Ashes & Dust
Directed by John Gallagher
Written by Andrew Wilder
Written by Andrew Wilder
Hotchner: "The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul." John Calvin.
A serial arsonist has turned into a serial killer. The BAU think it could be the doing of an environmental terrorist. Prentiss theorizes it might be the other way around — that an arsonist joined an environmental group because he thought they were about starting fires.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Animal Wrongs Group: The Earth Defense Force, an environmental activist group, is set up as one of these early on because the BAU figures out that the people being killed were accused by the EDF of doing criminal stuff like improper waste disposal. It turns out to be a Red Herring — the UnSub, Vincent Stiles, is a murderous pyromaniac who became a member of the group just to get his hands on a list of targets, and the leader of the group is slightly horrified when he's told this.
- Arc Words: "The right thing".
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: The surviving victim who is dying of third degree burns to half her body and face, still has all her hair and her face is intact.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Vincent Stiles joined the Earth Defense Force because he assumed it to be an “arsonist’s club”. Even after becoming a member and attending their meetings, he still can’t drill it into his head that the group he joined is all about saving lives and would obviously be appalled by his actions.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Stiles is unable to grasp why Abby is so adamant at avenging the families he’s killed. Not only are they complete strangers to Abby, but the fathers of the families were on the list of people accused of committing environmental crimes.
- Freudian Slip: Reid compares the arsonist to a drug addict. It's an open secret among the team that he's using dilaudid since Hankel administered an overdose to him.
- Gallows Humor: The police officer who assists with interrogating Evan Abby into the third crime scene asks Hotch and Gideon to remind him not to play poker with them.
- Green-Eyed Monster: The UnSub's motive.
- Good Parents: Abby has a son and learned that there's a leaking underground storage tank (something that gave him leukemia prior) underneath what is going to be an elementary school, which caused him to form the Earth Defense Force.
- Heroic BSoD: Lampshaded as incoming very early on when Hotchner says he's going to visit the lone survivor of the latest arson and Gideon says in a concerned tone "You took the burn ward last time." Gideon later on correctly predicts that Hotchner was too emotionally invested in the horrors of a death by fire, and quietly instructs Morgan that they'll need to hold him back if the warehouse where the UnSub and Abby are is on fire when they arrive. Hotchner briefly breaks down over Abby's fate afterward.
- Heroic Suicide: Abby only had six months left to live, which is why he was willing to die if it meant taking the killer with him. Hotch even mentioned he wanted his death to mean something.Vincent Stiles: Seriously? How do you plan on getting out of here?Evan Abby: ...I don't.
- Hope Spot: The victims at the start of the episode make it to the entrance to their house, only to learn the door was jammed shut.
- Worse still is that they Failed a Spot Check and didn't see the door jammer was on top of the door, and couldn't reach it anyway with their failing strength.
- Karmic Death: Vincent Stiles is killed by Evan Abby when the latter traps him in a room with him and sets it ablaze.
- Kill It with Fire: Stiles' M.O. is this. It leads to an explosion in one case.
- Let Them Die Happy: The nurse taking care of the burn ward recommends this to Prentiss and Hotch regarding Charlotte Cutler. When confronted with the decision, Hotch does so and subsequently stays with her in her final moments.
- Metaphorically True: Hotchner tells a burn victim that she'll be able to see her husband and son (who she doesn't know are dead) again in a few minutes. As he's aware that she has only minutes to live, he's telling her the truth about that at least.
- Misplaced Retribution: The UnSub does this to a random pedestrian after Abby criticizes his actions. The only crime the man committed was being better off career-wise compared to the unsub, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Evan gets a very small moment when he's told that the list of environmental criminals he compiled as the leader of the Earth Defense Force is being used by Vincent Stiles to choose his victims.
- Narcissist: Vincent Stiles is one, as well as The Sociopath.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: Evan Abby takes down Vincent Stiles in a Heroic Suicide and all Hotch and the rest of the team can do is watch from afar.
- Oh, Crap!: Vincent when Evan's plan for him is revealed.
- ...Or So I Heard: Reid briefly launches into a comparison between serial arson and drug addiction and the difficulties of being able to stop on your own, and quickly has to deflect a little when Gideon gives him a Meaningful Look.
- Psychotic Manchild: Gideon describes Vincent Stiles as this after the latter takes his anger out on a random pedestrian, comparing the attack to a temper tantrum.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Evan Abby to Vincent Stiles.Evan Abby: This is how you do it, right?Vincent Stiles: Well, a fire's a fire. Once it gets going, it don't matter.Evan Abby: That's not really true, though, is it? There's something missing from this scenario, don't ya think? The innocent family? You know, the victims. That's what the suit's for, right? So you can see the terror on their faces as they burn... Of course, then, you're here to kill me, right?
- Secretly Dying: Evan Abby is hiding his terminal leukemia from his family. Hotch figures it out by recognizing the pattern his own father went through before his death: unexplained weight loss, visiting lawyers, closing bank accounts, etc.
- Stepford Smiler: When Even Abby is shown a photograph of the UnSub leaving the Earth Defense Front meeting, the latter has a big grin on his face. It’s disturbing when you realize that, not too long after the photograph was taken, he lashes out on a random victim. Meaning he was repressing seething rage.
- The Topic of Cancer: Abby is suffering from leukemia, caused by leaking underground storage tanks.
- Villainous Breakdown: When the Earth Defense Force is disbanded, Stiles has a particularly nasty one in his car. It leads him to his only single-victim kill via Molotov Cocktail.
- He has another one when he realises Abby has trapped him in a building rigged to go up in flames and is perfectly willing to die to ensure Stiles doesn't escape.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Early on, part of the profile worked up for the UnSub states he'll likely be living with an older female relative. Later on when Stiles's address is found, it's said "He's been living here since his divorce", and the style of the furnishings certainly indicates the house belongs to an older woman, but who said relative is and whether or not she's still alive is never mentioned, it's like they decided casting the role would be too much trouble and excised her scene at the last minute.
- Would Hurt a Child: The families had underage children.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When Stiles realizes Abby has worked out he's the UnSub, he pulls out a gun, clearly intending to shoot Abby to cover his tracks. To his horror, Abby dares Stiles to shoot him, pointing out that the muzzle flare from the gunshot alone will be enough to ignite the leaking benzene tanks under the warehouse they're in.
- Hotchner: Gandhi said, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
