S6E20: “Hanley Waters”

We open with no quote, no music, just silence. Morgan is meeting with Hotch for a grief assessment, which Morgan thinks is just a reason to talk about Emiley. However, Hotch says the FBI is requiring these assessments and that BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss wanted to bring in an outsider to do them, but Hotch is going to do them instead. Morgan starts talking about the five stages of grief, and he says that he has not accepted Emily’s death yet, and Hotch is like, okay so are you at anger? Morgan then says he sometimes wants to quit his job and chase down the son of a bitch who killed Emily. 

We cut, and we see a woman who is covered in blood being wheeled through a hospital. We realize that this is a flashback. The woman then wakes up (in the present-day), her name is Shelley Chamberlain. Shelley has tears on her face, and she rushes to a bathroom looking for medication, but all of the bottles are empty. She slams the bathroom cabinet closed and glares at her reflection. Then she grabs a shampoo bottle and starts breaking the cabinet mirror and hysterically crying. Then, suddenly, she’s very calm. Shelley walks to her bedroom, opens the closet, and reaches for a box at the top. Instead of it are bullets. Uh oh. 

We see Shelley drive an unmarked car to a guns/amory store. She talks to the clerk and says she’d like to buy a gun. He’s like, what are you looking for, and Shelley doesn’t know the name of the gun but know some of the characteristics (because, as we just saw, she has the ammo). The clerk says she’s looking for a 38. He asks if she has a gun license or a permit, and she does not have either. He gives her the paperwork to fill it out and tells her it will take some time, and she is not happy. The clerk then goes to help another customer. Instead of filling out the paperwork, Shelley takes the gun and puts the BOYB bullets she brought from home. The clerk turns around and pulls a gun on Shelley, but she fires at him and shoots at him and the other customers in the store.

Next- we see a news reporter talking about the fatal shooting at the store. This shooting was in Tampa. The BAU is watching this report from their round table room, and Seaver is shocked that a lady would just walk in there and start firing. Welcome to 2023, baby. The store was a family-owned business, so unfortunately, there was not any camera footage, and no one saw the unsub well/long enough for a sketch. However, they did report that she seemed really calm, like an office or school shooter. She also did not work there. Reid talks about Columbine and how those murderers did not personally know the victims they shot because they cared more about killing more people than targeting specific people. Rossi notes that, usually, these offenders hole up in one place and either die by suicide or a shoot-out with the police, so it is strange that our unsub fled. Hotch says that the fact that she fled means she probably is not done with whatever she is doing. She’s on a QUEST!

We cut, and Shelley is driving in her car, mumble-cry singing, “this little light of mine”. Her gun is in her passenger's seat, and she continues to drive. 

Now we have Garcia in her assessment with Hotch. She is talking about how the BAU are a family and how internalizing the trauma of Prentis’ death isn't going to be good for the health of both the individuals and the group as a whole. Garcia says she does want to talk about Prentis being gone; instead, she wants to talk about how Pretnis made her smile. 

Now, on the BAU jet, we get our opening quote. Reid is going through the different victims who were killed during the shooting. All of them are locals with similar backgrounds, blue-collar jobs, divorced, anger issues and misdemeanor records from bar fights, etc. Seaver says men may not have viewed our unsub as a threat. Reid suggests the unsub is going through a psychotic break, so Hotch will have Garcia check local psyche wards and incident reports on women who have been asked to leave businesses due to angry outbursts. They think that this unsub is someone who has internalized her feelings and trauma forever, and for reasons unknown, today was the day she decided to do something. Hmmm… kinda sounds like what Garcia was talking to Hotch about in the previous scene!!!

We cut to Shelley, and she is leaving a voicemail for someone named “Don” on her cellphone. She says she called him at the station and that he is not there, and she checked his house and that he’s not “here” either. She says she cannot believe he changed his cell, and is she really that much of a “burden”? She says she needs to talk to him today and asks him to meet her at the mall, please. Uh oh. Not the mall. 

The BAU rolls up to the crime scene and meets with Chief Thiers. They do their standard introductions, and the store had only been open for 30 minutes when it happened. Chief Thiers said they kept the bodies of the deceased have been kept in the store “long past their expiration date” to try to figure out what actually went down. We don’t have the time to unpack all of that. They deduce four shots were fired, and all four inside (customers and owner) are dead. Rossi notices a 38 revolver is missing from the store’s display, and there are also bullet casings for the same gun at the crime scene. So the BAUI realize that the unsub did not come in with a gun but came in with the gun bullets. Perhaps she knew she would not pass the background check – and maybe she killed these guys just because they were in the way of her master plan. 

