S6E15 - “Today I Do”
We open in BAU headquarters in Quantico, VA. Prentis is in the conference room by herself, and she makes a call to Tsia Mosley. Now… I don’t mean to come in hot with the opinions. But the actress that plays Tsia Mosley… she doesn’t do it for me. Like… I know this is an insane claim. But like, other than the tomato lady, I feel like this portrayal may be one of the worst portrayals that we see on Criminal Minds. The actress has been in like, a million things, and none of them are things that I’ve seen, so clearly she is talented. But this portrayal is so not it.
ANYWAYS! We gather from this conversation that Prentis has with Tsia, that Tsia, was also involved in that super secret Interpol team that we are slowly learning about. Prentis asks Tsia where she is, and Tsia tells Prentis that she’s in “Bois du Boulogne.” So, she’s in France. Tsia also tells Prentis that she is now engaged to Jeremy Wolff, Jeremy being another member of that super secret special Interpol team. Prentis asks Tsia if she’s heard from Sean and then tells Tsia that Ian Doyle has escaped from prison. Tsia attempts to reassure her by saying: “As far as Doyle is concerned, Lauren Reynolds is dead.” Tsia then asks Prentis to repeat that phrase, and Prentis does, just as Reid walks into the conference room.
Reid is like, “Who is Lauren Reynolds?” And Prentis is like, “Oh, she was a friend of mine.” Reid then asks how she died, and Prentis tells him that Lauren died in a car accident. Thankfully, the rest of the BAU team arrives before Reid can press her for further information.
Garcia introduces the team to the case- two college girls who went missing from Syracuse University. We learn about Molly Grandin, who has been missing for 24 hours. Four months ago, another college student, Gail Langston, also went missing. Gail’s body later washed up in a lake 4 days after she was reported missing. Gail had been held captive, her hands and feet smashed, and she was stabbed to death. Both Molly and Gail’s cars were found in the same parking lot. Apparently, both women packed bags with enough clothes to last them a weekend. These bags were both located in each women’s car with the women’s phones and purses. If the unsub is sticking to the same schedule, Molly only has 36 hours left to live.
Cut to- Molly Grandin. She wakes up tied to a chair in a room in a house. We later learn that this is, like, an attic bedroom-type space. Molly screams for help, but nobody comes.
On the BAU jet (hey girl), the BAU discusses the case. Apparently, Gail and Molly did not know one another, but they did have similar victimology. Their physical characteristics, academic course records, and family backgrounds are nearly identical. Garcia then calls to advise the BAU that Lyle Donaldson has been brought into questioning by the local Syracuse Police Chief, Barrows. Lyle is Molly’s ex-boyfriend.
At Syracuse Headquarters. Police Chief Barrows tells Hotch that Lyle has a boat and was known to go finishing in the area where Gail’s body was found. Lyle was a Syracuse University student and also has arrest records for “beating up Molly.” Lyle recently attacked Molly and hurt her so badly that she ended up in an emergency room. Rossi interviews Lyle, who like… allegedly had classes with Gail. The actor who plays Lyle was 36 when this was filmed, btw. He’s a great actor, but Molly has a baby face, and when you first see him, it’s a little whiplash. Or even someone who was recently a college student. I mean, this man has a mortgage.
And because he is an adult person, he shows up with a lawyer, which is not commonplace for people being interviewed in this show. Although, you should always have your lawyer present if you are questioned by the police. But anyways, Rossi shows Lyle and his lawyer pictures of Gail’s body, and Lyle looks very uncomfortable. Lyle is like, “yeah, I bet her up, but I would never TORTURE women.” Lyle tells Rossi that after their most recent breakup, he had suspicions that Molly was seeing someone else. He says: “Molly… she changed. She changed the way she dressed and was going out to clubs.”
Cut to Onondaga Lake, WHICH IS AN ACTUAL LAKE in Syracuse. Reid and Morgan discuss how it’s not a sophisticated disposal site. Morgan says: “Everything else about Gail’s capture was carefully planned; it seems unlikely that this guy would suddenly panic and lose control.” Morgan also points out that Gail’s stab wounds seem more like puncture wounds. He says, “the wounds definitely have a purpose.”
Back at Syracuse PD, Rossi interviewing Molly’s father. Rossi comes in HOT. Molly concealed from her father the abuse Lyle was treating her with, telling him instead that she was in a bicycle accident. So her father bought her a car. He says: “She could have died in that accident. Riding around in this city with the weather. Too dangerous.” Rossi is like, “You knew she was in an abusive relationship. Was she always attracted to men who hit her?” Which… I feel is very shitty to say. Molly’s father says that Molly was a straight student and was going to get a degree, and then says, “I never hit my daughter. Not once.” I just… don’t know how I feel about this. It’s challenging. I feel like… this is not the moment to berate this man about beating his daughter. That’s definitely important to do. But like… Rossi… now is not the time.
