S6E17 - “Valhalla”
We open in public transportation. We see Prentis taking an elevator down to a subway train in DC. Abigail probably knows the name of this station.
We cut, and we see a car pull up to a house in suburbia. Inside the house, a television is on, and there is news about a huge snowstorm that will be coming to town shortly. The channel is “HD Doppler Weather.” We see a man come into the house, and he says: “5:30 on the dot, as promised.” He walks into the living room and turns off the TV. He sees chips and a soda that have spilled on a table and starts speaking Italian. As one does. He then hears something upstairs and goes: “Hey, I’m talking to you. Don’t make me come and get you.”
We get some more dramatic shots of Prentis.
Then we cut to a different house. A woman is in her closet, trying on a dress. She goes: “I used to fit into this. I blame your cooking. It’s just too damn fine.” We hear a man’s voice: “Like your ass. Now let’s go. We’re late.” To be honest, she looks like she still fits in the dress. Then she hears a glass shattering and goes: “Frank, honey, are you okay?” Then the lights in the room go out. Ron Howard voice: “Frank wasn’t okay.”
Cut back to Prentis, she finally gets on the train. She sits down, touching a stanchion (vertical poles anchored between the floor and ceiling). That is the most unrealistic thing about this because a seasoned public transportation user would not just bare-fist a stanchion like that. Also, Prentis is sitting in the PRIORITY SEATING FOR PREGNANT, ELDERLY AND DISABLED PEOPLE. Anyways, she sees a man wearing rubber gloves and walking toward her, and she thinks he might be attacking her, but we cut away before we see anything.
Back with the Italian Job. The man from the first house goes upstairs, gun raised. He finds his son and wife upstairs, being held at gunpoint by two intruders (it’s four intruders total, but we only see two in this shot.) He begs them to release his family, but they refuse and execute them. We cut quickly, and we see Mr. and Mrs. “Too Damn Fine,” and they’re also executed.
Back on the subway, it’s been a while, Prentis is falling asleep in her PRIORITY SEATING FOR PREGNANT, ELDERLY AND DISABLED PEOPLE. The train has cleared out, and Clyde and Tsia show up. We get some great dialogue from Tsia, as always. Prentis is like: “Ian Doyle is here in DC. I sat next to him last night”. And Tsia goes, “What”. Prentis goes: “He said if I warned my team or told anyone he’d kill them.” Tsia tries to say: “Why didn’t he kill you,” but instead, it sounds like she says: “why did he kill you?” They argue about what to do with Doyle and Tsia ultimately says: “If we stay together we can get him.” And Prentis gives Tsia a look and goes: “Look how that turned out.” Like… Prentis?? Are you referring to the fact that Tsia’s fiancé was just merked by Doyle? That happened like… two days ago. And you’re just like: “You dumb idiot Tsia, sticking together is what got your dumb marathon running husband killed.” Prentis then tells Clyde and Tsia that Doyle is not working alone and declares: “DC isn’t his comfort zone; it’s mine. This ends here.” Then she gets off the train and kind of storms off.
We get one last show of the masked intruders leaving the Mr. and Mrs. Fine crime scene wearing their little white masks. And just as they pull off, the house behind them explodes.
We cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. Garcia tells the team about their latest case. Two DC homes within a few miles of one another had strange incidents the previous nights. Also, Garcia sounds like a little stuffed-up. We learn that the Italian job victims were Ron and Lauren Cosenza, and their teenage son were shot through the forehead with a gun that belonged to Ron. They were found in the master bedroom. The PD thinks this may have been a murder-suicide perpetrated by Mr. Consenza, who then set a fire in the house to cover his tracks. Then, Kerry and Frank Fagan’s house exploded, suspected gas leak, but they were also found in the master bedroom. So this might have been a freak accident. The BAU is surprised that neither of these deaths have been publicized in the news, especially since the Fagan’s home BOOM BOOM BOOM’ed. The only connection Garcia has been able to find is that Kerry Fagan was born in Germany, and Ron Consenza was born in Italy.
