By: Mariah Thomas
Two sisters, Kaliyah (Imani Hakim) and Ryleigh (Omono Okojie), are catching up over dinner. Their conversation is abruptly cut when Kaliyah’s husband Tristian (Kofi Sirboe) announces his mother is in the hospital. He immediately leaves Kaliyah and her daughter Avery (Nana Thompson) home alone. Sadly, Kaliyah is attacked once night falls. Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) meets up with D.A Emory (Rob Yang) when Kaliyah and Avery’s bodies are discovered four years later. D.A Emory thinks Voit (Zach Gilford) may be involved as one of his empty kill kits was discovered not too far from where the bodies were uncovered. Rebecca points out Voit already confessed to the murders of sixty-three people and it wouldn’t make sense for him to hide this one.
Unfortunately JJ’s (A.J. Cook) new apartment flooded days after moving in. Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) is quick to offer her apartment for JJ and the boys. Luke (Adam Rodriquez) helps JJ move her stuff over, although they seem to have arrived too early. Garcia was still mid-rendezvous with “Mr. Wednesday” and hadn’t got a chance to tidy up the candles and rose petals thrown about. Luke is well up to date on Garcia’s flings of the week, which he was given nicknames. Garcia profusely apologizes and JJ just admits she’s jokingly upset Garcia hadn’t told her about these hookups. Garcia admits with Will’s death only being a year out, she didn’t feel it was appropriate to talk about it. JJ assures her she understands but is happy to hear about her friend’s happiness. JJ and her boys had a weekend camping trip planned that was put on pause with the flooding. Once JJ leaves the room, Garcia enlists Luke’s help to set up a surprise for the Jared family.
Tara (Aisha Tyler) is back at the prison continuing her interviews with Voit to further understand his mind. He talks in detail on what he witnessed as a child with his Uncle Cyrus. Back at the BAU, Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) and Tara watch the footage back. Tyler speaks out loud what most of the audience has been thinking. Much of the information Voit discusses is part of his court records, so what is the point of the interviews? Tara reminds him that is quite literally what their job is. They may have his profile, but they don’t know how it evolved. How did Elias Voit become Sicarius the serial killer?
Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) makes her first grand appearance in this episode as the elevator doors open and she struts out. She meets up with Rebecca and D.A Emory to discuss the new Voit development. Without DNA evidence, she is not convinced Voit is involved. Like Rebecca, she points out it doesn’t make sense VOit wouldn’t have told them about these deaths and how children don’t fit his victimology. D.A Emory points out by keeping some deaths a secret, Voit assures he won’t ever be put to death.
In prison Voit carefully analyzes his cell. He knows the timing of the guard switch over, how long the door is kept open, camera blind spots and more. Rossi (Joe Mantegna) narrates in Voit’s mind that he is unconsciously doing. He suggests Voit wants to escape while Voit is adamant he doesn’t and knows he deserves to be there. However, we know Rossi is a figment of Voit’s imagination, so it opens up the question of which thoughts are his real ones?
Prentiss and D.A Emory visit Voit in prison to question him about the deaths of Kaliyah and Avery while the rest of the BAU watches via a cam back at the office. Rebecca and Tara quickly realize Voit is aware of the deep implications for him if he confesses to this crime. He would officially be out of the BAU’s jurisdiction and have a new case set in North Carolina which may give him the death sentence. Prentiss carefully watches Voit as he seems to put on a show for D.A Emory to make him believe he was involved. However, when Voit says he knows where the body of Kaliyah is, the BAU questions if he really did it.
The BAU meets back up to discuss their current predicament. They acknowledge they can’t deny Voit’s devious ways to have killed Kaliyah and Avery; however it doesn’t match the profile they’ve spent years building on him. Rossi points out these deaths seem like crimes of passion. Rossi thinks Voit may try to escape. Prentiss sends JJ and Tyler along with Voit to keep a close eye on him while he’ll be out of custody on his “field trip” with D.A Emory. Prentiss questions Garcia if they could have missed anything on Voit having a connection to Kaliyah. Garcia is adamant there is no way she missed anything and Prentiss gives her one of her famous stares which prompts Garcia to search again.
