By: Mariah Thomas
We see an eerie highway and a single car driving it at night. We soon meet the couple in the car, Laurie (Cher Alvarez) and Mark (Tyler Lawrence Gray). They point out how they’ve lost cell service and don’t know how to navigate where they are. While joking about their friend, Griffin (William Leon), taking too many gummies and being passed out, a truck quickly speeds behind them. They intend to pull over to let the truck pass but the driver has other plans as they honk and try to push them off the road. The truck eventually pulls off and they chalk it up to drunk drivers. As they pull over to use the restroom, the truck reappears. Two men, Caleb (McCabe Slye) and Noel (Levi Meaden), in camo suits approach the car recording the pair. They demand an apology. They antagonize the couple and Griffin eventually wakes up to the noise. High and not realizing the situation fully, he gets out of the car to diffuse the moment but is shot by the men. The men then pull Laurie and Mark out of the car, place them in the trunk and drive off. This leads to that iconic ‘Criminal Minds’ font intro.
At the BAU, Prentiss (Paget Brewster) goes to Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) office with a Chinese food lunch. Rossi mentions that Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) is helping JJ (AJ Cook) move while Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) and Luke (Adam Rodriguez) are helping officers in another state. We also find out Tara (Aisha Tyler) has a new assignment of talking more with Voit (Zach Gilford). This conversation is interrupted when Prentiss gets a text informing her their friends on the 8th floor were all just fired. Rossi jokes that he’s waiting for his turn but Prentiss reminds him he’s too valuable to lay off. She also asks him why he’s avoiding a new book deal. Rossi is adamant on not wanting to due to the publisher only wanting it to be about Voit. Prentiss brings up the infamy of Voit joining the ranks of Ted Bundy and Jefrey Dahmer. She brings up the absurdity of true crime podcasts and how wrong they have it about Voit.
In a jumpscare moment, we see Voit watching a woman in her house from the shadows before attacking her. Knowing there is a year time jump from the previous season to this, it brings the fear of wondering if he got out. This is quickly dismissed as the scene transitions to Voit retelling this attack to Tara. In a ‘Mindhunter’-esq way, she has been interviewing him to better understand the mind of a serial killer with his new found understanding of his crimes. Voit is very self aware and doesn’t see how this is useful. He doesn’t deem himself a resource like Tara insists he is, just a monster. Tara stops the recording to ask Voit questions human to human. She has heard from guards about not sleeping and informs him that some of the families of his victims want to talk with him.
JJ’s sons, Henry (Mekhai Anderson) and Michael (Phoenix Anderson), help move bags to her car as they gear up to move. Soon Penelope lugs out more boxes from the garage and checks in on JJ’s headspace. She admits it feels weird to say goodbye to his house but weirder to stay. She wants Henry to have time to make memories at a new house before he’s off to college. JJ and Penelope gush about how fast he’s grown and their disbelief in it. JJ gives herself a minute alone in the empty house before leaving. As she walks, she hears memories of her boys and Will. She has a silent moment of letting go and walking out of the house.
On the scene in Roanoke, Tyler asks Luke if he’s okay because he hasn’t let go of his phone. Luke says he’s waiting on a call but doesn’t have service. Before Tyler can say more, Trooper Adkinson (J. Maddox) greets them. They find the abandoned car of the couple from the intro. Luke inquires if other disappearances have happened and the officer says another couple went missing a month ago. In a quick transition, we see the couple in a bunker of sorts and it is revealed Griffin is still alive. They press on his wound but the blood won’t stop. The unsubs watch from a camera completely unphased. They plead for them to do something and they drag him out of the bunker. They discover an intercom and think it is a way to communicate with the unsubs. In actuality, we see the couple from the month prior, Bodhi (Owais Ahmed) and Julie (Chloe Castiglioni), are alive and in another bunker. They try to persuade the new couple to keep quiet before things get worse.
