S5E23 - “Our Darkest Hour”

We’re watching shots of California; Golden Gate Bridge, signs for Oakland and Santa Cruz, we’re driving through the city at night. We’re in a van in LA, watching an unknown subject smoking a cigarette. We hear over the radio that there’s a heat advisory for Los Angeles. It’s 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which, for any of you other people out there in the world is 43 degrees Celsius, and people have that A/C cranked. We learn that officials have declared shifting blackouts to try to prevent the power grid from going completely offline. Essentially, different cities will have to take turns having their power turned off overnight, so that the electric grid doesn’t explode from over usage.

Is it appropriate right now to call the unsub Tim Curry? Because it’s Tim Curry. I’m gonna just go with it. So Tim Curry has gotten out of his Leonard Cohen van because he’s your man, and he’s standing outside of a house kind of surveying it. He lights another cigarette, and we see the lights in the house get turned off, because they are scheduled to have their city’s blackout. He immediately drops his freshly lit cigarette on the ground and heads towards the house.  Which- I have so many issues with. One, don’t smoke, it causes it cancer. Two, if you’re going to smoke, don’t waste cigarettes. And three- don’t litter! I’M ALREADY SO TRIGGERED AND WE’RE 2:00 IN.

We cut to a couple inside the house Tim Curry was watching, lighting candles. They get into bed, and she shuts the windows, and then he opens the windows. And he’s like “We’re on the second floor- what could happen?” Cue a loud BANGING sound from downstairs. The man grabs a fire poker (Durham County DA can suck it- Kathleen was killed by an owl hoot hoot) and he tells his wife to wait upstairs. Of course she dos not. She comes downstairs! But there’s no one is there. So they go upstairs, and the window is closed. And Tim Curry is there! Knock knock open up the door it’s Tim Curry!

Cut to- BAU Headquarters in Quantico VA. JJ introduces the team to the case. We learn about Gregory and Colleen Everson. Gregory was killed, and Colleen was raped repeatedly, but she was kept alive. She describes her attack as having “mean eyes” and “bad breath”. And Rossi goes: “Rotten inside and out!” We learn that the ballistics of the crime scene match a double homicide from 3 days ago, where two women were raped and killed.

So of course- LA is concerned about another “Night Stalker”. Cut to- Tim Curry standing on a hill overlooking the city. The dramatic music starts and he’s, he’s not a spring chicken anymore and he’s not in good health. It does not detract from his acting expertise, but instead of working WITH the actors, CM writers are like “No, I want the scene my way, and to hell with Tim Curry.” They’ve got him up on this goddamn hill and he’s got to get down, and he like, shuffles slightly and carefully dismounts from the hill as the dramatic music swells, and I’m just like- this was so unnecessary. He is scary enough AS IS.

Cut to the BAU private jet. And now they’re talking about how Tim Curry climbed through the second floor bedroom window and I’m like… no he did not. No he absolutely did not. I would fucking die for Tim Curry, but my man was struggling to get down that hill! Can we just let him do his thing and leave him alone??

At the latest crime scene, Morgan and Prentis meet Detectives Matt Spicer and Adam Kurzbard. I mean, it’s been this way for EPISODES, but it’s always fucking Morgan and Prentis. Spier and Kurzbard tell the BAU about the rolling blackouts, and the four start to walk through the events.

Cut to the hospital, Rossi and Reid meet with Colleen Everson. She is in restraints because she has tried to kill herself twice. She immediately asks Rossi why Tim Curry didn’t kill her. And Reid says: “It wasn’t about you. This man only thinks about power and control.” And Rossi says: “Leaving you behind gives him that.” Rossi then asks Colleen questions about her traumatic experience, even though she clearly is not emotionally ready to talk about. She tells the BAU how every time she shuts her eyes, she sees Tim Curry.

The BAU convene at the LA PD station. Reid and JJ discuss how Matt Spicer “and his partner” are the “go-to” guys in the robbery/homicide division. Like, Reid, his partner’s name is Adam Kurzbard. Just because his last name is hard to say, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t say it. This is Kurzbard erasure!

