- The BAU team investigates the abductions of young children with troubled mothers in St. Louis. Also, Rossi reconnects with his first wife who has shocking news for him.
- It isn't until 48 hours after the disappearance of a nine year old boy from St. Louis, Missouri, that the BAU is called to investigate. The delay was because Bobby's chronically depressed mother, Marlene Smith, believed he was at his grandmother's house where she dropped him off. Despite her not being a candidate for mother of the year, the team doesn't believe that Marlene is a suspect as there is every indication that she lives beyond her means to please Bobby whenever she's not in one of her suicidal states. As there were no signs of a struggle, the team believes Bobby knew or at least trusted the abductor unsub, meaning that the unsub could have been someone in authority like a first responder. After another St. Louis child, four year old Timmy Tanner, is abducted, the team has its first victim profile: troubled mothers, as Timmy's mother, Kelsey Tanner, eventually admits to being a drug addict. Timmy's disappearance also brings about the first real break into the identity of the unsub, or at least his profession. And an incident with Marlene brings about the unsub's true objective. Meanwhile, Rossi is having troubles focusing on this case as he contemplates his impending "date" with his first wife, Carolyn, with who he has always had a special bond. Carolyn, however, has other things on her mind in wanting to reconnect with him.—Huggo (updated by R.M. Sieger)
- We open with a young boy yelling for his mother. He bangs on the door to his mother's room, begging her to open the door. Inside the room, mom picks up a pair of scissors and considers killing herself. She finally drops the scissors and makes a phone call. CUT to the mom dropping her son off at a house. "I don't want to do this again," the young boy cries. The mother, also weeping, says she is "so sorry" before driving away. Afterward, a van pulls up to the curb. "What are you doing here?" the boy asks the unseen driver.
CUT to Rossi, who has breakfast with his ex-wife Carolyn. They have a pleasant conversation that hints at some form of reunion. Suddenly, Rossi's phone rings. It's the office and he has to go. Carolyn smiles -- and comments that some things never change. He asks how much longer she will be in DC. About a week, she says. He offers to cook her dinner when he returns.
Back at the office, Garcia explains the details of a recent child abduction. Nine year old Bobby has been missing for 48 hours. "Mom didn't know her son was gone," she says. "She swears she left him with grandma." Not exactly mother of the year material, in other words. CUT to a bedroom, where the young kidnapped boy sits. Suddenly, a young man enters -- and becomes ANGRY when the boy asks to see his mother. The unsub throws down a plate of food and SLAMS the door, locking it.
We later find out that mom has attempted suicide twice in the past two years and suffers from depression. J.J. interviews the mother, who appears to be genuinely distraught. "I was having one of my bad days," the mother says. "I wanted to hurt myself ... I just had to get him out of the house!" Back at the house, Spencer and Morgan have a look around. It's a total mess ... except for Bobby's room, which is relatively neat and full of expensive things. Mom is clearly compensating.
CUT to Bobby, whose captor asks him if he wants to stop his mom's pain. Bobby innocently says yes. The unsub informs the young boy that he is going to "go help" his mom. Uh oh. Sure enough, the unsub soon confronts the mother as she exits a grocery store. He strangles and stabs her.
The next day, the team finds the badly mutilated body. So it's not about the boy, but the mother. Hotch is then informed that yet another boy has been kidnapped from a park. Derek and Spencer interview the distraught mother. It turns out the park is several miles from their home. They both notice that mom is clearly going through some kind of drug withdrawl. So another "bad" mom. She had visited a faraway park to buy oxy. The team realizes that the unsub is disposing of the unfit mothers.
CUT to the unsub's house, where the most recently kidnapped boy, Timmy, has joined Bobby. Bobby notices a bloody knife in the kitchen. The unsub then uses a wolf metaphor to explain that sometimes the weak need to be killed, but that their young are always taken care of. Bobby, who is no idiot, understands -- and starts to cry. Meanwhile, the BAU team gives its profile to the local police. The unsub sees himself as a "rescuer" and was probably familiar with the kids.
CUT to the unsub, who is on the verge of LOSING it when he discovers that Timmy's mother has been taken into protective custody. Plus, Timmy won't stop crying for his mommy. He rushes into the bedroom and grabs Timmy. We then CUT to Timmy, who wanders into the middle of a bar. The unsub has let the boy go. So J.J. interviews Timmy, who explains that Bobby is alive and being kept inside some house. Timmy then explains that the unsub is a "superhero" who he had previously talked to on the phone. How so? He goes to the phone and presses a button with a picture of Superman. A voice on the other end says, "911, what is your emergency?" CUT to the unsub, who works as a 911 dispatcher. He takes a call from a young girl whose stepfather is abusing her and sends police while he writes down the info on a personal notepad. Creepy.
Garcia begins checking on names of 911 dispatchers with a history of childhood difficulties. We then take a time out from the A plot so that Rossi can explain to Emily that his ex-wife might have been coming on to him. "I'm having her over to my house for dinner when I get back," he says. "Crazy, right?" Emily encourages him to live dangerously. Back to the A plot, in which the unsub watches as the police lead away the stepfather, while the girl's mother protests. She swears that the girl making it all up. The unsub then approaches the house. He identifies himself as the 911 operator and says he wanted to follow up on the call. Mom tries to shut the door in his face but he blocks the doorway with his foot and pulls out a gun. CUT to Garcia, who explains that she has identified 11 dispatchers who were working to take the relevant calls -- but only one who fits the profile. George Kelling. And the last call George took at work? A domestic abuse case involving a young girl. "Lets go," Hotch tells his team. Unfortunately, the team discovers that the unsub's apartment is empty. So is the house of the girl who called 911.
Garcia then does some digging and discovers that George's mother committed suicide when he was 10. CUT to George, who tells the kidnapped girl the story about watching his mom jump off a bridge. "I don't think I ever saw her more content," George says. "As bad as it seemed, my mother was right to kill herself ... Her pain ended." So, now, George helps bad mothers find the same "peace." CUT to the BAU team, who get an address for George's longtime foster family. It's an isolated farm residence. Both foster parents are now deceased so the house is empty. Bingo.
George, meanwhile, urges the girl to give him permission to "release" her mother. The girl resists. "It's time to end this, Shannon," George whispers. "Do you agree?" Mom is worried about what George will do if Shannon keeps refusing. She tries to get George to shoot her, thinking it would be the best way to protect Shannon.
Suddenly, Derek, Hotch and J.J. storm into the room with guns drawn. Hotch explains the awful truth -- that George PUSHED his mother off the bridge and convinced himself that he "helped" her. Hotch then squeezes off a shot and hits the unsub in the leg. Mother and daughter are saved along with Bobby.
Case closed, but not the episode. CUT to Rossi's house, where Carolyn congratulates her ex-husband on such a wonderful dinner. They curl up in front of the fire. It's getting mighty romantic. "Who would've thought we'd find ourselves on a date again after all these years," Rossi says. Carolyn's face falls. She has bad news. Carolyn has been diagnosed with ALS. She has only months to live. "It won't be long now," she says. "When the disease reaches the point that I'm too weak or afraid, I want you to help me leave this world on my own terms." Rossi cries.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content