Criminal Minds (2005–…): Season 8, Episode 24 - The Replicator - full transcript

HOTCH:
Previously on Criminal Minds.

MORGAN: Someone's out there
mimicking the crimes we've solved.

DISTORTED VOICE: Zugzwang.

REID: It's a chess term.
It describes the point in the game

when a player realizes
he'll inevitably be checkmated.

The original Zugzwang taunt
was directed at me.

If it's directed at one of us,
it's directed at all of us.

HOTCH: First he was chasing us,
and now it's our turn to chase him.

STRAUSS: This psychopath's message
is clearly personal.

You're victims now.

GARCIA: That's not right.
Why is that...



What...

What... What...

(PANTING) Wait...

That's what The Replicator...

How did he get in?

(COUGHS)

Ooh.

(PEOPLE LAUGHING)

Wait!

Kids!

Wait for me!

(DISTORTED SOUNDS)

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

Do you really think
your team is going to save you?



I know they will.

Did you get everything you wanted?

-What?
-In life.

Did you?

-Does anyone?
-We should. (CHUCKLES)

That's the point.

Drinking got in your way.

Your husband couldn't help.
Though God knows he tried.

You know my husband?

And your poor children

always played second fiddle
to your ambition.

I can't see.

Oh, thank God. David.

He was here. You have to find him.

I will. I promise.

Thank you.

All the love in the world won't save you.

What?

We're not finished yet.

Oh.

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

REPLICATOR: Oh.

JJ: The Replicator's here in New York.

He took pictures of us
and he hacked into Garcia's system.

I know. I will.

I love you, too.
Bye.

Hey, Garcia.

Are you guys okay?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got Derek with me.
We're meeting everyone at the hotel.

I don't know how he got in.

Tech's gonna shut down the system
before The Replicator can.

I am so sorry. I check everything.

I upgrade constantly.

It's not your fault, Penelope.
He's just that good.

And he wanted us to know
that he's here hunting us.

Hold on.
You've got an external override.

And if the only way to get in is
with a pre-authorized hard line

and he didn't get in via Quantico...

Oh, my God.

What?

He was in my house.

(LINE RINGING)

Strauss isn't answering.

-Keep trying. Reid, any luck with Blake?
-Not yet.

The pictures of you
were taken outside of Beth's apartment.

I get it if you want
to stay with them until we find him.

I've got agents
surrounding Beth's building.

She and Jack are safer without me,
since we're the targets.

Blake, we'll pick you up
in a few minutes. The Replicator's back.

STRAUSS: (ON VOICEMAIL)
You've reached Erin Strauss.

Please leave me a detailed message.

Hey, it's me again. I got your text,
but I guess you fell asleep.

Hotch. Something's wrong.

The window's open.
She'd never sleep like that.

Did something happen
to make her drink again?

No! She was working real hard at...

This represents a year sober.
She hasn't let go of it since she got it.

She's even a sponsor now.

The Replicator has her.
I'll check the roof.

I'll have Morgan meet you up there.

Strauss is missing. Blake,
you and Reid talk to hotel security.

We need access
points and footage from every camera.

Morgan, back up Dave on the roof.

JJ, take the west staircase,
I'll take the east.

(CELL PHONE RINGS)

Erin.

REPLICATOR: Not quite.

Does it ever get confusing,
that whole Erin/Aaron thing?

-Where is she?
-Closer than you think.

But she's not doing well.
She looks a bit pale.

Remember the last time
you got a call like this?

(SIREN WAILING)

Remember?

George Foyet, right?

You were too late.

Rossi.

-What the hell happened?
-Her room was a wreck.

She been drinking?

No.

Rossi, you sure?

Look, if The Replicator took her,
he's probably long gone.

But he left the window open
so we would come up here.

Then this is some kind
of trap or he wants us to see something.

There she is!

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

Dave! Dave, I've got her!

She's on a bench, she's a block
east of the hotel. Call EMTs.

Erin.

Is he armed?

Is he armed?

Erin.

I tried to find you.

