We open with a shot of a young girl swimming, and her swimsuit looks way too big. Hampton VA. We see someone in a long coat and boots enter a house at night. This is intercut with footage of Reid watching a lecture about serial killers being presented by James Fallon. Meanwhile back at the house, we see a mother cry and bed for her son while the stranger inside the house holds a gun up to a young boy. We see a boy running and hiding in the house, and the girl is still in the pool swimming. The man tracks down the boy and we see gunshots from the pool.

In the lecture, Prof Fallon is talking about brains and the brains of psychopaths – saying psychopaths are numb to serotonin effects. Now we see the psychopath walk into the pool with his whole clothes on like a fucking animal, and then pull the girl under.

Three days later, we see Reid approach the house which is now behind caution tape. There is blood smeared on the floor of the kitchen, and the house is in general disarray. Reid looks into the pool, and the rest of the team joins him. Field Agent Anne Hudson; she shares that the father of the family is serving in Iraq, but the whole rest of the family was killed and buried on the property. The family dog was found barking and scratching at the grave – just stab me in the heart i guess! The father is also returning today. Apparently, the police are getting a ton of heat from the military, so they need the BAU! They believe it is the work of a serial killer – to which Hotch is like, yeah it is. We also learn there was another incident just like this, the Williams family that happened recently. And the father of this family was also serving overseas.

Inside the house, the BAU examines the crime scene. There was no sign of a struggle, so they figure that the mother was killed first, and then Paul, the youngest. The mother was dragged out, and then Lucy was drowned, not shot. So why the change of MO? So whoever did this knew that both fathers were serving overseas. Additionally, Prentis shares that apparently the wedding rings have been stolen, however it is unclear if any other valuables were also taken. This was also what happened with the Williams home as well; jewelry and watches. Only what he can carry on him easily, which suggests he is most likely on foot. Additionally, there is no signs of sexual assault on either cases. They believe it is only one unsub.

Garcia calls in and says that there is a call from the VA super max prison. One of the inmates there has received two envelopes in the last two days, the first envelope had clippings of the Newport news killings, and the Downey Family. In the second was a note saying “look at what I have done” and both were signed by someone named “An Admirer”. Both of these were sent to the inmate Karl Arnold – The Fox! Now we get a lil flashback of the Fox. So basically we could be working with a copycat now.

Now at the VA State Police Station they meet with the father, Captain Downey. Agent Anne tries and kind of fails at delivering the news to the father. This actor actually does a pretty moving performance? He collapses and its just really sad. They tell him they think it was the work of a serial killer.

Now at the prison, Prentis and Hotch go to visit Karl Arnold. Hotch kind of briefs Prentis on what to expect from Karl Arnold, saying how he is going to try to get in her head, and the reason he brought her was because it would throw him off. They walk through the hallways of all the other inmates, nd it is really giving Silence of the Lambs. Karl Arnold is shocked that a lady is with Hotch – however he somehow knows who Prentis is – he says “I know all about you”.

Back at the station, they start to try working on the profile. They figured this is also someone who is probably hiding in plain sight – this is someone who knew about the fathers of these families being deployed, however, unlike The Fox this unsub didn’t “live” with the families, he just walked in and killed them; living with them was not a part of this fantasy. Agent Anne comes in with a photograph Rossi had asked for. It is a family photo that a bullet went through, breaking the glass and hitting the father. Not only is it significant because of that, but also because they were able to pull some fingerprints off it; and these prints match those of the Newport killer! Same person for sure! Additionally – the finger prints were on Lucy.

Morgan also believes that there are more murders/victims that they don’t know about yet. These kinds of killers start with one victim, not an entire family. Back in the prison, Hotch talks to Karl about how he has a fan. Emily questions Karl, but he don’t really respond to her. He talks about how he has many fans, and even has a website. He says he keeps a log of all the questions he gets asked, and asks Emily if she’d like to read them. She says she’d “love to” and things get weird with the leaning and physicality of picking up the book. And then she’s like “maybe later”. Instead Hotch brings up how this copycat is taking all the wedding rings. Karl Arnold starts asking Hotch about why he isn’t wearing his wedding ring, and kind of mocks him about it.

Karl Arnold says he could help them with it, but he would have to see the photographs. Emily and Hotch step out to speak privately. Prentis does not want Karl to see the photographs, she doesn’t want to “use” the photos of Lucy like that, however Hotch says it is a tradeoff they have to do. Garcia is looking into the correspondence Karl has had since being in prison, as well as trying to match the fingerprint that was found on the photograph. Garcia is also looking into seeing if there is something that she can find between these families, but she hasn’t been able to find anything linking them.

Back at the station, the team notes that most of the fingerprints from the Newport killing were found in Karen Williams room, meaning he must have spent most of his time with her. Additionally, Lucy was already separated from the rest of her family, so he didn’t have to do anything like that in that case. Maybe this is a signature? But it is unclear. Rossi suggests looking at each victim/family as a hub with connections outside. Unfortunately, it could also be a whole year until he unsub kills again – given how the unsub goes through all the emotions. Despite that unfortunate news, JJ comes in and shares that they now have access to all the military files on the fathers.

