleaning supplied were set up, but not in the triangle pattern he normally uses. The BAU think that Becky may have fought back, disrupting the unsub’s routine. Or she may have jumped herself, desperate to get away. Witnesses at the club say that the unsub was wearing sunglasses. And since the unsub did not get the gratification of killing Becky the way he wanted, the BAU are positive Fedora Head will strike again.
Working with Garcia, Reid shows the team that the unsub is using these costumes (the colored contacts, the sunglasses, the bedazzled fedora) to obscure a specific part of his face- something slightly above his eyebrows. So the unsub likely has something noticeable there, like a scar or birthmark. Hotch gives Agent Todd permission to release the preliminary sketch and the notice about the unsub having a noticeable characteristic above his eyebrow, to the media.
Prentis looks into the pick-up artist angle, and finds a local entrepreneur named Viper who is the only local pickup artist who tells his pupils to dress like jackasses. His add reads: “Get her to notice you! Have the confidence you’ve always lacked! When you learn from Viper, you learn from the best. You will learn how to get women to talk to you. How to get women to like you. How to get women to want you.”
Cut to Viper saying: “Men are put on this earth to hunt women. And even though women deny it, they want to be hunted. They need it. It’s part of our biological imperative as animals. And the competition the opposite sex puts you through, pitting you against other guys, it’s all to reassure themselves that they have brought home the best possible mate. If you are smarter and (puts on a furry top hat) more interesting then you will be a better predator. Because this is the jungle my friends.”
Prentis, Hotch and Morgan go to interview Viper and he is very unhelpful. He also refuses to provide his client lists. Hotch threatens him with a warrant and Viper says: “But keep in mind the money I make doesn’t just pay for my fabulous life style. It also keeps some very expensive lawyers on retainer.” Prentis then asks him where he was last night. And Morgan tries to prod him further. He looks at Morgan and says: “Two things to learn about me. First, I outwit alpha males like you for fun and sometimes profit. How often do you have to rely on your badge to score baldy. Second, last night I was at Club Aqua and I have a stack of tax deductible drink receipts to back up my story. Now, you might not wanna believe that my style works. And here in this harsh light, you have the advantage. But meet my on my turf… the things I could make you do.” And then walks off with his fuzzy top hat.
Garcia discovers that Paul Thomas is Viper’s real name. Hotch asks her to look up everything that Viper teaches so that they can work up a linguistic profile. We then meet Melissa Foster, who tells the BAU that she gave the unsub the scar. She tells the BAU that she was a sex worker who was addicted to heroin. She tells them that she placed an add for sex work in the paper, and was called by the unsub. She tells the BAU that the unsub spent the first half hour of their encounter pacing back and forth and telling her that she’s “the help”. That he then attempted to attack her with a knife, and she hit his face. He then stabbed her and ran off. She managed to survive, but didn’t report the assault to the police. But she stopped doing sex work and got clean, telling the BAU that if she hadn’t had the traumatizing experience, she would’ve OD’ed.
The Profile
Unsub is a confident alpha male. He is white. He’s between the ages of 25-30.
He’s in excellent physical shape to overpower women and to feed his self image
He has an obsession with cleaning
He probably working in the service industry, wiping up after others, convinced that everyone looks down on him
His change in self and victimology reflects that
This is the kind of guy who wants to stand out in a crowd, he’s taken a class on how to pick up women
He’ll repeat a series of well rehearsed lines and mind games
He may be uneducated, but he’s by no means stupid. Taking this class has given him the ability to read verbal cues and body language
One classic routine the viper promotes is called the push-pull. He’ll insert himself between two women and immediately after complementing one he’ll deliver a subtle insult, and pay attention to the other. Ignoring the one women puts her in direct competition with her friend and causes the other to pursue you more aggressively
This is illustrated by Reid pointing out Agent Todd’s earrings and complements them, telling her that his grandmother wears a lot of fake jewelry like those
He frequents the same clubs that the Viper does
Meanwhile, Prentis is gonna go to the club to flirt with Viper. Agent Todd is gonna come along as a Wing Woman. Because Prentis talks to Hotch and is like, hey, let’s be nicer to Agent Todd even though she lied to a witness.
Meanwhile Reid and Morgan go to the club, and Reid is striking out talking to women. I mean to say, he is trying to warn club going women about the unsub, and nobody cares. Also Reid gave the profile to one woman, and she asked Reid point blank if he is the unsub?? Morgan tells Reid that he has to use his strengths to get women to talk to him and/or talk women into taking flyers with that bland drawing of the unsub on them. Also Morgan was offered 4 women’s phone numbers, but he’s working, so he declined.
