Tonight on CBS Criminal Minds starring Thomas Gibson and Shemar Moore continues with an all new Wednesday November 26, season 10 episode 9 called “Fate,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, a remorseful killer with an uncontrollable urge to murder people is hunted in northern Virginia. Meanwhile, Rossi [Joe Mantegna] receives a visit from a woman who may hold a secret from his past.
On the last episode, when a prominent attorney went missing in Boston, the BAU unearthed secrets in his past which could point to the reasons for his disappearance. Did you watch last week’s episode? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “the BAU investigates random murders in northern Virginia and searches for a conflicted UnSub who has an uncontrollable urge to kill but is also filled with remorse. Meanwhile, Rossi receives a visit from a woman who could hold a secret from his past.”
Tonight’s episode looks like it is going it going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of CBS’s Criminal Minds at 9:00 PM EST!
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A couple of kids are skate boarding when a woman, Jessica, complains on her phone about her crappy tips at her salon job. She hears the doorbell rings at the salon and calls out that they’re closed. She gets off her call, checks the lock on the door and then looks around the darkened place. She doesn’t see a closet door ajar. She hears a clatter behind her and calls out again. She hears a whirring noise and goes to check it when she’s attacked.
Rossi rocks out in his car oblivious while a woman sits a few cars back – she’s following him. He goes to get coffee and walks outside to his car. He sees her sitting there and delivers her coffee. He says he thought she might need this. He says he figured out she was following him and thought she might want coffee. He asks who she works for and she says her client is secret. He rattles off a list of people she can’t work for and says to tell whoever it is to call him directly.
He tells her to get an earpiece and says her phone will cause her brain cancer. Garcia tells the team that three bodies were found in Reston, each violently stabbed and posed. Two men at home and one in her salon. One worked in a store, one was a mechanic. Morgan says they could be victims of opportunity. Hotch says it’s strange since he redressed them.
Reid points out that they were stabbed in their original clothing and then new clothes were put on them. Derek says he may have taken the clothes as trophies. Hotch wonders if the killer will strike again soon if he’s a serial. At a home, two kids wonder what’s up with their mom. The daughter says the whole family has seen the difference. Ellen, the mom, jogs in and heads up to her room.
She turns on the shower and unzips her jacket. We see she’s covered in blood and is crying, very upset, but it doesn’t seem to be her blood. She repeats – it’s okay, it’s okay. She rinses off a bloody butcher knife in the bathroom sink. Hotch tells the group their lives didn’t seem to intersect and they wonder if the unsub is the common thread.
JJ rides with Derek and Kate with Rossi. Kate says with that many stab wounds in each person it seems very personal. Hotch says there wasn’t enough time between killings to plan. They wonder if it was a vendetta. Ellen is at work in a presentation and Sarah, her manager takes all the credit for her work. She looks murderous as she gets no acknowledgment.
After, she yells at Sarah for taking her idea. She says she does this every time. Sarah says she covered for Ellen for six months while she was recovering from her accident. Sarah threatens Ellen’s job and then says they should go celebrate the team win and tells Ellen to finish up her pity party.
Rossi calls Garcia for info and tells her he’s being followed by a PI of some sort. He asks her to find out who hired her. He sends her the plate number and she starts digging. Kate says he may have a fan but he thinks it may be a stalker. They show up at the salon and the agent on site introduces himself as SSA Norwood. He says there is no evidence of a break in and they wonder if the killer is skilled.
Rossi says the drag line suggests the killer may be weak, injured or a woman. Kate says she was put into new clothes too and they look around. Kate checks the salon’s dryer and finds the clothes the woman died in. They were washed and dried. Kate says the unsub is a woman and says no man would have laundered kill clothes.
Hotch talks to Jessica’s friend. She says she and Jessica were arguing about her complaining about a bad tip she got. She says Jessica had a temper and would get annoyed at clients all the time. She’s very upset. Reid says Rick Mendoza, another victim, had a direct personality. Hotch says Jessica is like that too. They wonder if the unsub was a customer who didn’t like their attitudes.
