Elephant's Memory (Season 3, Episode 16)
Premise: When a small Texas town loses a father and two officers to a bombing and ambush, the BAU hunts a bullied teenager while Reid struggles with how closely he relates to him.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 3, Episode 16
- Unsub
- Owen Savage (Cody Kasch)
- Location
- West Bune, Texas
- Starring
- David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), 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
- “A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.” (John Steinbeck, read by Reid)
- Closing quote
- “We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except the memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that once our eyes watered.” (Tom Stoppard, read by Reid)
- Guest stars
- Chris Mulkey as Sheriff Britt Hallum, Lindsey Haun as Jordan Norris, Michael Ironside as John, Alexandra Krosney as Eileen Bechtold, Tracey Walter as Ike Stratman
- Director
- Bobby Roth
- Writers
- Andrew Wilder
Summary
The Case
“Elephant’s Memory” is set in West Bune, Texas, where a gas blast kills plant manager Rod Norris and the two officers who respond, Byron Letts and Lou Savage, are shot dead with an automatic weapon. Locals suspect terrorists, but the BAU sees a trap built around Norris’s habit of smoking at his back door, and an extra shot into Savage’s face that signals personal rage. Sheriff Britt Hallum points to Savage’s son, Owen, who dated Norris’s daughter Jordan. His father’s gun safe is empty.
Owen’s car turns up by the interstate beside the body of store clerk Kyle Borden, whose El Camino is gone, but the food Owen took tells the team he never left town, and the remains taken for Jordan’s prove to be meat stuffed into her jeans. Owen is hiding with Jordan at Ike Stratman’s empty ranch; when Stratman returns early, Owen kills him and lies to Jordan about it. School records show a gifted boy with an undiagnosed learning disability. Jordan’s friend Eileen Bechtold says Kyle took advantage of Jordan as a freshman, and a video on Owen’s computer shows wrestling teammates pressuring him into a sexual act while secretly filming; the school did little and his father blamed him. A new clip shows the three missing boys pleading with Owen.
Profiling Owen as an injustice collector whom only Jordan keeps alive, the team has Eileen text Jordan the truth. Jordan breaks off, a reply comes from Owen instead, and then Jordan walks in, having fled in his truck while he dug a grave. At the ranch, the team finds Stratman’s body and a note about returning a necklace.
The Team
Ten months off Dilaudid, Reid attends his first recovery meeting and admits his cravings returned after a young suspect died in front of him. John, a senior figure Reid recognizes, asks him to keep it from the office and lends him his one-year medallion. Reid tells the team he was late because of a movie. Later, after Morgan admits he was beaten up as a small freshman, Reid recalls being stripped and tied to a goalpost by the football team while classmates watched; he never told anyone.
The ending
Spoiler: Reid realizes Owen is coming to the station for Jordan. Unarmed, he steps between Owen and the police rifles, talks about his father and his mother’s death, and promises he can see Jordan if he puts the gun down; officers close in and the standoff ends with Reid unhurt. Reid is warned he will be fired if he takes such a risk again. A colleague tells him identifying with an offender makes him good at the job, and suggests he catch the rest of that movie.
Why it stands out
- Michael Ironside guest-stars as John, the senior law enforcement figure who gives Reid his one-year medallion; their scene was filmed at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, California.
- Reid’s closing quotation is about burning bridges, and Lindsey Haun, who plays Jordan, starred in a film called Burning Bridges.