Divining Rod
Directed by Doug Aarniokoski
Written by Bruce Zimmerman
Serial rapist/killer Rodney Garett is executed, only for a mysterious Unsub to begin copying his murders at the exact minute of his death, leaving it to the team to figure out his identity and his possible connection to Garett's widow Helen.Written by Bruce Zimmerman
Hotchner: "Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." William Blake.
Tropes
- Double-Meaning Title: Helen's dad called her a "divining rod for evil men". Her grandfather had given her an actual divining rod (a pseudo-mystical tool meant to find underground water sources) as a gift when she was a child.
- Fatal Attractor: Played for Horror. Helen Garett seems to have the supernatural ability to romantically attract serial killers, and the episode ends with the huge implication that one of the reasons is because she is not that sane herself.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The team discusses on the plane home how odd it was that Helen didn't rip off the wig when the UnSub put it on her, knowing it was made from murdered women's hair. Cut to Helen visiting him in prison to read him her favorite romance about telling stories to stay your execution.
- Shout-Out: Arabian Nights plays a central role.
- Stalker with a Crush: The UnSub became a serial killer the moment his crush became the widow of one, in order to make her a wig from natural hair after her chemo.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The true identity of the killer? The prison shuttle driver!
- Visible Victimology: Both Rodney Garret and his copycat kill young women with long blonde hair.
- Prentiss: "It is only in love and in murder that we still remain sincere." Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