JJ and Derek are with Jessica’s body and wonder if this falls under one neat aspect and how the unsub will focus on one aspect of the crime to clean up. They find a hair on the smock and think it might be the killer’s. Rossi talks to Garcia who says she ran the plate and it’s a rental and she’s a TV crime reporter from San Francisco who also has a blog.
Garcia says she thinks she’s a fan girl and tells him her last book sold badly and probably just wants a quote. Kate says maybe she’s looking for a mentor. He says she’s a weirdo and says the last author he tried to help was a nutter who’s now locked up. They found hair at the salon scene in the dryer and decide to run the hairs.
Derek says Garcia ran some institutions. Kate says the other crime scene techs found the kill clothes laundered and folded neatly. Ellen drives in her car and tells herself she doesn’t have to do this. She also tells herself she does because she hates “her.” Her hubby calls to ask where she is and she says she has to see her boss. He says it’s late but she says it’s too important.
He says he thought the presentation was over and she says she’s meeting her at a bar but can’t offer him the name. She ends the call awkwardly. Sarah complains to her honey Greg about Ellen and he says she should fire her. She says she already started the paperwork. He offers her some wine and tells her to go change into something more comfortable. She goes and he pulls out a bottle of wine.
He opens it and doesn’t see the shadow pass behind him. Sarah lights some candles upstairs, puts on a negligee and some perfume. She turns on music and calls down to Greg that she’s ready. He doesn’t answer so she comes downstairs and finds him bleeding out on the table. She sees a face outside the door and goes running. Ellen chases her upstairs and beats against the door then stabs her.
Sarah begs her not to do it. Ellen asks if she took her idea and Sarah says she did and she’s sorry. Ellen stabs her again. She seems to come out of her rage and says – oh my God. She goes to the phone and calls 911 but then hangs up when she seems to flip back to her other killer personality. She drives away from the scene very agitated and an ambulance passes her.
Ellen drives on. She gets home and goes inside. She heads upstairs and goes into her room. She tiptoes softly as she heads for the bathroom. Her husband is sleeping. He wakes as he hears the bathroom door close. She is again in bloody clothes with a bloody knife. She cleans up. Next morning, she’s all smiles for him and says it went great with her boss.
Norwood is at Sarah’s house talking to Hotch. He tells him there was a hangup 911 and that the housekeeper found them this morning. The clothes are in the dryer and Sarah’s body was scrubbed clean so she seems to be the intended victim. They find more hair and they were pulled from the root. They wonder if the unsub is pulling her own hair out.
Hotch holds a meeting and says their unsub is female, 40-50 suffering from intermittent explosive disorder. Garcia says she engages in impulsive aggressively violent behavior. They think she had bad exchanges with each of the people. Reid says she was likely hospitalized before and is now off her meds. Derek says they think she will continue to kill when stressed.
Ellen comes to work and sees flowers and a portrait of Sarah set up and a memorium book to sign. She goes back out to her car, pulls off her wig and pulls out more of her hair that’s already thin. She goes home and finds her hubby Michael waiting on her. He says they need to talk and says Kathy is picking up their son. He says since her accident she’s been staying out late and leaving early and is not fine.
He says he doesn’t know what to say and says he founds some things. He shows her the bloody shirt he found and says he found it in the back of her closet. He asks Ellen what she did and says he saw the news about a woman who is killing people and who pulls out her hair. He says he heard her boss is dead and asks if she did it. He says he can’t help unless he knows the truth.
She starts crying then pulls off her wig. He’s shocked to see what she’s done to herself and she tells him she killed them but doesn’t know why. She says she just did it. She says she tried to stop but can’t. He tells her he’s going to get her help and will be by her side. He holds her as she cried and he tells her they’ll get through this but says they have to tell the police.
He goes for the phone while she screams no. She grabs a knife and stabs him in the chest. He says – help me- and falls. We see her scrubbing blood off the carpet under her husband’s body when her daughter comes in. She grabs the knife and hauls her daughter out of the house. Garcia is looking for someone who may have been in rehab.
