Brothers Hotchner
Directed by Rob Bailey
Written by Rick Dunkle
An UnSub poisons wine with a street drug that it takes very little to overdose on.Written by Rick Dunkle
Hotchner: "Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof." Richard Bach.
Tropes in this episode
- Call-Back: Not specifically highlighted, but the Replicator's declaration of his endgame — hijacking Garcia's screens to display a message — is a clear reference to the BAU's first 'massive case' back in the first season finale.
- Character Catchphrase: Turns out "Zugzwang" is actually the Replicator's.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with the Replicator standing over a sleeping Strauss.
- Everyone Can See It: After Rossi lovingly watches Strauss leave, JJ asks if he could be any more obvious.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Aaron and Sean Hotchner. Aaron is a successful FBI agent with a son and a steady girlfriend, Sean has a drug habit, a criminal record, no steady job, and had a shaky relationship with his girlfriend before she died. Interestingly, Aaron says he was the one who made bad choices as a teenager, and that at one point he looked at his life and decided he didn't want that, so he got his shit together.
- Pulled from Your Day Off: Hotch was looking forward to spending time with his son and girlfriend, but then his brother called.
- Smokescreen Crime: The poisoning plot at a crowded bar is part of the Unsub's revenge plot against the bar's owner, and is only used to undermine the guy's business activities before the Unsub personally kills him. The victims were effectively random, people who one way or another drunk from wine bottles containing the poison. Due to a chain of random events, the bottles ended up in locations which the killer had not even considered while planning the crimes.
- Hotchner: "Cruel is the strife of brothers." Aristotle.