Cut to- Molly’s apartment. Prentis sees a sticky note stuck on Molly’s dresser that says, “today I do, tomorrow I will.” It’s one of those speech bubble sticky notes.
Back with Morgan and Reid- they discuss how the disposal of Gail’s body seems almost like a water burial. But this poses a problem- because apparently, “water burials” are almost exclusively done by women. Reid says: “Until now, victimology, MO, and physical abuse indicated a male offender.”
Reid and Morgan call Prentis, who is still puttering around Molly’s apartment, and they share the female unsub theory. Molly actually had a two-bedroom apartment, and Prentis thinks the other bedroom was occupied by another woman, possibly the unsub. Apparently, nobody knew that Molly even had a roommate. Although, like… dead giveaway, college student? In a two-bedroom apartment? Who is canonically not wealthy? OBVIOUSLY, she had a roomie!
Back at Syracuse PD- the team regroups. Prentis shares that Molly’s neighbors did see another woman coming and going in the last few months. But nobody saw her close enough to do a sketch. The description they got was: white female, mid-20s, light-brown hair, and plain. Hotch is like, “Prentis and Seaver, go back to Molly’s apartment and find out what she was hiding.”
We’re back with Molly. She’s still where we left her- in the chair in the attic bedroom. I forgot to mention this earlier, but she’s wearing a pink pajama set for this entire episode, and it’s very choice. Next to her is another chair, and this one has a huge bowl of popcorn in it. Molly is talking to a woman named Jane, who we realize is the unsub. Molly seems… much more relaxed now, despite the fact that she is still tied to the chair. Apparently, Jane has convinced Molly that they’re doing some sort of one-on-one self-help retreat to “fix” Molly.
Molly then tells Jane that she was initially scared and “woke up terrified, thinking I was kidnapped by some psychopath.” And Jane is like: “Every day babies enter the world, and it’s cold, and it’s bright. What do they do?" And Molly is like, “Cry?” and Jane is like, “no, they trust! They cling to their mother’s breast and accept love.” And Molly is like, “so you’re my mom in this exercise?” and Jane is all: “We are gonna watch movies and have girl’s night, that’s all. Just you, me, and Julia Roberts!” She tries to feed Molly popcorn, and Molly spits it out and asks Jane to untie her. Jane gets all quiet and glares at Molly and goes. “You spit at me. I’m feeding you by hand, and you spit at me. I can’t allow you to keep crossing these boundaries.” She turns off the movie, puts down the popcorn, and grabs a hammer. She turns to Molly and goes: “I wanna help you fix yourself. But you’ve become an ungrateful narcissist. I call this a humility check. It shatters those selfish thoughts so you can hear other people’s feelings and needs.” And then she attacks Molly with the hammer, and we cut away.
Cut to- the next day. Molly is in bed with a shattered kneecap. At this point, she realizes that her participation in Jane’s quasi-self-help seminar is not optional- she has actually been kidnapped by Jane. The leg is bandaged up, and there is a bag of what looks like frozen corn on there as an ice pack. Molly says to herself, “Today I do, tomorrow I will.”
Back at Molly’s apartment. Prentis and Seaver look through Molly’s belongings, trying to find more clues. They find lots of self-help books, and Prentis says, “saying your happy isn’t the same as being happy.” Prentis finds a box under Molly’s bed with pills and a diet journal. Molly recorded not only what she put into her body but also what came out. Molly weighed her bowel movements. So she was struggling with eating disorders.
They call Garcia and ask her to dig into Molly’s eating habits. Apparently, Molly has been spending $30/week at the grocery store. Bro, $30/week? Inflation is insane. Molly also recently got a membership at a yoga studio and started paying for cooking classes. Which like… I get that they’re trying to show the change in her lifestyle. But canonically, Molly is working her way through college. As someone who also worked her way through college and went to school with lots of working-class people, I did not know anyone who was able to afford yoga and cooking classes while in college.
Garcia goes back several weeks and finds that Molly was spending her money at drug stores and fast food places instead of grocery shopping, indicating that her eating habits were different back then. They use the old framing of “fast food is inherently unhealthy,” which, a reminder to all of those who need it- is not always the case. But they’re trying to say that she was not eating healthily.
Meanwhile, back at Syracuse PD headquarters, Rossi meets with Gail Langston’s mother and brother. Prentis texts Rossi and asks him to ask the family about Gail’s eating habits. He also asks them if Gail had a roommate. Her brother, Peter, tells Rossi that he and Gail used to be closer when they were younger but had recently drifted apart. Peter tells Rossi that Gail was depressed, while Gail’s mother tries to play it off as no big deal. Peter tells Rossi that one time he found Gail attempting suicide and brought her to the ER at Syracuse General. She was then admitted into a program there for treatment. All the while, Gail’s mother is just like, deny, deny, deny. Refusing to admit that her daughter had a mental illness. Rossi asks the family if they recognize the phrase “today I do, tomorrow I will,” and Gail’s mother says that Gail used to say that phrase all the time.
