S16E9 - “Memento Mori”

We open in January 2022. We see a black-and-white flashback of David Rossi in his office at BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. Prentis knocks on the door and asks to come in. We learn that both she and Rossi have just left a funeral- namely, the funeral of one Krystall Richards aka Mrs. David Rossi. Rossi is distraught. He goes: “I couldn’t be there for her in her final moments,” and Prentis comforts him.

We then cut to the present time- and we’re in Seattle, Washington. In the house of Mr. and Mrs. Voit. Remember, the last episode Rossi set out on a cross-country trip to go door-to-door to find Sicarius. Essentially, he got a list of people who placed a phone call during the time when Daddy Voit was with Tawny at the hardware store in Chattanooga, TN, utilizing a cell tower. It’s not specified how many doors he knocks on before he reaches the Voit Residence- but we don’t see those calls. So instead, we just see Rossi showing up at the Voit residence like it’s the first door he knocks on!

Daddy Voit isn’t home, but Bridget, aka Sydney, is home. Rossi shows her a picture taken of the security footage from the hardware store with Tawny. Sydney looks at the picture and instantly recognizes her husband. She asks Rossi where the photo was taken, and he tells her Chattanooga, and her phone starts ringing- and it’s Daddy Voit. Daddy Voit is concerned because the Voit’s home security system pinged his phone, so he was alerted to someone being at their house. When he asks Sydney who it is, she’s like, “it’s the FBI, and he’s showing me a picture of you in Chattanooga, TN!” Daddy Voit asks Sydney if she checked the FBI agent’s ID, and she tells her husband that the FBI agent’s name is David Rossi.

We get a quick flashback to a teenage Voit reading David Rossi’s book- “Deviance.” Remember how instead of hiring a teenager to play him, they just made him wear a long shirt and gelled his hair? Yeah. Anyways, Daddy Voit asks if the girls are at home, and they’re not. He tells her to get Rossi out of the house and warns her that he is a very dangerous man. Voit tells Sydney that he discovered a conspiracy at work, and now people are after him. At first, Sydney is reluctant, but Daddy promises to explain everything to her when he gets home, so Sydney tells Rossi that she’s not going to answer any more questions without a lawyer.

Rossi- still in Seattle- calls the BAU back in Quantico and tells them that he now has a name of a suspect- Elias Voit. The BAU also learns that Daddy Voit was a security analyst who worked in “high-end cryptology.”

Cryptology is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior.[2] More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages.

So Daddy’s background matches and the BAU tracks his life with pauses in Sicarius’ killing. As Tara says: “It’s hard to be a new dad and a psychopath at the same time.” Prentis reminds the team that the case is closed, so the BAU has to go back to the attorney general and re-open the case. As Rossi gets off the phone in Seattle, he’s alerted by another agent that someone has come into the office to see him. It’s none other than Elias Voit.

We get another flashback in black and white. This time it’s May 2022. Now we’re following Tara. She’s at an AL-anon meeting (which is substance abuse, not specifically alcohol). This meeting seems to be for people involved in the government, like other FBI agents, and we also see Rebecca Wilson there. We learn it’s Tara’s first meeting. Rebecca shares during the meeting, and afterward Tara approaches her because she relates to Rebecca’s story about her partner being an enabler. 

Back in present-day times- we learn Daddy is five foot eight. Short King! Prentis and Tara present Elias Voit as a viable suspect to the Attorney General. I love Tara, but shouldn’t Doug be here? Where is Doug? He wasn’t here the last episode, and now he’s not here today! Anyways, Rebecca is also in the meeting, and she steps in and tells the Attorney General that they have to tread carefully with this case and recommends that they allow the BAU to pursue Elias. The Attorney General hesitantly agrees but only gives them 48 hours.

Everyone leaves- except Tara and Rebecca. Tara tells Rebecca that she misses her and apologizes, and Rebecca accepts the apology but tells Tara that she has been offered a job in Sacramento, CA. Tara is DEVASTATED.

Back at the Seattle Field Office- Rossi sits down with Daddy Voit. It’s not in an interrogation room; it’s just in the middle of the office. This scene is so good. Rossi shows Voit the security camera footage from the hardware store, and Daddy confirms that it is, in fact, him in the footage. Rossi pushes him to further explain the details of that trip, and Daddy says: “Okay, but first… I’m your number one fan!” Daddy reveals that he’s read all of Rossi’s books, and Rossi goes, “Get a lot out of them?”

