Recap / Criminal Minds S 7 E 16 A Family Affair

A Family Affair

Directed by Rob Spera
Written by Kimberly Ann Harrison

Morgan: Eckhart Tolle said, "Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath."

A man who was paralyzed in a car accident as a teenager kills women as an outlet for his sexual frustration, while his guilt-ridden parents both help set up dates for him, and dispose of the bodies, at the insistance of the mother (Kathy Baker) who sees their psychotic dysfunction as a parental obligation.

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Tropes

• Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Morgan tells Jack "earmuffs" (he covers his own ears) before he asks the girls what they drank.
• Driven to Suicide: The father kills himself shortly before the team tracks them down by driving his car into a lamp post, mirroring the accident that crippled his son.
• Dysfunctional Family: The UnSubs. Dad caused an accident while drunk driving years ago, which put the son in the wheelchair. Mom pretended to have been driving. Now the son is killing women, and Mom and Dad cover it up.
• Hangover Sensitivity: JJ, Prentiss and Garcia are visibly hungover after their girl's night out - in particular, all of them have obvious problems with loud noise. Reid, who was babysitting JJ's son, says they didn't come home until morning.
  JJ: Why are you yelling?
  Prentiss: Make him stop.
  Morgan:...What did you ladies drink last night?
  Garcia: The Green Fairy. You're with the FBI, could you get the entire crowd to stop cheering?
• Honorary Uncle: Hotch's son Jack calls Rossi "Uncle Dave".
• The Loins Sleep Tonight: As a result of his paralysis, the Unsub is unable to have sex, the frustration of which drives his killings.
• Suicide by Cop: The mother refuses to let the team arrest the Unsub and is shot when she tries pulling a gun on them.
• Taught by Television: Reid offers to babysit Henry, and justifies it by saying, "I've seen an episode of Mr. Belvedere."
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Reid says this verbatim regarding him babysitting Henry. As far as we can tell, the babysitting went perfectly. The problem was that the girls stayed out too long drinking. He agreed to babysit for a few hours, and instead he had to stay until the dawn of the following day.

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Jareau: "Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you." H. Jackson Brown Jr.