It's okay. Help is on the way.

Go! (COUGHS)

Erin, you've been drugged.
We need to get you to a hospital.

-No, I can't. It's happening so fast.
-Erin.

Dave's called the paramedics.

He said he's gonna race you home.
Does that mean anything to you?

You have to find him.

It's so quiet. Why is it so quiet?

Erin, did you recognize him?

(VOICE BREAKING)
He put a gun to my head.

He made me drink.

I'm sorry.

I wish I'd let him kill me.

Did you know him?

No.

He knows my family.
He knows my children!

-You have to protect them!
-(SHUSHING)

You have to find him!

We will. We will.
It's all right. Just take a breath.

(MOANING)

I love my children.

-Please tell them.
-They know. They know.

Once you said I loved my son the most.

That's not true.

I'm sorry.
I was wrong.

Aaron, I can't see you.

I'm right here.

I don't want to die alone.

I'm right here. It's okay.

Shh, shh, shh.

It's okay.

ROSSI: "Affliction comes to us
not to make us sad, but sober,

"not to make us sorry, but wise."
H.G. Wells.

We've got an APB, but the description
of The Replicator is too general.

REID: He wiped out all of the
hotel security cameras.

ATM and traffic cameras
were compromised also.

Which means he hacked into
at least two dozen systems.

Well, he got into Garcia's place,

which means he can
get in anywhere. This guy's bragging.

REID: He also wants us to know
he can take massive risks

and still get away with it.

It's probably why
he took Strauss into a crowd of people.

JJ: That and to humiliate her publicly.

But he called Hotch from her phone.

It was important to him
that we find her alive.

The director wants this
contained and solved.

MORGAN: Well, at least
he's not taking us off the case.

HOTCH: He's given us 24 hours
and then he will.

I'm taking her back to Bethesda.

She never liked this city, Aaron.
I'm not about to leave her.

HOTCH: Could you give us
a minute, please?

-Is Jack staying here?
-I think it's a good idea.

You're lucky to have Beth.

I know.

Her children want
to meet me at Bethesda.

How old are they now?

Too young for this.

You all right?

She smells of booze, Aaron.

You and I know it's because
that bastard took away her dignity.

But her children might not believe that.

It's hard for them to trust
anything to do with her drinking.

She struggled with it all her life.

And she was finally beating it.

He knew about Foyet?

-Who's that?
-He's the man who killed my wife.

That's a classified
case that's not in any database.

Then how would he know about it?

If he had access to the file,

we're talking about
someone on the inside.

Conference room in five.

(INAUDIBLE)

Garcia, is this everything?

Yeah. The Replicator stuff is here,
and the team stuff is there and there.

How's Rossi?

-Not good.
-Is he with Strauss?

Yeah.

Okay. Uh, I started with
the question you asked,

why attack Strauss, and on this day?

The most obvious answer is
that it's an anniversary of some sort.

But there's nothing historically relevant.

It could be the smallest thing.

Concentrate on New York.
If the date's that important,

the setting could be, too.

It would be easier to
attack Strauss at home.

Is there a reason
why he waited for her to be out?

Well, considering she's
hardly ever in the field,

he sure got a lot of photos of Strauss.

It's like he's obsessed with her.

Maybe Strauss was
always his first target.

He attacked the top
of the BAU chain first.

All right, Reid, you've matched up
all the murder locations with the dates.

Now we need to know
how long it would take

to drive to each of these locations,
assuming a home base in the District.

He brought the fight here for a reason.

Well, it's nearly impossible to figure out

when he arrived and departed
New York, but we should try.

I'll collect all the public
and private transport stuff.

Garcia, I need Kevin to go through
every single pixel of these photographs.

This UnSub gets off on taunting us.

He's given us answers here.
We just haven't found them yet.

Are you all right?

Yeah.

She was a good woman.

I know. I'm sorry.

Are those her children out there?

Her ex is on the way.

You know the family well.

It feels like I do.

Through her.

So, uh, when will we get the tox results?

We have them.

