What Fresh Hell? (Season 1, Episode 12)
Premise: A girl is lured from a Wilmington park by a man searching for a lost dog, and the BAU, called in late, races the clock while the police first suspect her father.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 12
- Unsub
- Donald Curtis (Ned Vaughn)
- Location
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Starring
- Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (A.J. Cook), Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness)
- Opening quote
- “Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed, and eats at our table.” (W. H. Auden, read by Gideon)
- Closing quote
- “Measure not the work until the day’s out and the labor done.” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, read by Gideon)
- Guest stars
- Judith Scott as Det. Charlotte Russet, Dwier Brown as William Copeland, Tracey Needham as Marilyn Copeland, Katie Cecil as Billie Copeland, Time Winters as Kirk Lomax
- Director
- Adam Davidson
- Writers
- Judith McCreary
Summary
The Case
“What Fresh Hell?” begins at a Wilmington, Delaware, park, where 11-year-old Billie Copeland, sent off to run laps after a fight with her mother, Marilyn, is drawn away by a man looking for a lost dog. Police assume she is with her divorced father, William, so the BAU is called nearly 20 hours late, with the odds of finding her alive falling fast. William, who went missing for a day, turns out to have been in a New York hospital learning that his cancer has returned. Another girl, Connie, tells Hotch the same man approached her twice that day, asking about an old dog named Candy.
Working with Detective Charlotte Russet, the team profiles a solitary local man with a past offense against children who will kill Billie if he feels cornered. To ease the pressure, police pull uniforms off the streets and cancel the Amber Alert. A neighbor hands William a list of sex offenders, and he attacks Martin Jones (called Dennis Jones in the episode), whose only offense involved a prostitute. A body found in a river proves to be an older woman, but a reporter blurts out the news at a press conference where the parents appeal for a “witness” with a green SUV.
That appeal brings a tip: Kirk Lomax tells Morgan and Reid that his neighbor Don Curtis drives a green Explorer, spends time at the park, has not been seen all day and had a golden retriever named Candy that died months ago. Curtis will not answer his door. Russet refuses to force entry without a warrant, but Gideon breaks in and holds Curtis at gunpoint. His computer and tapes hold images and home videos of children being abused, yet Billie is nowhere to be found, and Curtis asks for a lawyer.
The Team
Garcia thanks Gideon for flowers signed with his name, and he has no idea what she means. At the end of the case he learns that Hotch sent them, explaining that people need to hear they matter and that Gideon sometimes forgets to tell them.
The ending
Spoiler: With the illegal entry likely to cost them the case, Gideon spots something in the insulation, has Hotch boost him up and finds Billie alive in a hidden space, then hands her down to be taken home to her parents. Marilyn has admitted that William asked for the divorce after his diagnosis and that she let Billie blame her. Afterward, Reid wins at poker and the team wonders whether the Copelands will stay together.
Why it stands out
- Key parts of the case were drawn from a real case worked by James T. Clemente, the show’s BAU consultant, during his time with the unit.
- A closing shot of the photos of people Gideon has helped rescue includes Josh Patel, the drunk passenger from the hijacked train in “Derailed.”