S5E12 - “The Uncanny Valley”
We open to footage of a security guard making rounds. He is speaking to a supervisor(?) over a radio/walkie-talkie, and it looks like he is at a carnival of sorts? He is investigating a carousel, and it is spooky at night with just the light of the flashlight. There is someone horsing around on the carousel and the security guard tells the person to leave. But! All of the sudden the carousel turns on, music starts playing, and a man named Don comes out laughing. He explains he was fixing a part of the carousel, and the gaud notices someone or something on the ride. There is the body of a dead woman, all dolled up on the carousel.
Cut and now we see Reid reading while sitting next to a young man playing chess with himself. The kid talks to Reid about checkmate and stuff, and then expresses how they missed having Reid around. Reid vaguely says that he had to take “a little break”, and talks about how the coworker he used to play with decided he didn’t want to play anymore. Reid gets really into theory about playing through the different variations of chess, etc. While in the middle of this, Reid gets a text from JJ saying she has a case for him and the team, so Reid takes off.
JJ explains to the team how this is the second victim in alantic city – the woman on the merry go round. Her name was Rita Stuart and she was 25. Reid and Rossi talk about a dump site vs disposal site, but the conversation quickly turns to how whoever this was certainly took time with her appearance. Her nails were painted, her hair cut, and her clothes were brand new. The fact that the unsub wanted her to look as good as possible when found is a sign of a helluva lot of remorse. JJ then introduces them to the other victim, Stacia Jackson, 29yo. She was found at a playground. What is significant is that there is virtually no connection between these two women; Rita was married, Stacia was single, Rita worked at a diner, and Stacia was a corporate lawyer.
They don’t comment on this, but Rita was white, whereas Stacia was black, so that is also a different victimology. And according to their credit cards, they never came within 10 miles of one another. They were both abducted 2 months ago, and there is no sign of violence of any kind. Rita died of a stroke, and Stacia died of a brain hemorrhage. What is interesting is that the unsub gave them a battery of drugs; atracurium, doxacurium, which are neural inhibitors; they block signals from the brain to the muscles. So basically they were paralyzed for two months; they could open their eyes and probably feel stimulation, but that’s it.
We cut and now we see a bunch of…what I’m guessing are not mannequins; yep they are really women being dressed and treated like mannequins.
On the BAU jet, they talk about the profile. This is a form of sadism – and extremely dehumanizing. The women were found in good condition; no signs of bedsores, and they women were well fed through an IV – so this is someone who has access to drugs and IVs. Prentis asks if they are sure this unsub is a man, given the level of care that is shown to these women. They admit that this could be a woman, and it actually fits the profile better, especially since the victims were petite. Garcia calls in – with red hair – and shares that the clothing that the victims were dressed in were not only made of chiffon, but fit extremely well. Perfect and flattering to the exact measurements. Prentis suggests that maybe the body type/fit is the reason these victims were abducted – the unsub was looking for a specific model.
At the Atlantic City PD, Morgan and Prentis meet with the detective, and Morgan goes to talk with Stacia’s mother. And Prentis meets with Rita’s mother. They talk about the appearances of the girls, and it is weird. Both of the women cared about their appearances, but nothing wild. Stacia liked to shop at high end stores, and she had to have a lot of her clothing specifically altered and fitted to her. Rita shopped at thrift and consignment shops because it was what she could afford. However, her father could not say if she had it altered or not. When shown photos of the bodies, both family members confirm that neither girl would ever have worn anything like it.
Hotch speaks to Rossi over the phone and they talk about how both of the bodies were left and posed at a place that represents childhood. Additionally, they talk about the logistics of each of these bodies being moved and placed in these spots. They decided to look into someone who would have had access to a van with a lift for a wheelchair, and handicapped placards. Reid goes and visits the morgue; he speaks to the mortician there, and asks about the drugs that were being used, etc. because how would this person have gotten the drugs. Apparently both of the women had their hair fall out, so the unsub clipped in extensions on both of them prior to their death.
Back at the PD, Reid talks to Rossi and Hotch about they don’t think death is the goal of the unsub – it is a side effect of the experience. Prentis and Morgan share that the only thing potentially connecting the two women was having their clothing tailored to fit their small frames. Hotch suggests they dig deep into these tailors and alterations etc, and see if there is anyone subcontracting them, or if they are subcontracting someone. Garcia calls in and says she has not found anything regarding a medical vehicle, but has two new on the missing persons front regarding clothing. Cundy Admundson was abducted outside a thrift store, and Maxine Wynan was last seen at the Hillridge mall. She was not able to get any surveillance of them, and Garcia also shares that both of them were petite, and abducted a week ago a day before the bodies of the other two were disposed of.
We now get a shot of a woman leaving a dry cleaner at night, and there is another woman a few parking spots away struggling with putting a wheelchair in her large van. Uh oh. The young woman with the dry cleaning walks over and offers to help, which results in her getting up inside the van and lifting the wheelchair in. so where know exactly where this is gonna go. Once inside, the lady tazes her down, and is like “you’re so pretty”. So that’s how it is done!
The next day, the BAU returns to the crime scene of a new body. Another woman in chiffon, however this woman is wearing a wig rather than extensions. And the wig was sewed into her scalp. Yikes. Now we get an eerie shot of the unsub dressing the woman that we saw before. Lots of music and fancy editing going on here. Very born to die era Lana Del Rey music video.
