S3E11 - “Birthright”
We open in Fredericksburg, VA, to the gentle sound of pigs living it up. It is day time, we see the vague outlines of a building in the distance. This is all of five seconds, and then we have a quick fade to night. No pig sounds now. Just muffled music. Now we’ve cut to a college party? There are kegs and bad music and people standing around awkwardly. Everyone is discussing the disappearance of Julie Stanton. One of the girls at the party, Molly McCarthy, tells everybody that Julie probably just ran off somewhere and got away from the small town.
One of Molly’s fellow party goers, a kid named Danny, then emerges from the woods covered in blood? And scares the shit out of Molly? Molly then throw a beer on him and goes off with her boyfriend Justin to canoodle in the woods. Because nothing gets a girl horny like being scared to death at a shitty party. There’s a lil foreplay happening in the woods. Justin says: “If you want me drunk and naked, just say it” and she says: “I shouldn’t have to try so hard.” As they’re getting naked, they hear sounds close by, and assume it’s Danny clowning again. Justin goes off to find Danny and give him a piece of his mind, and Molly just keeps undressing. But when Justin returns… Molly is GONE! And then Danny tackles him!! But Molly is still GONE!
Cut to BAU Headquarters in Quantico, VA. JJ presents Molly’s missing person’s case to the team. We learn that Molly is the third person (she means third white female) to go missing in the past six weeks. And no offense but they show a picture of the three missing women together, and the girl on the left is wearing WAY too much rouge. Like, it’s too much girl! Is that your headshot? Might need to rethink that. Anyways all the victims disappeared from public places and never seen again. A couple days ago, body parts with cigarette burns were recovered from a national park. The police ID’ed her as the first victim (the one with the bad headshot). And although she was taken six weeks ago, the level of decomp indicated that she had only just been killed.
As if this isn’t horrific enough, this is not the first time a woman has been dismembered in Fredericksburg. In 1980 5 women of varying ages were kidnapped and murdered around the same area. They were also dismembered, and similar tool markings were found on this most recent body. And these bodies from 1980 were left at the same exact national park site as this recent body. These tool marks were withheld from the public back in 1980, so the killer must be the same guy! It is currently 2007, which means a 27-year cooling off period. Hotch mentions BTK because of course he does and says 25 years although it’s clearly been 27 years.
Cut to a barn. Molly is tied up to a chain hanging from the ceiling. The unsub then brings in Julie Stanton, the missing girl from earlier. The unsub turns on honky-tonk music and tells Julie to show Molly what to do. Julie then looks at Molly, starts crying, starts dancing and says “It’s a party”. The lyrics are “Give me, give me, give me the honky-tonk blues.”
Cut to Reid and JJ driving in a car. And Reid, a profiler for the elite behavioral analysis unit for the FBI says: “The killer has an obvious disregard for women.” NO SHIT REID. Also JJ seems out of sorts, distracted, she keeps rubbing her head and seeming off. At the crime scene we meet Sheriff Valentine at the crime scene. Hotch talks to JJ and tells her that “it’s okay if you lose it every once in a while, these cases remind us that we’re human”. And JJ is like “but you never lose it!”
Morgan, Prentis and Rossi head to the Fredericksburg police station where they meet with John Caulfield, who was the original detective on the case. According to current detective on the case, Sherriff Valentine, this specific 1980s case broke John Caulfield and he was forced into early retirement.
Back at the barn, Julie asks Molly if everyone thought she just ran away. And Molly is like “Yeah bitch”. Julie makes Molly promise that if Julie dies, Molly will never let Julie’s parents find out what the unsub put them through. The unsub then shows up and is ready for another party, the honky-tonk blues in playing, but Julie does not want to party. We watch the unsub dragging Julie away as Molly screams. We then pull out and see that Molly is locked up inside a cave somewhere deep in the woods somewhere.
