- On the anniversary of a serial killer's execution, a murder spree which appears to be connected to him begins and the team must try and understand his mind in order to stop it.
- On the anniversary of the execution of a serial killer, known as "the Angel Maker", who bludgeoned women while they were asleep, raped them and then made puncture wounds in their stomachs after they were killed, a copycat has started a new spree. Strangely enough, the semen found at the scene is a match to the original Angel Maker. While some people start to worry that he has returned from the dead, the BAU have to figure out what his mindset was in order to find the copycat.—J. Rieper
- The Ohio-based serial killer and rapist Cortland Bryce Ryan killed his victims according to a secret plan which he never completed. He was incarcerated and eventually executed, but he had attracted many female groupies during his incarceration. On the first anniversary of his death, a series of copycat murders begins on Ryan's hometown. The FBI profilers try to determine the identity of the copycat killer, but can only deduce that a female killer is trying to complete Ryan's plan. The killer plants both samples of Ryan's semen and samples of Ryan's prison writings at the murder scenes, and the locals fear that Ryan has been resurrected. The investigation is complicated because the copycat killer inspires another imitator in the same town.—Dimos I
- Despite still not having fully recovered from the explosion, Hotch coerces the FBI doctor to allow him to return to field work. His first case is that of the Angel Maker, or more precisely a supposed copycat of the Angel Maker. The Angel Maker was the nickname of Cortland Bryce Ryan, who raped and killed six women in Lower Canaan, Ohio ten years earlier. He was executed exactly one year ago. On the first anniversary of Ryan's execution, Delilah Grennan is raped and killed in Lower Canaan. Her murder is almost an exact replica of the those of the Angel Maker, including postmortem puncture wounds to the victim's abdomen. What is more worrying to the authorities is that semen is recovered from the victim's body, the semen belonging to the Angel Maker. Lower Canaan residents are concerned that Ryan may not have really died, as rumors spread at the time suggested that there were irregularities with his execution. He also vowed that his death would not stop "his work". Although they don't believe the resurrection of Ryan from the dead, the BAU cannot discount this theory. It isn't until Prentiss figures out the symbolic nature of the puncture wounds that the BAU can get on track of what is going on.—Huggo
- The episode opens with a woman in Lower Canaan, Ohio alone in her home getting ready for bed. She hears a strange noise in the kitchen and finds her cat knocked a lid of the counter. Phew. No worries, right? Ah, no.
As she closes the window above her kitchen sink we see a shadowy figure move past her in the hallway. The woman goes to be at 11:06 and two hours later we see her bedroom closet open. Our unseen and darkly-dressed intruder moves to the bed and appears to drill our victim in the head with a hammer as the scene changes.
We move to Hotch at the doctor's office, where he is told the explosion from last season's finale has a left a tear in his ear drum. He is also suffering from hyperacusis, which means sudden loud noises are going to cause him pain. The doctor allows him to return to duty after he promises to limit his role with the team.
The team breaks down our murder, and J.J. tells us the victim was bludgeoned and raped in a small town 40 miles outside of Cincinnati. The body was left face-up with the arms crossed and there were a series of postmortem puncture wounds on the stomach. The signatures of this murder are identical to those of a serial killer called the "The Angel Maker," (henceforth known in this synopsis as TAM) who killed six people in the same town ten years ago. And though TAM died by lethal injection exactly one year ago, somehow his semen was found in our victim.
On the flight to Cincinnati we learn a few more details. TAM always killed his victims with his bare hands, so our unsub is a weaker guy or one who perceives himself that way. The gang wonders how the DNA got inside our victim, with Dr. Reid tossing out the idea of an eviler twin. Hotch is bothered by a noise in the plane.
A local sheriff takes the BAU staff though the crime scene, telling Hotch of the dramatic impact the TAM had had on the town. We see that all the windows in the house had been left open, a detail which was not released to the public at any point. This unsub must have had contact with TAM while he was incarcerated.
Emily and Rossi examine the body and we find out TAM always left different numbers of puncture wounds in various formations. This coroner says he found traces of notebook paper in this victim's punctures, a detail which was not a calling-card of the TAM. Super-dreamy Derek goes to the prison to check on correspondence, finding out from a guard that TAM had tons of fans, mostly women.
