S6E12 - “Corazon”
We open to a hallway and see Reid waiting anxiously for something or someone. We quickly realize that Reid is waiting to meet with a doctor due to a prolonged migraine he has been experiencing for a few days. He has sunglasses on, and we get a shot of mixed-matched socks. We learn he has been having headaches and the lights hurting his eyes.
And guess what! We’re in Miami baby! We also see a man light a match and shots of a gross, flowers, and a bird. There is blood and shells over the eyes of a presumably dead guy – it is all really fast shots/cuts, so it is unclear exactly what is going on, but it looks fairly ritualistic.
Back at the BAU, everyone is sitting down in the round table room for a briefing. Prentiss asks if Reid is okay because he was late. He insists he isn’t actually late because the briefing hasn’t started yet. He clearly does not want the BAU to know about his visit with a doctor regarding his headaches. Garcia briefs them and shows them photos of three victims in Miami – they all had shells on their eyes and mouth, and one was found with a decapitated cat. Yikes. They were all found in a Latino neighborhood called Allapattah. One of them was a black homeless man who was found shot seven days ago, then there was Ynira Espnal, who was a sex worker and bludgeoned to death 3 days ago, and then there is Victor Gabra, who was killed with a machete yesterday. Victor’s cat was also murdered. I love Garcia, but she says “machete” in the way that white people will sometimes order from chipotle. Also, the homeless man was murdered in the alleyway he lived in, so technically each victim was killed in their “home.”
The shells used in this murder are cowrie shells, according to Reid, and evidently, they are used in a lot of Afro-Carribbean ritual offerings – however, there is an upsidedown cross that is more aligned with satanism. With the first two victims, apparently, the killer took the victim’s fingers. But with Victor, the unsub took Victor’s hands. This is either religious or just a signature. And they are running outta time!
On the BAU jet we get a Mary Shelley quote! The team talks about how he has changed the way he killed the victims, and he doesn’t seem to be particularly invested in watching them suffer. Hotch asks for help from Reid, but he seems to be having another headache episode, so he is a little spacey on how he speaks, but he has good information for them. He tells the team about Afro-Carribbean Syncretic religions, which was mixing African traditions with catholicism so as to mask them. And then also a Yoruban tradition and Ellagua. However, none of these call for human sacrifices – just animals.
Now, in Miami, we see Morgan and Reid walking through the neighborhood, and Moran notices that Reid is acting kinda off. But Reid is very dismissive and clearly does not want to explain himself. Meanwhile, Prentis and Hotch are at the crime scene, and they notice that the unsub left a footprint in the blood, but that is the only kind of mistake he made. Additionally, there is no sign of forced entry – so the victim must’ve left him in. They also clock that the unsub must’ve turned the victim’s body over after killing them – and cleaned their faces off. And the shells could mean that he does not want the victims to see him, but he wants someone else too.
Reid, Morgan, and Prentis meet with Victor’s best friend, Jimmy, at the local soup kitchen which is a community center. And Jimmy has a puppy named Tuti! Jimmy tells the BAU that his friend Victor had some sort of cancer in “his man’s part.” But Jimmy was not taking the traditional western medicine route. Victor was doing his “cleaning” every day. He would clean his head and body. While Jimmy tells them this, the other occupants and workers at the soup kitchen keep giving him and the BAU the stink eye. Morgan approaches one of the servers who is really dismissive and refuses to talk. Eventually, Jimmy gets freaked out and leaves.
We then get a quick shot of Jimmy and Tuti being attacked by the unsub.
Now we see Morgan and Reid waiting to meet with Professor Walker. Hotch calls and tells them that Jimmy – the guy they just interviewed – has been murdered. They show the professor photographs of the victims, and he states the murders have the elements of many different rituals going on. Professor Walker says that most of the rituals are healing, but one of them is from a much darker religion – unbaptized Palo Mayombe. Professor Walker has spent years studying Palo and is about to release an extensive book on the subject.
Cut to Jimmy’s house. He was fucking decapitated. The unsub took THE BRAIN, cut out his tongue, and cut off his hands. The hands are missing, it seems. But the head is in a nearby cabinet! Also, yes, unfortunately, Tuti was also killed.
Back with Professor Walker, Reid questions the word choice of “darker.” These are nature religions that are amoral, but depending on how you use them dictates if it is good or bad. But Palo harnesses the dead – so it is much darker. And the professor has never heard of someone killing for a brain – because it calls for that. He believes the tongue could be to silence witnesses, but usually, it is just a cow tongue. Professor Walker believes the unsub could be building a Nganga Kadiememe, a being that calls on the devil and needs seven bodies.
And now for the profile
This unsub is a lone male; there is no evidence to suggest otherwise
He is behaviorally young, probably between 17 - 22
If he spent time in jail or institutionalized, he could be chronologically older
He is part of the community, most likely Hispanic or black
We believe he uses a religious connection to get close to the victims
He may be a practitioner who people trust and rely on, but he uses their vulnerability to get close to prey on them
He is highly organized in his planning but is impulsive in execution, meaning his emotions take over
He has a compulsion for the killing rather than an objective reason
Meaning there has been a rapid escalation in the killing and time frame, which has made him more efficient and more violent
Meaning he is unpredictable and more dangerous
He focuses on victims who are fragile and vulnerable and creates relationships with them
He may work in a government aid office or community center
Garcia calls Morgan and shares that all of the victims were patrons at the soup kitchen and community center they went to yesterday. Now we see Morgan and Reid approach the soup kitchen. People are gathered there and performing some sort of ritual. The leader, a man named Julio, kills a chicken and lets the blood drip onto the members of the community. The BAU interrupt and Julio tells them off for interrupting. But Morgan and Reid demand that Julio goes with them, and Julio looks at Reid and specifically agrees to go with Reid. Julio’s assistant, Elian, takes over the ritual as Julio leaves.
