Angels (1/2)
Directed by Rob Bailey
Written by Rick Dunkle, Breen Frazier, & Janine Sherman Barrois
A number of prostitutes are murdered and their bodies are found with odd criss-cross cuts on them. A preacher is framed. The BAU suspect it's more like one UnSub copying another. The UnSub goads the preacher into trying to kill the team in a shootout.Written by Rick Dunkle, Breen Frazier, & Janine Sherman Barrois
Rossi: "The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the Earth." Revelation 17:5.
Tropes in this episode:
- Cliffhanger: Both Reid and Morgan are shot in the last scene.
- Dramatic Irony: By the time the FBI come after Mills, they already know he's not the killer. However, Mills doesn't know this, and the killer exploits this to goad him into a gunfight with police.
- Evil vs. Evil: Preacher Mills is a cold-blooded pimp and maimer, but he opposes the killer because he's killing his prostitutes and trying to frame him.
- Frame-Up: Each of the female victims has a certain pattern carved on her back. The UnSub is copying a method of torture which Preacher Mills had once used while living in Canada. Mills is being framed for the murders. The FBI soon notice a key difference in the crimes of the two torturers, despite the identical carvings. Mills wanted his victims to survive, while the current UnSub has a policy of leaving no survivors.
- Guns Akimbo: Preacher Mills wields a MAC-10 in his right hand and an M1911 in his left during the shootout with police.
- Sinister Minister: The preacher is the guy behind the local prostitution ring, and he's none too kind to those girls. He is not, however, the killer.
