Devil's Night
Directed by Charles Haid
Written by Randy Huggins
A man was badly burned in an accident. When he wakes up from a coma, he finds out that his girlfriend abandoned him, the man who caused the accident walked away without a scratch, and he has lost both his job and his home. He decides to enact revenge on the people he holds responsible for the collapse of his life.Written by Randy Huggins
Hotchner: Niccolo Machiavelli wrote, "If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared."
Provides examples of:
- Covered with Scars: The UnSub, who burns people on Halloween, because he suffered intense burns from an accident on Halloween.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While everyone can understand the frustration of eviction and job loss, immolating your former boss and landlord is hardly the appropriate response. Especially since they did nothing to harm you physically, and that’s comparing them to the man you left you disfigured and comatose after a car accident.
- Dramatic Irony: Tracey and her adoptive parents try to deny that the boy with them is her son in order to protect him. Hotch points out that the best way to do that is to confirm that she is her son. More specifically, the son she had with Kaman.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: The fire chief helping the B.A.U. cannot fathom the idea that one of the victims, described as the nicest woman in the world, has wronged the UnSub. A conversation between Prentis and Morgan suggests that he was envious that the woman was happily married while he ended up disfigured and alone.
- Halloween Episode: Not only was Kaman set ablaze on Halloween, the phenomena of "Devil's Night" (arsonists going on a rampage throughout Detroit the night before Halloween) is explained and initially blamed for Kaman's rampage.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Kaman’s son holds no fear or disgust towards his disfigurement. Even touching his scarred face as if to reassure him that everything will be alright. This convinces him to turn himself in.
- Heel Realization: Kaman surrenders when he realizes he nearly burns Tracy's family for no reason and that she did not abandon him. Daniel doesn't even hold it against him.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: Hotch runs into a burning building to save the UnSub's intended victim.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Kaman immediately stops trying to burn up his ex's family when learning Tracy had gotten pregnant before the accident, and that she was raising their child. What's more, she didn't abandon Kaman; it's revealed she named their son after him.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After Kaman met Tracey, he immediately abandoned his life of crime. Unfortunately, he gets into a car crash with one of his former associates.
- Papa Wolf: Tracy's uncle at first says that she is away and fights back when Kaman attacks them. Then he lies that the boy who walked into the room is not Tracy's son, in the hopes that the boy will be spared.
- Poor Communication Kills: Apparently, no one thought to tell Kaman about what exactly happened during his coma, causing him to believe Tracey abandoned him.
- Wham Shot: As Kaman Scott is preparing to kill his ex-girlfriend's family and make her watch, a little boy comes into the room to see what is happening. Kaman immediately freezes and asks for an explanation; Tracy then clarifies she found out she was pregnant while he was in the hospital. Not knowing whether or not Kaman was going to awaken from his coma, she decided to make as fresh a start, raising their son on her own and naming him Daniel Kaman Anderson.
- Hotchner: Thomas Kemp wrote, "Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of its trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse for impossibility, for it thinks all things are lawful for itself and all things are possible."
