S5E19 - “Rite of Passage”
We open in Terlingua, TX. We see a man running through the desert, being chased by another man, this one riding on a 4 wheeler. The running man trips and falls, he begs for his life, he speaks in Spanish. The man riding the motorbike steps off the bike, pulling a huge knife. And we cut away as the motorbike steps forward wielding his big ass knife.
Cut to, some youths riding around on bicycles, and they stumble across the severed head of the man from the first scene. Apparently they find two other severed heads (two male and one female) so three heads in totals. Which is, imo, three too many.
Cut to BAU headquarters, Quantico Va. Hotch is absent because he’s at a budget meeting. We get some anti capitalist banter, which you know I fucking love. JJ then interrupts to present the team with their latest case. Apparently these three severed heads were found at a police station in Terlingua, which happens to be a border town in TX. We learn that the heads are in different stages of composition, implying that the unsub has been at this for a while. All three victims were Hispanic. And apparently two of the heads were previously buried? So the unsub dug their bodies up and sliced off the heads and then put them with the fresh head and displayed them?
Garcia shows up and tells us that in 2009 in Mexico, ten heads were found in coolers. The DEA is blaming this on feuding Mexican drug cartels. JJ points out that the victims have not been identified, and this may be due to their immigration status, as Terlingua is a border crossing for many individuals wanting to enter the country. Prentis suggests that the unsub is local due to the way the heads were displayed.
On the BAU private jet Rossi asks how big the Mexico/US border, and Reid tells us it’s around 5k miles. Rossi says that the unsub could have gone on killing undocumented people for years without being caught, so clearly he wants attention. Garcia tells us about the Lugo cartel out of Baja California (is that where the Baja shrimp tacos are from). Garcia also tells us about a highly addictive form of black tar heroin that the Lugo cartel is pushing on the streets of Terlingua. So the BAU is extra concerned, as the Lugo cartel specifically killed 2 DEA agents last year.
Cut to Terlingua, TX. Hotch and JJ show up at the sheriff station, and are greeted by men from the Lugo cartel, who are standing menacingly in front of the station. When Hotch asks one of them to move out of the way, a cartel member named Jose says that they are protesting the arrest of Omar Morales, a member of the Lugo drug cartel. The BAU is quickly ushered inside by deputies (Boyd, Gentry, Gannon), who tell Hotch and JJ that they only have 5 full time officers, including the Sheriff, Sheriff Eva Ruiz. The deputies tell the BAU that they arrested Omar Morales this morning as he was trying to leave TX at an airport.
Hotch and JJ speak to Sherriff Ruiz, who is holding Omar Morales, but is confident his is innocent of the current crimes (meaning the severed heads). She states that there are more than 20 missing undocumented people / immigrants just in the 6 months that she has been sheriff, and she believes the severed heads were staged in front of the sherrif’s office as a warning, telling her to “butt out”. She tells the BAU that nobody will submit a report.
Meanwhile, Reid and Rossi are at the morgue. Reid tells us that “contrary to popular belief, decapitation is not that easy”. The mortician tells us that the second victim was blind, but other then that, there is nothing else she is able to tell us. Reid points out that the first and third victim were older, so likely they had a hard time getting around as well. The mortician also tells us that the all three of the victims had sand in their throats, meaning that the victims were running through the desert before they were killed.
Cut back to the Terlingua police station, Hotch meets with Omar Morales. Hotch shows Omar Morales the picture of the most recent severed head, and he laughs. He says the decapitation is BORING. Morales tells us all the terrible things he would do to a body after killing it, and tells Hotch this is sloppy work. He also tells Hotch that the BAU is looking for Santa Muerte- “The Saint of Death”.
Sheriff Ruiz teaches us about saints. She says that people are just blaming Santa Muerte in lieu of having an actual person to blame.
The next day, Sheriff Ruiz finds another severed head stuck on the fence outside her house. Hotch is like “This seems… personal” and she’s like “no shit”. Hotch is like Santa Muerte definitely knows you and is feeling the pressure.
PROFILE
We’re looking for a personality type called a “human predator”
In the classic sense, a hunter.
All the victims we’ve been able to conclusively tie to him have been older or handicapped in some way. This suggests he waits for someone to separate from the pack, looks for the weakest.
This type of predator hunts power. It’s not about serving a need, and everything is a means to that end.
We also believe that he makes his victims run through the desert in order to weaken them.
He may not be capable of taking them on in their strongest state, despite their age or infirmity.
This suggests that he’s possibly handicapped in some way himself.
Certainly weak, maybe small or even thin.
An unsub who creates chaos and then attacks typically carries this through to all aspects of his life.
He’s unlikely to be in a relationship.
If he is, it’s an abusive one- this guy gets off on control.
He will have tried to stay very close to the investigation, he’s well aware that the sheriff has started looking into missing immigrants.
It’s probably why the decapitations started, as a countermeasure. He’s trying to throw off the investigation. It’s typical in an organized offender like this.
Start by looking back at everyone you’ve talked to in connection with these killings. Start with people who are familiar with the immigrant journey.