It's what you expected.
Meth and ecstasy combo.

Though it didn't cause the internal
boiling like with the New York victims.

A lower dose, or did he alter it?

We won't know until
we get the exact breakdown.

I'll let you know the second I hear.

So what do you make
of the markings on her wrist?

Torture, right? It was done antemortem.

What?

The carving I showed you.

Right.

Sorry. Can you show me that again?

HOTCH: Dave, a figure 8?

ROSSI: That's what it looks like.
I just sent you all a picture.

Maybe it's an infinity symbol.

Well, if it's infinity, he could be
boasting "I'll go on forever"?

Or if it's an 8,
Strauss was his eighth victim.

And the unofficial
eighth member of our team.

If this is a taunt from him,
it's too random.

Well, he's only sent one message and
he seems to be real proud of it.

Zugzwang.

Then what does this mean?

Rossi, the cut looks jagged.
Any idea what caused the serration?

ROSSI: Best guess is a piece of glass.

Maybe he used
empty bottles from the mini bar?

Those were all plastic.

The M.E. is checking for splinters now.

HOTCH: All right,
let us know what you find out.

Anything from the photographs yet?

We blew up a few more
and this one seems to stand out.

JJ: When were you in a tuxedo?

MORGAN: It was
a British Embassy event.

Security clearance is high.

Security was insane there.

That kind of accessibility,
plus knowing about Foyet,

the fact that he was able to get through
all of my security clearances alone,

you guys are right.
You have to trust your gut.

The Replicator has
gotta be on the inside.

The director needs
to know the status of the system failure.

Could be another few hours.

-He's not happy about it.
-Yeah, well, who is?

If The Replicator's an insider,
is there any way Strauss knew him?

She said she didn't recognize him.

To her defence, she was
disoriented by the drug overdose.

She was adamant about it.

Well, even if Strauss didn't know him,
it doesn't mean he didn't know her.

Within the bureau,
she is the face of the BAU.

And clearly a target
from the beginning. But why?

More importantly,
what was he replicating?

JJ: The drug overdose.

I mean with the 8.
It hasn't been part of any other case,

and he's not one to make mistakes.

He thought he was replicating a crime.

The director made us walk away from
the case a few months ago.

Strauss said that she wouldn't let it go.
What if she hadn't?

You think she started
her own investigation?

Well, if she thought he was an insider,

she might have done
something to trap him.

Why wouldn't she have
told you about that back in New York?

Maybe she didn't have proof.

But her determination, plus the fact
that he doesn't make mistakes

makes me think that the 8
was part of her plan to catch him.

Do we have her laptop?

All the hacking
in the world isn't gonna help

if they shut us down.

He can't win, not like this.

This is Strauss' laptop.

I need to access who was on
the distribution list for my case reports.

You don't know who reads your reports?

I know she sent them
to the head of the criminal division

and the director,
but I don't know who else is on the list.

The last case she sent in

was the case in Detroit.

The cutter.

She amended the report
and said that the UnSub

cut a figure 8 into his victims' wrists.

-But he didn't do that.
-No, he didn't.

So she duped him.
Which means that one of the people

reading these reports
has gotta be The Replicator.

It doesn't show who else saw this.

Two other people read the report.

Who?

You're gonna need a tie.

MAN: Agent Hotchner,
I have a very full day.

HOTCH: Yes, sir, we all do.

Senator, can I suggest
that we move this into your office?

There's nothing you can tell me that
these walls have not heard before.

How long has the Department
of Justice been watching the BAU?

That's no secret.
We made it clear to your director

and your section chief that we were
watching your team closely

ever since that ordeal with agent...

-Prentiss.
-Yes.

She's running an office in London
and that's a good place for her.

You receive my case files
from the director.

Well, Agent, that's classified.

Sir, it's not a question.
I know you're on the list.

I need to know who else
has access to them.

I'm not answering that
until I get some insight

as to what this is all about.

There's a man that's been replicating

many of the crimes
that we've solved in the last year.

Erin Strauss told us all about it.