Due to the high level of violence, the BAU know that Tim Curry has been at this for a long time. But Garcia can’t find any unsolved cases in LA that are even remotely as disturbing. Reid tells her to expand her search to all of Southern California, specifically focusing on cities/towns close to the freeway.

We get a quick shot of Tim Curry slowly making his way down the street.

Cut to Glendale, we see a woman pull up to her house. She can’t get the garage open because of the blackouts. She opens the front door, hurries back to her car, and takes her son Carter out of the car. When she turns around, she sees that her front door is wide open. And like, not to harp on this Tim Curry thing, but my man cannot move that quickly! I’m sorry. Anyways, he’s in the house.

We cut to a news report, we learn abut Annie Danzi, who was murdered, leaving behind a young child. We see Tim Curry watching the report.

We cut to Annie’s home- the BAU is piecing together the fact that this unsub utilizes the rolling blackouts to hunt. Hotch asks if LA had rolling blackouts last summer, and we learn that LA does this supposedly every year. Kurzbard says “Crime always goes up when it’s hot and dark”. Hotch then calls Garcia and asks her to focus on home invasions from previous summers when rolling blackouts occur. Also- Tim Curry left a message “Hello Their”. Rossi is like “HE’S UNDECUATED!” And Kurzbard is like “SADISTIC”.

Morgan and Spicer talk to Annie’s son, Carter. Morgan starts questioning the kid, and Spicer cuts in and it turns out Spicer is like- really good at this. He puts his hand on the kid’s neck and is empathizing with him. Then he says “Do you have like, a really cool backpack?” Carter is like, yeah, actually I do have a really cool backpack. Morgan is like “I’m glad the kid didn’t see anything, but talking to him could have been helpful”. And Spicer just goes- “If he covered his eyes like that, he couldn’t cover his ears.”

PROFILE

• Forcing a child to witness the assault of his own mother is clearly sadistic. He destroyed the boy’s innocent and took away his childhood. This probably mirrors the unsub’s own experience

• The message that he left us was misspelled, which says that he is not well educated.

• Just because his recent attacks are in LA doesn’t mean that he’s from here.

• Killing in the dark is a must for him, we believe that’s why he’s come to LA.

• That, and his willingness to kill random people tells us that he’s an opportunistic offender, and these types are incredibly difficult to predict.

• The dark is his signature. It’s a habit, and we’ll find that he’s always killed this way.

  • One of the LAPD officers goes “Because he’s a coward” and Hotch goes- to some degree, yes.

  • He also has intimacy issues, he even turns photographs away from himself.

• It’s unlikely that a man like this has been in any kind of relationship.

• There’s also a good chance that he has some type of shortcoming, whether real or perceived. He’s obviously self conscious about something.

  • It could be a physical deformity

  • It might be small to us, but it means everything to him.

  • Having one thing that sets him apart from the norm could be what led him into extreme solitude of a violent schizoid personality.

• He takes his victim’s power away, literally and figuratively. He feeds off of making them powerless.

• The press has named him “The Prince of Darkness”.

• Hotch says: “Once we unravel his need for darkness, we’ll find him.”

Spicer and Morgan drop Carter off at his aunt’s house. Spicer promises to find Tim Curry. Carter tells Spicer than his mother tried to fight Tim Curry, and asks Spicer why she did that. And Spicer is like- DUH Carter, she tried to protect you! Also Carter’s “cool backpack” is like purple-blue. Very cool. Spicer and Morgan fight abut Carter, Morgan wants to question Carter further, Spicer insists there’s nothing else to know. Morgan is like- what makes you the child interview expert? And Spicer is like- when I was a kid, I lost my parents. Morgan is like #relatable.

So now LAPD could cancel the rolling blackouts, but if they do that, the entire power grid could go down.

Cut to Tim Curry, smoking a cigarette. Checking out the rolling blackout schedule like he’s checking the local movie theater schedule.

Cut to LAPD headquarters, Garcia calls in with news. What she says is “I’m about to rock your world”.  She’s found that the unsub has been traveling around the united states for the past twenty six years. She calls him “the worst she’s ever seen”. And I’ like… every goddamn season they’re like “he’s the worst serial killer ever” and I’m like, girl it’s not that deep! Give it 23 more episodes and you’ll be eating your words! Apparently he shows up during blackouts, robs, kills, leaves witnesses. He never hits two cities twice, except LA. He loves LA.

