S6E24 - “Supply and Demand”

We open to a white man driving a car and listening to “Shattered” by The Rolling Stones. He is driving along a fairly forest-y, rural-y road, zooming along, until he experiences that oh-too-familiar moment of getting stuck behind a work vehicle and having to slow down exponentially. He honks as he tries to overtake the truck, and the truck just wheels around and makes it impossible. There is some risky driving, and it results in our driver losing control of the car, and it careens off the road. 

Garcia and her boyfriend Kevin are walking into the BAU – she is very stressed because she doesn’t know why or understand why Hotch is calling the team in super early in the morning. She is panicking that something horrific has happened, and Kevin does his best to comfort her. The last time this happened – being called this early, was when Gideon left. When she arrives in the round table room, none of her fellow BAU team members know what’s going on, and all of them state that they have no intentions of leaving the time.

We now see the first responders at the site of the car crash for the aggressive driver from before. The EMTs are struggling to get the man out of the car because of how banged up the vehicle is. As they are doing their work, the camera pans out, and we see that there is human hair hanging out of a crack in the trunk of the car – suggesting that something (or someone) is inside there.

Back with the BAU, Hotch arrives and says that the FBI director called him the previous night and wants to discuss budgets. Basically, everyone is going to be asked if they want to stay with the unit, and if they want a better deal, he does not blame them for leaving the team. He just asks the team that they keep him apprised of any offers from other units that they are considering. Just as this is happening, Hotch gets a cellphone call, and that is the BAU being alerted to their next case. The “Shattered” man has died, and local PD found bodies in the trunk of his car.

At the crime scene, we learn that local PD is unable to locate any ID for the driver of the car or the two deceased victims in the back of the car. They are running details on the car, and it looks as if both of the victims are wearing uniforms of sorts. The victims are a young man and a woman (both in their 20s), and they have different injuries. Garcia tries to run the prints, and it turns out both of these people are on the missing person’s list. Jake Wattey – a junior from Arizona State – missing since December – and Paige Hawley, who has been missing since February from Ohio.

Now we get an ominous shot of young adults – maybe students? Walking in a dark room. 

The team is casing the scene of the crash, and Rossi notices there is a chainsaw in the trunk of the car – so maybe the driver had been planning on dumping the bodies of Jake and Paige in the woods after arriving at the burial location. There is mud all of the car tires, but it hasn’t rained at the location of the crash site within 24 hours, so the BAU hopes they can use the weather of the surrounding areas to try to map out where the car came from. Morgan and Rossi talk about how the chances of them even stumbling across this case – you know, because of the car accident – is truly wild! And the chance that this was the driver’s first time dumping bodies is highly unlikely. So is the driver working alone? Rossi and Morgan think that the driver working alone is unlikely. Traveling with two bodies is high risk, also the different wounds on the victims, and the different timelines for the victims, the BAU thinks this is likely an organized operation and that there are multiple unsubs involved and that this organization has killed people in the past.

Garcia has been looking for other missing people, and shares all of her work with Hotch/ She tries to talk to Hotch about whether things are okay with the BAU, but he brushes her off. Hn tells her she needs to widen her search to the last 2 years – she asks how to narrow those parameters, and he explains that is tricky because of the fact that our driver/unsub was crossing state lines. Someone knocks on the door, and Andi Swan, the head of the domestic trafficking task force, walks in. Hotch tries to introduce her to Garcia, but it turns out Garcia is already a huge fan of hers.

Andi and Hotch talk, and she says that she is understaffed and trafficking is getting worse (go figure). Later, Andi reveals to the team that she is right behind an organization that has been abducting college students for three years – they target stressed, vulnerable kids, who are from good families. Since they are “innocent,” they are worth more money. Andi thinks the unsubs are only holding onto a handful of kids at a time because there seems to be a lot of turnover. The unsubs also hunt all over and hold “events” for two days in metropolitan areas to lure in potential victims. Andi has created an undercover unit to try to infiltrate this operation. Her agents pose as targets because to pose as a buyer, they would need to have committed a crime. 

