By: Mariah Thomas
An eerie shot brings viewers into a dark room to see a man bound to a chair with a bag over his head and blood on his shirt. The man pleads for help as the unsub returns to the room. Once the bag is off of his head, the man seems to understand why he is in this predicament and offers up an apology. The apology seems to be too little too late as the unsub shoots him directly in the head.
At the BAU, Rossi (Joe Mantegna) comes into the office as Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) attempts to apologize. At the end of the previous episode it was revealed she testified on Voit’s (Zach Gilford) behalf to keep him off of death row. She rattles off her explanation to Rossi and expresses just how much thought went into her decision. She believes in heart that he is truly a changed person and though he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, he doesn’t deserve the death penalty. When Rossi pushes back about how the victim’s families would feel, she reminds him they were all encouraged to submit victim impact statements that also played a part in his sentence. When it’s clear her explanation is falling on deaf ears, Garcia is quick to defend herself. Why is it okay for Rossi to do similar things and for it to be deemed okay and only a problem when she does? In a moment of irritation, Garcia brings up Donnie Mallick and this is a soft spot for Rossi. Donnie was the man responsible for the death of Jason Gideon and killed by Rossi. Though the show has never fully explored it until this episode, there was much chatter on Rossi’s decision to kill Donnie. This moment is broken up between the two when Prentiss (Paget Brewster) saunters in explaining a new case.
In the roundtable room, Prentiss briefs the team on the deaths in New Mexico. All of the victims have been deputies part of the same department. They all received calls about an assault in progress and while checking out the call, went missing. This case is all hands on deck, meaning the entire team including Garcia will fly out for it. On the jet, Garcia is still jostled from her earlier conversation with Rossi. Tyler (RJ Hatanaka) and Prentiss pick up on the tension and attempt to get more information out of Penelope. In her humorous Garcia way, she hints at what she brought up to Rossi. Prentiss instantly knows what she means and is in complete shock. Tyler points out Rossi was never accused of misuse of force and Prentiss clears up he wasn’t but there are signs to point otherwise. Evidence could suggest Donnie put his weapon down before being shot by Rossi and ordered to put it back up to be a clean kill. Though Garcia seems to feel bad for upsetting Rossi, she doesn’t back down on her choice to defend herself.
Arriving in New Mexico, Sheriff Neal Chambers (Matt Biedel) goes to greet Rossi referring to him as “Unit Chief Prentiss” and Rossi quickly points him in Emily’s direction. This slip up is breezed by as Chambers reveals his team is way out of their depth for this case. He was newly elected to his position. Prentiss instantly breaks the team up to begin investigation. Tara (Aisha Tyler) and Tyler are sent to the morgue to examine the bodies. From the medical examiner (Gary Perez) they learn the fuller story of these attacks. These men would be tranquilized before eventually being woken up to be sexually assaulted. Tara and Tyler are shocked to hear about this since it was not in the reports they received. He reveals he was encouraged to omit that from the reports to protect their dignity. Prentiss is outraged by this and checks in with Sheriff Chambers. When Rossi speaks a little too loudly on the assaults, he rushes to shut the door. Though they understand why it wasn’t shared to the families, they remind him it is necessary for them to know to build their case. Chambers reveals he thinks it is a sign the cartel is involved in these killings. While they are discussing, one of the deputies tells the trio they are in pursuit of the suspects. Given the previous kills happened responding to an assault, when a new one comes in, it is clear to the officers it is a set up. When trying to view the live dash cam, Garcia is quick to see the unsub is using something to jam the signal. Without a visual, they are only able to hear what is happening as the two officers approach the suspect. After a beat of silence, they hear something concerning as the men are ambushed.
In a flashback, we see the moment Voit is confronted by Luke (Adam Rodriguez) and Tara for attempting to send his fan a message through Garrity (Paul F. Tompkins). This dented the trust the BAU had built with Voit, so they limited access to his visitors to be only family of his victims. Presently, he is taken out of the memory by one of the guards informing him that one of the family members is there to see him. He meets Joshua Ryan (Justin Kirk), the cousin of one of the victims. He reveals he is there on behalf of the victim’s father to ask some questions. Joshua says he came to understand Voit. He has a deep interest in things pertaining to Voit and an extensive criminology background. Voit is blunt in his description of how he killed the victim and this seems to irritate Joshua. Voit tells him to come back tomorrow and leaves the room. Back in his cell, Voit talks through the interaction with this Rossi he’s been imagining. Here he reveals to the audience that he thinks Joshua is the fan. The fake Rossi points out Voit isn’t running to tell a guard to contact the BAU to inform them. Voit reasons that he knows the BAU would find nothing and he needs a chance to gather more information first.
Back in New Mexico, the BAU investigates the abduction site. Only one of the officers was taken with the other left on the scene unconscious. All he can recount is that the suspect seemed to surrender before they were knocked out. JJ (A.J. Cook) brings up the possibility of a second unsub to shoot the men with tranquilizers while they were distracted. Luke points out it is clear specific deputies are being targeted as one was left unharmed.