Reid suggests a head injury could have done this too if she had frontal lobe injuries. They search physical rehab centers. Rossi sees his stalker and goes over to confront her. She says she can explain and tells him she needs to talk to him. He says he knows she’s a reporter. She says she needs to see him and he threatens to lock her up then calls security.
She yells him she’s his daughter. That stops him in his tracks. Garcia tells the group she hasn’t found anything. Hotch suggests HMO centers and they find Ellen’s records. She had a serious car crash that left her with head injuries and was released a week before the first killing. Rossi says the damage destroyed her impulse control.
They figure out how she was likely tied to the victims. The girl tells Rossi her mom is Hayden Montgomery, a woman he was married to. She says her mom lied to her her whole life but says her step-dad told her on his deathbed. He tells her he can’t know if she’s telling the truth and he says they’ll figure it out and to leave her contact info at the desk. He leaves to go to Ellen’s with Kate.
Kate asks what the woman wanted and he says nothing. He thinks back to Hayden when they were married. Kate asks if he’s okay and he says he’s fine. He’s clearly not. Ellen has her daughter driving to Abby Benson’s house. She gives her daughter the address but won’t tell her who lives there. JJ finds Michael dead and Rossi finds a photo of Abby Benson.
Garcia checks and says Ellen has been cyber stalking her and pulled her address today. Ellen drags her daughter out of the car to go knock on their door. Abby’s mom comes to the door and Ellen tells her that her daughter hit her car. Ellen slaps the woman out of the way. They see Abby is in a wheel chair and she asks Ellen who she is. Ellen says she’s the woman whose life she destroyed.
Ellen tells the girl to admit it was her fault. Abby says she hit her and she’s the one in a wheelchair. Her mom says she crippled her daughter and killed her friend. Hotch and Rossi are there and Ellen holds a knife to her daughter’s neck. They explain to Ellen that her brain isn’t working right and try to talk her down. They tell her that her kids are all she has left.
Ellen cries and says this is not her. Rossi says they know it and tell her to put the knife down. She drops it and her daughter hugs her mom and cries. Ellen says she’s so sorry and is crying too. They arrest her and put her in the back of a squad car. JJ tells the daughter that she’s going to take her and her brother to her aunt’s house. The girls says this is her fault because she knew something was wrong with her mom.
JJ says they’ll get her mom the helps she needs. Kate asks Hotch if the jury will be sympathetic and he says maybe. Rossi calls Garcia who tells him the woman checked out and bought a plane ticket that leaves at 10 tonight. He tells Hotch he needs a car and has to get to Dulles. He speeds off. His daughter drives to the airport crying. He speeds along after her and thinks about his break-up with her mom.
He told Hayden he couldn’t stay in Paris knowing she has to stay for work. He checks his watch and drives on. She checks in for her flight and gets her boarding pass. He thinks about calling Hayden and asking how she was – she would have been heavily pregnant at the time. He turns on his siren and increases his speed.
His daughter is in line to board and he runs to her and calls – Joy. She asks why he’s there and he says he knows she has questions and he does too. She asks why he left and he says it was complicated. He says they had a summer romance and then he moved up in the FBI and she was a diplomat. He says she was already on top of the world and he couldn’t handle it.
He says he pushed her away instead of manning up. He says he just wanted to catch up. Joy tells him he was the love of her mom’s life. He says her mom would never have told him she was pregnant because she knew he was in no position to have a family because he was running away. She asks if he would have stayed if he knew she was pregnant.
He’s teary and says he can’t speak for David Rossi of 30 years ago but says he knows the man he is would have. He asks her to stay and she says she can’t – her son Kai is running a fever. He cries and says she’s killing him. She tells him he’d love her husband – he’s Italian. He asks if he can come visit them this weekend and get to know them all. She agrees and calls him dad. They hug. He’s overjoyed and reeling. He buys a ticket and gets on the plane with her.
THE END!