Catching Out
Directed by Charles Haid
Written by Oanh Ly
Several people are murdered in burglaries taking place along the California valley railroad. The killer, a homeless drifter, not only steals money, jewelry and small electronics from his victims, but also sleeps in their beds and leaves his own dirty clothes on top of the bodies while taking new clean ones.Written by Oanh Ly
Prentiss: "Plenty sits still. Hunger is a wanderer." Zulu proverb.
Provides examples of:
- Accidental Public Confession: Played with. The two homeless people who mistake Rossi and Morgan for Jehovah's Witnesses say they didn't commit the robberies – unless they mean the ones in Texas.
- Casting Gag: Andre Royo plays a homeless drug addict.
- Crazy Homeless People: The Unsub is a homeless serial killer, doesn't get much crazier than that. The other homeless people the team talk to are uncooperative and act a little off, but otherwise avert this trope.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Unsub has a half-brother, a migrant worker, who ends up helping the team identifying him. The killer leaves some of the money he steals from his victims to his brother at the work camps in the cities they pass through. After the killer dies in the climax, his brother is distraught.
- Food as Bribe: Rossi bribes one of the homeless men they talk to with candy bars.
- Freudian Excuse: The Unsub was raised in poverty in Mexico, and grew increasingly resentful over never having a real home of his own, or even a bed to sleep in. The reason he stays so long in the homes of his victims is so he can pretend it's his house.
- The Illegal: Both the Unsub and his brother are illegal immigrants from Mexico. This makes it even harder to find any information about the killer, as the other immigrants in the work camp refuse to talk to the FBI due to fear of being deported.
- Never My Fault: While the UnSub never gets a chance to tell his side of the story, it’s likely that he’s ignoring the fact the reason why he kicked out the migrant group in the first place is because his unwillingness to do hard work is what him fired.
- Police Are Useless: The disdain this episode's FBI consultant had for local cops fairly drips off of the script, as the BAU is much more smug and condescending than usual. Hotchner especially is lacking his usual "make sure they don't feel like we're walking all over them" attitude, ordering their local contact around imperiously and missing no opportunity to demean him in front of others for a mistake he made before the BAU took the case.
- Shout-Out: The killer enters the houses of strangers, eats their food, and sleeps in their beds. The profilers compare him to Goldilocks.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Given that migrant workers go though a lot of hard labor for just a small wage, they can’t afford to suffer any major setbacks if it can be avoidable. When the UnSub’s poor work ethic gets the migrant group he’s with fired from a big job, they immediately kick him out.
- Undiscriminating Addict: The Unsub gets high off of household cleaners he steals from his victims.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The UnSub’s brother manages to get him into his group of migrant workers, but his unwillingness to do any hard work costs them a big job. Unlike him, the brother admits he’s grateful about the opportunity he’s given.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When the Unsub’s brother kicks him out of his group of migrant workers, he starts his killing spree not too long after. He is horrified that he’s been receiving money from him through burglaries and is devastated when Prentiss tells him that he was killed in his attempt to escape police.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: A downplayed, sibling version of this trope. While upset that his half-brother kicked him out of his group of migrant workers, the UnSub leaves money he receives from the stolen goods he pawned for him. It’s downplayed because the half-brother was basically pressured by his group to kick him out because of his poor work ethic, as well as showing no condescending remarks towards him, even after telling Prentiss that he's not a good worker.
- Prentiss: "Beyond the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea. And the East and West, the Wander-Thirst that will not let me be." Gerald Gould.