A local newspaper gets a letter from someone claiming to be TAM. Dr. Reid thinks the handwriting is that of the deceased killer as the sheriff worries about the impact this will have on the community. They suspect the letter was written before TAM was killed. A local resident comes into the station asking about the letter (word travels fast) and we find out that the execution had been botched and that some in the town wonder if TAM is actually dead.
This sends Hotch, Rossi and Emily to the cemetery where they pull TAM's coffin from the ground. More ear pain for Hotch and when the lid is removed we see that TAM's corpse is nowhere to be found.
Rossi and Derek meet with the doctor who was at TAM's execution. He swears that Angel Maker was killed, but talks about issues with the catheter which resulted in the execution taking more than an hour. The doctor also tells them that TAMs last words were that he would "be born again."
Garcia goes through TAM's online collectibles and finds a whole industry including signed screwdrivers and Marlboro box origami. She finds that the biggest local distributor of TAM wares was the prison guard Derek had met earlier. Derek and Emily go to the guard's house and find him dead in a back room, one bullet each in his forehead and groin. They decide the guard had been selling the unsub memorabilia and the unsub was simply covering his tracks. While there Emily finds a pill bottle and tells Derek: "I think we have this unsub all wrong."
The new information is relayed to us via the BAUs briefing the local cops. Apparently our unsub is actually a woman. The guard, who had a shady history, has been working as a go-between for TAM and the unsub. He tried to get sexual favors from the unsub in exchange for his silence (the pill bottle Emily found contained Viagra) which led to his murder. Hotch says the unsub will be a white woman in her 30s, probably attractive and educated. This unsub suffers from hybristophilia, an attraction to people who commit violent crimes. She is using an instrument of some kind to simulate the rape.
The first suspect is a Shara Carlino, who visited TAM more than 70 times and left a high-paying job to move closer to the prison. Carlino has a solid alibi, but tells them she got a letter a few months before the execution that was addressed to "My Dove." She burned it, as he never called her by that name and the letter was poorly written.
After this meeting were shown the unsub's second murder. We see only a dove tattoo on the back of the unsub's neck and that she uses a piece of paper to specifically place the puncture wounds on the victim. The BAUs go to the scene and discover an identical crime scene other than the pattern of the puncture wounds. Emily realizes the punctures have been laid for the unsub by TAM, hence the use of paper as a guide.
The group determines the only connection between the victims is easy access to their homes, and as Derek gazes at the sky Emily figures out the puncture wounds represent the "Heavenly Waters" constellation family. There are nine Heavenly Waters constellations, meaning that with the two unsub murders there will be -- say it with me -- one final murder to complete the cycle.
Dr. Reid breaks the code of TAM's correspondences, and the group is able to read the actual conversations he had with our unsub. There is an "us" in the letter back to TAM, meaning that some of the semen TAM sent to the unsub was used to make her pregnant.
Using birth records they narrow the suspect list to one, a Chloe Kelcher who was a member of TAM's jury. They find out Kelcher's baby died at the hospital, which must have been the moment she became a killer. The team rushes into Kelcher's home, finding it empty. They find TAM's corpse in the same room as an empty crib. Kelcher's killing tools are gone and they use her planner to get the address of the next victim.
They arrive at the potential victim's home and find Kelcher's still-warm car in the driveway. Just as Kelcher has the hammer cocked and in the air, they distract her with the police lights and Emily tells her over the megaphone that TAM had written the same letters to other women and that she wasn't special. She ties up the potential victim and wanders near the front door, which allows Derek to sneak in through an open window and get the woman to safety.
After realizing her victim-to-be is gone, Kelcher walks towards the police with gun in hand. Kelcher to herself: "I'm coming to you, baby," and raises her gun. Of course the guy standing right next to Hotch shoots her, and Hotch grabs his ear in pain. Emily pulls back Kelcher's shirt to reveal that she had punctured her own stomach to become the final TAM victim.
Everybody thanks everybody and Hotch decides to avoid the plane and make the seven-hour drive back to Virginia. Rossi artfully suggests Hotch take a few days off and he seems to agree.
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