Daddy Voit denies being Sicarius, denies knowing who Cyrus is, denies knowing the details of the crimes, etc. Rossi, at this point, 100% knows that he’s found Sicarius. Daddy Voit asks Rossi if his first wife really did leave him because he was so obsessed with solving cases. “I guess what I’m asking, Dave… do you really go the distance?” And Rossi goes, “I always go the distance, Elias.” Voit then hands over his laptop, notebooks, and cell phone to Rossi. 

Back at Quantico- Garcia has been pouring over Voit’s records, and she can’t find anything fishy. His timeline does not line up with the Sicarius timeline from what they can see, meaning that he either isn’t their guy or he’s good at covering his tracks. The BAU has tunnel vision at this point, and they’re like: “No, this definitely is the guy.” They have him in Chattanooga with Tawny and in DC when Tyler Green was arrested. But those are both major cities- and that doesn’t prove anything. The BAU needs a positive identification. Prentis asks Tara if Ramona Haevener would cooperate, and Tara states she’s left lots of messages but has not heard back from Ramona.

But Garcia has a brain wave- Tyler Green saw Sicarius when he was dating Tyler’s sister Allyson under the name Lee. So Garcia calls Tyler to the BAU, and he’s accompanied by Will, who I guess is there as a liaison for the DC cold case unit. So we’re all hyped- Tyler is gonna ID Sicarius. We see Tyler standing in the conference room, staring at the photo array the BAU prepared. Tyler stares right at Daddy Voit and then tells the BAU that the person who killed his sister is not here. Luke tries to profile Tyler, and Tyler does not take kindly to this. Garcia intervenes and asks for a moment alone with Tyler. She tells Tyler to look her in the eyes and tell her that he doesn’t recognize anyone in the photo array, and Tyler does. He leaves, and you can see that Garcia is bothered by the encounter.

Back in Seattle- Daddy shows up at the Voit Residence. He tells Sydney to pack a bag and go. Sydney refuses to go until he explains to her what is going on. Voit pulls out his phone and shows a picture of Not Hal. Remember, the man Daddy kidnapped back in episode 3? Because the Voits have a terrible neighbor named Hal, who Daddy hates, but instead of hurting Hal, Daddy just kidnapped someone who looked like him. Daddy shows Sydney the picture, and she asks: “Is that Hal?” Daddy says no, it’s the new programmer from his job, a man named Brandon Jones.

Voit then spins this convoluted tale about how the company that both he and Brandon used to work for was transferring funds into cryptocurrency for some drug lords. So it’s a money laundering operation. And Brandon went to the FBI to report it and was never heard from again. He then shows Sydney a picture of Brandon Jones’ wife holding a missing poster with her husband’s information. Sydney is very confused and doesn’t seem to buy this, but Daddy is insistent that this is the truth. She’s like, “You quit! Why would anyone be after you?” And Daddy responds: “I have the codes in my head!” Daddy warns her that Rossi is not a real FBI agent and that he harassed Brandon’s wife with crazy stories about who her husband really was. Voit then throws caution to the wind and tells Sydney: “Maybe this David Rossi guy is legit. But if he finds us somehow and asks us to get in the car- we’re in trouble.” Sydney agrees to get her stuff together to leave. 

Cut to the BAU- Prentis asks Rossi for a status update, advising him that the BAU has nothing useful on their end. Rossi agrees to push Sydney to get her to talk. Prentis says, “Don’t be gentle; we only have 48 hours.” Rossi hangs up and then gets an audio message from Garcia. When he plays it, it appears to be a sexy message Garcia intended to send to Tyler, not Rossi. It says: “I was just... I was just thinking about you. Don’t- don’t call me back, okay? Bye?” So initially, we’re like… oh God, Garcia. You sent the memo to the wrong person!

But we cut away, and we see that Tyler Green has actually engineered this whole thing. The voice memo was actually sent from his phone, disguised as Garcia’s phone- sort of a “spear phishing” technique so that he could gain access to Rossi’s phone and access the GPS. So this confirms several things. 1- That Tyler did recognize Elias Voit as Sicarius. 2- He has every intention to go after Voit by stalking Rossi because Tyler knows Rossi is stalking Voit. And 3- he LIED TO Garcia!

Now we get another black-and-white flashback- this one with Tyler, his sister Allison, and Tyler’s nephew, whose name I do not know! Tyler tells Allison that he’s proud of her and knows being a single mother is hard. He tells Allison that he wants to be there to support her.

Cut to a supermarket. Sydney Voit is going shopping. She buys ice, water, wine, cereal, and toilet paper. Essentials only. She’s going as fast as she can- when she’s interrupted by Rossi. Rossi is such a creep in this scene, by the way. Rossi says that he knows Daddy Voit told her stories about him. And Rossi goes, “Well, I have a different story about a young girl named Sydney. She had a tough childhood- an abusive dad and victimized mom. So Sydney swore that when she thought about getting married that she would never make the same mistakes her mom did.” Sydney goes, “How did you know that?” And Rossi says: “Psychopaths have a type when it comes to wives.” We put him in timeout for this. This just feels so rude and creepy. 

