By: Mariah Thomas
After a season filled with tense opening scenes, episode nine opens up with a humorous interview as Dr. Ochoa (Aimee Garcia) has to change out her staff. In the previous episode, the BAU discovered someone working alongside Voit (Zach Gilford) may be working with ‘The Disciple’. In order to rule people out, they need Dr. Ochoa to switch out her main staff working with Voit every two weeks. Nurse Perry (Ian McQuown) drops a few raunchy jokes to lighten the mood and prove he is no threat working closely with Voit. Later when JJ (AJ Cook) and Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) question Voit about Cyrus (Silas Weir Mitchell), Nurse Perry is slowly “working” in the area as he listens. Walking back into the hospital, he is caught taking his phone out by Monica (Ariel Jackson), who closely works with Dr. Ochoa. He is able to convince her he has a sick son at home. As she walks away, a sinister look appears on his face that transitions into a flashback of the previous night. A family was killed by the same masked figure we have seen all season. However, this time, we see who is behind the mask and it is revealed to be Nurse Perry. It is clear he has been the leak and working directly with Voit’s Disciple. Before leaving the scene, he kidnaps the young boy of the family he just killed.
Voit learned that Dr. Ochoa likes dark chocolate and brings her a bar. She thanks him but puts up clear boundaries on the dynamic between them. Voit clearly grows embarrassed that he crossed a line and she breaks up the tension by telling him to get away from her chocolate when he goes to take it back. The light mood is quickly changed by a text she gets. We then see Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) get the same notification on her computer and she races to the bullpen to find the team. She runs into Prentiss (Paget Brewster) who is in full unit chief mode as she is on a call and directs Garcia to round up the team in a stern voice.
In the roundtable room, Garcia presents a new family annihilator case. We quickly realize it is the family Nurse Perry killed. However, it is now revealed that this was the family of one of the unknown men they captured working for The Disciple. The team springs into action to get protection for other families and survivors in relation to this massive case. As the team heads out, Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) informs Prentiss and Rossi (Joe Mantegna) that Trevor hung himself in his prison cell earlier that morning. This officially leaves one unsub from the network in their custody.
Tyler and JJ are focused on finding the kidnapped boy, Andrew Wolner (Jack Jewkes) They cannot wrap their heads around why the sudden change in the unsub’s pattern to take the child, so they head to Voit for help. They work through their theories with Voit and ask him what he typically would have advised the people on his network. Voit grows uncomfortable and overwhelmed as he grows too aware of the situation at hand. He suggests that the unsub may have taken the child because he is a pedophile. Still struggling with his own situation and being a father himself, Voit is sick as the thought and shuts them out.
Back at the BAU, Garcia runs to tell Tara (Aisha Tyler) that Kyle Mackey (Aaron Stanford), an unsub from an earlier episode, is missing. The official reports never show him arriving at the prison he was transferred to. When Tara asks how this could have happened, Garcia brilliantly jokes back, “Great question- as great as my outfit.” In quick succession, Rebecca (Nicole Pacent) enters the room to inform them that Kyle’s ex wife, Lainey (Alicia Urizar McCallum) and daughter, Ava (Audrina Miranda) have also gone missing. This family was the key to the BAU having the upper hand and they are all missing. In her panic over the situation, Garcia jokes she needs a pick me up and grabs Rebecca’s hand to see her engagement ring. As Garcia and Tara eventually head downstairs to meet with Prentiss, Tara asks Garcia if she will eventually officiate her wedding. She tells Garcia how important she is to both her and Rebecca and she is overjoyed to be asked.
Prentiss, Luke (Adam Rodrigez) and Tara watch as a mysterious large crate sent to the bau is cracked open. They are shocked to see it is the missing boy they have been looking for and he is still alive. Eventually the boy says he wants to speak to “Agent JJ”. Using her mom energy to warm up to the young, traumatized boy, JJ plays a game of cards with him as she asks questions. He tells her he was told a prayer to memorize and recite back to her. It is an altered prayer to throw Will’s (Josh Stewart) death in her face. She maintains her calm in front of the child, who of course has no idea what he’s saying. Once she exits the room, you can see the anger bounce off of her body. Luke quickly intercepts before her anger can boil over and says Prentiss figured out something important watching the interview from the other room. Prentiss says the network unintentionally gave them a big clue. ‘JJ’ is a nickname only used by her by friends and family. For them to have the boy address her as JJ, tells them someone very close to the case is directly communicating with the disciple. Prentiss assures her that everyone else is closely looking into other leads while she has JJ head back to the hospital to take a closer look at Dr. Ochoa’s staff.