Morgan is like- you’re striking out, you’ve gotta use your strengths when you talk to women. So Morgan asks what Reid is good at, and at first he says statistics, and Morgan is like HELL NO. So then Reid reminds us all that he’s good at magic, and Morgan is like “Hell yeah, chicks dig magic.” Do we??? Also Reid tries some magic out on a hot bartender named Austin, and it works! She’s so turned on. They’re gonna exchange numbers and Reid is about to walk off, and she’s like, you forgot to give me your number, and he’s like, it’s behind your beret.
At the club with Prentis, we’re hearing some club music. It’s 28 Butts by Little Jackie. Viper’s at the Club. He see Prentis. And she is looking HOT! Lil black shirt!! Viper takes the bait, he walks right up to her. She tells him that he’s being followed and that she pulled “the short straw” so she has to keep an eye on him. And Viper loves to hear that.
Cut to Atlanta PD, Hotch is staring at crime scene photos. Rossi walks up and is like: “Is this the one that if you stare at it long enough, you see the image of a swan?” And Hotch is like, I’m just trying to be thorough. Rossi reminds Hotch that they’re still looking for a secondary trigger. Rossi also notes that the unsub always goes to his victim’s apartments, never his own place. There must be something at home… Rossi says: “A nagging girlfriend, a crying baby maybe, some reminder of how miserable his life is.”
Agent Todd shows up and Prentis introduces him as “Viper: God’s gift to women.” And Todd is like: “God sure has a sense of humor.” Then THEY neg Viper. They call him Paul. He tries to hit on Agent Todd and she’s not into it. He tries to hit on Prentis and she says: “No Paul, I’m baffled. I cannot figure out what the unsub learned from you.” Agent Todd says: “Because that guy can get beautiful women into his apartment, I wouldn’t let you on his Facebook page.” Which is INCORRECT – the whole point is that the Unsub specifically does not go home.
Then Viper tells Prentis and Todd that whatever, he’s confronted his Queen Bee years ago. And he explains that a Queen B is “You are. And you are. And so is every other confident girl in here who’s loud when she’s drunk. Every student who has ever taken my class has had one in his life. And the first exercise my students have to complete is to confront their Queen B. You find them and squash them.” So now the BAU realizes that Vanessa Holden was the unsub’s Queen Bee, she was the first victim he confronted with his new life.
Hotch and Rossi go back to the Holdens. And Vanessa’s mother tells the BAU that when Vanessa was young, a cleaning lady they had brought her son to work several times. Apparently he would hide in the closet and watch Vanessa. And one time Vanessa’s mother walked in on them together, and Vanessa’s mother straight up spanked the boy, whose name was Bobby. Vanessa’s mother also fired his mother.
Cut back to the club where Austin the hot bartender works. Hot Bartender Austin sees the unsub, who is wearing no disguise? But he does have on the different colored contacts. The Unsub is chatting up another girl, and they’re about to leave, and Austin spills a drink on the girl. The unsub then tries to get the girl to leave with him, and she’s freaked out, and both she and Austin go behind the bar. Austin then goes outside to call Reid, and the unsub snatches her.
The BAU shows up at the bar, but Austin is MIA. Garcia uses the name Bobby to sort through Viper’s class records, which I guess they got without his consent. She discovers that the unsub is Robert Parker. They then go to Robert Parker’s house, where I guess the unsub has taken Austin. He gets her all set up to clean, and he’s about to kill her, when the BAU show up. They quickly take Bedazzaled fedora into custody, and then they realize that Robert’s mother, Mrs. Parker is in the back of the house, hooked up to a dialysis pump. She asks for her son and says that she has to be changed because she soiled herself, which is so sad. And then Rossi is like: “It’s a dialysis pump. It was issued 10 months ago. It’s the secondary trigger” RIGHT IN FRONT OF MRS. PARKER LIKE SHE’S NOT EVEN THERE
Back in Quantico VA, Hotch tells Agent Todd that Prentis gave her rave receives in the field. So she has the green light to do her own shit.
At the end Reid is on the phone with Austin the Hot Bartender, who tells Reid she’s giving up bartending and she’s gonna start fresh, she’s gonna be a magician. As they’re on a phone a package is delivered, and Reid opens it up, and it’s his card, but with a lipstick kiss on the back of it. And she goes: “Is this your card?”
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20
Character development/ character arcs: 13/20
Forensics/Context: 15/20
Script writing: 20/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 85/100