Garcia gives them the low down on Julio. He grew up in foster care and did 15 years for the attempted murder of a police officer. He was apparently also in a violent gang called “Los Machetes.” Apparently, Los Machetes liked to cut off the hands and heads of their victims. However, Julio was released in 2003 and hasn’t had any run-ins with the law since then.
Morgan wants to talk to Julio and question him, but Reid has a feeling that Julio will be more open with him. So Reid goes in, and Hotch instructs Rossi, Seaver, and Prentiss to go investigate the community center. Reid shows Julio photos of the victims. Julio says that all the victims were his godchildren, and all went with him to be healed. Reid references Palo and Julio is like, “what do you know about Palo?” Julio then leans into Reid and says, “this light…so good it gives you a headache.”
Meanwhile, at the community center, the BAU find blood in one bedroom, and they find another bedroom that belongs to Julio’s assistant. They find bloody shoes and drug paraphernalia. They begin to suspect that Elian might be the unsub, not Julio. Elian sees the BAU and takes off into the night and is on the lam!
Julio begins speaking in a different language and performing some sort of ritual. Reid kind of sits there and lets it happen. We later learn that Julio is attempting to perform a healing ritual to help with Reid’s headaches. Reid eventually leaves the room and explains to Morgan that they just witnessed a case of religious transposition – religious hysteria. Where Julio genuinely believes he was possessed by a spirit.
Reid goes to see if he can translate the words back to Julio. Julio cannot remember what happened – he says that it was his saint who was speaking. Julio says Reid needs to do a cleansing quickly because his head is being spoiled. Julio also says that something is wrong – Reid is like yeah, four people are dead. Julio is like no, it’s something else – listen with your heart and not your head.
The rest of the team arrives and tells Julio about Elian being the unsub. Julio categorically tells them that Elian is being set up and that Elian is innocent. He begs the BAU to release him so he can find Elian. Julio does a spiritual ritual to see if it will help him locate Elian.
The BAU then talks to Julio about the details of Jimmy’s death, which he was previously unaware of. Julio immediately says that the unsub is not practicing Palo. He says specifically that “there is no use for a tongue that is not pierced by needles” and says that a true practitioner never would have left the head behind. So perhaps this is the unsub’s signature. The BAU begins to think that Elian is being framed by the actual unsub. They realize the unsub is Professor Walker, who gave them incorrect information about Palo. They suspect he is using the killings to try to gain publicity for his book.
Julio is finally released and he heads to the community center to look for Elian. But Professor Walker knocks him out and kidnaps him.
Garcia looks further into Professor Walker, who had a questionable psych eval when he was a kid. The professor’s mother died by suicide when he was a kid, and he also had many childhood injuries consistent with abuse. After his mother’s death, Professor Walker was sent off to boarding school and essentially abandoned by his father. ALSO- His father is also a professor in this same field!
They head to the community center, and Reid goes to Julio’s room to sit down because he has a headache. He sees a picture of Julio as a child in front of a house and realizes that this is a house he’s seen before when walking around the area. So instead of calling the rest of the team in and explaining his discovery, Reid climbs through the window in Julio’s room and takes off into the night to go save Julio.
Reid gets into the now abandoned foster home, where he finds Julio and Elian tied up. Professor Walker disarms Reid, and Reid tries to reason with him using his intellectual charm. At this point the rest of the BAU realize that Reid is missing, and Rossi and Hotch go to Julio’s room and they also see the photo of the foster home. Meanwhile, Reid tells Professor Walker that he has serious daddy issues. He starts getting all psychological on Professor Walker, and then winces and tells Professor Walker that he’s experiencing another migraine episode. Julio starts to try to break free, momentarily distracting Walker, and Reid uses the crowbar that Professor Walker used to knock out Julio and Elian, and knocks out the professor.
The rest of the team arrive and they’re not like “Reid, what the fuck?” They arrest Professor Walker, who asks Reid, very seriously, if Reid believes the Professor’s father will visit him in jail. Julio confronts Reid and tells Reid that Reid heard Julio calling for him. Reid denies this, but Julio is confident. Julio gives Reid a small bracelet to keep him safe and to thank him for his help. Reid also tells Hotch that he “pretended” to have a headache to distract the professor, but at this point the rest of the team knows that Reid is struggling with migraines.
We cut to Reid getting the results of his cat scans and MRIs. The doctor tells him that there is nothing physically wrong and suggests something psychosomatic. Reid gets very offended and tells the Doctor about how his mother, Diana Reid, is schizophrenic and essentially storms out of the room.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 15/20
Character development/ character arcs: 18/20
Forensics/Context: 17/20
Script writing: 17/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 87/100