Prentis then arrives, apparently she was late, but to be honest, I was so lost in the sauce I did not notice. The team heads off, but Garcia stops Prentis just as she’s about to go out the door. Garcia asks, “What’s his name” and Prentis is like, “huh?” and Garcia goes: “Oh, answering a question with a question. That’s interesting.” Prentis is like, “Stop,” and Garcia goes: “I’m gonna make it my life’s work to find out who this boy is” and Prentis gets upset and goes: “Stop. Just stop. We have enough to worry about already, don’t we?” Then she does another storm off. Speaking of storms, the BAU is in a time crunch because the massive snowstorm is headed this way, and they’re afraid that if they don’t get to the bottom of all these fires, they may lose the unsubs during the storm.
Cut to Rossi and Prentis in the Consenza’s home, specifically the burned-out shell of their bedroom. Prentis instantly clocks that the Consenza family had increased security. Literally, they had a heavy-duty deadbolt in their bedroom, making it so secure that it is almost a panic room. Ron was in network security, which is not a job that would require you to have advanced security. Rossi also points out that there is nothing particularly high-tech in the bedroom that would be associated with network security. No high-tech security cameras or anything like that.
Cut back to BAU headquarters. Garcia is wearing purple arm warmers. She leaves her lair because the heat is out. She meets with Seaver and Reid in the conference room, and they try to find a motive in both the deaths of the Consenzas and the Fagans. Reid goes: “Considering the time these fires occurred, the habitual patterns of both families were in direct conflict with where the bodies were found.” For the Consenzas- normally, Lauren would be helping her son with his homework downstairs, and Ron would not be home yet. The Fagans were expected at a dinner party the night they were murdered. In the morgue, Hotch and Morgan meet with a medical examiner. Morgan is like: “Mr. Medical Examiner, bring me an explanation.” The Medical examiner says: “Two families, same night, mysterious deaths. Doesn’t happen every day.” The ME then drops some knowledge, advising Hotch and Morgan that the Consenza family did not have any smoke in their lungs, meaning that they were dead before the fire was set.
Rossi and Prentis then go back to BAU headquarters. They’re in the elevator together, and Prentis gets a text and seems annoyed. Rossi is like: “Are you okay?” And Prentis goes: “People text like it’s not as intrusive as a phone call.” Rossi is like: “Bestie, you need a vacay.” Prentis goes to her desk, which is right next to Reid’s desk. Prentis puts down her purse, and it causes Reid to jump. She’s like, “Are you okay?” And he admits to her that he’s been having really intense headaches lately. She asks if he’s seen a doctor, and he says that he has seen a few doctors, but no one has figured it out. She asks: “Does anyone know” (meaning, the rest of the BAU), and he’s like, “Just you.” And she’s like, “I won’t tell anyone.” And he’s like, “They’d just worry. Not like you’re not gonna worry, but they’ll make me feel like a baby.” Reid then asks Prentis how she is, he’s noticed that she’s been picking her fingernails again. She tells him it’s just a bad habit. Reid has been pouring over phone records for both the Fagan and the Consenzas, and he finally finds something noteworthy and heads off to tell the others. Prentis takes a moment and opens her desk. Inside one of the drawers, we see white out, a green pottery mug, tums, and some sort of black pouch that says “now.”
We cut to- the conference room. Seaver, Garcia, Hotch, and Morgan are inside. Garcia tells Hotch that so far, there has been no media coverage at all about either of the victims’ deaths. One journalist did write an article, but his article was pulled. Garcia is super SUS and asks for permission to track down the journalist, a man whose name is Jeff Hastings. So far, other than the connection where a member of both households was born abroad (Ron and Kerry). Apparently, Ron and Kerry were also soccer coaches. Reid shows up, telling them that neither of the victims contacted each other, but there is a common number that has called them both. The number is 703-555-0118. This number belongs to Byron Delaney. He is British.
Next, we’re at the home of Byron Delaney. He is hurrying out the door when four masked intruders burst in and attack him. Prentis and Morgan head off to Byron Delaney’s home. Prentis tells Morgan that she suspects these attacks are targeted with the BAU in mind. And Morgan is like- why would you say that? We’re probably not even on their radar. And Prentis is like, yeah, you’re probably right. Back with Byron, he has been knocked unconscious, and the intruders inject something into his foot that kills him. We then hear one of them, with an Irish accent, says: “Put the shoe back on.” It’s Ian Doyle. Ian Doyle and co see Morgan and Prentis pull up to the crime scene and start shooting at the car. Prentis and Morgan have to shelter behind their SUV to avoid being hit. The issue is that the unsubs have automatic weapons, and Morgan and Prentis just have their standard-issue guns. Prentis manages to shoot one of the unsubs in the leg, and the other three drive off. But as they do, they execute the one left behind and shoot his arm to hide the Irish tattoo he has there. Because if Prentis sees that, she’ll know it’s Doyle!!
