S3E3 - “Scared to Death”
We open with the sound of faint thumping – never a good sign. There is a girl locked in a chest in a man’s office. The chest has some sort of creepy window so that the man can stare creepily down on her as she bangs on the inside of the chest. “Please help me!” She pleads: “I can’t feel my legs. Please! I’m gonna die?” The man leans down and shines a flashlight on her face. He asks: “Is it worse than you thought?” “Yes!” She responds. The man says: “Hmm”, and then closes the lid of the chest. The camera pulls back and we see that the man, who we later learn is Dr. Stanley Howard, walk to his desk. The girl continues to scream and bang on the chest, and Dr. Howard starts documenting her experience in his notebook. When the girl finally stops screaming, Dr. Howard walks over and checks on her, and she’s dead you guys! Dr. Howard writes that she lasted 8 minutes in her notebook.
So… Dr. Stanley Howard is played by Michael O’Keefe best know for his role of Danny Noonan in Caddyshack which is a movie my father-in-law fucking loves. He’s been in so many movies and was married at one point to Bonnie Raitt so it’s bonkers that he guested like this on this Criminal Minds episode.
Anyways. Cut to BAU headquarters in Quantico VA. Reid is reading the letter that Gideon left him. We learn that Mandy just noped out of Quantico, leaving all his work, office supplies, and a plant behind. BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss later tells Hotch that Gideon’s resignation is official, and the BAU is currently looking for Gideon’s replacement.
But the show must go on! The team convenes to discuss the latest BAU case. We learn that four bodies have been uncovered in a mass grave in Oregon. This most recent body is Jenny Whitman who was asphyxiated, and this was the girl from the chest that we saw murdered earlier. The other victims are Rick Holland, The causes of death range from death from burning alive to asphyxiation. There’s no sexual assault, but as Morgan points out, the torture is clearly sadistic.
Hotch informs the team that only one of the victims was reported missing, Rich Holland, who was reported missing 9 months ago. However, the search was called off when Rich’s family members received emails supposedly from him saying that he needed “time to figure things out”. Then like, one minute later, on the jet (hey girl) Garcia says that the unsub reached out to two of the other victims families via email pretending to be them after they were reported missing. But like… Hotch just said that only Rich Holland was reported missing! So this is very confusing. Reaching out to victims families can be a sign of remorse, but it can also be the unsub covering their tracks.
The team touches down in Portland and heads to the FBI Field Office. They meet Special Agent Calvert. Morgan is like: “You’re from Boston” and Agent Calvert is like “Yeah the accent’s pretty hard to miss” even though it’s like… a very light Bostonian accent? IDK man this episode is… interesting…
Hotch, Reid and Morgan visit Jenny Whitman’s apartment. Her apartment building has one of those old tiny elevators, and only Reid and Morgan can fit inside, so Hotch elects to take the stairs. Morgan is one of those assholes who jumps around inside of elevators to be scary, and Reid freaks out. He tells Morgan: “There are 6 elevator related deaths each year, not to mention 10,000 injuries that require hospitalization. Chill out!” Morgan makes fun of him and starts pushing buttons at random and the elevator screeches to a halt. Then both Reid and Morgan start freaking out, the elevator starts lurching around, Morgan tries to pry the elevator doors open but they’re stuck. Reid keeps ringing the buzzer. And then, all of a sudden, the elevator opens and Reid and Morgan hurry out. Hotch comes over and is like, “Is everything okay?”
The boys are let into Jenny Whitman’s apartment by her landlord, and immediately they start making cracks at her. Reid says that her apartment has a “lived in feel” to it and points out that she has no messages on her answering machine. Reid, stop roasting the deceased!! Like, bro!
This is the weirdest apartment ever because the bathroom has a shower stall and a separate bathtub? It’s something you might expect to see in like a luxury mansion or something like that, but this set up has no business belonging in this apartment building. Anyways, it’s clear, from the position of bath products, that Jenny used the bathtub only and never turned the shower on. The shower is actually full of boxes; Jenny used it for storage. The landlord pipes in and tells the BAU that ever since she moved into the apartment two months ago, Jenny never used the elevator, only walked up and down the stairs. So the BAU makes the leap that Jenny did not like tight spaces?
