Shade of Gray
Directed by Karen Gaviola
Written by Erica Messer & Debra J Fisher
The younger of two boys is reported as missing from their home, but is later found dead. The parents and the police chief decide to pin it on a local pedophile. The BAU are fooled for a while, but five minutes of interaction with the surviving child clues Prentiss in that he's a budding psychopath, and his brother's killer.Written by Erica Messer & Debra J Fisher
Rossi: Dr. Burton Grebin once said, "To lose a child is to lose a piece of yourself."
Provides examples of:
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Kyle was this to Danny. It's too bad that Danny is a sociopath who gets enraged by any annoyance.
- Armor-Piercing Question: "Did one of you kill Kyle?"
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Towards the end of the episode, it's hinted that Danny once killed a puppy that his parents brought home.
- Crocodile Tears: In the flashback of Kyle's murder, Danny runs up to his dad, hugs him, and starts crying and saying he's sorry for killing his little brother. It's shown that he's faking his emotional reaction.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Danny killed his little brother, Kyle, by shoving model plane parts down his throat.
- Dirty Coward: Rollins is happy to prey on kids but begs Morgan to "please", not hurt him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Danny killed Kyle in a fit of rage after the latter accidentally broke a model airplane the former was working on.
- Downer Ending: Prentiss proves that Danny was the one who killed his brother and says he needs psychiatric help. The detective and the family will likely be investigated for the cover-up.
- Enfant Terrible: Danny.
- Foreshadowing: At the beginning of the episode, Kyle's family makes a TV announcement saying that they don't blame whoever took Kyle, that they know it was a mistake. That turns out to be exactly what they told his brother when they found him with the body.
- Also, there were some hints at the beginning that Hugh Rollins didn't take and kill Kyle:
- Rossi noticing the recent crime scene appears more "chaotic" than the previous ones, which would later mean it was staged.
- The broken window in the basement is too small for Rollins to fit through.
- The detective tries to shoot Rollins in the back as he runs, only to be stopped by Morgan. He says it's because he's escaping, but it foreshadows his role in the cover up - he was trying to make it so Rollins wouldn't be able to deny taking Kyle, especially if he decided to cooperate on the other victims.
- Also, there were some hints at the beginning that Hugh Rollins didn't take and kill Kyle:
- Framing the Guilty Party: A variant; the detective tries to frame a known child molester and suspected murderer for Kyle's death. The BAU starts to become suspicious because he fired at the suspect against their orders, and Kyle is too young for the killer's victim preference. Said killer even confirms this under interrogation. Also, he collected the kids' toys as souvenirs and didn't have any of Kyle's.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the news conference at the beginning of the episode, while the father is talking about how he wished Kyle was home, it then cuts to Danny, who looks like he's rolling his eyes in boredom, indicating that he doesn't care at all that his brother is missing and is one of the signs that he's a sociopath.
- Grief-Induced Split: Discussed. the BAU team starts to learn the truth about the killer when the parents present a strong, united front. They point out that the death of a child usually drives couples apart, which makes them realize that the killer was the older brother, who is, in fact, a budding sociopath.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Danny is revealed to have a terrible temper. Prentiss first notices this when she sees Danny angrily pound his fist onto a bag of chips that he had trouble opening.
- The Sociopath: Danny. Prentiss even mentions that he's a textbook example as he shows no remorse for killing Kyle. The first clue is shown when Prentiss is watching a repeat of the news conference with Kyle's family on TV. While the parents are devastated about the whole thing, Danny just stands there with a bored expression on his face.
- Rossi: André Maurois wrote, "Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold."
