The Gathering
Directed by Michael Lange
Written by Kimberly Ann Harrison
A therapy group meets to talk about their sick fantasies, and the leader encourages everyone to write theirs down. An UnSub reenacts these murder fantasies.Written by Kimberly Ann Harrison
Reid: Barbara Grizzuti Harrison once said, "All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination."
Tropes in this episode
- Bait-and-Switch: Played with. The episode frames the victim portion of the episode from the perspective of Peter Harper, whose violent fantasies and stalking of several victims heavily suggest he's the UnSub the team is looking for. He isn't, his therapist Mark Jackson, who had been using his patients to stalk women and write out violent fantasies about them, was, Harper being one of those patients, and someone actively trying to fight his violent urges. Once Harper finds out about what Jackson's been doing, he snaps, kills Jackson, and then succumbs to his urges, making him the UnSub the BAU has to confront at the very end.
- Bullying a Dragon: The brutal serial killer Mark tries to intimidate Peter during their private conversation, and outright states how "weak" Peter is in comparison to him. Peter apparently kills him with minimal effort, ending his attempts to keep his dark side hidden.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Reid, JJ, and Morgan confront Harper at the very end, Reid goes against procedure, trying to talk Harper down and give him false reassurances, in favor of using Brutal Honesty, that Harper likely can never be cured but shouldn't stop fighting, which results in Harper slashing his own throat. When Hotch confronts him on this later, Reid explains it was a tactical decision since the last time he followed the book didn't work, so he was trying something different, making clear to Hotch that Reid is still suffering from the trauma of Maeve's death.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: The UnSub commits murders he reads about. The stories come from a therapy group for people who harbor OCD fantasies about harming others.
- Peter reads texts by women concerning their fantasies and memories, and writes nightmare scenarios based on them. Mark uses these scenarios as detailed scripts for his crimes, while adding his own obsession with mutilation which Peter never had. A strange chain of texts by different persons.
- Working with the Ex: Garcia and Kevin meet a few times in this episode, and it's awkward.
- Reid: Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything except temptation."