Cut to- a little while later. The rest of the BAU and the metro PD have arrived at the crime scene. Morgan and Prentis try to figure out why the unsub was shot in the wrist. Morgan realizes that the unsub has a tattoo and that the other unsubs knew it was identifiable. Prentis is like, “So they are confident that we can’t ID him by his face or fingerprints”. Inside Byron Delaney’s house, Rossi and Hotch are looking for a cause of death for Byron Delaney. Hotch notices that one of Byron’s shoes was untied, and they find the injection site. Rossi also notices that Byron had armored tech windows and a serious security system. They also find a suitcase with 20k in cash and Byron’s passport. Byron was likely warned to get out by someone, and the BAU believes that person is next on the list. Outside of Byron’s house, Prentis, Rossi, Morgan, and Hotch regroup. 3/6 victims were European. Prentis points out that the unsubs are clearly ex-military. Morgan calls them a “European hit squad.”
The next day, Garcia is in a coffee shop, stalking that report, Jeff the Jorno, who was asked to pull his story. She sees him reading a book called “The Helmsman’s Wife” and ruins the ending for him. Then she demands to know why he pulled the story. He’s like, “You should know.” She’s like, “It wasn’t the FBI.” He’s like: “I’m not saying jack to you. You already ruined one ending for me.” She begs him to explain what he means. He then gives her a hint to “follow the money.”
Back at FBI headquarters- Reid is working on reconstructing the tattoo. Garcia then shows up with the information Jeff the Jorno told her. The journal Jeff works for is the Gazette, which is owned by a multi-national conglomerate that employs the services of a company called “CWS.” Hotch identifies the acronym as “Clear Water Securities,” a private counterintelligence group out of Geneva. Kerry, Ron, and Byron all worked for CWS seven years ago. Then Reid has finally finished reconstructing the tattoo, which leads to another bombshell- it’s a four-leaf Irish clover. Prentis immediately identifies it as Ian Doyle’s tattoo and hurries off. But the only one who really clocks her leaving is Garcia. Prentis goes to the bathroom and calls Tsia. But Garcia follows Prentis into the bathroom, and Prentis has to hang up on Tsia before saying anything. Garcia goes: “You know, I’m not a profiler,” and Prentis goes, “Don’t start.” Then she sees how upset Garcia is and apologizes. Garcia is like, “I’m really worried about you; the flu is going around… are you pregs?” And Prentis is like, “I’m not sleeping, I’m having this nightmare.” I’m gonna let you hear the audio for this. The bangs in this scene. Seaver then ruins the nice moment and tells Prentis that Hotch needs her.
Cut to- Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). This is a division of the FBI. Morgan, Rossi, Hotch and Prentis are questioning the heads of this unit. We find out that SCIF is the one who pulled the story. But the SCIF Head guy plays hardball. He says that SCIF employs 40k people, and trying to investigate who in particular is targeting his employees would take months. Rossi says: “Oh, so you’ve already started investigating. That’s why you pulled the story.” The SCIF head guy is like, “It’s a multinational situation, I can’t divulge anything.” Hotch then says, “In this room, everything is off the record. But the second we go outside, SCIF and CWS can be held accountable for what happened to these three former employees and their families.” The head SCIF guy goes: “Ugh, fine, whatever. What do you know?”
So the team gives him the profile:
We’re looking for a European Team with considerable training, and for one of them, it’s personal.
The BAU thinks this because the team could have spared the Consenza child, but they chose not to.
We then learn that the child’s name was SAMUEL. You know when you name your son SAMUEL! Anyways, the killing of Samuel Consenza by one of the team was personal.
One of the attackers shot last night had the remains of a tattoo on his wrist.
On the surface, the tattoo may look like a simple four-leaf clover, but the stem has a ‘v’ at the end. The BAU believes this is associated with a hidden sect of fallen warriors.