Rossi then explains that Sydney is the reason that Daddy Voit is so deadly. Because “A married man is neutered. He’s not a threat.” I just… don’t like the way he’s talking to Sydney. I don’t like it at all. Rossi then tells Sydney that he’ll drive her to the FBI office, and Sydney RUNS. Then Rossi RUNS after her! Voit pulls out his phone and films Rossi, and says: “Is this what the FBI does? They harass innocent men and their wives in supermarket parking lots?” Unsubs be streaming!!

We cut to seeing this footage posted to a web page, and we’re back at BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. The Attorney General shows the footage to Prentis and tells her to “bench Rossi.” Prentis justifies this move by stating that she told Rossi to push because the Attorney General only gave the BAU 48 hours to work on the case. The AG wants to pull Rossi’s badge and gun. Prentis’ job is also threatened, so eventually, she backs down.

Back with Daddy and Mommy… Voit tells Sydney that he has a safe space for the family to hunker down in, but he needs a day to get it ready. He tells Sydney to take the girls to a motel and wait for him. He tells her that she has to keep the girls off their phones because the FBI can track the phones and find them.  

At BAU Headquarters- Garcia leaves a message for Tyler asking him to call her back. Luke overhears this and is all, “what’s going on?” Garcia tells him how she thinks something is wrong with Tyler, because he always returns her calls. She tells Luke that normally when she calls Tyler four times, he always calls her back right away. Luke is like… why are you calling a witness the biggest case the BAU has ever had multiple times on the regular? Garcia and Luke then go into an empty room, and Garcia admits that she and Tyler have smooched. Luke is like, “C’mon! Him?” Garcia admits to Luke that Prentis told her to call the whole thing off, but the steamy nerd sex is just too good; she can’t stop herself. This is a great scene. Luke agrees to reluctantly support her but warns her that this is going to be messy. And Garcia goes- that implies it wasn’t already messy!

Back in Seattle, Rossi parks in front of Voit’s house. He gets a text from Prentis asking him to call her. Remember, he’s about to be pulled off the case. In a way, Rossi must sense this because he ignores her text and settles into, I guess… stakeout Voit’s home? Daddy Voit immediately spots Rossi’s car and invites him inside for some wine. Rossi declines, but Voit says: “I got a hot blonde in there with three minutes left before she suffocates.” Voit then tells Rossi to park around back, warning him he’ll get a ticket on the street. 

Rossi then hurries into Voit’s house, gun drawn, looking for that hot blonde or whatever. Instead, he finds Daddy Voit sipping wine. Voit offers him a 2000 Petrus. I figured Erica wouldn’t have them mention a specific wine if it wasn’t supposed to mean something intrinsically. So I looked up how much 2000 Petrus goes for between $4000-$7000 a bottle! Rossi declines the wine, and Voit then says, the most iconic line of the entire new season. He says: “I have these friends, Dan and Sheila. Actually, they’re podcast hosts. Anyway, they have gone through every single one of your cases, and they have a pretty compelling argument that the behavioral analysis unit is secretly terrible at profiling.” OMG? I looked up Dan and Sheila, and they are fictional. Imagine if he said “Mac and Abigail,” though. Rossi offers a “gentleman’s agreement” to Voit because he can’t offer Voit anything officially because Rossi is essentially ON THE LAM. Voit declines.

Voit tells Rossi that he would never hurt his own family. And they go back and forth about it. Rossi baits Voit by telling him that he is experiencing devolution and will eventually kill his family. Voit then tells Rossi that actually Rossi is the one devolving! Then Rossi tries to arrest Voit. And Voit is like- you can’t arrest me. Are you’re gonna shoot an unarmed man in his house? Rossi is then like- yeah, I am losing it. My career is ending- I’ve got nothing to lose! Voit then makes another joke about Rossi being old and attacks him, and knocks him out.

We get another flashback- August 2012. We see a Daddy and Mommy Voit, and Mommy is very pregnant. Voit shows his wife the house that will one day become Voit HQ. Voit tells his wife: “The way I grew up, I never wanted to put down roots. But now, it’s all I want. A place that’s ours. That no one can take from us.” Sydney goes: “Holy shit, are you nesting?” She then tells him that she loves the house and says, “Let’s do it!”

