Psychodrama
Directed by Guy Norman Bee
Written by Aaron Zelman, Andrew Wilder, & Edward Napier
Written by Aaron Zelman, Andrew Wilder, & Edward Napier
Hotchner: "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." Oscar Wilde.
A bank robber who forces his hostages to undress, seemingly evolves into a sexual sadist who murders children in front of their mothers. He confuses the BAU by apologizing to his victims, leading the BAU to retract the "sadist" part. The conclude he's making victims reenact his own childhood trauma.
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Sheppard's mother was abusive to him and sister. Possibly sexually.
- Dirty Coward: The Bank Manager's wife thinks her husband is this because he allowed the UnSub to do the things he did to his family. His son is sympathetic, he asks if the UnSub really would have killed his dad if he didn't let him do those things, and has a concerned look when told that his father did the right thing to keep them alive.
- Driven to Suicide: Sheppard's sister due to the mother's abuse.
- Drugs Are Bad: The UnSub is addicted to Crystal Meth, leading to his downward spiral.
- Evil Is Petty: Pimp Roland Lynch's parole officer tells Gideon and Morgan how he'd punish his girls by raping them in front of their little sisters.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: As Sheppard is being put in the ambulance, he starts screaming that his mom did horrible things to him and his sister. Hotch shuts him up by pointing out that he did worse to women and their children, and didn't even bother going after his own mother. Sheppard is flippant, and says he was trying to teach them a lesson: That no one's there for you. On the flight home, Hotch ponders who would be to blame for a situation like Sheppard.
- Moral Myopia: Sheppard yells at Hotch for shooting him, who points out he had a hunting knife to a boy's throat.
- Naked People Are Funny: Averted in that it's a humiliating degradation the UnSub forces on his hostages.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The UnSub delivers a fatal one on a hostage that refused to take his clothes off.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Hotch tells the paramedics not to give Sheppard any pain medication.
- Pragmatic Villainy: At first, the UnSub worked as smart as he could, attacking banks as early as possible, using a motorcycle to move around in LA. It gets subverted the worse his drug abuse gets.
- Revenge by Proxy: Hotch notes that if he has rage issues, the UnSub wouldn't be forcing children to act out his own rage. Then they find out that the UnSub is going after mothers to get back at his own mother. Hotch calls him out on this given his mother didn't even have anything to do with his crimes.
- Sadist: Subverted in that while he initially shows a degree of enjoyment in his shows, he is apologetic.
- Sadistic Choice: The UnSub forces his hostages to do horrible things like reenacting sex in front of a bunch of people or making children try to kill their mothers, or he'll unload his Mac-10 into them.
- Serial Killer: Gideon certainly thought he was on his way to being one, but the UnSub is a subversion since he never manages to kill the minimum amount of people.
- Skip the Anesthetic: Hotch tells the paramedics lifting Sheppard into the ambulance not to give him any painkillers. They aren't legally bound to listen to him, but they have no problem denying a child murderer pain relief.
- Tranquil Fury: Hotch's voice oozes contempt for the UnSub when he's arrested and barely goes over a whisper.
- Title Drop: The UnSub is using a form of therapy called a Psychodrama, where others reenact the patients life. Reid notes that a nearby prison used this during the nineties, when the UnSub would've been there.
- Villain Decay: As the UnSub starts using more drugs, he becomes less efficient and is very easily caught in the end.
- Villainous Breakdown: Sheppard at the end is a screaming mess.Sheppard: JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING, FOR THE PAIN! YOU SON OF A BITCH! OW!
- Would Hit a Girl: The UnSub punches a meter maid across the face when he flees one of his crime scenes.
- Would Hurt a Child: The UnSub's continued breakdown leads to him shooting a 14 year old boy to death for not hitting his mother hard enough.
- You're Insane!: Mrs. Sheppard.Hotch: She's completely out of her mind.
- Hotchner: "The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but that this humiliation is seen by everyone." Milan Kundera.
