Sex, Birth, Death (Season 2, Episode 11)
Premise: When a troubled teenager tells Reid he dreams of killing prostitutes, the BAU must decide whether he is the D.C. killer or a future one, while a congresswoman pressures Hotch to keep the case quiet.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 2, Episode 11
- Unsub
- Ronald Weems (Thomas Crawford)
- Location
- Washington, D.C.
- Starring
- Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin), Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (A.J. Cook), Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness)
- Opening quote
- “Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow.” (T.S. Eliot, read by Reid)
- Closing quote
- “Between the desire and the spasm, between the potency and the existence, between the essence and the descent, falls the shadow. This is the way the world ends.” (T.S. Eliot, read by Reid)
- Guest stars
- Anton Yelchin as Nathan Harris, Jessica Tuck as Dr. Sarah Harris, Mel Harris as Congresswoman Karen Steyer (credited as Congressman Steyer), Ronald Hunter as Detective Barnes, Annie LaRussa as Linda Weems
- Director
- Gwyneth Horder-Payton
- Writers
- Chris Mundy
Summary
The Case
“Sex, Birth, Death” begins when a teenage boy approaches Reid after attending his lecture on sexual sadism and asks what it would mean if someone were stabbing prostitutes and cutting off their hair, then slips away. D.C. Detective Victor Barnes confirms two such early-morning killings three months apart; the second victim has a plea for help carved into her body among hesitation marks. Reid and Garcia trace the boy to Nathan Harris, a private-school sophomore whose mother, Dr. Sarah Harris, teaches medicine. Nathan admits he found the second body and was excited by it, and that he fantasizes about killing, but denies the murders.
Congresswoman Karen Steyer, about to announce that her crime bill has cut D.C. crime, warns Hotch that the BAU will lose the case if the killings reach the press. A third victim, 16-year-old Holly, turns up with a message blaming the police while Nathan is in custody. In Gideon’s evaluation Nathan describes urges to cut women open; Gideon advises hospitalizing him, but his mother refuses. While Reid searches for Nathan, who has gone missing, a fourth woman is stabbed at night across from the Capitol. Nathan is held as a suspect, but the team sees the dump site as a message only an insider could send, aimed at Steyer’s unannounced event by a minor figure who backed her bill and felt unheard.
Hotch has the profile released at a press conference, then brings Steyer to meet prostitutes who describe a tall, bald client. From the groups that lobbied for her bill, Steyer names Ronald Weems of Decency Watch. His wife, Linda, lets agents into his office, where his writings call for the streets to be cleansed of prostitutes. Weems is caught approaching a woman, gets maced, and is arrested, insisting the politicians lied to him.
The Team
Hotch calls Prentiss in after she questions him in front of the team. He asks whether she tipped off Steyer, who she says worked with her politician mother, and he notes that she arrived at the BAU soon after a team member’s questionable shooting. Prentiss denies any political agenda.
The ending
Spoiler: Freed by the juvenile authorities, Nathan says goodbye to Reid before entering a hospital the next day; Reid tells him that seeking help says more about him than the part that frightens him. That night Nathan picks up a prostitute, cannot perform, calls her a whore and threatens her, then slashes himself instead. She calls Reid from the business card Nathan left out, and Reid, driven there by Garcia, keeps pressure on the wounds until paramedics arrive, saving Nathan’s life. Reid wonders how many future lives he has risked and is told that if Nathan kills, they will catch him.
Why it stands out
- The sketch of Nathan that Reid draws at the start of the episode was made by Matthew Gray Gubler himself.
- Anton Yelchin had previously played Paget Brewster’s son on the series Huff.
- Nathan’s mention of Reid’s work on the Mill Creek Killer refers to the first-season episode “The Last Word.”