He killed her last night, sir,
in New York. She was murdered.

What?

Why haven't I been told about this?

The director's keeping this contained.

We believe that this UnSub
is targeting the rest of us,

and we've determined
that he's someone

within the highest levels
of the justice system

and he's been reading
the details of my reports.

I need the names, sir.

ALEX: At least this narrows it down.

Finding someone
on the inside should be easier.

Not necessarily. If our UnSub was
trained by law enforcement,

he'd know how to fit in perfectly.

There's meaning and purpose
to everything he does.

Why did he choose
to replicate The Silencer case?

Well, that UnSub went dormant for
years 'cause he was locked up.

Is that a clue about The Replicator?

MORGAN: Or it speaks to his patience.

What about his MO?
He sewed mouths shut.

It symbolizes keeping secrets.
There could be something in that.

He's targeting everyone.

So how does that particular
case factor into all of us?

It's the first one
Garcia and I worked on with Blake.

Yeah, but the rest of us
worked on the Seattle case before that.

Right. The UnSub
who used his kid to bait the victims.

We need to see
if he replicated that one.

The system is still down,
thanks to yours truly,

which I'm horrified about.

I'm trying to get the deets
on the Seattle case

this way now, literally.

You and I were in London when
the other guys spent time in Seattle.

I'm on the phone right now
with Jennie from ViCAP

to see if that particular
MO has ever been duplicated.

-(PHONE BEEPS)
-Yeah, I'm still here.

Uh, it would be Seattle,
early September.

Right.

No, not email. Can you fax it?

Fax, yeah.
Thank you. Thank you.

I take that as a yes.

Before he copied The Silencer case,

he was in Seattle
weeks after they solved the sadist.

Go check your fax machine.
She just sent you that replicated case.

-Thanks, baby girl.
-Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. I did something right.
I did something right.

I need everybody
in the conference room.

A dozen federal employees have read
our case files over the last two years.

They all went through
the highest levels of security.

Each of those names
needs to be checked against Reid's list.

We should get them all in here
and start the interrogations.

If he knows
we're looking his way, he might retreat.

We should also check the support
staffs of all those employees.

Each one has two assistants,
so we're already up to 36 people.

We should start with agents
who work a 4-day, 40-hour week,

given the fact that most of the murders
happened over a long weekend,

which means if
the UnSub travelled by car,

no one at work would've missed him.

Well, he probably wouldn't fly.
It would leave a paper trail.

What's this?

The Replicator's first case
was the same as mine.

Remember the sadist
who made Ridgway look tame?

In Seattle, so it wasn't The Silencer.

Do you think it's a coincidence

he started all of this
when I joined the team?

I don't know.

Dave's back?
Excuse me.

He's only been back a few minutes.
Looks like it's hitting him pretty hard.

Well, they were together
for the last year.

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

That's the director. I'll be right back.

Yes, sir. This is Agent Hotchner.

Hey, Rossi.

You all right?

You don't look so good.

Get out.

Look, I know this has
gotta be tough on you...

Hey.

Rossi, what the hell are you doing?

MORGAN: Rossi, put the gun down.

Rossi.

What's going on?

Morgan's DNA was on the glass
that cut her wrist.

Strauss?

You did that.

MORGAN: No, I didn't.

Dave, someone on the inside
is doing this.

You're looking at him.

Derek did not hurt her, and
you have to trust me on this.

Trust you?
I bet you told Erin the same thing.

Look what that got her.

Dave, you've been drugged.

(VOICE BREAKING)
I was too late, Erin.

I'm so sorry.

HOTCH: He wants us
against each other.

If you pull that trigger, he wins.

She's not there.

Give me the gun.

I'm gonna call the paramedics.

Sit down. It's all right.

(PANTING)

They've given him a sedative

and they're going
to take him to the infirmary.

He's gonna be okay.

How did it get into his system?

The report must have been dusted
with whatever he used on Strauss.

Luckily the transdermal absorption rate
was lower than her ingestion of it,

so it wasn't fatal for Rossi.