Cut to Tim Curry- smoking crack??? He makes these like, duct tape arm bands, and takes off into the city. Big night out!

Cut to the latest crime scene. Spicer calls Kurzbard “Kurz”. Apparently at this latest crime scene Tim Curry left a baby in there. Tim Curry knows what’s good! Cut back to LAPD headquarters, they called off the rolling blackouts. Too bad for the unnamed victims and baby in the most recent house! Apparently Tim Curry has hit over 200 houses in the past 26 years. If he got away with it for 26 years- why did he come back???

Prentis circles back to the two women who were murdered before the blackouts started. Kurz- because I guess we’re calling him that now- says “Oh yeah that’s shootin’ Newtown” implying that the area where the two women lived was a high crime area where gun shots were common. And Prentis is like, bro, it was in your division. Why did he start in your division? Apparently Kurz started his career 26 years ago, just like the unsub. And Kurz is like- you think this is because of me??

The BAU goes back to the unsub’s first kills, they find a murder that matches the husband being killed and the wife as a witness. Then the second murder is a double homicide in Santa Monica.

And Morgan is like- Spicer, do you have family up there? And he’s like “Yeah that’s where I grew up.” And Morgan is like “Joe and Sylvia Spicer were the two victims” and Spicer is like ???? “Those are my parents??? The ones who died in a car accident!” UM GUYS! Spicer was the first child Tim Curry left alive during his killing spree! Turns out Tim Curry is OBSESSED WITH SPICER.

Spicer is like- reeling from this discovery. Morgan is like, we need to do a cognitive interview. And Spicer is like “That was 26 years ago, what good is that gonna do?” So Morgan starts the interview, and Spicer is trying to like rush through. And Morgan is like “There was a breeze- what did you smell?” And Spicer is like “Seriously?”

Spicer realizes that Tim Curry said “Hello there” 26 years ago. Spicer was in the closet with his baby sister while his parents were being killed. So apparently Tim Curry believes he’s turned Spicer into the town hero. Tim wants RECOGNITION for turning Spicer into a cop! The BAU then realize that Tim is going to attack Spicer’s sister and daughter, who are both conveniently at Spicer’s house. Tim shows up and turns off the power.

I need you to know that I just saw the Peloton commercial with X gonna give it to you, and whenever I say “knock knock open up the door” that is the song I am referencing. Get with it or get lost.

Anyways, cut to Spicer’s residence. Morgan and Spicer show up, and his daughter Ellie and his sister Kristin are MIA. A news article about Spicer is displayed on Ellie’s bed. They start heading towards Spicer’s sister’s place, but then Morgan is like, Tim probably took them to your old house. Then the power grid goes out! Prentis and Hotch are still on their way to Kristin’s house, but the cell towers go down, sop Morgan and Spicer can’t reach them.

Spicer and Morgan roll up to Spicer’s old house in Santa Monica. The new home owner is dead, but Morgan finds Kristin and Ellie in the bedroom where it all happened. Morgan is knocked out by Tim Curry, who is doing his accent. Tim Curry then ties up Morgan and takes away his gun. This is why we ALWAYS WAIT FOR BACK UP. Spicer shows up, but Tim Curry has a gun on Ellie and he goes “Put the gun down or she dies.” Tim Curry starts strangling Ellie. Morgan is like “Don’t drop the gun, if you put it down Tim Curry wins!

Tim Curry makes Spicer get down on his knees. He complements Spicer’s sister. No he actually says “Your sister grew up very pretty.” Spicer realizes he’s going to die. He’s like “Promise me Ellie will be okay” and Morgan looks at Tim. Tim is like “yeah, promise him” and Kristin is like “promise him!” And Morgan is like “Okay I promise” and Tim shoots Spicer, and grabs Ellie. He smells Ellie and is like “This one’s just… special.” And Morgan is like “We will find you, you sick son of  a bitch!”

Rating Criteria:

• Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20

• Character development/ character arcs: 20/20

• Forensics/Context: 15/20

• Script writing: 20/20

• Background characters: 20/20

Overall: 95/100