House on Fire
Directed by Felix Enriquez Alcala
Written by Holly Harold
An arsonist sets fire to a full movie theatre. The BAU profiles him as a local whose rage has been building for years and that he's doing it for revenge. Garcia unintentionally digs up dirt on quite a lot of townsfolk.Written by Holly Harold
Hotchner: Tennessee Williams said, "We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call, no way out."
Provides examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: Garcia's experience in digging up the Indiana town's dirty laundry in order to solve the case has left her torn between her belief that people have good in them and her loss-of-innocence at seeing all the bad things that drive people to be their worst. As a consolation for what she had to go through, Hotchner not only thanks her for her help, but also tells her her ability to see good in others is her best quality and to never truly lose that.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Double Subverted. There was a rumor about Tommy and Tina when they were teenagers, but it was false. Then they grow up and it turns out Tommy actually is in love with his sister due to a combination of a confusing love map (Tommy essentially saw Tina as both his sister and mother) and the beliefs/expectations of and subsequent treatment by the townspeople impacting him mentally.
- Pyrrhic Victory: For the town of Royal, Indiana. The BAU team saves exactly one life threatened by the unsub and the town loses almost forty people.
- Shout-Out: The movie theatre the UnSub sets fire to is screening The Blob (1958).
- What the Hell, Hero?: Garcia does not spare the police chief for allowing what happened to Tommy to just happen because he and everybody else in town came to believe Tommy was in love with Tina.
- Hotchner: "I have loved to the point of madness. That which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love." Françoise Sagan.