Prentiss checks in with Garcia about the missing dash cam footage. Unfortunately, she was not able to recover the video. Currently, they are leaning to this being drug related. Prentiss tells Garcia to follow her into a more private room where Rossi is already waiting. She privately tells the two something hasn’t sat right with her about the case since they arrived. Rossi is quick to fill in the blanks with Sheriff Chambers since he has been withholding information from the team. This paired with the violence seeming personal, Prentiss encourages Garcia to secretly take a peek at the records of each victim to see if they have any overlapping complaints. Knowing the two are currently at odds, Prentiss makes Garcia and Rossi work together on this. The pair sit in awkward silence unless they are speaking about the case. Rossi is quick to continue to throw sass at Garcia and she takes the moment to stand up for herself again. Rossi sits on a pedestal and is convinced that what he did and what Garcia did are extremely different. Garcia is quick to rebuttal with logic. In her ramblings, Rossi realizes something about the current case. He gives Garcia a new thing to look up.
Tara and Tyler visit drug dealer Daniel Salazar’s (Carlos Santos) club. After announcing who they are, they begin to question Salazar. He was often pulled over by the deceased deputies but eventually let go with warnings. When he realizes he is being accused of murder, he decides to reveal on record he had their projection in exchange for drugs. Since this confession is not the best look for him, they accept he isn’t their unsub. Back at the police station, the team reconnects and catches each other up on their findings. They uncover a secret group of law enforcement who call themselves “The Furies.” These men essentially viewed themselves above the law and used their influence to get away with terrible things. Prentiss points out the means and motive leads away from the cartel being involved. The drugs the deputies would take were standard roofie drugs. The team now theorizes that the unsubs are women who were previously assaulted by these men and now out for revenge.
With the team putting the pieces together, we are finally introduced to the unsubs, Maria (Carlena Britch) and Ruby (Cara Jade Myers). The two women reflect in the midst of one of their kills. It is clear they are doing these killings for the specific reason of finding the recording of their attack. One of the men still has a copy of it and they are determined to find it. They rush back into the room and Maria takes the lead and continues her questioning. When the officer pleads with them to stop, Maria reminds him he didn’t stop for her. It is painstakingly clear these women were deeply traumatized and raped by the group of deputies. They want to locate the video to have proof of their attacks. Once they get the latest officer to confess the location of the video, he is killed.
The newly revealed fan and Voit continue their conversation. Voit plays coy and baits Joshua into revealing his true identity. He vaguely answers his questions and mixes his own in. Voit finally reveals what gave the fan away to him. His belt is the same leather found at the crime scenes the BAU believes the fan was involved with. He leaves the fan once again thinking he has the upper hand.
Tyler and Tara revise the morgue to get an update on the latest body found. Tara points out there seems to be an escalation to the killings and Tyler suggests there is a specific sequence to these kills. This can only mean the women are building up to something big. The scene cuts to Maria and Ruby unpacking the new information they have. Ruby tries to plead with Maria that they could easily get away right now. Maria reminds her that without everybody being able to see what those men did to them, their story will be spun to make them look like crazy, man hating women. They know the truth but the world needs to. Even though she is hesitant, Ruby tells Maria she is “ride or die” and ready for the next part of their plan.
Prentiss and Rossi pay Sheriff Chambers another visit to question him about the furies. They acknowledge he is trying to do good in his new position but constantly hiding information from them makes the case harder. His intention is to protect the reputation of his deputies. He knows they are technically covered by their first amendment rights, so he knows there is nothing to catch them on. He reveals to them there is a rumored abandoned house the furies would meet at. JJ, Luke, Tara and Tyler head to the house suited up. Inside they discover evidence that these men have been using this house as a party house and to assault women. There are plenty of cameras set up and evidence to suggest many women had been assaulted there. With this update, Prentiss takes the CSI team out there to collect evidence.
Rossi and Garcia stay back at the station to continue to search for the possible video. Not long after Prentiss leaves, Maria and Ruby enter the police station. Once they give each other the go ahead, they begin to shoot into the air and storm into the Sheriff Chambers office to hold him at gunpoint. In this chaos, Ruby is shot and in need of medical attention. Rossi attempts to reason with the ladies but is shut down. Garcia realizes they won’t listen to him but they will listen to her. After a small conversation with their eyes, Garcia stands up and addresses the women. She introduces herself and makes it clear she believes them. Far too many women have been hurt in this way for her not to believe them. She begins to list out what their theory is and the confirmed information she knows. Maria stops her and asks if Sheriff Chambers told them that the women had attempted to file a police report against the officers. They knew Chambers wasn’t one of the members of the sheriff gang and trusted him but he didn’t believe them. Garcia is able to reason with Maria and get her to reveal where the video is. Once she does, Garcia pulls it up for them to see. Both women feel a sense of relief and trust Garcia will bring this video to light. Maria lowers her weapon and Ruby is able to get the needed medical attention.
Prentiss pays Sheriff Chambers a final visit. When he goes to thank her, she stops him and tells him her team simply did their job. She also offers advice when he seems determined to resign. He seems willing to change and wants to do good, the town deserves better and she tells him the badge is meaningless without individuals willing to sacrifice for justice. On the jet ride home, Rossi sits across Garcia. He admits her bravery today is something only she could do. He also doesn’t outwardly apologize, but he smoothes over the tension by saying people who love each other fight sometimes. He reminds her nothing could ever come between them and reminds her he loves her. JJ gets a text from Henry informing her that he got into his dream school in San Diego. The rest of the team erupts into cheers for this happy moment. This happiness is short lived when the scene cuts to the fan and Voit in prison once more. The fan reveals he is the one with the upper hand and shows Voit a photo. He reminds him he already has a plan in place so there is no reason to contact the BAU. Though we don’t see the photo, based on Voit’s reaction it is most likely of his daughters and/or ex-wife.