Morgan gets a call and he reports on who they believe was abducted; Bethany Wallace. Her husband says she never returned from picking up the dry cleaners, however no one witnessed the abduction take place. However, the dry cleaners did say that they do contract out to other people. Rossi puts up photos of the recent abductions and victims, and they notice that the physicality matches; so she’s a collector.
And now we have the profile:
A woman
She is a collector; which is a psychopathology similar to hoarding. It is an attachment to objects that’s become obsessive, by someone who is antisocial and extremely introverted.
These people attach a part of themselves to their collection, and if you try to separate them from their collection they may react violently.
They have suffered damage to their pre-frontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that regulates basic Freudian fantasy; they can still function, like drive a car, go to work, even do their taxes.
In fact, she excels at goal-oriented jobs, like the precision of sewing or the details of the abduction.
But they have lost their ability to categorize the difference between living and dead, belonging and loss.
So she is collecting women? Not exactly; the BAU believes she thinks she is collecting dolls. Technically speaking, replacing them. She lost them sometime within the last three months, which is what served as her stressor.
She searched for a replacement, and when she couldn’t find them, she started abducting the closest possible surrogate; women of different ethnicities, but of similar physicality.
The drug paralysis is part of the fantasy, she puts her victims in a position where they can’t talk back, so she can fetishize them like the objects she’s lost.
And now the Atlanta PD doesn’t believe the BAU:
Prentis points out how she literally sewed a wig onto the head of one of the victims, and Reid talks about how collectors and serial killers share a lot of the same traits.
This unsubs intent is not violence, she needs the collection to be complete so she can have control over her life
This woman works alone, and has a medical background. Hotch suggests they look for nurses or orderlies – formal nurses or orderlies. She would not have been able to fake a bedside manner.
They believe she is currently working as a tailor or a seamstress
JJ visits a clothing shop with some clothing left on the body of one of the victims. The snobby man who works there is like, no we would not have sold this here, but the lady notices that on the lockstitch on the piece and is very impressed with it – calling the person who sewed it an “artist”. Basically, this particular stitch is like a signature.
Bethany Wallace’s husband shows up, and he is a cutie. He is freaking out because Bethany is diabetic, and that is very bad. We see the unsub playing with Bethany and the other “dolls”, having tea time.
Rossi talks to a doctor about the likelihood of a diabetic reacting possibly or negatively to the drugs she is being given. There is a chance that she will die sooner because of how her body will interact with the drugs, however, on the other hand, there is also a chance her body will break down the drugs, a nd she could regain control of her body.
Reid and Morgan visit a vintage doll set, and the doll man is very offended. He is able to tell them about the Valot line, which was from the 80s. He is able to hand them a catalogue of the dolls. Turns out this line is local, and it was shut down. More on this later. Next we see a weird sequence where Bethany hallucinates running away but her arms and legs falling off like a doll. It ends, and we see her spasmodically begin to regain control of her arm. She knocks over a teacup, and the unsub grumpily retrieves it, but nothing else happens.
The team is reading the essays that were submitted by the kids. Prentis looks through the clothing that was made, and she is able to match the same stitch that JJ was shown earlier. The submission for this stitch was a Samantha Malcolm, and Morgan is able to find the corresponding essay. Garcia pulls up her medical records, basically she had electroshock treatments at 10, and her father owned a mental health facility. Basically her mother died, and then it was electroshock, and drugs and more drugs, and anti-psychotics, etc. she was taken off of these a couple years ago, however, she was recorded as incompetent so she is still under his guardianship. Her father owns a bunch of out-patient and halfway homes, and she works at three different shops in the area.
Back at tea time, the unsub Samantha leaves, and Bethany starts to regain control of her body. She yanks the drugs out of her arm, and says “we’re leaving” to the other “dolls”. Bethany crawls to the phone in the room she calls 911 but its just a dial tone. She is able to pull the drug IV out of the arm of one of the other women. We see Samantha get off a bus on her way to work, but she notices the increased police and FBI presence.
Rossi and Reid meet with Samantha’s father and he is in hardcore denial. While Rossi rossis it up with the father, Reid notices the different toys around the office. He asks why the toys are high up and away and asks the names of the toys corresponding to each patient. Basically, he calls him out on molesting the girls who were his patients and giving them a gift each time – adding them to his collection. They threaten him, and he finally gives them the address.
Back at tea time, the woman Bethany took the IV from starts to regain control, however, Samantha is arriving back home now. Bethany puts the drugs back in to the other woman – self preservation – and Bethany returns to her seat. However, Samantha notices that some things have fallen out of place – like the phone and some doll legs. She tells the dolls “don’t leave me” and Bethany is like “let us go” and Samantha is like “I can’t”
But then Reid walks in, and there is a very gentle verbal confrontation, but the whole time she is holding scissors to Bethany’s neck. We learn that Samantha’s father gave the dolls to another girl. Reid brings the dolls – the real ones – out to Samantha and then calls in for medical and backup. Reid tells Samantha she needs to go with some people, but she can bring her friends with her. So sad!! The human dolls are taken to the hospital, and cutie Karl is reunited with his wife.
We see Reid return to the chess kid, and they play a game together. A queens gambit moment.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20
Character development/ character arcs: 18/20
Forensics/Context: 20/20
Script writing: 17/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 95/100