Birthright
Directed by John Gallagher
Written by Erica Messer & Debra J Fisher
Three young women mysteriously disappear one at a time and are found weeks later in pieces. The case mirrors an unsolved one from thirty years ago where the UnSub suddenly stopped killing. The BAU track down a woman, Karen Foley, who claimed to be an escaped victim of the UnSub thirty years ago, but wasn't believed, and ended up withdrawing her accusations.Written by Erica Messer & Debra J Fisher
Hotchner: The American poet Anne Sexton once wrote, "It doesn't matter who my father was, it matters who I remember he was."
Tropes
- The Alcoholic: Robert Wilkinson was a drunk and his son-by-rape Stephen Foley also has a drinking problem. It's unclear if this applies to Charlie, as the only hint of it is when he's at his "alone spot" with a bottle of alcohol.
- All for Nothing: Mary, pregnant at the time, killed her husband when she found he was a killer, and took her son away so he'd not be burdened by his father's murderous legacy. Charlie however would end up picking up his father's crime spree to a T, and in turn die by his own pregnant wife when she found out what he did and had to choose what to do to protect her own unborn child.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Karen's "Reason You Suck" Speech is a series of anger-driven questions, all of which pierce right through Mary Wilkinson. In this case, it's not because of haughtiness, but it's the fact that Mary seemed rather fine with people assuming that she had done nothing to stop her husband's crimes, when in truth, she did.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Mary's Wham Line is one in response to Karen and Rossi's separate verbal smackdowns on her, though she only says it after Karen. It disproves both of their accusations that she didn't do anything to stop her husband's actions, and recontextualizes her actions in trying to stem her son's dark impulses. The shocked looks on everyone's faces makes it clear that they didn't see this coming.
- Asshole Victim:
- Robert Wilkinson's crimes stopped because he was killed by his wife Mary after she learned of his crimes.
- It's implied that Charlie's wife murdered him and lied about it being self-defense. However, given he was following in his father's footsteps, one can't feel too bad about it.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Charlie killed a neighbor's pet cat when he was 15.
- Berserk Button: Charlie does not take it well when his wife insults his father.
- Blatant Lies:
- The stories Karen told Stephen about how awesome his father was before he died in a motor cycle accident. When Karen learns that he found her out years ago, Stephen comforts her by assuring her that they were really good stories.
- Chrissy claims that she doesn't know any other places where Charlie goes to be alone. She proves that she was lying about this when she goes there herself, armed with a gun to deal with him personally.
- Broken Bird: The survivor of the UnSub's father's spree, Karen. Her son describes her as crying herself to sleep every night.
- Bystander Syndrome: Rossi and Karen accuse Mary Wilkinson of doing nothing to stop her husband's actions, with Rossi specifically accusing her of worrying more about protecting her son than the women victimized. Neither of them realize just how wrong they are, though.
- Child by Rape: Karen's son Stephen. This leads to him and Emily Prentiss asking her why she would have him.
- Didn't See That Coming: Mary Wilkinson did such a good job of making her murderous husband's death look like an accident that no one was expecting her to blurt out that she actually killed him.
- Domestic Abuse: Mary hints at this in her marriage to Robert, specifically saying he "was mean when he drank". It was enough that she moved back in with her parents during her pregnancy before he begged her to come back to him.
- Exact Words: Mary Wilkinson said that her husband died the day she returned to him...because she was the one who killed him after she realized what he had done.
- Foreshadowing: Rossi tells a local retired police officer about his unsolved case from twenty years ago, which is the subject of a later episode.
- Generation Xerox: On all fronts, in keeping with the In the Blood and Villainous Lineage themes. Robert Wilkinson was the original rapist and murderer, and he had two sons, Stephen and Charlie, who paralleled him.
- Stephen shares Robert's vulnerability to alcoholism, and his mother says that he had just gotten out of jail for a DUI before the BAU came knocking.
- Charlie shares Robert's murderous impulses. He even invokes it to an extent when he discovers Robert's murderous nature, copying his father's style of kidnapping, raping, and killing young women. He even married a woman who was so much like his own mother that she killed him after learning of his crimes.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Understandably, given Stephen's manner of conception, Prentiss and Stephen himself ask Karen why she had him. She answers that she couldn't make her son pay for what his father did to her. Karen even says that Stephen is the only good thing to come out of that experience and has never regretted her decision to keep him.
- Good Parents:
- There's no indication that Karen Foley was anything other than a good if flawed and struggling mother to her son Stephen.
- Tragically deconstructed with Mary Wilkinson. Despite her best efforts to shield him from the knowledge of his father's her good parenting couldn't stop his murderous impulses. No matter how hard she tried, she was never really going to save him from that, making her efforts All for Nothing.
- History Repeats: Mary Wilkinson found out her husband was a serial rapist and murderer and killed her husband to protect her unborn child. Unfortunately, her son and daughter-in-law would go through the exact same thing. Mary recognizes the similarities and is spooked.
- Incriminating Indifference: Two instances.
- Karen Foley, the only surviving victim of the UnSub's father is noticeably unafraid even when the BAU tells her the killer could be in the area, the same one who victimized her. She denies that she was assaulted and isn't even fazed because she knows that specific man has long been dead.