Cut to the next day, and Julie’s dismembered body has been found at the national park. Apparently even though all of the victims have been found in the park, there isn’t enough police to patrol the area?? Even though everyone specifically knows that this is where the killer will definitely be?? They’re just like “nope, we can’t put a park under surveillance”.
Garcia finds a complaint filled by a woman named Karen Foley from the next county over. Supposedly this woman was kidnapped in 1979, but escaped. Morgan and Prentis show up at Karen Foley’s house to question her, and they come in pretty hot. They’re like- so you’ve heard about the murdered women in Fredericksburg. And Karen is like, duh yeah I have a television. And Morgan is like, we think the same unsub abducted you in 1979. And Karen is like ??? I was never abducted. I made it up. Prentis is like- you’re a best shot. And Karen says: “I’m not a lead”. And she shuts the door on the BAU’s face.
The BAU discuss Karen Foley’s recanting of her story and overall attitude. The BAU just showed up at her door, and she was not at all concerned about the unsub getting retribution or coming after her. And Rossi is like- she’s not concerned about the unsub because she knows he’s dead! Which leads Rossi to realize that the unsub was a local to the area who died around the time of the investigation, and that the retired detective John Caulfield can now narrow do their list of suspects to someone who disappeared around the time of the original investigation.
They remind him of the profile from 1980
A local
Mid 20s
This person “left” after the last victim was found in December of 1980 (joined the military, gone to prison, sold his property, etc)
Reckless in his personal life
A drinker - He would’ve had arrests for DUI
Meticulous – may have had two areas of control that were both private. One to torture and one to confine his victims.
A workshop / barn / garage
John tells the BAU that the original unsub was John Wilkinson. John died in December of 1980 after he fell into a combined harvester. The killings stopped after he died. The BAU also learn that John Wilkinson was survived by a widow- Mary Wilkinson. So now that they know who the original unsub was, they just have to find out who the current unsub is.
John Caulfield and Rossi show up at Mary Wilkinson’s house. Caulfield is like “We’re here about John”. And Mary says: “Well he’s been dead for 27 years, what could he of done.” And Rossi goes: “Murdered 5 women in 1980” and Mary is like “Hmmm.” Rossi is like: “Most women who are windowed young consider themselves victims” and Mary is like “I don’t feel sorry for myself.” She tells the BAU that she left Robert right before he died. She was pregnant and moved back in with her parents because Robert wouldn’t stop drinking. Mary is nonplused that the BAU suspects Robert as the original unsub. She seems to have suspected it herself!
Cut to a VW Bug stopped at a farm stand. Tara Ricker gets out of the car, grooving to music. The owner of the farm stand is temporarily away, so Tara puts some cash in his money box and is ready to get some fruit. She picks up an orange and examines it, when she is abducted by the unsub. He straight up shoves her into the oranges.
Back at the station, the BAU believes the new unsub is Robert Wilkinson’s son, Charlie. Caulfield says: “Are you suggesting there is a genetic predisposition to killing?” And Hotch says: “It’s one factor, along with psychology and socialization.” Garcia then discovers that Karen Foley was pregnant right after her abduction, meaning that Robert Wilkinson may have been the father.
The BAU show up at Karen Foley’s house and accost her again. Prentis says: “We know you were raped by Robert Wilkinson, and we know that you have a son because of it.” We learn about Karen’s son Stephen. Prentis asks some really inappropriate and invasive questions. She asks Karen when she chose to have the child, which is frankly, none of the FBI’s fucking business. Her body, her choice. Karen says: “I couldn’t… make my baby pay for what his father did.” We learn that Stephen just got released from jail for DUI. So now Rossi thinks that this means Stephen is the unsub. Because being arrested for DUI is TOTALLY equivalent to raping and murdering women!