The press greets the BAU and Voit as they arrive at the North Carolina police station. An angry man jumps the crowd and attempts to lunge at Voit. Rossi stops him and he learns he is the father of Kaliyah, Davonte (Cress Williams). Prentiss and Rossi bring him to a more secluded area to talk. He brings up the fact that up until yesterday, everyone thought Kaliyah’s husband did it. He has a hard time making sense of these sudden changes. He also admits he wishes they were still considered missing because he could hold onto hope they would be found one day.
Back at the BAU, Tara and Luke chat with Kaliyah’s husband. He was the number one former suspect for the disappearances of his wife and daughter. He has a strong arrogance to him that still makes Luke and Tara question if he is responsible for these deaths. He doesn’t seem to care or be affected by their deaths and body discoveries. Tara is quick to point out the affair he had been having and how he lied about his mother the night they were killed to be with this other woman. When he feels he’s being questioned as a suspect again, he angrily leaves the BAU.
Tyler, D.A Emory, JJ and a few officers take Voit out to where the car had been discovered to find Kaliyah’s body. Tyler and JJ are extra cautious watching his every move for signs of him attempting to escape. Voit seems to be leading them on a wild goose chase as he continues to walk into the forest. Suddenly, he begins to run and JJ and Tyler are hot on his trail with guns drawn. JJ is quick to tell him they will shoot if he runs. He stops, looks back and tells them to dig where he is standing. At the same time, Prentiss and Rossi pay a visit to Ryleigh and her husband Jesse (Abraham Amkpa). Rossi quickly notices how much of the house has been changed since Kaliyah went missing now that Ryleigh owns the house. By nightfall, investigators locate Kaliyah’s body exactly where Voit said it would be.
Garcia confirms the body found belongs to Kaliyah however none of Voit’s DNA was found with it. In a turn of events, Tristian’s DNA was found all over the crate her body was put inside of. The team wonders if Tristan was part of Voit’s network and they somehow missed him. Garcia says she checked every corner of the web and found nothing to support this. If they hadn’t communicated, Tyler wonders out loud how Voit found the body. Rossi points out he played a game to find the body and put himself in the mind of the unsub. He used logic and soil patterns to determine where Kaliyah could have been buried.
Tyler goes in to talk with Voit and figure out why he would lie about being involved and let the real killer get away. Voit mocks Tyler’s newness to the world of profiling and tells him he was able to figure out the killer based on the information he knows. He tells Tyler if he wants the real killer to be caught, he could do his job and read the case file. However, if he can’t do that then Sicarius will die for his sins.
After talking once more with Tristian, they figure out who physically killed Kaliyah and Avery. They arrive at the house to arrest Ryleigh’s husband Jesse. He immediately flees the house before being stopped by Tyler at the back gate. Once in the integration room, JJ and Tyler talk to Jesse. They play their cards and tell him what they know and try to get him to crack and reveal more. To speed track this process, they put Voit in the room with him to scare him into a confession.
Eventually all of the pieces fall into place. Ryleigh and her father come to the station to check in on Jesse. In a good cop/bad cop fashion Rossi and Prentiss break things down for Ryleigh. They explain how they profiled Jesse’s involvement and how it leads back to her command. She was jealous of her sister. Eventually she cracks and spills it all. Their mother had been sick and Ryleigh was the one to take care of her. However, in the end she left the house to Kaliyah. She resented her sister for always getting the upper hand.
Once back home, JJ returns to Garcia’s to see the surprise Garcia and Luke set up for her. They set up a living room campsite for JJ and the boys to still get their trip in. JJ becomes emotional and is grateful for her friends to do this. When Garcia gets a call from one of her days of the week, JJ insists she should go have fun. Garcia reminds her it’s always “sisters before misters.”
The episode ends with Voit returning to his home cell and being given the mail he had received while away. He doesn’t care for the fan mail but discovers a huge stack of coded papers. All of which say “I am not pathetic” are various shapes. Voit quickly realizes he has a fan that may be just like him.