JJ walks into the BAU with Garcia admitting the move was a good idea since the boys were finally able to get a good night of sleep even if she didn’t. JJ jokes it’s good to be back at the bau where everything is normal and Garica jokes about that it’s totally normal to catch killers, but at least they don’t pull muscles. She instantly takes that back when Tyler strolls in saying he might. Tyler asks how they move went and Garcia says they could’ve used some taller people since she pulled a muscle moving boxes. Luke comes in distressed on the phone and Garcia asks if everything is okay. He says not really but something pertaining to the case is more important right now. She drops it for now and helps him present the new case to the team. Tyler and Luke report their findings to the team about the missing couples. They found a similar case from 30 years prior. They attempt to profile if it could be connected or a copycat.
Voit paces his cell and goes through his mail. He discovers that he was officially served divorce papers. Rossi still subconsciously taunts him as he is haunted by him in the same way Voit mentally haunted Rossi last season. Rossi is a personification of Voit’s worst thoughts about himself.
JJ, Tyler and Garcia further look at the case and tackle why couples are taken. Luke was able to find the first victim and they discovered the woman, Susan Cartwright (Jeri Ryan) survived. They are swiftly able to bring Susan in for a talk. JJ is the one to greet and talk to her. Susan is fearful to know it is happening again. She gets a text and asks if she can quickly reply since it’s her son. JJ is happy to let her do that and says she gets it. The women discover they both have sons ready to go off to college soon. They bond over that and JJ makes a comment about Will in the present tense. When Susan asks a follow up question, JJ apologies and says she forgot to say “late husband”. After a beat of apologies, the women transition to talking about the case. JJ tries to guide Susan into remembering more. It is revealed that Susan and her then boyfriend were kept alive so long because Susan was impregnated by the unsub. JJ is shocked to learn the unsub took “them”. Meaning, the unsubs now are twins. This cuts to the boys present day going to visit their sick father, Frank (Robert Morgan) in the hospital. They show him videos of the new couples they captured to bring him a sense of twisted joy.
The BAU revisits their profile and discovers the element of procreating is a big reason for these auditions. The unsubs take the couples to torturing the men is a game and keeps the women in line for survival. Rossi tells JJ to do a cognitive interview with Susan and she brings Tara in to help. They gently explain this type of interview to Susan and let her know some of the team is outside watching. JJ guides Susan into remembering the little things about her abduction. The biggest find is how close the abduction site was from where they were held.
Back at the bunker, the twins switch the couples around. They leave a hammer in the middle of them and say they are now on teams. Whoever survives gets to leave. The couples try to plead with each other that this is part of the game. Laurie realizes they want the women to kill the men to weaken their defenses against them. Bodhi thinks they want the men to kill the women to put them out of their misery. The twins watch this unfold from the monitors once more. When the couples have too much reason, they play loud metal music and flash the lights. The father watches this unfold from FaceTime.
The team once again checks in with new findings. They try to uncover how to find the father and sons. With the things they learned from Susan, they were able to narrow down a few location options. When looking deeper at the owners of the tobacco farms, they find a family that could match. When Susan is shown a photo, she confirms he was her abductor. Prentiss and Rossi visit Frank in the hospital and inform him he’s under arrest. Knowing he thrives off of women’s fear, Prentiss completely ignores him. Whenever he makes comments to her, she laughs to Rossi and responds to him. When she finally does address him, she makes him feel small and doesn’t show an ounce of fear which further enrages him. She lets him know he doesn’t need to worry about his sons since they’ll make sure they go to prison.
While watching the chaos on monitors, the twins are interrupted by Tyler, Luke and other officers storming the farm. The twins try to gain the upper hand by saying they legally have the right to defend themselves and any killings were self defense. One twin immediately releases his gun not wanting further issues. The other makes it more difficult. Luke gets to Laurie just in time to stop her from killing Bodhi. The couples finally get to reunite. Back at the BAU, JJ informs Susan that they caught them. Susan struggles with learning that her sons were raised to be monsters by a monster. She has no intention of meeting them.
Tara meets up with Voit once again with more questions. He talks about his dislike for podcasts and the idea of putting his knowledge out there. He says there is always someone new listening and learning. This fades into a voice over as an unsub we don’t see the face of attacks a woman with Voit’s techniques.