Rossi sneaks off to his office to take new medication. While the bottle is out, Tara opens the door before he is able to hide it. She questions him about what he is taking. After making an Ozempic joke, he opens up to her. He is finally taking therapy seriously and has recently been prescribed antidepressants. He tells her the combination of the two has been helpful to him. Given, she is a psychologist, she is ecstatic over this news and does a silly “end zone” dance. To make up for busting into his office, he makes her listen to a theory about the case he has.
Together, Luke and Garica piece together Kyle’s whereabouts. His lawyer put him in the system under a different last name to hide him from the network. Once they find him, they bring him in for questioning. In the interrogation room, Luke slightly taunts him by telling him how they found him. Kyle attempts to reverse the taunting to hold the upper hand at JJ and Prentiss watch the interview happen. The pair discuss the logistics of what Kyle is implying. They eventually head out and continue talking. Prentiss says Kyle is nursing a narcissistic wound and bringing his ex-wife in would be like pouring salt in it. For him to see her power without him. Unfortunately, she is still missing. JJ has a revelation as they realize Lainey must have had help. She and Tyler rush back to the hospital to tear apart Voit’s room. JJ discovers a hidden phone under the mattress and he confirms he told Lainey to run. Knowing the network seems to be winning this battle, he wanted Lainey and her daughter to be safe. Dr. Ochoa is betrayed to learn Voit somehow snuck in a phone. Voit is officially arrested again and Tyler gets to do the honor. As he walks him out, Voit says he’s glad Tyler is the one to do this and that he deserves this moment.
Rossi sits with Voit in the interrogation room while Tyler updates Prentiss about the phone. It is formatted to completely delete all information with one wrong password attempt. Back at the hospital, JJ and Garcia screen everyone’s phone’s to look for any possible matching data to link who would have given Voit one. Garcia’s device dings for Monica’s and she instantly becomes a suspect. She claims her innocence and feels betrayed. Dr. Ochoa would believe this for a second. Quickly, JJ realizes she has been set up.
Rebecca and Tara present Prentiss with the theory that the disciple could be a woman. Looking back into Cyrus’s history, they discover the reason he was never questioned previously was because his daughter told police at the time he was out of the country. They profile he isn’t the fatherly type and this woman must have been another victim trained like Voit was. At the same time, Lainey is brought into the BAU once they uncover her location. They allow her privacy in the room as she absolutely rips him to shreds with insults. Luke, Rossi and Voit listen in the next room humored by the moment. She walks out and says he’ll talk to them now. On the height of women being angered with him, Prentiss is the next to question Kyle. She is not falling for his bullshit and says that if he is lying to her not even God can save him. He told her about a ‘mechanic’ he was in contact with to speak to the disciple. Luke and Tyler stakeout the address they were given as Prentiss, Rossi and JJ watch the live feeds back at Quantico. Hours in, Prentiss says “we got fucked” and storms in to yell at Kyle for lying to him. He keeps his stance and swears he’s not. He says something that triggers a new revelation for Prentiss and she leaves the room in a panic. Rossi checks in on her and she is overwhelmed with how ahead this network is and how many unsubs have been so close to them lately. She realizes its all been a distraction to distract them from their next big move. Voit is now the one piece they’ve left open as they set their eyes on other areas.
At the hospital, Dr. Ochoa goes to speak to Voit as she is enraged by his betrayal in having the phone. She tells him he will be transferred to another hospital and she’s recommending his prison transition starts soon. As she turns to leave, Voit grabs her and covers her mouth with his hand. She panics and tries to get away but he quickly tells her he thinks they are both in danger. He says “It only gets this quiet when I’m about to kill someone.” Just then, the lights go out and everyone in the hall is shot. The door to Voit’s room slowly opens and the camera cuts away before he sees who is behind the gun.The BAU is called in for a mass shooting and they check the hospital floor to discover Voit and Dr. Ochoa are missing and not accounted for. The episode ends on a “to be continued…” note.