S2E14 - “The Big Game”
Open and we’re watching a newscast on the Super Bowl. I don’t know what any of this means. Its playing on a television set in a pretty swanky home - the camera zooms out and a young couple is sitting on the couch - they say some heterosexual nonsense, and their friends who were over to celebrate with them is there. They have wine and laughter. But. in the yard we can see a hooded figure. We hear two voices, the younger higher one saying “I don’t want to do this” and the older sounding, deeper one gives instructions on what to do. Get some curtains. Please.
The couple walk their guests to the door, and as this happens, the unsub sneaks in, through a back door I guess? Back inside the house we can see that they made a huge mess - the husband is all, lets wait until the morning to clean, and she’s like, nah we should do a little bit. He goes to bring the garbage out - and we’ve all seen North Mammon so we know this is a bad idea. ESPECIALLY since he’s like “babe, did you leave the door open?” but never follows up on it when she doesn’t respond. They flirt and are seeming to get ready for ~sexy time~
As they go up we see the unsub call 911 - he says the address, and when the respondent is like “okay but whats the emergency” he’s like “they have too much”
The camera cuts away to just the exterior of the house and the conversation continues
“Too much what?”
“Too much stuff. They are too greedy, possessions”
And then she’s like “are you calling because they have too much stuff?”
And he’s like “no i’m calling because Raphael”
“Raphael what?”
And then the deeper voice interrupts and is like “calling because Raphael is going to kill the sinners”
And the responder is like UHHHHH and the call is either dropped or the unsub doesn’t respond, and then we can hear screaming.
Cut and we are at a bar, assumingely its a superbowl party. The BAU is dancing and getting fucked. Morgan is sexy dancing with a bunch of girls, and we can see that Hotch actually brought his wife! And we see Hotch actually go DANCE WITH HIS WIFE. Penelope is undressing Hotch with her eyes and getting a little jealous? JJ is flirting with guys she is too good for, and playing darts. Reid is trying to be friends - he talks about Star Trek and is able to spew a ton of facts despite the fact that he is drinking. JJ gets a call and goes outside; its a new case! Cut to the Smithsonian in DC. Gideon is looking at art, because what else would he be doing during the Superbowl. He talks about art for a while, but then gets the phone call from, I’m assuming, JJ, and he flees to work.
We cut to a car driving at night, and its the Unsubs. The driver is the younger one, and he is having a meltdown, asking Raphael what it is they did. His hands are covered in blood. We see him get out the car and continue his meltdown in a field, saying this wasn’t goods will.
Cut back to the BAU. Morgan is complaining about how he was just getting his “groove” on when the call came in. JJ comes in and talks about how the couple we saw in the beginning of the episode was killed in their own home - an hour ago. The reason the police were on the scene so fast was because of the phone call we saw one of the unsubs make. We learn that the police response time was 4 minutes and some change, but even with that, the unsubs were still able to brutally kill the couple. We learn that Mr Kyle was a “dot-com millionaire” - there will be a lot of press coverage. We also learn that at the scene of the crime the unsubs left a page of the bible - revelations, with a specific passage highlighted. They deduce that this might be a “Mission Based Killer”. Then there is a dramatic reading of the passage from revelations.
Cut and we see a shack - its messy and dark, and we can hear the Unsub and Raphael arguing and getting slapped. They have a hoard of computer monitors. And then we see the Unsub looking into a mirror with his chin shaking. Cut and we see a back flash and realize that Raphael is probably the Unsub’s abusive father - and he LITERALLY BRANDS HIM on the face with a tiny little cross. This is all while espousing hateful christian rhetoric. He was branded on the forehead, and in todays time period, it is healed but still there. He showers off blood and its...uncomfy.
We see the jet (hey girl). While on the Jet Garcia plays the rest of the team the recording of the 911 call we witnessed during the opening of the episode. Prentis suggests that maybe “Unsub 1” did this against his will because he sounds frightened, but Gideon says “I doubt it” and points out that he whispered, and did he have a gun?? Why didn’t he use it against Raphael? They deduce this is probably a Mission Based Spree (more info on that later, I hope)
Cut and we’re at the victims homes. While there, Reid asks Gideon if he’s okay, and says he looks unhappy. Gideon says “I am unhappy. I’m tired of people using religion to justify the terrible things they do.” and SAME. Reid explains to the GA police that these unsubs believe they are on a mission from God or that the Bible is guiding them. But they are working as a team - despite one of them sounding more reluctant.
We cut to the morgue/autopsy tech, and We find out that they were killed with long deep gashes - both throats cut, and then long deep cuts on all the major arteries. They would’ve bled out quickly - like an animal at slaughter. Exactly like an animal at slaughter. So hunters or farmers would be possible - anyone in rural GA. JJ informs the team that according to the couple who left the SuperBowel party that this couple did not have any known enemies - they were generous and treated their staff well. JJ flirts her way into allowing the local police to take a look at the case files of other knife related crimes/murders in the area.
At the house of the victims, Morgan tries to figure out exactly how the couple was murdered by the two unsubs. There is blood everywhere in the house and in the bathroom. They also were not able to find any prints anywhere in the room, but this doesn’t make sense because this was probably a disorganized killer. Garcia calls Morgan and asks if they are in the house of the victims. She asks about the furniture in the room, and then is like “oh my god” and says that she was just sent a “viral video” by a friend, and Morgan is like “a what?” and she then EXPLAINS THAT A VIRAL VIDEO IS “a video that someone posted online that someone thinks is novel in someway and sends to everyone on their email list” - basically this is a video of the couple being killed and everyone is sending it to everyone. We the viewers realize that the video was recorded by the open laptop on a table in the bedroom - we get a POV shot of the live footage the camera is picking up, and now we see the unsub in his office with a gajillion live feeds on all his screens of different footage being picked up from these webcams.