Back with Mr. foxy, Prentis and Hotch return to talk with Karl. They present him with the photos of the crime scene at the home, and he smiles a little looking at the photograph that was shot at. Then! Then we get this ridiculous moment where the background fades and they “walk him through” the home; telling him how the Downey family had three kids, 12, 9 and 4 years old, two boys and one girl. They tell him where the bodies were found, and he thinks it is interesting that they were buried. They explain to him how the family was killed, and how the father is overseas. Karl tells them that his unsub watches the family closely, so he can “achieve what he needs”. Karl says this guy doesn’t watch for weeks or days. He also doesn’t understand why he didn’t separates the children, and he also notes it is interesting that Lucy was drowned rather than shot. Prentis is reluctant to show Karl the photograph of Lucy.

Now we see a mother and son returning home from a soccer game – and there is a girl upstairs with a gun to her head. The unsub is in the house, and we know they are goners.

The BAU arrives at the house, and hey, I mean at least they didn’t have to wait a year? They go inside and investigate. We see another photograph where the father is shot. And much like the families before, they are buried in the backyard. The daughter was also suffocated again instead of shot. The father is deployed in Afghanistan. However, this unsub is escalating given that the time between the kills has been short. Another thing we learn is that a year ago when the Williams family was killed there was a military air-show going on. So maybe all of this plane activity is triggering him?

Back with Karl, Hotch has left and so Prentis is alone with him. Prentis starts to flatter Karl, saying how his case was the first she studied and she has been fascinated with it ever since. He asks if she wants to know what he did to the children, and she says yes. He says “children are so precious, so clean, but they need guidance. Especially the girls, girls have much more to lose than boys. Its a fact that the female bodies can handle much more pain than boys”.

Morgan and Hotch disagree over the profile. Garcia calls them, and tells them that she still cannot find anything. However, while this is going on, Reid is on to something – Reid notices that the graves the bodies have been buried in look like mass graves; he believes this unsub was maybe born into conflict.

Hotch has returned to Karl and Emily. Prentis asks Karl why he killed the families – and all of Karl’s motivations were about sex, whereas this case seems to be different. Prentis nails him by talking about Karl’s daddy issues, which kind of shuts him down. Prentis clocks how with Karl it was all about the fathers; the dad died last, etc. but in this case, the girl is the one who dies last – so this unsub is a woman! Prentis leaves to call Morgan, and Karl tells Hotch that “it isn’t over for you” and how he “just doesn’t see it” and he laughs. Spooky.!

Garcia calls and says she has a hit. 3 hits. 3 crime scenes. 3 different cities. Zagreb, 1998, a woman and her 8mo baby were both killed, and then 2 years later Modena, Italy, and 2007, London a young couple were both shot. So she has killed before! Reid and Rossi talk about how Zagreb is the Capital city of Croatia, which is significant given that it had a battle for independence and Serbian forces tried to ethnically cleanse over 40k Bosnian Muslims. Reid says that the only mass graves similar to the ones that our unsub has created were those of Bosnia after the war, but none of them rival that of Srebrenica. Then the Dutch created a safe haven for Refugees, however not long after the Bosnian Serb forces surrounded the town, so basically she was born in the middle of all this conflict which is just bad. She is exacting her life experiences onto her victims. Given the age of her victims, and the history of all this conflict, she is likely in her late 20s.

Now we see our unsub having a meltdown in Croatian while speaking into a mirror and wilding around a gun. She shoots at the mirror, but eh, nothing really happens. Back at the prison, Hotch says he doesn’t think this woman has anything to do with Karl. Prentis is upset cause she flirted with Karl, and she feels gross about it. Karl calls out to Hotch and says he has one last thing he wants to share.

And now with 5 minutes left of the episode, we get the profile.

She is suffering a psychological break
White and in her 20s
We believe she came to the US a couple years ago
She is likely on foot
She is likely eastern European and may not speak much English
If you manage to corner her or apprehend her, do not underestimate this woman, she will try to fight her way out

Then Garcia clocks something – all of the families used a website called Photobug where you can upload photos, videos, etc. Given that it is a great way for military families to keep in touch, they all used it. The website is protected - but not from those who use it! (confusing). Apparently they outsource work to people all over the country, and Garcia finds one profile of an employee who sounds like it matches the unsub. Miranda Dracar, an orphan. They find her address, and yeah she has a ton of photographs all over her apartment of people she is targeting.

Back at the prison, they tell Karl they found their unsub, but it is definitely not his admirer. Hotch tells Karl that they will find his admirer, and Karl is like, no agent Hotchner, I think he has already found you. Spooky! The rest of the team rolls into the home of the victims that Miranda has targeted, however, since Morgan is now the manager of thee team, he gets tackled again, he and Miranda struggle, and in the struggle, she ends up shooting herself in the stomach. It is kind of brutal.

In the prison, Hotch starts to lose it a little. Going through all his papers, etc. and Yeah, its who we thought – the admirer is Foyet. Hotch storms out, and that is the end of the episode.

Rating Criteria:

Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20

Character development/ character arcs: 15/20
Forensics/Context: 20/20
Script writing: 20/20
Background characters: 20/20

Overall: 92/100

S5E8 - “Outfoxed”

S5E9 - “100”

S5E7 - “The Performer”