It’s also the name of a ship famous for its journeys from Dublin to America- The “Valhalla”.
The SCIF guy then explains that CWS ran an operation to capture the leader of a breakaway IRA faction years ago. This leader assumed “Valhalla” as his moniker. The SCIF tells the BAU that “Valhalla’s” real name is Ian Doyle.
Cut to a church. Ian Doyle is there. He lights a prayer candle and says, “Happy birthday, my love.”
Back in the conference room, Garcia tells the BAU that Ian Doyle is officially “on everybody’s list.” Seaver says: “It’s not that I’m not happy that we have his name, but how are we supposed to know who’s on HIS list?” As in, who is Ian Doyle specifically targeting? Morgan says that the BAU should study his life and everyone that Doyle has specifically come into contact with. Prentis says: “Doyle’s been away for 7 years, but he still managed to figure out who the players were. Maybe we should start with how he got out of prison.” Morgan asks where Doyle was locked up, and Prentis goes, “Russia, I think.” Then Seaver corrects her and explains that, actually, there are no extradition papers on Doyle, so it’s impossible to know where he was taken. Prentis is like FUCK, but the rest of the team doesn’t notice her slip of the tongue. Hotch then asks Prentis if Doyle was on her radar when she was at Interpol. Prentis is like, “I’ve heard of him, but I’d have to ask around.”
She then leaves the room to ‘ask around.’ Morgan wants to go to Byron Delaney’s house. Hotch suggests Morgan takes Prentis. Now we in the car, bestie. Prentis tells Morgan that no one has gotten back to her yet, but they will. Prentis then criticizes Morgan’s driving because my girl is STRESSED. She tells him to “get creative with his driving.” Just then, Tsia and Clyde call, and Prentis pretends like they haven’t been meeting on trains and having secret coffee dates by the water fountain. She says: “Thanks for getting back to me, I need some intel on Ian Doyle.” Tsia picks up on this instantly and goes: “Are you alone?” Prentis says: “Not at all. Anything you can spare.” Clyde asks: “Is your team in danger?” Prentis goes: “Absolutely. You should start with our victims.” She then tells Clyde and Tsia the names of all the victims. Tsia goes: “I’ll send you a document.” Morgan then goes: “You know, Emily, you really need to trust people.” Prentis is pissed at him and goes: “I trust people.” Morgan is like: “No, you don’t. You don’t because you can’t.” He gives her this great pep talk, telling her that she can trust him. She’s like, “I do trust you.” And he’s like, “No, you don’t, but it’s okay.” Prentis goes: “You profile me again; you wish you hadn’t.” And then they both laugh.
Back at Quantico- Rossi is concerned that BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss is going to get involved soon. Hotch is like, “Oh, Strauss knows. She’s just on vacation.” Rossi is like: “Oh great, now she’ll never take another one!”
We’re back with Morgan and Prentis at the Byron Delaney crime scene, looking for where Byron keeps his classified information and other important files. There’s a safe in the bedroom behind the big painting, but Prentis doesn’t think the files will be kept in there. She thinks it’s kept somewhere where Byron could gain quick access to it. She finds Byron’s favorite chair in the living room and finds a hidden panel in the wall where she finds a manilla envelope with pictures and other Doyle-related goodies. Morgan watches her awesome Sherlock Holmes-esq detective work and just goes, “Get out of here.” They find a picture of Kerry, Ron, and two other men. Byron Delaney is not in the picture, so Prentis and Morgan think Byron may have been the CWS team handler.
Quick cut to the round table room. Prentis has blown up the image Prentis and Morgan recovered in Byron Delaney’s house. There are names of villages on a road sign, and Prentis identifies them as villages in North Korea. Prentis recognizes one of the villages as the home to a political prison called “Camp 22.” She says North Korea denies it exists. Now the BAU thinks Doyle may have been held in Camp 22. They believe Ron, Kerry, and Byron were involved in a CWS team that was responsible for transporting Doyle to Camp 22 to be held in captivity. Seaver points out that they’re still having trouble finding Doyle’s contacts: “All we know is that he was never married, had multiple residences, and was arrested at his Tuscan Villa.” Seaver thinks there may be photos from the arrest in Italy or possibly a list of people who were there at the time. Prentis is like gulp (because besties she was there at the Tuscan Villa, remember?) We incorrectly identified this villa as a villa in France in a previous episode, but to clarify- the purple flowers flashback where Prentis was arrested in front of Doyle was in ITALY.
