In the season’s tenth episode, “The Lesson”, the BAU looks into the case of an Unsub who exhibits ritualistic tendencies. Matthew Gray Gubler directed tonight’s incredibly creepy episode. Read on to find out what the Criminal Minds writers have in store for us this week.
A Very Strange Puppet Theatre
After the body of a male victim is found stuffed into a box and a couple goes missing in the same area where the first victim was abducted, the team joins the investigation. The agents know that the Unsub is escalating and the body of the male half of the missing couple soon turns up. After a third male victim is found, the agents realize the Unsub is turning his victims into human marionettes.
The Unsub’s father, a puppeteer, was murdered in a robbery when the Unsub was a child and the Unsub is playing out those events with his victims, trying to get it right this time around and save his father. The agents arrive in time to save all of the Unsub’s current victims and he is arrested.
Reid and His Girlfriend
Our B-plot in tonight’s episode is all about Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) and the mysterious woman (played by Leverage’s Beth Riesgraf) he has been talking to for the past few months. In this episode, we learn that Reid’s friend does indeed have a stalker, as many fans guessed, but the mystery woman thinks her stalker might be out of the picture. She has not received any harassing phone calls or emails in two weeks and without a stalker to hide from, she suggests they finally meet up, face-to-face.
Though Reid is already smitten with this girl, he is concerned about meeting her in person. Reid opens up to Blake (Jeanne Tripplehorn) about his fear that his friend may not like his messy, real-world self, but Blake assures him that meeting face-to-face will only strengthen his bond with this mystery woman. Reid takes Blake’s advice and plans a date for the night the team returns home.
Reid arrives for his date, complete with a special gift for his friend, but panics when he sees a man watching him. Reid calls his friend and tells her to go back home because he believes her stalker is there. But it appears that Reid is just being paranoid and the supposed stalker is just another restaurant patron. Reid does not meet his friend that night but she does leave a present for him — the very same book he planned to give her.
Was Reid right to think someone was watching him? Could it be possible that his friend’s stalker was in the restaurant that night? If not, why did the stalker stop contacting her? Was it really as simple as turning his advances toward another victim?
The Team Learns Reid’s Secret
Earlier in the episode, Morgan (Shemar Moore) and JJ (A.J. Cook) discuss Reid’s unusual behavior and Morgan tells JJ that he thinks Reid has a girlfriend. JJ seems surprised by this and wonders why Reid would keep this woman a secret.
After their case is concluded, JJ decides they should all go back to Rossi’s for some wine-drinking and game-playing. Hotch (Thomas Gibson) has to decline the offer, as his son’s sleepover gives him the perfect opportunity to visit Beth in New York. Reid will also miss out on the team gathering, as he is busy that night, news that prompts JJ to conclude that Reid must indeed have a girlfriend.
How long will it take for the other agents to confront Reid about his secret girlfriend? Will he open up to someone about the woman’s stalker? And does the stalker or Reid’s mystery woman have any connection to the season-long Unsub?
Any thoughts on tonight’s case or Reid’s girlfriend? If so, let us know in the comments section.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