Now Shelley is at the mall; she is watching children play in the food court. She is sitting at a table with a pizza and a drink, and she has set up another slice of pizza and a drink next to her, probably waiting for the Don she called earlier. Eerie. Over the phone, Hotch and Rossi speak to Reid and the rest of the team. They discuss their theory that the unsub lived with someone who did not allow her to have access to guns since she had bullets but no revolver. And keeping a key from her is a very dominant move. So maybe the unsub is lashing out at an abusive situation. But also- the unsub shot up the gun store first thing in the morning, and there have been no reports of her doing anything since.

Back with Shelley at the mall, she continues to watch the children play by the food court. A child trips and falls, and Shelley hurries over to help. She offers to help a kid who fell, and a security guard intercepts her because he is suspicious of the situation. He repeatedly asks Shelley if she’s the child’s mother, and she gets confused and has a flashback to being at the hospital. At the hospital, we see that there is also a child in the room with her who is badly injured. The security guard continues to question Shelley, and she gets overwhelmed and shoots and kills him before running off.

The BAU asks Garcia to look into white males, ages 30-50, with a registered 38, hoping they can find the unsub through her partner who had the gun. Additionally, Garcia looks for records of domestic abuse. Garcia says this is going to be tricky because FL is a Stand Your Ground State. So there are 638 men who fit this search criteria. 

The BAU hears of the new shooting and arrives at the mall. Hotch says they are going to have to talk to the press about this soon because word will be getting out, and they need to frame the story in the right light so as not to spook the unsub. The good news is that the mall had security footage, so the BAU is able to see that the unsub is a white woman with short hair. They deduce she was waiting at the food court for someone who didn’t show, and she took out her rage on the security guard. However, she did not take out anyone else, which is very controlled. So the guard got in her way, and she took him out as a necessity.

We get a flashback to Shelley in a car accident, inter-spliced with her now sitting in the car at an intersection in a kind of fugue state. We learn that her son Damian was the kid who was also in the accident with her. Damian sadly passed away. As Shelley is fuguing, a cop walks up to her and tries to get her to move the car. Shelley repeatedly asks the cop why he didn’t help her son Damian, and the cop then asks her to get out of the car. Shelley shoots him and drives off.

Now we have Reid in his assessment, and he talks about how the last time he was in that sort of meeting was after his father left. I wanna know how Hotch feels knowing that Prentis is alive while the rest of the team grieve and cry to him.

Now we have the BAU roll up to the new new crime scene – the officer is in critical condition, but they did get a description of the car- a teal station wagon. It’s a subaru outback. Rossi is like; this is an act of survival. We also get news that two EMTs have now been shot nearby. So Shelley is traveling, but she’s kind of looping around and going in circles. She is not on the LAM.

We see Shelley in another flashback with her husband and son Damian. Her husband Don is taking a home video of the three of them. This flashback is happening while she is driving, and she is continuing to space out. Reid notices that all of the unsub’s shootings and sprees make no logic; it is all about emotion. It is like she has nothing to live for – maybe she is blaming a loss she experienced on someone else. 

And now, the profile: 

• A white female between the ages of 30-40

• Driving a teal green station wagon

• Random behavior that is all over the place

• She has a score to settle here today

• When emotional decisions drive an unsub, is it usually connected to an emotional loss and the idea that there is nothing to live for

• They believe that this woman has been through the devastating loss of a child

• Today is an important day

• She has been lashing out at the hero, and they believe she has been deeply betrayed by someone who let her down 

• Because she has been taking her rage out on first responders, not hospital personnel indicates that her child likely did not die of natural causes – an accident 

• And if that is so, she believes he should have been saved

• This is a debilitating loss she experienced, so she probably has not been functional for a while

• This rage spree is her last attempt to be heard

• All of this ends today

Now we see Shelley looking at children playing at a park. A lady comes and sits with her, and she recognizes Shelley – she’s like, “You’re from mommy and me!” She asks Shelley where her son is, and Shelley starts to freak out. Shelley tries to flee, but she drops her bag, and the gun falls out. But thankfully, Shelley just runs way and gets back in her car. She turns on the radio, and she hears a news report about herself. Shelley is cleaning her arms and hears that the FBI is going to make a statement. Hotch is on the radio and is asking that she stops hurting people because they understand she is hurt, and they want to know how she can help. 

We cut to Don- in a truck carrying groceries inside his home. He listens to the voicemail that we heard Shelley leave him earlier. Then suddenly Shelley is there and she jumpscares him and appears in his doorway. 

Now Rossi is having a glass of scotch while talking to Hotch about losing Emily, and he says he thinks it is too early to talk about it. Rossi asks Hotch how he is doing rather than talking about his own emotional stuff. Rossi talks about emotional walls. About how easy it is to not let people in. Rossi says that he is more married to this team than any of his ex-wives. Hotch and Rossi clink glasses to remember Emily and Hailey. 

