- A hitman targeting people in some way guilty of children-related crimes brings the BAU to Rossi's home town.
- The BAU are called to Commack, Long Island where Ben Vanderwaal, the third and latest victim of a serial killer, has just been found dead. Each victim was bound, then shot through the head and heart. The two male victims were also mutilated postmortem, but each with a different body part missing, whereas the sole female victim thus far was extremely emaciated prior to death. Rossi requests to stay behind at the office rather than go to Commack since this is his small home town, a part of his past that he does not want to revisit. His request is denied by Hotch since Reid is still not cleared to travel from his injury sustained in the "LC." case. Once they arrive in Commack, the BAU find Heather Vanderwaal, Ben's wife, who was beaten at the scene of her husband's murder but not killed herself. Information from her, and other information from Garcia and Reid, form a connection between the three victims. Each was involved in some aspect of child abuse, Vanderwaal's not yet a matter of public record. Further information from Heather and the nature of the gunshot wounds indicate that the murders were contracted hits. With help from an old local friend of Rossi's, the BAU get the code name of the probable hit man. The case takes a turn when the BAU believe they've discovered who contracted the hits. The case turns from one of trying to find the contractor to discovering who is left on the contract hit list and when they are scheduled to be killed. They discover that the last two names on the list are on there each for a different reason. At the end of the case, Rossi reveals to Hotch why he didn't want to go to Commack for this case. Meanwhile, Hotch misses his family more than ever as Jack celebrates his fourth birthday without his father.—Huggo
- The BAU heads to Commack, Long Island, NY., to investigate three gruesome murders that have occurred the first victim Rita Haslat has been responsible for fatally depriving a child of food and she starved to death for four weeks, Bill Levington has been accused of raping minors and his genitals have been removed, and Ben Vanderwaal was responsible for molesting his step-daughter and his hands were removed post-mortem. The enforcer's next target is Dan Patton who is responsible for accidentally killing Emma Schuller, Boyd's late wife. Meanwhile, Hotch begins to miss his family more than ever, he is unable to attend his son's fourth birthday.—dawsonpersi
- A harried woman attempts to unpack groceries and talk on thephone. She hangs up, then notices that its awful darn quiet. "Ben?" she asks. She tip toes into the next room and finds Ben sitting in a chair ... dead. Suddenly, a FLASH! A dark figure appears out of nowhere and knocks the woman to the ground. She fights to keep conscious and sees the dark figure SAWING away on the seated corpse. Ewww.
Back at the office, Hotch watches his ex-wife and son (who are still in hiding thanks to the escaped Reaper) via a video image. It's as close as he is going to get until the killer is brought to justice. "Happy birthday, buddy," Hotch whispers to his boy. Later, Hotch visits Rossi, who asks to stay behind when the team travels to Long Island to investigate the latest in a string of murders. Why? It's Rossis hometown -- and he apparently has some bad memories. "It was a different life," he sort of explains. Hotch understands, but refuses to grant the request.
JJ then briefs the team: three murders, each mutilated in a different manner after being shot to death. The latest victim, Ben Vanderwall, had his hand cut off. His wife, Heather, remains missing. Hotch says "Wheels up in 20" before tossing a file on the table in front of Reid and chides the boy genius for lying about being cleared for travel. He's being left behind. That is why Rossi couldn't sit this case out. The team -- minus Reid, of course -- prepares to leave for Long Island. "You're my bitch now," Garcia tells Reid. Derek grins at his baby girl.
CUT TO an unidentified man looking at digital photographs of a mutilated Ben (the flash was apparently a photograph being taken). He then turns his attention to a paper with a list of names. Slowly, he crosses off Ben Vanderwall. Two more names remain on the list. Better hurry, BAU. One commercial break later, the team discusses the case aboard the jet. The first victim, a woman, was starved before being cut up. The second, a man, had his genitals removed. "We have to figure out what each act of mutilation means to the unsub," Derek says. Later, the team visits the scene of the latest crime. Hotch notices marks in the blood. "Looks like a camera tripod," he says. Suddenly, the phone rings. Heather has been found wandering the streets.
JJ visits Heather in the hospital. "Why didn't he kill me?" she cries. Good question. JJ then gets a call from Garcia, who explains that Heather recently pulled her daughter out of school and then filed for divorce from Ben, the girl's stepfather. "A few months ago I found a picture of Allison's phone -- she was naked," Heather says. Cut to police headquarters, where detective Gil Hardesty warmly welcomes Rossi. They then begin tossing out theories. One promising idea is that manner of the executions were so precise that it could be a professional hitman. If that's the case, then the snapshots of the killing might not be for any kind of sexual gratification, but for proof that the job had been done. But proof for who? "So we could be looking for two people," Gil says. Indeed. "I might be able to hit on some old contacts, but it's best I do it alone," Rossi says.
