- The BAU team searches rural Oklahoma when women are found murdered after being robbed of one of their five senses. Also, JJ and Prentiss get the cold shoulder from Reid as he deals with their deception about Prentiss' presumed death.
- The team travels to Durant, Oklahoma, where two females - both low risk in their late teens, long blonde hair and blue eyes - were found sexually assaulted then murdered within a three-day span. Other similarities between the two: body dump sites are public, the victims were redressed in 1980's vintage clothing rather than their own, and the killer used sulfuric acid to maim them. From this evidence, the team believes the unsub is homeless and using the acid as a measure of power. They also believe that the victims are surrogates for who the unsub will eventually target, probably someone he knew from the 1980's. After a third victim, a fourth young woman named Tammy Bradstone goes missing. She fits the profile. Morgan and Prentiss, in interviewing Tammy's parents, believe they have uncovered the unsub's identity and who his real target is. They just have to use that information to hopefully find Tammy still alive. Meanwhile, Reid is angry at those who knew about Prentiss' faked death, but especially JJ, as she was the one to whom he went to release his emotions about her death, and yet JJ said nothing. Hotch knows that he needs to bring the team back together as a cohesive unit, with a focus on dealing with Reid's issue.—Huggo
- The BAU, finally back together after the events of Ian Doyle, head to Durant, Oklahoma, when two blonde-haired, blue-eyes women in their late teens are found murdered and sexually assaulted. Though the two women were found in public places with eyes enucleated or nose burned with sulfuric acid, the unsub also changed their clothing to further rob them of their identity. The unsub, rejected by a woman he has loved in the past, is acting out by trying to repeat a fantasy. The BAU must work fast before the unsub tries to abduct to yet another woman who reminds him of his anger and rage. Since Prentiss' return to the team, Reid remains angry at JJ and Prentiss for deceiving him. Knowing how traumatic the situation is for everyone, particularly Reid, Rossi agrees to host a team cooking lesson.—dawsonpersi
- Rural Oklahoma, 1986. We see a young, mentally challenged boy named Cy being teased by the other children. FLASH FORWARD. Adult Cy videotapes himself walking into the rundown house he grew up in -- and revealing a SCREAMING woman tied to a chair inside. Her eyelids have been taped open. She begs for her life. Oh boy.
CUT to BAU headquarters, where Reid gives JJ and Emily the cold shoulder. "He hates me," JJ tells recently resurrected Emily. Later, Garcia informs the team that the bodies of two young women were recently found in rural Oklahoma. The women had been sexually assaulted and blinded with sulfuric acid. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes. Garcia also notes that, months ago, prostitutes had been raped and stabbed in the eyes. "He's probably practicing on surrogates before going after the real object of his rage," Rossi notes. The team soon arrives in town and interviews the parents of the two dead girls. Turns out the clothes found on the bodies did NOT belong to the victims. Hmm.
CUT to the home of Cy's brother Matt, who is married to Lyla ... a blonde with blue eyes. Matt and Lyla soon begin to snuggle, which clearly disturbs Cy. Later, he pretends to be lost at a bus stop until a young blonde offers to help. Cy pulls a knife on the woman. Back at police HQ, Rossi reports that the clothes of one of the victim's was found at a thrift store, which the unsub traded for garb from the 1980s, which he then dressed her in. Rossi and Hotch visit the morgue to discover that the second victim's nose was severely burned. "He's trying to take away their senses," Hotch hypothesizes.
Sure enough, the team soon finds the poor girl from the bus stop. Her tongue has been burned with a chemical and her body dumped in a homeless area -- the latter part just like the other recent victims. She is also dressed in clothes from 1980s. Rossi theorizes that the decade of big hair was probably when the unsub experienced rejection of some kind. The team then gives its profile to the cops. The killer is likely a white male -- maybe a maintenance worker with access to chemicals. He was rejected by a woman in the '80s. "The unsub's fixation on this woman is all consuming," Emily says.
CUT to Cy, who uses his key to enter his brother's home and sniff his sister-in-law's underwear. Cy then has a fantasy where a young Lyla begins to kiss him ... and a young version of brother Matt laughs, implying that such a scenario is ridiculous. This makes adult Cy angry. Back at police HQ, JJ confronts Reid, explaining that wonder boy is angry because Emily and JJ were able to fool him when faking Emily's death. "You think this is about my profiling skills?" asks an incredulous Reid, who cried to JJ after Emily's "death." "I trusted you!" So, there's trouble in the recently reunited BAU team.
CUT to Matt's house, where daughter Tammy comes downstairs wearing her mom's homecoming dress. She has also dyed her hair blonde -- just like mom. Cy is transfixed -- and not in a good way. Back at police HQ, Reid theorizes that the unsub might be mentally challenged -- to a point. "He might be smart enough to use his disability as an advantage," says Reid, noting that it might be a way to get naïve women to trust him. The team decides to check halfway houses that were open in the '80s for matching residents.
They better hurry. Cy shows up at homecoming and offers to give an obviously drunk Tammy a ride home. "I'll take care of you," Cy says. Tammy gets into her uncle's truck. CUT to police HQ, where JJ reports the latest missing girl ... Tammy Bradstone. Rossi and Reid visit the homecoming dance site, which was quite crowded. Why didn't Tammy, assuming she was assaulted, scream and alert her friends? Tammy must've known the unsub. Derek, meanwhile, searches Tammy's room and finds hair dye. He then learns that Tammy wore the same homecoming dress that her mother wore in high school. Emily then learns from Matt that uncle Cy, who once stayed at a halfway home, is mentally unstable and "basically homeless." The pieces begin to fall into place.
"What happened with you and Cy that made him so angry?" Emily asks Lyla. Ashamed, Lyla tells a story about getting drunk at homecoming and playing spin the bottle. Well, the bottle landed on Cy, so she went into the closet with him reluctantly. "I let him feel me up," Lyla cries. "Later, he heard me tell a friend how gross he was." When Cy found out that his brother and Lyla were having marital problems in the last few months, he began to have new, super-creepy hope. Lyla then notes that Cy often stops at a nearby coffee shop before coming over. Emily suggests that Lyla leave Cy a message at the café.
Later, Cy calls back Lyla. Shaking, Lyla (guided by Emily) answers the phone. "Matt got arrested," she says. "They think he hurt Tammy. My God, Cy ... I need you to hold me." Cy is ecstatic. He quickly arrives at his brother's house and embraces Lyla, but Rossi and Derek quickly race onto the lawn with guns drawn. "How could you do this to me!?" Cy screams. CUT to police HQ, where Rossi and Hotch interrogate Cy. "Tammy's not the one you want to hurt Cy," Rossi says. Cy agrees to reveal Tammy's location -- "under one condition." And that condition? Cy wants to talk to Matt. So Matt is brought into the interrogation room, where Cy admits to dipping Tammy's fingertips in sulfuric acid. Ouch.
Cy then begins laughing hysterically, telling his brother that Tammy is being held in the same place where, long ago, Cy told Matt that he "got to second base" with Lyla. The team heads to the old rural homestead where the brothers grew up and finds Tammy, still in her dress, with mutilated hands. Fortunately, the girl will live. Case closed.
On the jet ride home, Emily sits down across from Reid and invites him to Rossi's place for a team cooking lesson. "I'm not so sure I can make it," Reid says. Emily apologizes for lying to the boy wonder, but claims they "had no choice." "This whole thing gave me an ulcer, please don't give me another one," she says. CUT to Rossi's house, where the whole team -- except for Reid -- cooks spaghetti. A few minutes later, Reid enters. All is apparently forgiven.
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