S5E5 - “Cradle to Grave”
We open to a woman with blonde hair screaming, begging someone to help her and take her to the hospital. At first we think she’s being tortured, but then we realize she’s giving birth. She’s gives birth, and as we pull back, we notice she’s in a jail cell type looking thing. There’s a woman with brown hair helping her, and this woman hands the blonde woman her baby. And there’s a moment where she forgets that she’s in a cage, she’s just happy to have the baby. Then we hear a door open and we see boots coming down a set of stairs of metal stairs, and we realize that this birthing experience has not only been taking place in captivity, it’s taking place in a cage in a basement. The boots belong to a man whose face we don’t see, and this man opens the cage and takes the baby out of the new mother’s arms. He says: “It’s a girl” and then walks off, as the blonde woman screams: “Give me back my baby!”
Cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico VA, Hotch and JJ are discussing potential new cases. And apparently JJ has picked up some profiling chops, because Hotch asks for her takes on some potential cases, and she gives them! But then Hotch notices her checking her watch, and tells her to go home so she can be with her family. As Hotch walks back to his office, he’s surprised by Chief Strauss, remember her? The woman Abby hates! Cut back to JJ, getting ready to leave, and she notices Strauss leaving Hotch’s office. JJ goes to check on Hotch and ask him if everything is oaky, and he assures her that everything is fine.
Cut to the next day, and Morgan is in the elevator, headed to work, when he gets a bunch of texts from Hotch about cases. He actually gets four texts from Hotch, and I’m sorry- this technology did not age well. The flip phone graphics are SENDING ME. Morgan asks Reid what’s going on and Reid goes: “Someone just posted a blog called What Would Carl Sagan Do” and Morgan is like “No Reid, the case. What’s the case?” And Reid is like: “What are you talking about? I didn’t get any emails from Hotch.” Morgan goes to Hotch and is like, bro wtf? And Hotch is like, did you review the cases? And Morgan is like, I just got them. Give me an hour and I’ll review them. And Hotch is like, nevermind. And JJ comes in and is like, boys we’ve got ourselves a case!
We learn about Krystie Taylor, who JJ says, is a “runaway and drug addict, reported missing from Farmington New Mexico three years ago.” We can quickly identify that Krystie is the blonde woman giving birth from earlier. JJ informs the team that Krystie’s body was found yesterday outside of Texas. There were signs of sexual assault, with ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and she had been asphyxiated. JJ tells the team that Krystie is the third victim to have been found with a similar MO. The three girls were between 16-19 and all blonde, and they’d been held for an average of two years. All three of the victims had also given birth right before they were murdered, Krystie being murdered only minutes after she’d given birth to her baby.
Cut to the BAU private jet. Prentis believes the unsub is a sexual sadist, but questions why a sexual sadist would force women to give him bebes. Reid and Morgan give us examples of real life assholes who did this to women. And then Rossi goes: “Squalid conditions are part of the control fantasy these men have.” Hotch then refocuses the group and asks why the unsub is only abducting blondes of the same age. Also guys- where are the babies??
Cut to Albuquerque New Mexico. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan meet with a medical examiner who informs us that Krystie had had several miscarriages before she had given birth. He also tells them that Krystie had a high levels of pitocine in her blood, an artificial hormone to induce labor. Morgan reviews the medical records of the two other victims, and notes that all three of the girls had drug abuse and homelessness problems prior to being abducted. However, the bodies of the victims show that they were drug free and well-fed before giving birth. The medical examiner also tells the BAU that all three women were given prenatal drugs. Meaning, he wants a bebe. Rossi goes: “This tight schedule he keeps the moms on- he could be breeding!”
Cut to CPS in Albuquerque. Rossi and JJ speak to a CPS worker who tells them that all children who go in and out of the adoption system get genetic screening for preexisting conditions. So if the bebe’s are in the system, the BAU can use DNA matching to find them.
Back at Albuquerque headquarters, JJ meets with Conrad and Jane Winmar, the first victim, Monica’s parents. She drops bombshells on them telling them that they may be grandparents, and then asking if the BAU can dig up Monica’s body to see if there is any DNA evidence that might help them locate her potential child. Which, they take, so well, they actually get pumped. Jane is like GIVE US THE RELEASE!! And it works- the medical examiner finds an umbilical cord. Not after he makes some shitty comments about Monica being just another girl from the street.