We cut, and we see a young “college girl” being walked through a dark hallway by two men. We later learn that this is one of Andi’s undercover agents, an agent named Rene. She asks about what happened to someone named “Lucy,” but they don’t answer her. They throw her in a cage. 

Morgan and Rossi are still at the crash site. Garcia calls and shares that there was a huge storm in Roanoke. She has tried to research the potential owner of the car based on the registration information, but everything in the system is bogus, and she can’t figure out who the driver is. Garcia reveals that she is “sick of the sickos”, and it sounds like the is almost on the verge of leaving the job. Morgan is able to cheer her up. Meanwhile, Hotch, Seaver, Reid, and Andi brainstorm and talk about how the unsubs in this case, would need space and solitude. Andi talks about how the unsubs “go with a shopping list” when looking for targets. However, they rarely take more than one victim from a city at a time. But why do the unsubs kill their victims since they are the assets that they can sell to their clients? They are their profit. Unless the victims are trying to escape, it is possible that it is the clients who are killing the trafficked kids since sex is not enough. Andi also gets a call, and it is revealed that one of her UCs has missed her last two check-ins (this is Rene).

Hotch and Andi are driving toward Rene’s apartment, and Andi is feeling very guilty. Renee, 25, the UC, does not have any way to protect herself while trafficked. No wire, no weapon, no bueno.

Morgan and Rossi roll up to the morgue to get information on Paige and Jake. The mortician reveals that the two from the car were likely killed around 8 hours ago. Jake appears to have received a bare-knuckle beating, whereas the girl has signs of torture. It also looks as if they were both dragged about, and the unsub who did this had HUGE hands. They also do not have any malnutrition or vitamin deficiencies, so whoever held them was taking care of them. Both college students also both have signs of other drugs in their systems – Jake with stuff used for erectile dysfunction, uppers/downers, whereas she had just had a medical abortion. 

Back with Andi and Hotch. We learn that Renee was at GMU and worked in the student union. We learn that Andi recruited Rene herself, and feels a personal attachment to her. In Rene’s home there are papers with information on missing students with Rene’s research. Hotch finds a running magazine in the house, and we learn Rene is avid runner. We also find Rene’s cellphone with a voicemail left from her mother. We think this voicemail is just there to make Andi feel even worse about Rene’s capture by the unsubs.

Garcia finds the gas station that the unsub stopped at by using a coffee cup in his car. Morgan and Rossi head there and talk to the man who was working at the time, and luckily there is video surveillance. Morgan and Rossi watch the unsub on video surveillance walk over to a payphone. Garcia is able to pull outgoing calls from the payphone, and the only call made during the time the unsub was using it went to another local payphone. This establishes that the unsub is local. We also learn from Andi that Rene was last seen running with another brunette student.

We see Renee and her brunette friend, a college student named Lucy. Lucy finds and orange on the ground and rolls it to Rene. Rene has cased the joint and tells Lucy that there are 6 of “them” and 7 of “us.” Lucy asks Rene why they’ve been abducted, and Rene tells Lucy that she thinks the unsubs are going to sell them.

Back at the BAU, Rossi and Morgan arrive, and share about the payphones and gas stations. So now the BAU is looking for a location in rural Virginia, which shouldn’t be hard to find, right???

Back with the abducted girls Lucy and Rene. One of the unsubs takes Lucy from her cage and drags her off, with Rene screaming and calling after her. We see two unsubs bring Lucy down an elevator and into a dark basement thingy. There is some sort of meeting with lots of clients sitting in chairs. At the front of the audience is a man with HUGE hands (ostentatiously, the man who strangled Jake and Paige). Lucy is brought over to him, and at first, we worry that she’s going to be killed next. But she is released and, she turns to face the crowd. She goes: “Welcome back everyone!” She’s the one in charge! 