Then this was a warning.

If he wanted to kill Rossi,
he had every chance to do it.

If this is his endgame,
why is he wasting time with warnings?

He's toying with us
and we're playing into him.

He's turned Rossi against Morgan.

Even if it was temporary,
he wanted to show it could be done.

But why?

Strauss was dosed
with a chemical cousin of Dr. Death.

He altered it
so her torture would be longer.

A biochemist, computer hacker,
and federal agent?

Who the hell is this guy?

GARCIA: Only half the cameras
are working

because the system
is still rebooting itself,

so the security guards
have to go old school.

That means everyone has to sign in.

You can't take your I.D.
and run it through...

Well, you know what old school means.

So, if you have a badge,
you don't get harassed.

The man who signed in to see Rossi
went up to the sixth floor,

held the door open
for Kevin and Anderson...

I can't believe he was right there.

Walked through our BAU
into Rossi's office,

signed in as Adam Worth.

Adam Worth?

Isn't that the same alias
he used when Maeve went missing?

Yeah, which means it's not just a taunt.
It speaks directly to his psychology.

Adam Worth was
a famous criminal from the late 1800s,

commonly referred to
as the Napoleon of Crime.

This UnSub obviously
sees himself in the same light.

So this guy is a malignant narcissist

who wants to be known
as the worst enemy we've ever had.

And look, he's careful
to hide his face from the cameras.

Because he knows
exactly where they are.

The Replicator has directly
taunted everyone on this team

except for me.

You may be part of his endgame.

Then so was Strauss.

He chose to use drugs
as his final replication.

That's no accident.

Is that a connection to you?

Strauss and I had issues
during the Amerithrax case.

It started in New York with poison.

And it was delivered by envelopes.

Why would anyone on the inside
hold resentment over that case?

Because that person suffered
a professional setback

just like Blake,

but was patient and psychotic enough
to get revenge.

I am all over the DOJ names
including support staff.

I have Kevin pulling files and photos.

System is down, so it's hard
to track entire career paths,

but there were two agents
in New York in 2001.

Scratch that. Lehman died in October,

that leaves Curtis.

Wait a second. John Curtis?

You know him?

I haven't seen him in a long time.
He was a nice guy.

We were first office agents together,

but I thought he left
the Bureau after the Amerithrax case.

Could it be him? Does he fit the profile?

He was quiet and a loner, but brilliant.

He specialized in a lot of fields,

but his passion

was biochemistry.

GARCIA: He inherited
a family compound in rural Virginia.

Coordinates are on your phone.

What else do you have on Curtis?

Just like you thought.
John Curtis was demoted in the FBI

after the Amerithrax case.

He was slated to take over
the coveted New York field office,

but then was shipped
to the not coveted Kansas City one.

He worked there for many years quietly

before he was able to weasel his way
back into the nation's capital.

On paper he is a rock star.

He immediately transferred
to the Department of Justice,

the Intelligence Oversight section.

He's a genius on multiple levels.

What's his background?

Only child, parents died
when he was 18.

Never married. Total loner,
just like Blake said.

And all he's ever
had to care about is his work.

And when he lost that, he snapped.

HRT will divide us up when we land.

As you can see from the geo ref'd
he's got plenty of privacy.

Five and a half acres, three structures,
house included.

Garcia.

I see it, too, sir.
It must be some sort of system override.

(ELECTRICAL WHIRRING)

(ALARM WAILING)

GARCIA: What's happening?

Autopilot's seized.

-Oh, God.
-COMPUTER: Mayday.

(INDISTINCT VOICES OVER RADIO)

I got it back.

-GARCIA: Are you okay?
-We've stabilized.

(ALARM WAILING)

Brace for impact.

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

Mayday, mayday...

I can't get through to any of them.

We have agents in those choppers.

It was only one.
The first is circling back now.

Are they okay?

Copy.

Okay, as a precaution, they separated

to land on opposite
sides of the property,

and the controls
were taken over by a remote override.

Which can only happen
within a 5-mile radius.