Garcia looks into adoptions, and tells the team that white babies are in higher demand than minorities. Boys are more popular than girls. And then starts talking about the “Swedish supermodel rule” stating that blonde haired and blue eyed babies are the most popular ones. And y’all- the three mothers all had blonde hair and blue eyes! But the bad news is that the Monica Winmar’s umbilical cord did not turn up any matches in the adoption system. The medical examiner did determine that the child is a girl and is about 4 years old currently. So the BAU has to look into black market adoptions??
Hotch dismisses the rest of the team, but tells Morgan that he wants Morgan to write up a preliminary profile. And Morgan is like ??? But we don’t have enough? And Hotch is like… that’s why it’s a PRELIMINARY profile.
Cut to- a woman and man walking in a parking lot. Well, the man is kind of half-carrying a blonde woman named Julie, telling her that he’s got a great drug hookup. She’s clearly out of it, possibly on drugs, and is not super coherent. The guy says: “You’re gonna love this. This guy, he has like the best. Like there is no better. He has like this access to god and he like doesn’t want to hang on to it, he wants to give it away!” He walks her right into an ambush, where she is knocked out. The guy then says: “This is the kind of girl you want, right?” And then a voice says: “She’s perfect” and hands the guy money.
Cut back to Albuquerque headquarters. Garcia and JJ are looking into illegal adoptions. Garcia asks what will happen to the child if the BAU is able to actually find her. And JJ says well, if something illegal happened during the adoption process, the court nullifies it and returns the child to the closest relative. JJ tells Garcia not to worry, in Monica’s daughter’s case, she’s met the grandparents and they’re good people. And Garcia is like yeah, but what if the child’s current home is a good environment? And JJ is like – we don’t have a choice.
Morgan has given his “preliminary” profile to Hotch, and Hotch gives it back to him and says “I disagree with your analysis”. Hotch says: “You only focused on one angle- that the presence of prenatal drugs in the system indicates a wife or girlfriend”. And Morgan is like- bro this is PRELIMINARY! Just then JJ shows up and tells them that she and Garcia found Monica’s daughter, her name is Lisa. Apparently Lisa was adopted in Arizona. Apparently Lisa was dropped of anonymously at a church, so there’s no way to trace who dropped her off. But this ALSO means that the unsub had an opportunity to make money off Lisa’s adoption, but chose not to. Leading the BAU to realize that, outside of the murders, the unsub does not profile as a sexual sadist. The BAU now thinks they’re looking at a killer couple, a husband and wife. Morgan is like “as per my last memo”.
Cut to- the birthing basement. Julie from the parking lot wakes up, and she’s in a jail cell. Actually, she’s in Krystie Taylor’s old jail cell. The brown haired woman is in the jail cell next to her, and she introduces herself as Carol and asks what drugs Julie is on. But now I guess canonically Carol has blonde hair, although her hair looks very dirty blonde / brown to me. But anyway, Carol asks Julie what drugs she’s on. And Julie’s like crack. And Carol says she was an alcoholic. Because that is 100% the first conversation these women would have! But this does pass the bechdel test! There’s a light that shines down on Carol, and she says it’s like the sun, it gives them vitamin D. Carol then reveals that she is preggers and that Julie will soon be with child! And Julie is like “I’m not pregnant” and Carol is like “you will be”.
Profile
The unsubs are a couple
The man in the relationship most likely has a history of sexual violence. He started with stalking and then moved his way up to assault and rape. And that violent streak ended temporarily when he found his wife.
For the first year of their marriage, she submitted to his torture. Look for wives who came into the ER repeatedly and with obvious signs of spousal abuse. But this would have been 5 years ago.
That’s because around the time of the first abduction, the visits to the ER stopped. A sexual sadist can’t find satisfaction from a willing participant.
He eventually got to a place where he couldn’t escalate his violence against her without killing her, so she made him a deal.
He gets to kidnap, rape and kill each of the runaways, and she gets to keep the children.
She’s been giving the victims a series of prescription prenatal drugs. So you’re gonna wanna look at obstetric fields, nurses and OBGYNs.
The wife needs these children. At first they were her life line that kept her alive. As long as he had other targets for his abuse, she avoided his rage.
The unsubs want children who resemble them physically, who no one would question as their own. All of the runaways have been blonde, which means the unsub may be as well. But the first child found in the system was a brunette. Whatever the physical characteristic- the color of the eyes, the skin type- if the baby doesn’t have it, he or she ends up in the foster care system.
Wives of sexual sadists need outlets as a denial mechanism to cope with what their partners are doing. And motherhood, especially taking care of a helpless infant, is this woman’s way of coping.
