Criminal Minds - A Family Affair

Criminal Minds – A Family Affair

(Series 7 – Episode 16)

The episode opens showing a man and woman getting things heated; it then comes to our knowledge that the man is having trouble completing the act. We then see that the woman is a prostitute. The man is pretty sure that he can get it right and asks for her to try something different after all he has paid to have her the whole night. As she sits back on his lap the man stabs her. We then see that the man is in a wheelchair.

We then see Hotch at a café with Beth and he’s not sure if he is going to make it back in time for the FBI Triathlon he has been training for, Beth says that he has been training way too hard to not make it back and she was hoping to wave him to the finish line but then she remembered that Jack will be there. This doesn’t seem to phase Hotch as he wants the two of them to meet. It’s nice to see Hotch moving on and I don’t think Beth has an ulterior motive – at least I hope not.

We then see JJ looking tired and drained and when she admits that she is on double duty with Henry as Will is working you can see that panic in Garcia’s face as they have had a salsa night booked for the past twenty-three and half days and it cannot be cancelled. I love how Garcia is on countdown to girl’s night – just like any of us girls are.

We then get to see an older couple who we find out are the unsub’s parents – they seem to be a troubled couple and the father has a drinking problem. The mother tries to get the unsub to take his medication even telling him they’re vitamins, the unsub is having none of it. The mother tells the father they have got to get him back on his medication because they both know what he does when he is off them.

After the mother overhears his physiotherapist praise him at how far he has come and to keep up whatever was making him keep getting better the mother tells the father to find another girl. When he protests that it is too soon the mother says that it is the only thing making him better so he tells her he will take care of it. Looks like the team have got three team murderers on their hands.

JJ and Prentiss are interviewing a prostitute who was friends with the first victim and at first their isn’t any information she can give them until she remembers a grey van that was parked for hours – the van was parked in a loading only zone.

Wee see a classy looking woman approach the father who says she is here to see Jeffrey, it turn out she is an escort. The next we see of her is when she comes stumbling out of Jeffrey’s room having been stabbed and as she makes her way to the front door we see the mother lock the front door as she gets near and then the father drags her away. We then see the pair of them scrubbing the blood from Jeffrey’s bedroom, the father doesn’t want to keep on doing this but the mother is adamant that they continue because it is making Jeffrey better. They then go to see Jeffrey who demands that they go find him another girls – they tell him that he has to start taking his meds again. Jeffrey gets defensive and says he is not going to turn into a pill popper like his mother. When his father defends her he sniped that he is just an alcoholic.

Back at the police department the team are reviewing the case again and wondering where the bruises that have been found on the girls thighs have comes from – they know that is has come from some sort of restraint but there was no bruises on their arms. It’s Reid who suggests that maybe the unsub is in a wheelchair and that would mean there is more than one unsub.

We then see the mother spiking Jeffrey’s food with his meds; however she stops when he catches her. Its then we see the father with a gun held in her hands, when Jeffrey is out of the way the mother comes and tells the father that it is time. What have they got planned? How will this all end?

There a knock at the door and it turn out to be Jeffrey’s physiotherapist who was invited to dinner by the mother.

The team have looked at the body of the escort and the disposing is different to the first victim, it’s neater but it also makes it too neat. It’s then that the team suggest that the team are parents and son. When Derek asks what kind of sick people would do this? Reid replies someone who has done it before which they then put the power into Garcia’s hand to find them something good.

We then see the mother preparing the dinner when Jeffrey walks into the kitchen with his physiotherapist by his side and you see how happy she is, however her happiness is soon shattered when she realises it is just an illusion. At the dinner table an awkward atmosphere is present and after dinner the mother asks the father if he has got it and he nods as he pats his top pocket.

Garcia has found out that the Collin’s family were in a car accident five years ago where the mother admitted to driving but her injuries were inconsistent to this but the fathers weren’t so it was clear that the father was driving but he had also been drinking. During this accident their son Jeffrey was paralysed.

When Erica (the physiotherapist) goes to get Jeffrey’s medication and drops them as she picks them back up she finds the necklace the escort was wearing with and hand full of blood. As she panics and goes to leave the mother is there telling her she should have left the medication for her to get after all she is her mother and then she whacks her with the gun.

We then see Jeffrey’s father driving and is upset then he has a flashback to him falling asleep at the wheel and being involved in the collision. In present time we see the father takes off his seatbelt and speeds up. He then wraps his car around a lamppost.

The police announce that he died on impact and he had a letter of confession to all four murders.

The team are now at the Collin’s family home and tell that Jeffrey’s father is dead and they know exactly what has been going off despite his confession. The mother has hold of Erica and Jeffrey is pleading to let her go and that it is the end. The mother announces that she promised to take care of everything and as she points her gun at Jeffrey, Rossi shoots her.

Back on the jet Rossi asks what time he needs to pick Jack up and his face drops when Hotch says he has to set off for 5am but he agrees to be there as long as he has a coffee pot on. He then asks Hotch if he is ready or nervous and with a smile Hotch says he is ready. We know that Rossi wasn’t asking if he was ready for the triathlon but ready for the journey of him and Beth. JJ is getting frustrated as she can’t seem to get a babysitter for Saturday night and she knows that Garcia won’t be happy if she has to cancel. Reid then offers to baby-sit, after all how hard can it be?

We then see the team waiting at the finish line for Hotch, Garcia, Prentiss and JJ with sunglasses and looking very hung-over. We also see Jack on Derek’s shoulders (a moment to coo over that for a second please.) Using Reid excellent calculation the team cheer as Hotch crosses the finishing line. After the team congratulate Hotch he is shouted over by Beth I love how she calls him Hotchner instead of Aaron. Hotch then takes Jack over so they can meet and then invites her for a burger as the team look on happy for their unit chief. I really hope this relationship has a happy ending.