He knew they were coming.

And how they were getting there.

-Are you guys all right?
-Yeah.

Where's Blake?

What the hell is this?

What is this?

(GRUNTS)

(COMPUTERS WHIRRING)

(GARCIA GASPS)

We're back in business.

Thank you.

Sir.

Where is everybody?

Right this second, in a field.

If he'd wanted
to kill all of us, he could have.

He's playing God,
just like he's done all year.

He hard-landed us, knocked us out

with whatever was in that
canister so he could take Blake.

He had plenty of chances
to take her before tonight.

He wants it to be a spectacle.

(CHAINS CLINKING)

(COUGHING)

ALEX: What do you want?

You're the profiler.

You tell me.

You don't want to know.

Reverse psychology.

-I'm not going to beg for your analysis.
-You don't have to beg.

I already know how
desperate you are for it.

I didn't remember you being so skittish.

You've never seen me in chains before.

I've seen you with
your hands tied, so to speak.

Erin Strauss and the Bureau
discarded us.

We were the forgotten ones.

They forgot you.

I did all right.

But they'll remember me now.

You know, I admired you back then,

leading the charge
on the day it all changed,

the day Erin Strauss ruined us.

I sat next to you.

Borrowed your pen to sign my transfer.

They put me in Kansas.

Me.

You know what I've been wondering?

Why did Strauss
change her mind about you?

I kept my head down and I worked hard.

We all did.

But you got my chance.

We're ready to breach the house.

Which way did he go?

I don't know.

Morgan, you and JJ find him.
We've got this.

He said he used eight locks
because there used to be eight of us.

That's all he said?

About that, yes.

There's only six keys.
That mean two keys will be used twice.

Each key is a letter, likely
corresponds to a number on the locks.

Seven, seventh letter
of the alphabet's "g."

What are the other letters?

Z, U, W...

Zugzwang.

It's too easy.

(TICKING)

Morgan?

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

He's got the place lined with
C-4. We've only got three minutes.

This seems too easy.

Zugzwang also means
a dilemma in chess

where the best move
is not to move at all.

Wait, don't get up!

It's a pressure sensor.

(STRAINING)

(BEEPS)

They've gotta hurry.

Sir, I can't block the signal for long.

(GUN COCKS)

Drop the gun.

(GUN CLATTERS)

You'd really die for them?

That's the oath we all took.

To protect our country
from people like you,

no matter what.

You never appreciated me, none of you.

I gave you my life, and you rejected me.

You can tell me
your sob story while walking.

(DEVICE BEEPS)

(TICKING)

HOTCH: Everybody get back!
There's C-4 in the basement.

Everybody back!

Wait, where's Rossi?

He was right behind me.

Dave!

MORGAN: He just let us out.
Why would he go back in?

-We'll go out as heroes.
-I'm not so sure about that.

Zugzwang.

(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)

MORGAN: It had to be a perfect round.

And sure enough,
coming right back at me was the target.

And it was blasted
right through the chest.

The goggles come off...

And it's Strauss.

(LAUGHS) I mean, I was like, "What?"

I would have never believed it
if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

That woman...

She was one hell of a shot.

Um, do you guys remember
that one time

that she called me, but I thought
that it was somebody else?

-Oh, no.
-That was funny.

Oh, maybe to you. I was mortified.

What did you say?

I said, "Talk dirty to me."

Yes, she did. That's my girl.

Are you kidding?

Hey, that was my line.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Yeah.

Whatever are you doing here?

(ALL LAUGHING)

(NO AUDIBLE DIALOGUE)

Last year, right here,
we had a...

Very different celebration.

Of life,

of love,

and good people.

This year it's the, uh,
other side of that.

Because, well...

That's what families do.

It's been a hard year.

But tonight...

We celebrate a life well lived,

well loved...

To a good woman,

an even better mother,

to our friend.

Who I will miss very much.

HOTCH: Richard Bach wrote,

"The bond that links your true family
is not one of blood,

"but of respect
and joy in each other's life."