Back with Molly- she’s trying to get out of bed, but her leg is so messed up that it takes her a long time. She tries to get up but falls over because she’s so weak. She lands next to the chair she was tied to, and she notices that one of the spokes of the chair is broken, so she snaps it off so she can use it as a weapon. Molly then hides the wooden spoke in the bed frame.
Back at Syracuse PD- everyone had regrouped. Reid is looking into the etymology of the phrase “Today I do, tomorrow I will.” He says: “This phrase doesn’t seem to have a particular source or author; it’s found in pretty much every self-help book. I read twenty-two of them today, all touting the same basic three-part plan.” Rossi says: “Let me guess. Phase 1 is positive thinking, visualizing goals.” Prentis then says: “That’s to work up the courage to get to Phase 2, taking real steps to achieve said goals.” It seems that both Gail and Molly got to at least Phase 2. Gail went back to school and got good grades, and Molly was working towards curbing her eating disorder. The BAU has now realized that the unsub is acting as a “motivational coach,” which explains why she moved in with both girls during their self-help process.
Prentis says: “At first, her methods worked. She gets to be the hero, the savior.” Rossi says: “The more her victims gain confidence, the less they need a motivational cheerleader.” And Reid says: “And that’s when her motivational plan goes completely off the rails. Phase 3 is normally about maintaining the tenants of the program independently.” And Rossi interrupts and says: “But her program doesn’t end. She holds them captive and destroys them physically.” And Prentis goes, “She’s the motivational speaker from hell.”
Cut to- Molly and Jane. Jane has gotten Molly back into bed and chides her for trying to walk by herself. Molly complains that Jane was gone a long time, and Jane tells Molly that she was just getting supplies to redress Molly’s bandages. Molly asks to go to a hospital, and Jane goes, “Nonsense, you are not a burden.” Molly is like, “I can’t walk or go to the bathroom by myself.” And Jane pulls out diapers and is like, “voila”. And Molly is like, “you want me to wear diapers??” Molly asks repeatedly for a doctor and says, “I don’t wanna die in this room,” and Jane goes, “hey now, what is all this negativity?”
PROFILE
A white woman in her mid-twenties, most likely blue-collar and local to the Syracuse area.
She probably has a job that puts her in the role of caretaker, such as a masseuse, nail or hair stylist, or a personal trainer.
Not a therapist or counselor, though, because her narcissistic personality wouldn’t allow her to listen to anything that didn’t revolve around her for more than a few minutes at a time.
Or as Morgan puts it, “It’s hard to learn anything when you always need to be the expert. We don’t think she’s capable of getting a degree of any kind.”
Women feel comfortable opening up to her about their personal lives, revealing details about their insecurities that she later uses to manipulate them.
Because she’s a master manipulator, she may have talked her way into many jobs before they realized that her credentials are fake. The PD should check gyms, spas, and yoga studios for employees fired in the last two years.
Rossi then confronts Molly’s father and demands to know why Molly’s father didn’t tell the BAU about Molly’s eating disorder. Molly's father is all, “she was always a chubby kid; she had to watch what she ate.” Rossi was like, “did she ever get treatment?” Molly’s dad says: “We don’t believe in stuff like that. We’re hard workers; we like to solve our own problems.” PUT THE WHOLE MAN IN THE TRASH! Rossi goes: “MR. GRANDIN, I’M HAVING DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING WHY KEEPING MOLLY’S SECRETS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN KEEPING HER ALIVE!” And Molly’s father is like, “Molly wouldn’t want anyone to know about her private personal problems.” Molly’s father then tells Rossi that Molly collapsed a year ago and went into the hospital for in-patient treatment in Syracuse General, the same place Gail Langston was treated for depression.
Back in the attic, Jane is making Molly walk, using the chair as a walker. Molly is making good progress, and Jane goes, “Now you’ll appreciate every step you take because you earned it!” She then asks Molly where she is on her “positivity spectrum,” and Molly goes “4”. Then Jane gets pissed, and Molly is like, “9,” and Jane is like, “you’re thinking about Lyle again, aren’t you?” Molly denies this, and Jane then yells at Molly, accusing her of sneaking around and seeing Lyle when Molly specifically promised Jane that she wouldn’t see him! Jane then storms out.
Back at Syracuse PD, the BAU is trying to figure out who the unsub might be. Clearly, she is connected to the Syracuse hospital, but they don’t think that she would have been able to con herself into a long-term job there. Prentis then asks Garcia if the hospital keeps its security footage of the entrances and exits of the hospital, and Garcia says she will look into it.
