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Recap / Criminal Minds S 11 E 21 Devils Backbone

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Devil's Backbone

When former clinical social worker-turned-serial killer Antonia Slade (Frances Fisher) receives the bloodied clothes of missing boys in the prison mail, the BAU go to interview her in solitary. It becomes clear to them that she committed her own crimes because her father murdered her boyfriend when she was a teen, and the present UnSub is her protegé.

Tropes in this episode

  • Call-Back: Rossi mentions that even Gideon could never get Slade to talk.
  • Consulting a Convicted Killer: The BAU visits Antonia Slade in prison after someone sends her the bloody clothes of two missing boys. They wind up returning in the next episode, as she's the only inmate willing to discuss a mass-breakout she was aware of.
  • Psycho Psychologist: The killer the BAU is consulting (with all the obligatory Silence of the Lambs shout outs) is Antonia Slade, a therapist and social worker who used her position to target, abduct and kill at-risk children. The UnSub turns out to be a former patient she groomed into a copycat killer.
  • Shout-Out: Slade writes Hotch a note that quotes The Shining.
  • A Storm Is Coming: Slade tells Hotch this in the last scene.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Slade was one.

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