Hotch encourages Prentis to pester her associates for more information about Doyle. She excuses herself and calls Tsia and Clyde at her desk. She’s like, “Brah, I thought Doyle was in Russia. He was in North Korea?” Clyde was like, “That was on a need-to-know basis.” Prentis gets pissed off and says: “You don’t get to decide what’s good for me anymore. What else do I need to know? You told me Doyle was in Russia!” And Clyde is like, “Actually, Sean told you that.” Prentis then demands that Tsia get Clyde off the phone, which pisses Clyde off, but Tsia takes the phone off speaker. Prentis tells Tsia that she cannot trust Clyde and needs to take off. She tells Tsia that she is better off on her own and tells her to go to another of their associates. Clyde is all sulky and goes, “Whatever.” I guess Tsia also sent Prentis the document she promised because we see it in the next scene.
Prentis runs into Reid in the hallway. Reid is going to look for photos of Doyle’s Tuscan Villa. He tells her he couldn’t find any stills, but thinks the cars that were used during the arrest should have footage. Prentis then brings the document to Hotch, Seaver, Rossi, and Morgan. They are bank accounts, so the BAU can possibly identify who else was part of the CWS team that transported Doyle to Korea.
Meanwhile, Tsia actually takes Prentis’ advice. She goes to the contact Prentis told her to go to. Apparently, there is a specific procedure to get this person to open the door. So Tsia knocks on the door three times, then looks in the peephole. But as she looks in the peephole, the person on the other side of the door shoots her and kills her. She then says: “My mother made it, Christmas,” and dies. The door opens, and we see Doyle. He killed the contact person Tsia was supposed to be getting in touch with.
Back at Quantico- there’s a huge multi-agency task force being formed to try to capture Doyle. The BAU is just waiting for Metro PD to arrive. But we learn that Metro PD has been held up by a double homicide. Morgan tells everyone the address, and Prentis immediately recognizes it as the address she told Tsia to go to. Morgan tells Hotch he wants to investigate because one of the people murdered looks like a black-market forger, and he believes this person may be tied to the case. Because of the coincidence of it all! Prentis is like, “I’m coming with.”
At the crime scene of the double homicide, Prentis is just standing there, staring at Tsia’s dead body. Morgan is not picking up on the vibes. Prentis is like, “I need some air,” and walks off. Outside, she pukes, and Morgan follows her and is like, “What did you do, pull a Whiskey Pete’s.” Prentis asks Morgan if they can stop at her apartment really quick because she puked on her boots. Morgan is like, “Okay, but you have to be super quick because Hotch wants us back.” Prentis is like, “I’ll be really quick, please can we stop.” As they roll up on Prentis’ apartment, Ian Doyle and Co are watching. She goes into the apartment, disarms the alarm, goes to her safe, pulls out a cladal ring flushes it down the toilet. She then walks out of the bedroom, leaving the safe open. She and Morgan hurry back to headquarters.
Back at Ian Doyle taskforce headquarters, Hotch has everyone together for the profile of Ian Doyle.
Ian Doyle
He’s known to a select few. Those who know him either work beside him, or they’re on his kill list.
2 or 3 of his victims worked for CWS and were responsible for his transport to North Korea.
There were 7 operatives on the missions altogether, and the remaining 5 have been warned.
All the federal and international agents responsible for tracking him down are now on his list of targets.
BAU will find Doyle the way they find any other offender- by studying his behavior.
The BAU will dissect his every move since he gained his freedom.
He escaped from North Korea, killed a man, and used his vehicle to cross the border into Russia.
The profile fades out, and we’re just looking at Prentis going through it. Morgan is like, “You good?” and she goes, “I’m good.” But clearly, she is UNWELL. She looks at all her team lovingly, fearing for their safety. She begins to cry, and she excuses herself from the briefing.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20
Character development/ character arcs: 18/20
Forensics/Context: 15/20
Script writing: 20/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 95/100