Back with the rest of the team- we learn that Shelley’s ex-husband Don took out a restraining order on her. Then we jump cut to Don and Shelley in Don’s house. Don tells Shelley to leave, and she won’t leave. She complains that no one remembers Damain and accuses Don of moving on too quickly. Don doesn’t want to talk to Shelley, but he begrudgingly agrees to talk to her because she is clearly in crisis.

Back at Tampa PD- Garcia says she does not have any movement with the teal station wagon (ahem- subaru outback). Garcia also has gone over the gun store and gun store employees a million times, and can’t find anything significant that she believes would cause somebody to shoot it up. Gacia then looks for accident reports involving young children. She finds a high-speed car chase of a man named Hanley Waters, who committed an armed robbery against a liquor store. Police pursued him, and Waters was eventually caught after t-boning another car in an intersection. The other car was driven by Shelley Chamberlain. Shelley’s six-year-old son Damian was killed, and the police officer pursing Waters was also killed during the crash. However, the fallen officer was the one who got all the attention, and Damian was just a footnote. This all happened exactly a year ago today. And also- it was Damian’s birthday. He died on his birthday. Tragic.

But this still begs the question- who is Shelley’s target now?

Back with Don- Shelley is reaching for her gun, ready to shoot him. But she changes her mind and instead asks Don to celebrate Damian’s birthday with her. He reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, the BAU get more information on Shelley. We learn that her ex-husband Don was a firefighter. Apparently, Don was working the day when Damian died. The BAU show up at Don’s house, but he isn’t there. Shelley’s car is there, though. They also check Shelley’s house, finding the broken mirror and more bullets. They also find Damian’s old room, unchanged. Shelley is living in the past. The BAU finds memorabilia from Sir Burger, a local burger and fries joint. It looks like the family celebrated Damian’s birthday at Sir Burger each year. So the BAU heads over to Sir Burger to see if Shelley and Don are there.

Cut to- Sir Burger. Don and Shelley are sitting at a table. A waiter comes over and asks what they wanted to order. Shelley requests the “birthday surprise.” The waiter asks whose birthday it is, stating that they can only give the “birthday surprise” out to children who are having birthdays. Shelley demands the birthday surprise and then pulls a gun on the waiter when he still won’t bring it. Some restaurant patrons are able to exit, but many are still stuck inside. The waiter hurries off to bring them the “birthday surprise”, and Shelley notices a family celebrating their child’s birthday. It’s a mother, father, and son, likely around the age Damian would be if he was alive today. Shelley goes over to the table and inserts herself in the celebration, gun in hand. The family is terrified, and Don tries to talk her down, but she won’t listen.

The BAU rolls up to Sir Burger. Chief Thiers wants to call in SWAT, but Hotch and Reid are like no, don’t do that! Thiers is like, well, I’m gonna because she has hostages in there, and the team is like yeah, okay, but she doesn’t KNOW she has hostages. Getting SWAT involved will stress her out and get her more violent. Also, a sniper might accidentally hit someone else. Hotch calls Sir Burger, and the waiter from before picks up. Turns out he’s the manager. His name is Bill. Hotch asks if Bill is able to get the phone to Shelley, and Bill is like, hell no. So Hotch is like- okay, I’m going in.

So Hotch walks in, WITHOUT A VEST. He talks to Shelley and tells her how sorry he is for what happened to Damian. Hotch starts profiling Damian based on a picture he found of Damian at Shelley’s house. Shelley is overwhelmed and doesn’t really know what to do. Bill the waiter is able to get the family out while Shelley is distracted. Then Hotch offers her the picture of her son, and Don disarms her, and she breaks down. Shelley harbored resentment against Don because she felt that if he had been there, he would have been able to save Damian. Even though Don is a fireman, not an EMT. That’s why she went on her shooting spree against men in uniforms. Shelley also regrets her last interaction with Damian because he was kicking the back of her seat the day he was killed, and she yelled at him to stop right before Hanley Waters t-boned their car. Shelley is taken into custody. We hope she gets the help she needs!

We cut back to Morgan’s assessment with Hotch. He feels that if he had gotten to Emily faster, he could have saved her from bleeding out. He harbors the same resentment that Shelley has. Hotch assures Morgan that there was nothing Morgan could have done to save Emily. Morgan then does the same thing Rossi did earlier; he asks Hotch who he talks to about his feelings. Hotch doesn’t really clarify. But he doesn’t need to talk to anyone about his feelings because he is lying to his team and knows Emily is alive!!

Rating Criteria:

• Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20

• Character development/ character arcs: 20/20

• Forensics/Context: 14/20

• Script writing: 20/20

• Background characters: 20/20

Overall: 94/100