Sheriff Ruiz suggests the BAU talk to Richard Corrall who runs an outreach program called Libertad. Morgan and Prentis go to meet Richard, and instantly clock his limp Morgan calls Garcia and asks her to run a background check on Richard. Deputy Gentry introduces the BAU to Richard, and Deputy Gentry is racist and xenophobic about immigrants.
Back at the sheriff station, Sheriff Ruiz, JJ, Hotch, Reid and Rossi try to develop a geographical profile. The BAU utilizes Garcia to find safe houses for immigrants. Hotch asks Garcia to run landowners with property near the border who have criminal records, which is… shitty. Garcia found three possible addresses, and the BAU breaks up to search the properties.
Prentis, Morgan and Deputy Gentry check a safe house near by, and Deputy Gentry says some more shitty things. They show up at the safe house and Morgan knocks the guy running the safe house down. He says he doesn’t speak English and Prentis is, like I speak fluent Spanish. The man takes them around to the back of the house where the man has turned his stable into temporary housing for immigrants. Inside the man literally has the immigrants locked in a room, some are locked in stables. One of the immigrants tells Prentis that the man running the safe house literally raped her. Trash all around!
The BAU bring the safe house guy back to Terlingua headquarters. Prentis interviews the woman who was raped and her young son. She tells them that her husband was sick when they were crossing the border, so he stayed behind, and we learn his head was the most recent one that the team found. The boy tells the BAU that he saw the son, and his mother is like, no it was the moon. And he’s like… did I stutter.
Later Deputy Boyd tells Sherriff Ruiz that he thinks he knows what the little boy was talking about when he mentioned the sun. Apparently there is an old barn out in the middle of nowhere with a sun mural painted on the side. He offers to take Sherriff Ruiz there, and of course he’s the unsub. He tells her he us to ride ATVs out there when he was a boy.
Deputy Boyd then asks Sheriff Ruiz what she thought about the profile. It’s been a while since we got an evil villain monologue, and Deputy Boyd gives us one!!
The next morning, the BAU shows up at the station, and Sheriff Ruiz is MIA. Deputy Boyd then calls in Sherriff Ruiz’s body. The BAU show up at the crime scene- and apparently Sheriff Ruiz’s body has been treated exactly the way Omar Morales told Hotch his cartel would do to the body. Hotch is like, okay so someone is trying to frame Omar Morales, but the team can’t figure out who. Then JJ shows up and is like, oh yeah, Deputy Boyd overheard EVERYTHING!
Cut to Deputy Boyd and Deputy Gentry showing up at Omar Morale’s work place, which is some sort of work shop. And Deputy Boyd is just, gunning people down. And Deputy Gentry is like ???? what? And the Deputy Boyd kills him too! Also the music playing here is Los Lonely Boys! Remember?? “I’m gonna do it, my way!”
Prentis then calls Deputy Gentry, and Deputy Boyd picks up and pretends to be Deputy Gentry and Prentis is like “we suspect Deputy Boyd”. So now he fucking knows they’re on to him. The BAU and Deputy Gannon show up at Omar’s shop, and survey the scene. They then try to figure out where Deputy Boyd would have gone. Garcia tracks Boyd using his cell phone.
So, in the last five minutes of the show, the script starts to pick up. We get zinger after zinger from Deputy Boyd.
Hotch, Rossi and JJ call out to Deputy Boyd on the police radio and Hotch threatens him, and Boyd is like “You think you can find me? Come on out, it’s my desert.” And Rossi is like “Cocky little bastard”. Meanwhile, Reid, Prentis, Morgan and Deputy Gannon go to Boyd’s trailer, which smells terrible? And Reid says: “Just breathe through your nose. Smell is the weakest sense. In a few more minutes, you won’t even notice it.”
Cut back to Hotch still trying to talk to Boyd. Hotch is like “turn yourself in, we’ll tell the judge you cooperated”. And Boyd is like “This is Texas agent!” And Hotch is like, Rossi do you think Boyd is suicidal? And Rossi is like- where is Boyd going?
Back at Boyd’s trailer, the BAU finds Boyd’s decapitation room. Which is the source of the smell. Prentis is like “I’m ready for that smell weakness to kick in at any moment Reid”. At the trailer the BAU finds clippings for Golden Harvest, which apparently is the mural of the sun on the barn. So they realize that Deputy Boyd is going that way. Reid also clocks the graves of the dead bodies.
Cut to Golden Harvest, Hotch and Rossi pull up first. There are 2:55 left and I’m like 2 minutes over my lunch break at this point but damn I am finishing it. Rossi and Hotch get out of the car and Boyd fires automatic weapons at them. Morgan and Prentis pull up to save the day. Boyd is about to take off on his ATV, shooting at the agents. Morgan shoots Boyd and kills him.
Richard Corrall is going to try to help the BAU identify the graves. Hotch is going to call Brooklyn homicide and have them honor sheriff Ruiz.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 10/20
Character development/ character arcs: 5/20
Forensics/Context: 7/20
Script writing: 10/20
Background characters: 10/20
Overall: 42/100