- Same with the UnSub's mother Mary Wilkinson. She's not even surprised when the BAU tells her they suspect her husband and quickly determine that she either knew or suspected that her husband was involved.
- In the Blood:
- Stephen Foley has a drinking problem just like his father. Thankfully, he's not a serial rapist/murderer, though the idea crosses by the BAU's minds.
- Charlie Wilkinson is a serial killer and rapist just like Robert.
- Jack the Ripoff: The UnSub is copying his long dead father, a serial rapist and killer.
- Killing in Self-Defense: The UnSub's pregnant wife claims this after she shoots him dead. We never actually see what happens so we can't be sure, but he did get up and face her in fury. Nonetheless, she is still shown in cuffs and being put in a police car, gently.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Mary Wilkinson is a good mother to her son who killed her husband to stop his rapes and murders of local women. Her son Charlie married a woman who would end up repeating history by killing him the moment she discovered his actions.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Name-dropped in this episode by Derek. Robert was the initial one, unable to deal with his wife leaving him, killed random women because he couldn't touch his wife. Charlie copied him exactly.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The UnSub's father was murdered by his own wife when she realized what he was doing. She put him in his combine harvester, and because of his alcoholism, no one ever suspected anything but a genuine accident.
- Mama Bear: Mary does everything she can to protect her son from the knowledge of who his father was, going so far as to murder him herself. This also includes her protecting him when he killed a neighbor's cat, making excuses for him and moving away in the hopes that it would help eliminate her son's murderous impulses. It doesn't work, tragically.
- Mirror Character: Karen Foley and Mary Wilkinson mothered Robert Wilkinson's sons, and both tried to protect their respective sons from the knowledge of who Robert was in ways that ultimately failed.
- My Greatest Failure: It's implied that the reason Chrissy kills Charlie herself is because she's angry. Her words to Charlie imply that she's horrified that she hadn't put two and two together about her husband staying in the barn all night coinciding with the murders of the local girls.
- Not So Stoic: JJ is noticeably shaken by the deaths of the girls in this episode, as they like so many other victims are women close to her age. Hotch speaks to her and tells her it's alright to lose it every once in a while, especially considering she sees all the cases, including the ones the BAU doesn't take. He even says that he doesn't do it enough.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The various victims of Robert and Charlie Wilkinson are young women, and the subject of their grieving parents are brought up a few times. Mary Wilkinson herself suffers it when her daughter-in-law kills Charlie, though she's less upset about it than the victims' parents, given her son was the one committing the murders.
- Police Are Useless: The police didn't believe Karen when she reported her rape to them, assuming she was just another crazy teenage junkie. A sad Truth in Television that lingers even today with victims of rape.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Both delivered to Mary.
- Rossi is first. He raises his voice against her and calls her out for the apparent fact that she must have known what her husband did, evidenced by how she tried to stem her son's dark impulses by taking him away from his father's stock. He also accuses her of being a bystander in doing so.
- A powerful one delivered by Karen to Mary when she understandably (though incorrectly) assumes that she didn't do anything to help while she was being victimized.
- Secret-Keeper: Both Karen and Mary keep secrets from their sons.
- Karen attempts to hide it from her son Stephen his whole life. As it turns out, he had known for a long time.
- Mary killed her son's father so that he wouldn't grow up with the legacy of his father's murderous actions. Too bad her son inherited his father's dark side.
- Serendipitous Survival: The only reason Karen got away from Robert was because he passed out while forgetting to lock the barn and Karen's cuffs.
- Sole Survivor: Karen Foley is the only survivor of the original spree of rapes and murders. She was kidnapped in 1979, and all the other kidnappings and murders took place in 1980. She was the first victim and was dealing with a rookie kidnapper.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Mary and Chrissy both kill their serial rapist/murderer husbands. Mary explicitly did this to protect her son from the knowledge of his father's actions and keep him from having that legacy. Chrissy's reasons aren't spelled out like Mary's, but her behavior implies that she did this more out of her anger. Regardless, no one gives them any flak for it. Mary doesn't even get mad at Chrissy for it.
- That One Case: The original string of rapes and murders was for one police officer, now retired. Rossi mentions that he has one of his own, see Foreshadowing.
- Vigilante Execution: Both the UnSub and his father are murdered by their respective wives.
- Less so with Mary Wilkinson. She did kill her husband, but it was to protect her son from the knowledge of who Robert was and what he had done.
- Chrissy Wilkinson is more straightforward. She lies about knowing where her husband would go to be alone, and goes to him by herself with a gun to deal with him. Unlike Mary, it's clearly more out of her own anger, implied to be from her failure to realize what was happening literally in her own backyard.
- Villainous Lineage: A major theme of the episode. One suspect averts it, one suspect plays it straight. Interestingly, the suspect who averts it knew who his father was.
- Wham Line: Delivered by Mary.I killed him!
- What You Are in the Dark: Kidnapping victim Tara Rickover provides a minor example. She arrives at a market to buy food and finds the owner absent. Tara still bothers to pay for the fruit that she takes.
- Younger Than They Look: Stephen is only 27 years old, but looks significantly older, likely due to alcoholism.note
- Jareau: Wordsworth wrote, "A simple child, that lightly draws its breath, and feels its life in every limb. What should it know of death?"
