S3E16 - “Elephant’s Memory”
We’re in Texas my dudes.
Its might, and we see a truck, in the dark (because its Texas). Its dusty and dry. And this middle aged man steps out of the truck, he has a cigarette. He says “you wake me again tonight, it’ll be a chainsaw for you”. He says this to a tree. To a creaking tree. I’m not gonna lie, it took me a minute to understand what tf was going on and that it was A TREE he was talking to. Anyway, he steps into his house and it just blows up. Kaboom. Explodes.
Sirens , and some police cars show up. They inspect the damage, but then KABOOM. They get violently and aggressively shot down with a machine gun.
Cut and we see Spencer in a support meeting of sorts. It is modeled after AA, but it is some sort of support group for FBI/CIA/Police, etc. Reid talks about how he had a hard time seeing the kid in [episode] get his head blown off and how he was able to get over his addiction to Dilaudid. He has a conversation with a higher up, and its about addiction without actually saying addiction. He gives Reid his 1 year sobriety token.
Reid is late to the BAU. He makes up an excuse that he was at the movies, Rossi gives him a hard time, and then Hotch is like. Listen. There are two dead cops. JJ explains what happened. Rod Norris was the tree-talking man we saw in the beginning, and he was DOA. they are trying to ID the remains of the second victim, who they believe would be his 16yo daughter, Jordan. The locals think it could have been a terrorist attack, but Morgan and others think that it is very unlikely, given the location, etc.
Now, at the site of the explosion, the team ascends. They learn that Jordan was sweet, but “a bit slow”; she was in special ed, and they think that her mother leaving her took an emotional toll on her.
They realize that this explosion was set up and Norris smoking a cig would’ve been what triggered the explosion. This was a personal attack, the cops were shot in the face, so it was a close rage personal attack. And then...the son of one of the cops was dating Jordan Norris! Baboom. There is the close connection.
So now the BAU trots over to the Savage residence. The BAU realizes that the family life of this kid was not good; his mom died while driving drunk. They open the gun safe and all the guns are gone. So this is bad bad bad. Reid and Morgan investigate the bedroom of Owen; there are a lot of edgy posters, pictures of James deans car accident, and no photos of James dean. A misunderstood loner. Reid is also being very uh, insensitive and prickly about a lot of things. We also learn that Owen painted his mirrors black.
Outside there is a bit of a domestic tuffle; Sarah, one of the officer’s wives is hooting and hollering. Apparently they found Owen’s car near the interstate. He had completely cleaned it out, and he shot another kid in the face. This is also a personal killing, so they are guessing Owen hated this kid. Owen stopped at the convenience store, and they realize he bought a lot of perishable food. And another twist - the remains they found that they believed belonged to Jordan was jut meat - so she is still alive. They realise Owen must be camping out and either hiding with Jordan or holding her hostage.
Cut and we see Owen and Jordan hiding out in a house. They are very much playing house. We also learn that she does not know her dad is dead.
They cut and Reid and Morgan are visiting the high school Jordan and Owen attended. Apparently they got together when they were both put in special ed. Reid analyzes Owen’s school records and says that Owen has a brilliant mind, but severe learning disabilities. Now it is also worth pointing out that the actor who is playing the school principal is in Cabin in the Woods.
We now see Morgan trying to get past Owen’s password encrypted computer. He gets in with the password “hope”. Reid is getting worked up.
Now they interview a girl named Eileen, who was friends with Jordan. We learn that Jordan was physically abused by her dad; she also was madly in love with Owen. he tried to take care of her, and stuck up for her. Apparently Jordan was also taken advantage of by an older student when she was a freshman. We also learn that that senior was the same guy that Owen just killed.
There is a video on Owen’s computer of him being bullied? Harassed? Its a wrestling team and they’re trying to get him to jerk off?? Its nasty. It was taken down, but it was still online. Reid is PISSED because the school is doing nothing, and saying “you gotta sort it out”. We then learn that none of the boys in the video bullying Owen have showed up to school. A new video was posted - it is Owen shooting the three boys who bullied him. So he is officially being called a school shooter now.
They go to investigate the crime scene, and we realize, through the lyrics of Johnny Cash that he is collecting “injustices”.
And now, we get the profile:
A kind of school shooter - a Collector of Injustices
Most of them are so angry and hopeless, they just want to kill as many people as possible and commit suicide. However, Jordan is giving him a reason to live
His life was one torment after another; teachers giving up on him, students bulling him, his father blaming him but also giving him access to guns
During this briefing, Reid is being spikey again - saying “you could have prevented it” and Hotch has to take him out of the room to smack him on the wrist. Hotch sends Reid to Owen’s home to continue profiling, saying that Reid knows Owen better than anyone.
Now we see Owen and Jordan pretending to be grown ups, opening a bottle of wine, etc. but then, a car pulls up. Owen tells her to hide, and he comes outside, with A KNIFE. He stabs the guy - Mr Stratman, the owner of the home. Jordan is the he house crying and hiding, because she thought it was her dad. Owen is like, its fine, just some kids who were lost.
Reid is sorting through Owen’s emails, and he and Morgan have a heart to heart about being bullied in high school. We learn that Reid was brutally bullied, which is why he identifies with Owen a lot. Behind and Morgan realize that the driving force behind this is mommy issues - Owen has severe abandonment issues due to his mothers passing. They recruit Eileen to contact Jordan, because if Jordan finds out, she might leave Owen and then he will turn himself in.
Eileen texts Jordan, and they send her the video of the boys being shot. To me this seems...bad. So now Jordan is afraid for her life. She looks out the window and just sees Owen burying the body??? As if she wouldn’t see?? Jordan yeets herself to the car and drives away. Emily is not having this, saying “please tell me we didn’t just get Jordan killed”. Jordan shows up at the police station and tells them where Owen is, at the ranch. However, Owen is gone at this point.
At the ranch there is a note saying he wants to return his moms necklace. Reid takes off his bulletproof vest, and saying that he will not be a part of killing Owen.
Reid shows up at the police station and asks Jordan about the necklace - Owen had given it to Jordan. She says she left it at the Ranch, so this actually means that Owen is coming to the police station, not going to his mothers grave. Hotch and the rest of the team/police are at the grave realizing they fucked up.
We see Owen getting out of his truck in front of the county sheriff with his gun. Prentiss is like “what makes you think he’s coming here?” to which Reid is like “its what I would do”. Reid disarms himself, telling Emily to cover him. Owen is in full school shooter attire, and Reid talks him down. Empathizing with him, and telling him to put the gun down. Reid is also blocking the shot, so that if they try to shoot Owen, they would have to hit Reid.
Owen puts the gun down and he is apprehended. Inside the police station, Owen and Jordan have a pointed look to one another. He gives Jordan the necklace, and i love that no words are shared.
Hotch tells Reid that he should be fired given he jeopardized his own life and the lives of others. Reid said he didn’t want to see another kid die in front of him. And how its hard when you identify with the bad guy. Hotch tells Reid he should “catch the rest of that movie”.
Rating Criteria
Criminal/Serial Killer: 17/20
Character development/ character arcs: 20/20
Forensics/Context: 10/20
Script writing: 10/20
Background characters: 10/20
Overall: 67/100