JJ speaks to the Winmars about Monica’s daughter Lisa. The Winmars are so excited to be grandparents. They want to work with the adopted parents to set up a schedule to see Lisa, but JJ tells the Winmars that Lisa’s adopted parents don’t want to speak to them. Jane gets worried, and she asks JJ if they claim Lisa, if they would actually be hurting her. Conrad is like, why are we talking about risks? She’s not their daughter? And Jane is like- my husband and I have to discuss this.
Reid uses a jeopardy surface to find more potential children of the victims. He’s found three possible babies within a 20 mile radius, which is where the unsubs must live. And Rossi realizes that Reid has unearthed another pattern- the unsubs are keeping the boy babies. Which is something we already knew!
Cut back to the basement. Carol is getting an ultrasound. Carol is induced and ready to go! We briefly see Lady Unsub, before her husband moves Julie into the room with her. Julie is going to help Carol give birth. At first Julie is like, I can’t do this. And then Carol says- if this baby doesn’t make it, I’m done. They’ll kill me and then make YOU have babies! And Julie is like fuck that, I’m in- what do I need to do?
Cut back to Albuquerque headquarters. Rossi talks to a fertility doctor, who tells Rossi that the drugs the unsubs are using are not top tier fertility drugs. She tells Rossi that fertility drugs are a cocktail, and you have to keep trying different ones until you find what works for you. So Rossi realizes that these drugs must be what the unsubs have access to, so he needs to find out what else these drugs are used for.
In the basement Carol is four fingers dilated which means its time to push!
Hotch then tells Morgan to write up a tactical arrest plan for how the BAU will apprehend the unsubs without risking the lives of the children they might have. Morgan is like, I’ve lead hundred of tactical arrests but you’ve never asked me to write up a case. And Hotch is like, that’s because I always do it for you! And Morgan kind of yells at Hotch. And then Hotch kind of yells at Morgan. Hotch says: “I don’t have to justify my orders to you, but you do have to follow them.” JJ cuts in to tell the BAU that Garcia has news.
Going off of what that fertility doctor told Rossi, Garcia has looked into the drug cocktail and figured out that the drugs also treat one other condition- breast cancer. Can a woman get pregnant with breast cancer? She’d have to go off chemotherapy and would be in a lot of pain and risking her life. Garcia then looks of patients diagnosed with breast cancer who got pregnant in the jeopardy surface area five years ago- and the answer is 7! And Rossi then asks how many of those patients are married to a man with a history of sexual violence. Just one- Linda Reinman. Married to Robert Reinman. Apparently Linda lost the baby in month eight and had to go through the pregnancy. The baby was a boy named Michael. According to JJ there has to be a name on the death certificate.
Cut back to the basement, and Carol gives birth! It’s a boy! Just after the baby comes yeeting out, the unsubs Linda and Robert show up and take the baby. Linda holds the baby and says “Michael!”
Back in Albuquerque, the BAU plan to send Prentis and JJ in first to get the kids out, because kids will be less nervous around women?? Quick cut and we’re at the Reinman residence. JJ and Prentis rush in, guns drawn, and JJ quickly puts her gun away when she sees a boy on the couch. He looks like 4 or 5? JJ brings the boy out, and the rest of the team hurries in, where they easily apprehend Robert as he exits a bathroom.
Hotch and Morgan rush into the nursery where they find Linda holding new baby Michael. Morgan talks Linda into giving him the baby. I guess she is actively dying as she has stage four breast cancer, has given all her drugs to the victims, and is not on chemotherapy?
Rossi and Prentis then go into the basement where they find Linda and Carol. Carol then gets to hold her baby, which is very sweet. He’ll probably have brown hair, because she also has brown hair!
Also, back at Albuquerque, Jane and Conrad Winmar speak to JJ. Lisa’s parents have decided to allow the Winmars to be part of Lisa’s life. They don’t want to give up custody, but the Winmars can have contact. However, the 4 year old boy they found is Monica’s son, so the Winmars will take custody of him. So that’s a sweet ending.
Back at BAU Headquarters in Quantico VA, Hotch meets with Morgan and tells him that he is stepping down as unit leader. The Bureau thinks that his ability to lead the team has been compromised. Hotch tells Morgan that if Hotch replaces him, the unit will be compromised. Hotch will resign, and he wants Morgan to take his place. And Morgan is like NO. I don’t wanna do it! And Hotch is like- it’s the only way to keep the team together. And Hotch is like- I need to know right now, will you do this? And Morgan is like, only if this is temporary.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 12/20
Character development/ character arcs: 10/20
Forensics/Context: 18/20
Script writing: 15/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 75/100