Cut back to the Portland FBI Field Office. JJ, Prentis and SSA Boston discuss victimology. Although all of the victims have different educational levels and different socioeconomic backgrounds, they were all new to Portland and move to the city without any nearby family or friend connections. A fresh start, if you will. While they’re discussing this we see Ye Olde Corkboard with the pictures of the victims. We see Jenny Whitman (asphyxiation), Rich Holland (Burned alive), and a blonde woman whose name we can’t make out who died from exsanguination. SSA Boston says that he too is new to the town, he tells the ladies that he just transferred to this field office a month ago. And JJ is like, hmmm I’d like to pick your brain about how you got settled in! Also Detective Boston says: “So this guy he burns em, hangs em, smothers them, why does he kill so many different ways?” So… I guess the fourth victim (who we know is male) was hung?
Cut to- Dr. Howard. Having a flashback about his terrible mother. Because, you know, it’s always the girlfriend/wife/mother’s fault. Apparently, Dr. Howard was afraid of the dark, and his mother would beat him with a belt if he asked to have the lights left on. Anyways, Dr. Howard has a new patient- Patrick.
Patrick and Dr. Howard take a little field trip to a nearby body of water. Patrick tells Dr. Howard that he had a traumatic experience during summer camp where he almost drowned, and ever since then has been afraid to go in the water. Dr. Howard says: “Look at you now. You’re doing just fine Patrick. Our bodies knew water before they knew air. It’s really the most natural thing in the world. It’s not going to hurt you.” Yeah, the water is not going to hurt him. Dr. Howard is!
Cut back to the BAU! Giving the profile… which is… absolutely exhaustive and a little repetitive? But here we go…
THE PROFILE
Because the police uncovered the unsub’s mass grave in the woods, the unsub’s MO will likely change slightly, but the BAU is not sure how.
The unsub thrives on being in control.
The reason he’s gotten away with these murders is that he’s meticulous at every stage from how he chooses his victims to their torture and burial.
The victims appear to be nonspecific, except being new to the Portland area and dying a sadistic death.
However, the victim’s lack of defensive wounds means that they willingly put themselves in danger. So someone of authority of otherwise easily trusted, put them up to this.
The victims families were led to believe that their loved ones were alive through emails written by the unsub.
The tortures lack a sexual component, which is incredibly rare. It likely means that he’s impotent.
As Reid says: “It’s not about exerting power, but more like overcompensating for a lack of it.”
He’s coming from a place of weakness, trying to demonstrate strength – which means he may have been abused.
He most likely feels powerless in his every day life, so he would crave stability and security- he is most likely married.
If he is impotent he could keep up appearances by adopting children.
Someone this methodical has every moment planned. If he is captured, he most likely will take his own life.
While the profile is being given, Dr. Howard gets Patrick in the water and lets him drown. After asking… “Is it worse than you thought?” twice. Then Dr. Howard writes in his little notebook and walks away, leaving Patrick’s body just floating in the water.
We cut to a dog in a tiny cage. We learn that it’s Patrick’s dog, Lucy, and Patrick’s landlord is calling the BAU’s tip line to report him missing. Patrick’s full name is Patrick Walker, and he recently moved to Portland for grad school. His landlord knows something is wrong, because she says that Patrick is very routine driven and sticks to a very strict schedule. Patrick has only been missing since this morning, but his landlord is CONVINCED that something is wrong. What an icon. Literally me.
Cut to Mrs. Dr. Howard. She is upset that Dr. Howard has missed family dinner! How could you Dr. Howard. Also… she’s kind of hot? Mrs. Howard is up to here with Dr. Howard’s bullshit. She says: “What is the point of having family dinners if you’re not here? At some point you knew you’d be late, you should’ve called. It’s not that hard. You didn’t pay Jessica’s tuition. I wrote them a check. She’s taken a bath, she’s brushed her teeth, I read her books, she’s asked for you three times already.” Howard goes to see his daughter, and Mrs. Dr Howard is like “You’re dinner’s going to get cold!” So then Dr. Howard stuffs the food in his face, yells at his wife, and goes to see his daughter Jessica.
Patrick Walker’s body is discovered. Morgan finds a shepard’s crook in the water, used by lifeguards and rescue workers to assist people in drowning. We previously saw Dr. Howard using it with Patrick. Morgan fully holds the shepard’s crook without gloves in both his hands. I know it was in the water and finding fingerprints is probably… not happening. But still- shouldn’t we be more careful with evidence!!
