Jarod races against time to catch a copycat of a serial killer he helped capture when he was a child at the Centre.
This episode contains examples of:
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: How Willard feels about being arrested, saying the informant got inside his head the kind of way that he got inside his victims' heads. Jarod was displeased by this process the first time around and opted for a different tactic in the present.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: Jarod is helping to catch a Copycat Killer, and consults the serial killer who is being copied.
- The Dreaded: Douglas Willard is an infamous and highly intelligent serial killer. He is also purported to have broken multiple guards, causing two suicides and six others to get psychological discharges. Fawkes freely admits that he is scared of this guy, and Jarod is not looking forward to their one-on-one conversations.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- As Willard is being moved out of solitary confinement, the other prisoners loudly denounce him.
- The ending reveals that Mr. Raines fully supported Sydney's efforts to keep Miss Parker and Broots out of the loop on this so that Jarod could prevent another girl from suffering Annie's fate.
- Evil Counterpart: Willard to Jarod, being the kind of person that can get into someone's head and learn every needed detail to his advantage.
- Finally Found the Body: At the end, Jarod not only catches the new killer but locates the remains of the original killer's last victim.
- Flashback: Throughout the episode, Jarod remembers his original investigation and his struggles to get inside the head of a killer.
- For the Evulz: Willard tells Jarod that this is the reason the supposed clues and behaviors don't add up.Willard: The truth is, I killed them because I wanted to. I like it.
- Handy Cuffs: This episode has an instance of handy-cuffs-as-improvised-weapon. The prisoner starts the scene with his hands properly cuffed behind him, but talks his way into getting them re-cuffed in front.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Jarod's overriding fear is that getting inside the head of a vicious murderer will corrupt him. He continually struggles with it and ultimately finds another way to get the better of Willard.Young Jarod: I don't wanna feel that.
- Ironic Echo: The initial meeting and the final encounter see the two characters say the same lines to each other. The difference is that Willard is boasting of his superiority during the initial meeting and then seeing that Jarod bested him in the end.Jarod: How does it feel to be the smartest man on the planet?
Willard: Lonely. - The Man Behind the Man: The copycat is Paul Schuman, a former prison guard that ended up talking to Willard quite a bit before suffering a breakdown. Fawkes says that Willard got inside Schuman's head, and Jarod deduces that the guy is indeed Willard's puppet on the outside.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Twenty years ago, Jarod's profile of a serial killer helped the police catch him, but not in time to save the last victim. This episode is the rematch.
- Out-Gambitted: Upon learning that Jarod was the young prodigy who put him away all those years ago, Willard actively needles him to get inside his head and play on his obvious fears. He goads Jarod into letting him out of his cell and taking him to Sarah's bedroom on the grounds it will help the investigation, only to betray him and make a break for where Sarah is being held. However, after Willard arrives, he finds that Jarod has followed him and brought a full police detail. Jarod happily tells Willard that they were one step ahead of him the entire time and that Schuman had already been arrested.
- Parting-Words Regret: After Sarah is kidnapped by the serial killer's copycat:Mrs. Rickman: Before she went to bed that night, I don't even remember if I told her I loved her.
Jarod: Mrs. Rickman, Sarah knows you love her. - Police Are Useless: Willard dismisses the police in these terms. He says that, after getting arrested, he observed his captors and could just tell they weren't up to the task of catching him. He knows an anonymous informant tipped them off and that that was the only way he got caught.
- The Reveal: There's a mystery around Annie, the last victim of the original killer. Jarod was never allowed to know who her family was or told why the Centre was helping find her. In the present, Broots tries to find out about her and discovers that the details of her family have been expunged from the record. At the end of the episode, Sydney reveals that Annie's father is Mr. Raines, who has never forgiven Jarod for not being in time to save her.
- Room Full of Crazy: The copycat killer has a room with photos of his target covering the walls, etc.
- Sadist: Willard openly delights at his brutality and actions. While Annie's body was never found, her death was confirmed by him mailing a photo of the corpse to her parents.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Before Willard is taken away.Willard: Prodigy, you got inside my head.
Jarod: No. You don't have to become a monster to face one. - To Know Him, I Must Become Him: Averted. Jarod has to catch a serial killer, and attempts to do so without Becoming Him, because he's afraid that once he starts thinking like a homicidal psychopath he won't be able to stop.
- Villain Respect: Willard genuinely considers the anonymous informant that caught him to be a genius of the highest order and a Worthy Opponent. He is delighted to realize that the informant was Jarod, as he had long wanted to meet him.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In both the flashback and the present, Sydney assures Jarod that he did everything he could to stop Willard and no doubt saved a lot of innocent people in the process.
