By: Mariah Thomas
Though episode four ended in a tense spot, episode five picks up sometime later with JJ (AJ Cook) in Ohio with Tyler (RJ Hatakna). They coordinate a takedown with local law enforcement. They explain they need to take this unsub in alive. As they enter the house, they find remnants of the crime scene. They find the body of two deceased teen girls, the father, zip ties and bloody footprints. A figure in the mask from the previous episode appears shakingly holding a knife. When the person lunges at JJ, she is able to knock it out of her hand and pin the unsub down. The lead police officer comments on her recklessness. Once they remove the mask, they see it is the mother of the deceased family, Amy D Anna (Sarafina King). The unsub made her put on the mask so he could get away.
This is revealed to be a flashback when we see JJ in the present day. She and Dr. Ochoa (Aimee Garcia) appear to be having a therapy-like session. JJ grows agitated and begins to leave claiming she doesn’t know why she came there in the first place. Once called out for her hesitancy to speak to friends about what is going on, she sits. Dr. Ochoa encourages JJ to keep telling her about the case.
In another flashback, Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) skittishly walks away from JJ to the roundtable room with Rossi (Joe Mantenga) and Prentiss (Paget Brewster). In her confusion, Tara (Aisha Tyler) explains to her they found a concrete killer attached to the mask that isn’t Voit (Zach Gilford). The team explains to JJ their findings gently knowing she had been convinced it was Voit. The unsub calls himself The Brutal Man. The team bounce off theories about the unsub when Tara points out this may be someone Voit knows and they should speak to him. JJ says, “Oh, I will.” She is met with shocked faces from her team as Emily firmly tells her no. She tells Rossi he will speak to Voit and the rest of the team will go to Ohio before speaking with JJ privately. She tells her why she isn’t able to go and present day JJ implies to Dr. Ochoa, they had a mini argument. JJ jumps through the story as she recounts it to Dr. Ochoa. Though Emily told her she couldn’t go, JJ snuck on the jet. When discovered Emily asked her for a reason as to why she would let her go. JJ says she needs this. She needs to work. She expresses it in such a desperate way, Emily allows her to travel.
JJ breaks down how the brutal man works. He breaks into a family home and makes them choose one person to die. If they don’t, he picks for them. He kills all but one member to relay his message to law enforcement. The mother in this current case recounts everything to Emily and JJ. The mother tearfully expresses she doesn’t know how to live without her family as they were her whole life. JJ seems to be holding on by a thread as she can relate to that sentiment. When Emily sends JJ to get ‘s phone, she makes a stop to the bathroom, where she takes a moment to collect herself after throwing up.
In the present, JJ plays with her necklace and Dr. Ochoa comments on it. It was a gift from Will with their kid’s initials. JJ comments on Dr Ochoa’s cross necklace and says she’s surprised since most doctors she knows tend to not be religious. The pair proceed to talk about belief and loss within that. JJ says she doesn’t have a lot to believe in right now. Dr Ochoa reveals her father died when she was a teenager. He had a stroke and suddenly died. This pushed her on the path to becoming a doctor. With this understanding, JJ sees her in a new light.
Dr. Ochoa recounts a memory of her own to JJ. With Voit on suicide watch, Rossi checked in on him. He asked Rossi to leave his gun alone with Voit in the room. On a mission to kill himself, Voit is breaking down to desperate measures. Of course, Rossi refuses. He grows angered he won’t let him. The more Voit remembers, the worse he feels. The worse he feels, the less likely he is to talk to someone who can help. Dr. Ochoa follows that statement up to JJ with a, “sound familiar?” Though vastly different, JJ and Voit are processing in the same way.
JJ continues on with the story about the case. She says when they walked the crime scene she could tell her head wasn’t in the game. When they enter the garage, she notices a sticker placed on the back of the car is missing, taken by the unsub. She calls Tara to ask Amy about her theory. Amy confirms they have a stick figure family decal. This shows them the motive for how the unsub chooses the victims as it lines up with other cases. Once they deliver the profile to the local law enforcement, JJ grows overwhelmed and leaves the room. In the present day she explains to Dr. Ochoa her disappointment in herself as that is something she’s never done before. She views it as abandoning her team. JJ reveals the unsub had taken another family. As she blames herself with that, Dr. Ochoa brings up the topic of coping skills. She says she prays. She doesn’t ask God for help to change outcomes, rather for help to accept them.
Back during the case, Emily checks in with JJ. JJ tells her she was right and that she came back too soon. Emily reminds her that there was never going to be a right time. “There’s a part of me who doesn’t know how to make sense of life outside of this job.” JJ expresses how it is easy to feel a dopamine rush when they solve a case and catch the bad guy. It is a feeling that fixes everything, but in reality it doesn’t. Emily takes the time to break the tension telling JJ a funny story. She reveals to her the reason why she and Andrew Mendoza (Stephen Bishop) broke up. Andrew was constantly pushing for a threesome with Emily and another woman. When JJ prompts who she grows uncomfortable yet humored at the possibility it was her, but Emily quickly says they never got that far in the conversation. Emily says she told Andrew if she wanted to disappoint two people at once, she would go to dinner with her parents. This earns a real authentic laugh from JJ. When she asks why she told her this, Emily reveals JJ had “the real thing” with Will. Emily never did, so when that relationship ended, she knew she had the job to fall back on to deal with any leftover heartbreak. Will was the person JJ would go to to work through big emotions like she’s feeling now, and he’s gone. Nothing she finds in this job will make these feelings better and Emily is afraid the grief will overwhelm JJ.
JJ describes her grief as an unsub “when you’re not expecting it, it comes through the back.” Saying this triggers JJ to realize their current unsub may be getting in with a spare key. With the help of Garcia, the team figure out each family had their locks recently changed by the same locksmith. They are able to find he recently did work for another family and set out to stop him. Tyler and JJ make it to the house in time to save the family. In an attempt to stop the unsub from killing himself, JJ gives a small speech meant to find the humanity left in him. However, he is only humored and laughs at her as he holds a throat to his knife. He drops the knife and is swiftly apprehended. At the crime scene he makes one request to tell them everything. He wants to talk to Sicarius.
Back in the present, JJ and Dr Ochoa continue their conversation. Throughout the episode there were shots of a third coffee mug on a table further away from them. It is revealed that Voit has been in the room the entire time, and JJ finally addresses him. Voit says trying to kill himself was selfish knowing there is still good he can do to ease other’s suffering with his memories. He agrees to meet with the brutal man. Voit is once again walked through the BAU with a heavy police detail. Tara reveals the plan was for JJ to reveal her trauma to help Voit process his. Voit is shown crime scene photos and given information before going in to speak with the brutal man. The catch is, the brutal man doesn’t know Voit has amnesia, so he’ll have to walk in the room acting as his Sicarius self. Before being led to talk with him, Voit hugs JJ and apologizes for his hand in her trauma. The episode ends as the two come face to face.