Cut and we’re back at the police station. The BAU team is watching the snuff film - there is also a little preamble to the video; the unsub shrouded in darkness spewing more religious nonsense. But then - Reid realizes that the webcam on the laptop taken from the house is actively on - it is connected to the wifi and connected to a stream of sorts. The unsub realizes that they realized and then sends them more religious jargon. They talk about confusing old fashioned computer stuff with Garcia - but basically the skinny of it is that the unsub is able to control the laptop from a separate computer at his place. And then Garcia has to explain what a “viral video” is to Gideon too - and she says it is the “most downloaded video on the internet, ever”. Also - the video is called “It’s Not Too Late - Raphael’s Punishment Has Begun”. The Unsub also hates the comments he’s getting on the video “this is a warning not a show!” we also realize that he works in tech support, so that is how all of this is happening. While the Unsub is on the call with tech support work, he watches the footage of a woman having an affair - BUT LIKE WHY does she have her laptop open near her front door?
But now we sort of have a profile:
Clinically efficient - like the slaughtering of an animal
The first in the series of these kinds of kills
At least one thinks he’s killing in the name of god
He should be disorganized, but there are a lot of countermeasures taken at the crime scene
One is organized, and one is disorganized
One has advanced computer abilities
The timid one cannot keep the other from killing
They realize they simply do not have enough on this profile yet. Next we cut and we see the Unsubs entering the house of the woman having the affair. We see that the unsub is in fact wearing gloves, and upon entering the house he calls 911 again 0 saying the same kind of shit that he said before. Giving the address and espouses more religious stuff. We see him take the laptop upstairs with him - presumably to film the attack again. So if we can see the attack why cant we identify the unsub?
Back at the police station Hotch, JJ and Reid discuss the knife cases - there aren’t any, but she looked into home invasions and there was a “prowler” someone trying to climb over the fence etc. the witness was Tobias Henkle, so JJ and Reid are sent to try to speak with Henkle.
The rest of the team finds out about this second attack on the woman. The media is starting to get attention due to the lack of police presence in the area. They also realize that this case is slightly different because the man who is killed upstairs doesn’t live in the house - he is a local handyman. But the wife - the couple that lives here - she is missing. The bible passage that is left is about adultery - so they need to go looking for her body because she could still possibly be alive. Garcia is also attempting to track the location of the camera feeds from the house to the feed where it is playing.
Cut to a barn and we can hear a woman crying and begging. We can hear the Unsubs threatening them.
The BAU is trying to figure out what is different - they realize that the phone call is a part of the signature. There is clearly a dominant personality and a submissive. Gideon also points out that there is an archangel named Raphael, and it is also strange that he wants to be identified. This means we might actually have 1 unsub - suffering from a delusion that he is an archangel. We see Mrs. Douglas being tortured - and if she is Jezabel to Raphael we know that she’s gonna have an especially unpleasant death - according to Hotch. And its true. She literally gets attacked and eaten alive by dogs.
Garcia does a voice analysis on the phone calls - i wanna learn what thats about! Garcia also points out that there is a new viral video - this one is even more popular! This is the video of Mrs. Douglas being attacked and eaten alive by the dogs. Its horrific - Garcia can’t even watch the whole thing. The BAU and local police are about to turn it off when the officer is like “wait!” and this is because he recognizes the dogs - they had attacked someone fairly recently but they weren’t caught.
Cut to the Unsub’s house and he hears a knock on his door. He puts a screensaver on all of his monitors and I am losing my mind over the fact that it is the old Windows “pipes” screensaver. The BAU realizes that the name of the person who called animal control on the dogs is “Tobias Henkle:” the same name as the witness of the prowler! The same person that both Reid and JJ are visiting right now!
Cut back to the house and Henkle very nervously answers the door to JJ and Reid. he refuses to let them in the house, and Reid is like please I need to pee! They have a really awkward conversation as Reid asks why he lives with his dad? Tobias insists that he didn’t make that call as a witness, saying they must be making a mistake. As they leave JJ is like “why call the police if you’re not gonna admit to doing it later” and Reid has a revelation - he called to gauge the response time - to see how long the cops would take to get there! Reid starts poking around the property and looking in through the windows as best he can. He sees Tobias having a meltdown in front of his monitors. But then he sees that Tobias sees them. They realize he is absolutely the unsub. Tobias runs into his barn, and JJ and Reid run after them. They realize they cant call Hotch because they don’t have any cell service. Reid suggests they split up - like an idiot. Reid realizes he is out back, but JJ stays in place despite him calling out to her. JJ ends up going in the barn as Reid frolics through the cornfield. Reid hears a conversation between Raphael and Tobias. JJ steps in blood in the barn and then sees the remains of Mrs Douglas and growling dogs. The dogs charge her and we just heat her scream followed by gunshots. Reid goes to find JJ but Tobias knocks him over, takes his gun and points it at Reid. Now is the first time we can see Raphael talking, and we realize Tobias is both himself and Raphael.
Rating Criteria (out of 20)
Criminal/Serial Killer: 13/20
Character development/ character arcs: 10/20
Forensics/Context: 17/20
Script writing: 15/20
Background characters: 17/20
Overall: 72/100