We flashback to the present day- Voit has handcuffed Rossi, and they go for a little drive. They’re taking Rossi’s car. As they pull away from the house, we pull back and see Tyler Green watching. Tyler follows the car as it drives away, noting that Rossi’s phone has been turned off and the connection lost.

Back at Quantico, VA, in the round table room. Prentis asks everyone if anyone has heard from Rossi, and no one has. She then asks Garcia to track Rossi’s phone. Garcia reports that Rossi’s phone has been turned off, but his last coordinates show him at 2016 Simon Avenue, North Redmond, Washington. This is Daddy Voit’s house. Garcia then pulls up the encrypted text from Tyler and plays the voicemail. She is horrified when she hears her own voice and instantly realizes that Tyler has “phished” Rossi and gained access to his phone. She is heartbroken and realizes that Tyler has lied to her and set off on his own vendetta against Sicarius.

In the car with The Bois (aka Daddy and Rossi). Rossi tells Daddy that he needs to use the bathroom. Daddy Voit is like, “Hell no.” Voit continues making the old man jokes- “When Sydney told me you were in the house, I was expecting David Rossi, the legend, not David Rossi, the ARRP member.” LOL. Rossi is like- okay, I’m going to pee in the car “Does urine have DNA? Oh wait, I’m so old, I can’t remember.” Voit is like whatever and he pulls off the road and lets Rossi out. We do get some ASMR of Rossi peeing, and it is a strong stream; he REALLY did have to go. As they’re standing by the side of the road, so Rossi can “take a leak,” another car pulls up, and two men get out to ask if everything is okay. Voit tells Rossi to send the men on their way, and Rossi agrees. It’s really tense. These are the two most helpful people in the world. They offer to help change the tire on their car or call AAA. And I’m like- are people really this helpful? After the two men get back in their car, Rossi CONTINUES peeing. This is so much pee.

Cut to the BAU private jet. Will is here (again). I’m not mad about that! On the jet, we have Will/BILL, Garcia, Luke, and JJ. They conference call Tara and Prentis to discuss Tyler being a bad-boy hacker. Will’s office was able to track Tyler’s phone because they had the digits from back when Allison Green was missing. They track Tyler’s phone to Yakima county and reroute the jet to head that way.

On the ground in, I guess, Yakima County- Voit brings Rossi to the place where the BAU found the first shipping container. Voit’s plan is to make Rossi’s death look like a suicide. But Tyler Green shows up and interrupts their plans. Tyler points a gun at Voit. Voit then grabs Rossi and points a gun at Rossi. Tyler accuses Voit of killing his sister Allison, and Voit is like… I’ve killed so many Allisons. Tyler then fires a warning shot and says, “HER NAME WAS ALLISON GREEN! TELL ME YOU KILLED HER!” For those of you GOT fans out there, it’s very Pedro Pascal as Obery Martell: “You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children.” Anyways, I love you, Pedro. You are my father. So Voit admits to killing Allison and says some cruel things to Tyler about her death. We don’t know if these are true or not, but either way, Voit gets the upper hand and shoots Tyler. Voit then drags Rossi off and leaves Tyler for dead.

We get another flashback- Feb 2020. Garcia and Luke are on a date. It is HELLA awkward. Garcia tells Luke, “Two drinks is my limit.” Yeah okay. Sure. Eventually, Garcia says: “Luke, it felt so good when you asked me out, but I’m finding this to be very clunky.” Then they both start laughing and agree that they are much better friends than a romantic couple. Garcia then goes, “Now that I know you’re not trying to get me drunk… I’m gonna do so of my own volition.”

Back in present-day times- the BAU pulls up to the site of the first storage container. They find no sign of Rossi or Voit but do find a badly injured Tyler Green. Garcia also finds Tyler’s cell phone. Tyler is still alive, but he’s got a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Garcia puts pressure on it until the medics arrive, but Tyler passes out and is in critical condition.

Back at BAU headquarters, Rebecca joins Tara and Prentis in the round table room. They have JJ on the phone and are coordinating everything. The major concern now is finding Voit. We cut to Voit. Bringing Rossi into ANOTHER SHIPPING CONTAINER! Rossi begs Voit not to leave him down in the shipping container. Voit says: “Whatever, old man.” Rossi tries to profile telling Voit that while he doesn’t know where the shipping container is, he knows it has to be some sort of meaningful location to Voit. He tosses a knife on the ground so Rossi can cut himself free and then is like, “Later, loser.” And leaves. 

Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, Voit sends Tyler’s cellphone a live streaming link. There is an all-caps text that reads: “Further instructions will come, but there are ground rules. Let me go, you get him back. If you don’t.” then the feed switches to a video feed of Rossi screaming frantically for help.