- While tracking a family annihilator, the BAU must seek advice from "The Fox," one of the most horrific killers from the team's past who has an ominous message for Agent Hotchner.
- In Hampton, Virginia, the Downey family is murdered and buried in their backyard while the family patriarch, army Captain Joseph Downey, is deployed in Iraq. A similar mass murder of a military family while the father was on military deployment occurred a year earlier. Prints lifted at the murder scenes indicate that it is the same unsub. The unsub appears to be copying the murders committed by Karl Arnold aka The Fox. The BAU worked on the case of The Fox four years earlier. The unsub has tried to contact The Fox in prison. Hotch and Prentiss interview The Fox to try and understand his motivation so as to understand the unsub. Based on some information received from The Fox and by the way the bodies are laid out in their grave, the BAU have a clearer profile of the unsub, who is not a copycat of The Fox and who is not the person who tried to contact The Fox. The Fox has some parting words for Hotch about who tried to contact him.—Huggo
- The BAU must track down a female serial killer who has been killing military families within Hampton, VA. Hotch and Prentiss go to Red Onion State Prison to get answers from an infamous family annihilator, Karl Arnold. The BAU realizes the killer is doing something slightly similar to her killings such as taking the wedding rings as trophies but she shoots the mothers and the sons, then she asphyxiates the daughters, and after she is done with the killing she buries the mother and children in a makeshift shallow grave. The BAU soon realizes that this unsub was born into conflict and she has killed before. Meanwhile, Karl delivers Hotch a very ominous message.—dawsonpersi
- Hampton, Virginia -- A mystery figure holds a mother and child at gunpoint. Mom pleads for their lives. The kid manages to escape to a nearby closet, but not for long. We see GUNSHOTS flashing from inside the dark suburban home. Moments later, a young woman swimming in the pool outside is pulled underneath.
Three days later, the team arrives at the crime scene and meets up with Det. Anne Hudson. She explains the entire family was killed and buried in the backyard -- except for dad, who has been serving overseas in the military. Rossi points out a very similar case from a year ago. "We need some answers fast," Hudson says. No kidding, lady. Rossi and Hotch then head inside to investigate. "Mom gets it first, then the youngest," Rossi observes. "It's quick and proficient." The teenager girl, on the other hand, was drowned. "Why the change in M.O.?" Hotch asks. Good question.
Garcia calls. An inmate at an area prison has received two envelopes containing news clippings of the killings. The packages were signed "an admirer." The inmate: Karl Arnold. "Four years ago, Karl Arnold -- a.k.a. The Fox -- killed eight families," Derek explains. Meanwhile, the husband/father of the most recent victims has arrived. "We believe it was the work of a serial killer," Derek says. The man, wearing fatigues, breaks down. Later, Hudson reveals that fingerprints found on a portrait of the slain family match those from the previous bloodbath. It's definitely the same killer. "They don't start with entire families," Derek says. "There are more victims. We just haven't found them yet." In the meantime, Emily and Hotch head to the prison to interview The Fox, who is just as insane as ever. It's a very "Silence of the Lambs" moment. The Fox agrees to help on one condition: Emily and Hotch show him photos of the recently slaughtered children. Emily protests, but Hotch convinces her to play along for the greater good.
Back at headquarters, the team plus Hudson brainstorm when J.J. enters with good news: "We now have full access to all military records." This way, Garcia might be able to discover a link between the two dead families. Rossi theorizes that the fathers are somehow tied together. It all appears to be too little, too late, however. We cut to another suburban home, where the killer holds a gun to the chest of a pre-pubescent girl. Soon, mom arrives home with a little boy in tow. "Mom!" screams the girl. We're guessing this isn't going to end well. And it doesn't. The team arrives at the home to find the entire family dead and the killer long gone. Once again, the family has been buried out back. Once again, the girl was suffocated instead of shot. Once again, the father is a military man stationed overseas. "So what is it now?" Hudson asks. Reid theorizes that something has dramatically changed for the unsub in order to make him kill again so quickly. Derek notices jets in the sky -- military maneuvers over the nearby base. Could that be a trigger, or "stresser?"
Back at the prison, Emily fake flirts with The Fox, who starts to get creepily fresh with the dark-haired BAU agent. He also begins to open up. "Children are so precious," The Fox says. "They need guidance, especially the girls." Ew. Emily then brings up the uncomfortable fact that The Fox's father molested the future serial killer as a boy. "You forced those men to watch their children die," she presses. "By killing the fathers last, you were killing your own father." So while The Fox was all about the fathers, the current unsub is all about the girls. Could the killer be a woman!? Emily calls Derek with the news. Reid, meanwhile, suddenly has a brainstorm: the backyard gravesites resemble mass graves during times of war. Garcia widens her search from the national (no mass graves in recent generations) to international (plenty of mass graves in the unsub's lifetime). She gets three hits over Interpol. Surveying the locations of the hits, Rossi theorizes that the female killer is originally from Bosnia. "A psychopath born in the middle of that conflict?" Rossi asks. "That's not a good mix." Apparently not. And if the female victims represent the killer, then the unsub would be in her late 20s. Elementary!
But there's more! Garcia has discovered that pictures of each of the surviving military men were uploaded to a photo-sharing Web site. "Every one of these families extensively used this site for months -- even years," Garcia says. Derek points out that someone working for the site would have access to all the photographs and could connect and target families at will. Turns out that's what Garcia was thinking too, because Baby Girl is able to track down an employee who fits the BAU profile: a woman named Miranda. Seconds later, the team storms the suspect's home. They find an address of the next potential victim. Seconds later, the team storms said home and finds crazy Miranda with gun drawn. She LEAPS at Derek and a furious WRESTLING match ensues. During the struggle, the woman's gun gets turned around and -- BLAM! -- she is shot. Miranda dies, without ever having her rights read to her. Case closed, right? Hardly. We cut to the prison, where The Fox reveals that that "an admirer" was not this Miranda at all. On the contrary, it has been the Reaper all along! "He knew you'd come!" says The Fox with a maniacal laugh. Hotch storms out of the cell, followed closely by Emily.
It's on -- but not until next week.
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