Stephen comes home and the Rossi and Prentis question him. Rossi goes “Does the name Robert Wilkinson mean anything to you?” And Karen is like please don’t tell my son! And then Stephen is like, I already know. And Stephen is like “You never married, you never dated. I knew someone hurt you real bad. Then when I was cleaning out the garage I found that article about the man who died in the farming accident… when you walked in the door and saw me holding that picture, the way you looked at me, I just knew.” Karen is like, that was 10 years ago! Why didn’t you say anything to me? Why’d you let me go on telling you stories and Stephen is like “They were good stories”. It’s actually, a really great scene.
Prentis then asks Karen to relive what Robert Wilkinson did to her. As she tells this story we see a flashback on the screen. She says: “I remember the first time he took me to the barn. He would cover my head so I didn’t know where I was. But it didn’t really matter, he kept me so high I didn’t know what day it was. He wanted me to dance for him. He would call it a party. One night he was so passed out, that I realized that the barn door was unlocked and the cuffs were undone so I could get away.” She then went to the cops, who didn’t believe her story, because she had a drug addiction. She tells the BAU that she scratched a little peace symbol in the wall, and she would touch it every night.
Meanwhile the rest of the team show up at Charlie Wilkinson house. They meet with Chrissy Wilkinson who is VERY pregnant. There’s a barn on the property and it’s very clearly the barn where the girls have been held. They find, I guess, the axe used to dismember their bodies? So much for “microscopic tool marks” or whatever. Mary Wilkinson shows up and Rossi berates her for her parenting. She tried to protect Charlie by not telling him about his father, which in my mind was the correct thing to do. But apparently Rossi, who has never been a parent, thinks he knows better. He says: “Problem is, boy like Charlie, so much anger, so many questions, needs to know here he came from He wouldn’t quit until he know. And then one day, he figured it out.” And Mary is just like: “I did not want my son to have the legacy that his father was a murderer.”
Hotch questions Chrissy Wilkinson about Charlie. She says she has no idea where Charlie is. Reid then finds a Robert Wilkinson’s murder diary locked in the closet. So I guess Charlie found it and then used it as a guide for killing? Because Charlie was already showing homicidal tendencies when he was younger by killing a cat, the BAU believes that this diary from his father just further served to push him towards murder. Reid says that the diary “made him feel like it was okay, almost his birthright.” Also this discussion is had in a room with like… old timey revolvers hanging on the walls, old timey portraits, a lamp with a lamp shade that has a map on it, a sword on the wall, is this place like an air bnb or where did they find this?
The BAU theyn ask Karen Foley and Stephen to come to the scene so that Karen can try to find where she was held captive. She is, of course, freaking out. And then there’s this awkward moment when Karen sees Mary and they face off. Karen starts screaming at Mary: “He tortured me every single night. Could you hear my screams? Did you kiss him when he was finished with me? Why didn’t you stop him? Why didn’t you help?” And Mary stone cold goes: “I killed him. I came home and I saw this place, and I knew what he had done. And I couldn’t let my innocent baby be brought into this.”
So then Mary, Karen and Stephen team up with the BAU to find Wilkinson’s hidey hole. Karen was blindfolded when she was brought from where she was being held captive to the barn, but she’s able to describe what it felt like when she walked there. Mary says it’s on the north side of the property. The BAU find the cave and free Tara and Molly. The girls will be find, but Charlie is MIA.
Cut to Charlie at the national park. He’s sitting on a bench and drinking a beer. If the area were being patrolled, he totally could have been apprehended. But apparently not! Chrissy (his pregnant wife) walks up behind him and starts yelling at him. And the actress is just…. a bit too calm? “The FBI’s at the farm. They went into the barn and they found… a LOT of blood. The sheriff says you killed those girls who have been missing. They have pictures and books and everything… what did you do to those girls? Did you rape them? We’re starting a family!”
And then she mcfreakin shoots him. She tells the BAU “He came at me, I had to do it.”
Hotch and JJ have a lil debrief session. Rossi and Caulfield have a lil debrief sesh. Back at BAU headquarters in Quantico, Hotch is served with divorce papers.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 10/20
Character development/ character arcs: 15/20
Forensics/Context: 7/20
Script writing: 12/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 64/100