Prentis then gets a call on her cell phone and excuses herself. The call is from Tsia Mosley, who, again, is not my favorite actress on this show. Tsia tells Prentis that her fiancé Jeremy is dead. Tsia tells Prentis that she got home from work and found Jeremy dead in the shower. Apparently, the medical examiners think it was a blood clot, but Tsia suspects foul play. Jeremy was training for a marathon, and Prentis thinks that Ian Doyle may have, I guess, poisoned Jeremy on his usual training route. Prentis tells Tsia to toss her cell phone and get to the US immediately.
We cut to- Lyle. Didn’t think we were going to be returning to the Land of Lyle, did you? Well, here we are. Lyle is in Jane’s house and is drinking beer. They’re listening to music. Lyle goes: “Oh my god! This is the best damn bootleg that Rush ever did! How did you know this was my favorite?” And then we see that, yes, Jane is his new girlfriend. And she goes: “ I guess we just have a lot in common.” They have sex, and in the morning, Jane has chained Lyle to a bed. It is… the smallest… shortest… most ridiculous bed I’ve ever seen. It looks like it’s a child’s bed/ Lyle is like, “okay, I gotta take a leak. Let me go.” Jane then reveals that she videotaped them having sex with the sole intention of showing it to Molly and proving that Lyle is a no-good cheater. Lyle is like, “wait, how do you know Molly?” And Jane kind of rolls her eyes and goes: “You’re so stupid.”
Meanwhile, Garcia found footage showing the unsub following both Gail and Molly. The BAU noticed that the unsub like… bought the same scarf Gail had and the same purse Molly had. So that she could strike up a conversation with both women and get into their lives. The BAU then realizes that Lyle has been kidnapped by the unsub. The BAU then look for patients who went to the same treatment center that both Gail and Molly went to at Syracuse General who grew up near Onondaga Lake. They find Jane Gould, whose grandparents had a house by the lake. Jane was a self-harmer after her grandparents died. She was kicked out of several foster homes for violent behavior and destruction of property.
Back at Jane’s house, she excitedly shows Molly the sex tape she just made. She goes, “I am gonna set you free.” The tape includes Lyle going, “This bootleg is amazing.” I love this actor Can we get him in more things? Lyle also tells Jane that she is “the best” he’s ever had. Molly is horrified. Jane goes: “I know. It hurts. Lyle didn’t even care that you were missing. How low do you have to be to let a loser like that hit you? Do you see now?” And Molly is like, “See what?” And Jane goes: “That you deserve better.” And Molly goes: “It’s not that I deserve better. I am better.”
Meanwhile, downstairs, Lyle breaks out of the children’s bed he’s been handcuffed to and goes looking for Molly. Jane is upstairs arguing with Molly about the sex tape. Molly then pulls the chair spoke out from the bed and threatens Jane. Jane goes: “You’re in denial, Molls, a sweet little waif, holding a stick.” Then Lyle bursts in and attacks Jane, trying to save Molly. He and Jane tussle, and Molly makes a run for it. But in the process, Molly drops her weapon. She manages to get downstairs and outside but remember, her leg is still messed up. As she takes off into the woods, she’s limping and not moving fast at all.
Morgan, Prentis, and Reid are headed to Jane’s grandparent’s house.
Back with Molly, she’s made it pretty far. She gets into the road and sees a car, but unfortunately, Jane is driving the car, and she runs Molly over. Molly is alive but unconscious.
The BAU pull up at Jane’s grandparents’ house, and they rush inside. They find the deceased Lyle upstairs; Jane stabbed him with the makeshift chair spoke weapon. The house is empty, but the BAU head to the lake, thinking that Jane likely took Molly there to kill her.
Cut to- the lake. The BAU shows up just in time. Jane is in the water with Molly, about to stab her with a screwdriver. Molly wakes up as the police and BAU roll up. Molly swims away from Jane, and the police arrest Jane. All the while, Jane keeps screaming for Molly. Morgan manages to not get wet at all! As Molly is getting rushed into the ambulance, Molly’s father shows up for his redemption arc. He tells Molly that he loves her, and it seems like he may make more of an effort to help her work through her problems. Molly is going to be okay!
Back at BAU headquarters, the team has returned. Prentis gets a text from an “unknown caller”, clearly Ian Doyle, and it says, ominously, “see you soon.” We then cut to an airplane tarmac, and we see Ian Doyle get out of a private plane and into a car. We know he’s in the US because as we pull away, we see an airplane hanger with a US flag hanging on it.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20
Character development/ character arcs: 18/20
Forensics/Context: 20/20
Script writing: 20/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 98/100