Recap / Criminal Minds S 7 E 6 Epilogue

Epilogue

Directed by Guy Ferland
Written by Rick Dunkle

Rossi: "To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable." Erich Fromm.

Traumatized by his father's drowning death when he was a boy, a man abducts people and repeatedly drowns each one in an attempt to confirm that his father didn't suffer for long but moved on to the afterlife.

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Tropes

• Call-Back: Reid and Emily’s respective near-death experiences in “Revelations” and “Lauren” both get referenced here.
• Downer Ending: Rossi’s ex-wife takes her life and dies in his arms after being convinced not to call emergency services. The final shot is him sitting by her and their son’s graves.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Defied at the end of the episode with the UnSub. Chase tries to drown himself when he’s caught, but Prentiss resuscitates him.
  • Played Straight with Carolyn, who poisons herself knowing that Rossi couldn’t go through with it. He stays with her as she dies.
• Mama Bear: Inverted with Evan, a teenage boy who’s very protective of his single mom. He fights like hell to protect her when they both get abducted, and ultimately succeeds.
• Near-Death Experience: A central theme of the episode. The UnSub had one in his teen years and it disturbed. Decades later, he is approaching his death by a disease. Wanting answers about the afterlife, he specifically tries to cause other people to experience Near Death Experiences. He is frustrated that they keep on dying.
  • The UnSub’s Start of Darkness was being Buried Alive by his father and witnessing a “light” as he dug himself out. His first victim had a similar vision after a near-fatal car accident.
  • Reid and Prentiss both go into detail on their own. Reid recalls a similar light to the others, but Prentiss only remembers it being dark and cold. As the latter is religious and the former isn’t, both are still shaken by the implications.

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Rossi: "The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it." Mary Catherine Bateson.