About Face (Season 3, Episode 6)
Premise: Women in the Dallas area find “missing” fliers with their own faces on them before a killer takes them, and the BAU’s new veteran, David Rossi, clashes with Hotch over how to draw him out.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 3, Episode 6
- Unsub
- Max Pool (Andrew Kavovit)
- Location
- Carrollton, Texas; Dallas, 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), Erin Strauss (Jayne Atkinson)
- Opening quote
- “What else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage?” (Desiderius Erasmus, read by Hotch)
- Guest stars
- Michael O’Neill as Detective Frank Yarbrough (credited as Det. Yarbough), Sandra Dee Robinson as Michelle Colucci, Tarri Markel as Enid, Elimu Nelson as Detective Bowie, Kelly McCracken as Lieutenant Price
- Director
- Skipp Sudduth
- Writers
- Charles Murray
Summary
The Case
“About Face” centers on Carrollton, Texas, a Dallas suburb, where architect Michelle Colucci brings a “missing” flier with her own photo on it to Detective Frank Yarbrough, her best friend’s husband. He calls it a Halloween prank, but when he stops by her house that night the door is open and a mask waits inside. Michelle later turns up in a creek, sexually assaulted, her face cut away and rocks tied to her body. The mask, a blank “false face,” is marked number one. Unlike the Green River Killer, the unsub weighted her down; new arrival David Rossi takes that to mean he did not want her found and knew his victims.
A second batch of fliers covers a Dallas neighborhood around Enid White, who vanished while walking her dog. Her card buys a shotgun, and Enid then phones the Carrollton police from a Dallas motel, saying they failed to believe the first woman. By the time the agents reach her room, she is gone, leaving a second mask and scattered fliers. The unsub likely intercepted her cell call. The profile describes a white man in his mid-30s to 40s, tech savvy and so ordinary that no witness can describe him; the fliers, the team decides, really ask whether anyone has seen him.
Rossi then plants a claim with the media that the FBI reads the masks as a sign of impotence. Hotch objects that the team works together and never upstages local police. Garcia links both women to TechCo Communications, where Michelle designed three floors and Enid worked until two months ago. The unsub calls asking for the FBI, and Rossi taunts him with a bluff about station security footage, reasoning that he must have overheard Yarbrough promise to check on Michelle. With the building sealed, agents sweep the floors and Reid spots the unsub, Max Pool.
The Team
Rossi, retired for nearly ten years and busy with books and tours, tells Erin Strauss he wants to help and will accept a post under Hotch. Meeting the team, he is surprised to find a communications coordinator, a vast offender database and a jet. He privately asks Garcia to pull a 20-year-old file on Diana and Richard Galen and their three children, and to keep it between them. Afterward, Rossi points out that Hotch never calls Haley and is separating from her and their son, while Hotch insists his private life is not a case. Asked why he came back, Rossi says he may have unfinished business.
The ending
Spoiler: In the lobby, Rossi tries to talk Pool down, but the standoff ends with Pool killed. The team heads for his home, hoping to find Enid there.
Why it stands out
- This is Joe Mantegna’s first appearance as David Rossi, who takes the place of Jason Gideon on the team.
- The writers wanted Rossi introduced while duck hunting, a pointed contrast with the bird-loving Gideon he replaces.
- Rossi’s retired FBI credentials carry the signature of J. Edgar Hoover.