Cut to a bar. Rossi enters and is immediately searched. "You're either a dead man or a cop," a goon name Sean says. Rossi explains that he is looking for a man named Ray. Sure enough, Ray Finnegan enters. "So what's it been?" the obvious gangster asks. "Thirty years?" Rossi warns his childhood friend that the organized crime unit could easily be called. The gangster suddenly agrees to help Rossi find a killer with a precision .22 caliber gun. Back at police headquarters, Reid and Garcia call in with big news: both earlier victims had committed crimes against children. The woman was a social worker who let one of her charges starve to death. The man was a sex offender. Clearly, the responding the post-mortem mutilations "match" the victims' crimes. "One of the unsubs has access to crimes of the victims and probably works in the justice system," Hotch says.
Moments later, underage Allison is brought in for questioning. The incident with her stepfather was not reported to the police, so who else did she tell? Allison explains that she told no one but her therapist, Jerry Sorum. Cut to the therapist's office, where Derek and Emily interrogate the doctor. He, of course, denies taking vengeance on the abusers of his patients. "Like you, I trust in the justice system," Sorum says. Hotch and Rossi, in the meantime, are staking out the gangster bar. Turns out Ray took one look at the crime scene photos and identified the shooter: the mysterious Bosola. "He's a ghost," Ray explained. "I'll bring you Bosola tonight. You better bring the Marine corps." Ray agreed to give the Feds Bosola if they guarantee a light sentence for Sean, who is awaiting trial for gun running. So while Hotch and Rossi wait outside, Ray lights up a cigar, which turns out to be his last. Bosola appears out of nowhere. Outside, the boys see a FLASH coming from the bar. "He's already inside!" Rossi exclaims. They rush indoors to find Ray dead -- his tongue cut out, presumably for talking.
Back at police headquarters, the team presents its profile. They believe there are two killers: the Planner, probably working in the criminal justice system with enough money to pay for murder, and the Executioner, probably Bosola. "We believe the Planner has suffered a devastating personal tragedy," Derek says. Just then, Garcia calls with news: the precision .22 killings match a mistrial in the past year. The judge in the case was a Boyd Schuller. Does Rossi know the man? "No, but I know his wife," Rossi explains. "Two years ago, she was driving home from work and she was killed by a drunk driver." That could be our devastating tragedy, folks.
Seconds later, Judge Schuller waltzes into the police station! "I believe you're looking for me," he says. "I knew it wouldn't take long for you to find me." The team is SHOCKED, but quickly recovers. "So you don't deny any of this?" Derek asks. The judge shakes his head, explaining that what they see as a crime, he sees as justice. Rossi then drops a bomb. He knows EVERYTHING about Judge Schuller's dead wife, Emma. But how? Rossi won't immediately say, but he does deem Emma's death a "tragic accident." "Dan Patton was drunk -- he murdered Emma!" Judge Schuller screams. Hotch immediately sends the troops out to look for this Dan Patton, apparently the next name on the Planner's list. Rossi then reveals that he had an ongoing affair with the judge's wife! Schuller is crestfallen -- the driving force behind his vengeance now sullied by infidelity.
Unfortunately, Dan Patton is dead and mutilated by the time Hotch, Gill and Emily arrive at the drunk driver's house. The man has been brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat -- to the point that he is nearly unrecognizable. Outside, Emily notes that Judge Schuller recently gave away all his money to a victims' rights groups. Hotch connects the dots: the final victim is Schuller. The not-so-good judge paid Bosola to kill him. We cut to the judge being transferred by JJ, Derek and Rossi. Just then, BANG! Shots are fired! JJ is splattered with blood! Rossi looks down and the judge has been shot in the chest. He drops a locket with a picture of Emma inside ... and then dies. Rossi takes the locket and shuts his eyes with grief. Fade to black.
Fade up into the cabin of the jet. Bosola, a ghost indeed, remains at large. Rossi examines the locket. "I never slept with her, you know," he says of Emma, who was a childhood sweetheart. "What I said to Schuller was just to get under his skin, knock him off his game." Rossi then tells Hotch that he missed his chance to be with Emma --because he fell in love with chasing criminals. He warns Hotch not to let the same thing happen to him. "You have a family," Rossi says. "Don't let the purest thing in your life slip away." Amen, Rossi. Amen.
But the episode isn't over yet. We cut to a golf course where none other than Bosola packs up his clubs. Suddenly, Sean emerges from the bushes and shoots the Executioner dead. Revenge for the killing of Ray. All's well that ends well.
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