Back with the BAU- we learn that domestic traffickers abduct all over the city, rather than international traffickers who target port cities. We learn that Renee went to a running club in Georgetown before being abducted, so perhaps that is how she was targeted, as we already know the unsubs use events/clubs to pick victims. But what is also scary is that if/when the unsubs/traffickers learn that Rene is an agent, she will be killed. 

Back with the unsubs and Lucy, we learn that the operation is very Hostel. The clients bid on the trafficking victims and then decide how the unsubs are going to murder them publicly. As a trafficking victim is being tortured in front of the clients, Lucy is informed by one of the other unsubs that Rene is causing a ruckus and demanding to be reunited with her friend Lucy. Remember, Rene has no idea that Lucy is the lead unsub. Lucy is “Ugh, I’ll handle it.”

The BAU team discusses who this leader of this unsub group might be, and they say that it must be a man who can lead through fear. He may have changed to murder instead of sex, given the growth and financial potential that it has. And he must have lots of money, so he must be successful. So how do the unsub and his cronies identify clients? What crimes must these clients commit to be allowed into this club and trusted by the unsubs? The BAU speculates that it is likely white-collar, like money laundering. This leads them to look into real estate, and as it turns out, all of the clubs that the missing college students went to were owned or partnered by the same people. And one of these owners has a property in rural Virginia that has been abandoned. The team leaves to investigate that location, and we flash back to Renee and Lucy. 

Lucy, still pretending to be a captive of the group, and talks to Renee, sharing that she has an idea of how to get them out. Rene gets hyped and starts sharing all the information she has learned with Lucy. Through this conversation, Lucy is learning how much Renee knows about the operation, which is NOT GOOD. Lucy asks Renee how she knows all this, and Lucy is like you’re some kind of cop, and Renee is like, “Nooo…”, and Lucy is like well! Gotcha! So she puts Renee out of the cage and onto the market, and her price has doubled. Lucy ties Rene to a chair in front of the audience. Lucy picks up weapons and starts the process of setting up for the torture/kill, and announces that she is going to be the one to kill Rene herself.

The BAU, local PD, SWAT, and a whole arsenal of emergency vehicles roll in while Renee tries to get into Lucy’s head. It gets very homoerotic. There is a short denim skirt and a gun involved. Then, the guards/people on Lucy’s team alert her of the cops rolling in, so the Fight Club meeting disbands. Everyone runs away, it is mayhem. The BAU arrives and find the cages the trafficking victims are kept in. They arrest many of the clients and unsubs. They find Rene, and she is unconscious and still tied to the chair Lucy had tied her to, but she’s okay. Then Morgan gets his contractually obligated superhero moment with Big Hands Unsub. Rossi comes in with a gun and has his Italian mafia moment, saving Morgan from getting his face smashed in, then Morgan punches Big Hands after he is disarmed.

In the parking lot, there were 18 arrests and 7 victims. The BAU is feeling proud of their work when, out of nowhere, a car crashes through, trying to escape. The BAU/Local PD shoots the driver and kill him, but we see that there is someone in the back passenger seat. It’s Lucy! She pretends to be a trafficking victim, and she is really Acting. Rossi “rescues” her, and she’s putting on A SHOW. Rossi starts to get sus of her, and she pulls a gun on him, ready to shoot. Thankfully, Hotch steps in and shoots Lucy, and kills her.

Back at the BAU, Kevin is telling Garcia that they should live on a farm. Basically, he is saying he’d give up everything for Garcia. She does not really return the sentiment. The rest of the team rolls in, and they talk about how they only rescued 7, but that is still a day done well. Hotch tells everyone to go home and that they can come into the office tomorrow a half hour late. Thanks, Daddy, I guess. Later, Rossi walks to a different office, and we get a shot of LEGS which makes it looks like Rossi is meeting up with a sex worker, but nope! Its JJ! And she is coming back! 

Rating Criteria:

• Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20

• Character development/ character arcs: 15/20

• Forensics/Context: 10/20

• Script writing: 17/20

• Background characters: 20/20

Overall: 82/100