The BAU realizes that the unsub is using people’s fears to murder them. Patrick Walker was afraid of drowning, so the unsub drowned him! Jenny Whitman was afraid of suffocating to death, so Dr. Howard asphyxiated her! Later Prentis and Reid find a flyer at the Laundromat closest to Patrick Walker’s apartment advertising a research project. “Participate in a controlled research project and you’ll receive $100 to get over your anxieties.” It’s presented by the Goodman Institute. Prentis and Morgan find another of flyer in a coffee shop by Jenny Whitman’s apartment, but Prentis realizes that the date the flyer was posted was last summer. Meaning that Dr. Howard likely has more victims! The BAU checks the area where the mass grave was found for more bodies- they find 12 more victims bringing the number of victims up to 17!! Garcia does a deep dive on the Goodman Institute, realizes that although the website looks legit to the untrained eye, it’s actually a dummy website. The Goodman Institute is not a legit business.
You guys! Dr. Howard has a new victim *ahem* patient. Her name is Missy Cassell. Apparently she’s afraid of being buried alive! She’s come to therapy with Dr. Howard because over the holidays she was invited to go on a cave diving trip with some friends. She wants to concur her fear. You go girl! Dr. Howard asks her to come back to the office later so that they can advance to the next step of the process. Dr. Howard goes down to the basement of his office building and starts building a DIY buried alive scenario. Later in the day, Missy comes back, and Dr. Howard drugs her and brings her down to the basement. He’s constructed this big hole in the basement? I don’t understand how he made it? But it’s deep enough where he can drop Missy in and she can’t get out.
We have another flashback to Dr. Howard depressing youth. He wets the bed again I guess and his mother says: “You wet the bed again. Now they’ll all see!” His mother then locks him in a closet. Dr. Howard wakes up, realizes that he had passed out in the basement. Missy asks him for help and Dr. Howard starts burying her alive. It’s very… you know… it’s very. Dr. Howard is like: “Is it worse than you thought?” And Missy is like “I’m gonna be okay!” Dr. Howard keeps dumping dirt on her, and if you’ve ever purchased dirt, dirt and soil are expensive!!
The BAU realizes that the unsub is Dr. Howard. Apparently he previously had created a center for abused children, which shut down about a year ago, when the killings started. Also his bank account is overdrawn. Apparently Dr. Howard had closed the building due to renovations, but they were never completed. However, when Morgan, Hotch and Reid later visit the building, they find that it’s been demolished.
JJ and Prentis go to speak to Mrs. Dr. Howard. She is… very surprised by the FBI’s visit. Prentis tells her that Dr. Howard shut down his practice a year ago and let his license expire. And Mrs. Dr. Howard is like ??? No he did not. Prentis is like- has your husband been acting strangely? And Dr. Mrs. Howard says that he’s had some issues since his mother passed away last year. When Dr. Mrs. Howard discovers that her husband’s building has been completely demolished she’s like… my family has commercial property downtown!
The BAU bois + SSA Boston show up at the commercial property downtown and they find that Missy Cassell was the last person to sign in, so they realize that she must be at least one more victim. They notice Dr. Howard about to exit the building. Dr. Howard runs up the stairs on the side of the building and the BAU team pursues him. Dr. Howard runs to the roof and is about to jump off. Hotch confronts him: “We found at least 15 people dead.” But like… they first found 4, then Patrick, then 12 other in the woods. So that’s 17. 17! Hotch get your shit together. Dr. Howard says: “They sacrificed themselves for science. Most people go into law enforcement because they want to help others. I think your greatest fear is that you can’t save everyone. It is worse than I thought.” And he commits suicide.
Reid reads Dr. Howard’s notebook and realizes that Missy was afraid of being buried alive, so they realize that she must be in the basement. They find her and save her!
On the plane Hotch and Morgan have a heart-to-heart. And Hotch tells Morgan that Hailey has left him- and he’s not sure if she’s coming back.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 5/20
Character development/ character arcs: 10/20
Forensics/Context: 10/20
Script writing: 7/20
Background characters: 10/20
Overall: 42/100