Line #34 Recap/CriminalMindsS1E1ExtremeAggressor


1	!!Extreme Aggressor
2	->Directed by Creator/RichardShepard\
3	Written by Creator/JeffDavis
4	-->'''Gideon:''' ''Joseph Conrad said, "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."''
5	Profiler Jason Gideon returns to the Behavioral Analysis Unit after a leave to help Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner and the team profile a killer in Seattle after another woman's abduction.
6
7	----
8
9	!!This episode provides examples of:
10	* AloneWithThePsycho: The episode ends with Gideon alone in a gas station with the Footpath Killer.
11	* BerserkButton: Tim Vogel's impotence is the entire reason he's kidnapping and killing women. Gideon outright calling him impotent and making fun of him for it gets the man so angry that it makes him careless, allowing Gideon the opening to take him down.
12	* BoomHeadshot: The Footpath Killer's signature.
13	* CliffHanger: At the end of the episode, Gideon walks into an isolated gas station and realizes that the attendant is the Footpath Killer. The Killer realizes that he knows, and holds Gideon at gunpoint as he tries to walk away.
14	* CompensatingForSomething: Tim Vogal checks off all the boxes for someone trying to make up for impotence. He goes to the gym constantly. He drives a muscle car and he abuses a position of authority.
15	* DevilInPlainSight: The Footpath Killer, which in addition to being a very odd individual has Polaroids of his numerous victims hanging around his workplace. However, the remoteness of his workplace and the fact that the victims are alive in the photos means that most transients won't realize he is the killer in the odd chance they come across him.
16	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The lightning and tone of the episode is different compared to later ones, recalling ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
17	* EmbarrassingNickname: When Gideon's running through a list of nicknames girls who found out Vogel was impotent must have called him, the one that sets him off is "Tiny Tim".
18	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The second half of the line[[note]]"When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you."[[/note]] is quoted at the end of the episode.
19	* HiddenInPlainSight: The Footpath Killer makes little to disguise himself if at all, but he is so far from civilization he is still beneath suspicion.
20	* HollywoodBoardGames: The serial killer employs and names himself after a ''{{TabletopGame/Go}}'' strategy called "extreme aggressor". Its difficulty signals not only intelligence but great determination. Its name also highlights the way he treats human lives.
21	* HumanHeadOnTheWall: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. The Footpath Killer has Polaroids of his victims' faces on his wall, while they were still alive. The imagery is still there.
22	* KillerCop: When he is not killing, Vogel works as a prison guard.
23	* KineticClicking: The Footpath Killer clicking his rifle behind Gideon's back at the end of the episode.
24	* LectureAsExposition: The episode begins with Gideon giving an exposition on profiling and introducing the show's most iconic jargon, ''[=UnSub=]''. Another happens when [[TheWatson a cop]] at the scene asks Reid to explain what the BAU's purpose and history is.
25	* MyGreatestFailure: Gideon is haunted by an accident several months prior, where he misread a suspect bomber and unwittingly led six FBI agents to their deaths.
26	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Vogel is introduced while trying to have a "romantic" dinner with one of his victims.
27	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Footpath Killer.
28	* TheProfiler: All members of the BAU are, but Gideon nail most aspects of the trope in the episode. Unsurprisingly, as he was inspired by John Douglas himself.
29	* TitleDrop: Reid's analysis of the ''{{TabletopGame/Go}}'' game.
30	-->'''Reid:''' There are profiles for every player: the conservative point counter, the aggressor, the finesser...
31	-->'''Hotch:''' What kind of player is Slessman?
32	-->'''Reid:''' ...Extreme aggressor.
33	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Vogel resembles Ted Bundy during his earliest crimes in Washington and the Footpath Killer is based on David Carpenter, the ''Trailside'' Killer. The second's predicted stutter is taken from Robert Hansen.
34	* SerialKiller: Of course they would be present in the show's premiere. There are two of them: Vogel and the Footpath Killer.
35	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: An attribute of Reid introduced right away. He is asked to tone down his language to make his explanations clearer.
36	* SmartPeoplePlayChess: ''{{TabletopGame/Go}}'' is a game with more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe. The serial killer excelling at this game is indicative of his intelligence.
37	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Gideon gets his suspicion of the gas attendant being the Footpath Killer confirmed when the attendant stutters, which is something he has predicted the killer does.
38	* SpottingTheThread: Gideon recognizes the Polaroids behind the gas attendant as the victims of the Footpath Killer, and then everything unravels. His car is the one expected, he [[SpeechImpediment stutters]] like Gideon predicted, etc.
39	* TakingTheHeat: Slessman does this for Vogel until he cracks under the interrogation by Hotch.
40	* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Reid has eidetic memory and several [=PhD=]'s already despite being still shy of 24.
41	----

Context Recap / CriminalMindsS1E1ExtremeAggressor