Penelope (Season 3, Episode 9)
Premise: When Garcia is shot after a date, the BAU, barred from the case and with Garcia suspended, works out that her shooter is a lawman who believes she has uncovered his murders.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 3, Episode 9
- Unsub
- Jason Clark Battle (Bailey Chase)
- 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), Kevin Lynch (Nicholas Brendon)
- Opening quote
- “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” (William Shakespeare, read by Garcia)
- Guest stars
- Marc Vann as Adam Fuchs, John Eddins as Detective Walker, Mati Moralejo as Mike Fleming, Bruce Katzman as Trauma Surgeon, Tamara Zook as Neighbor
- Director
- Félix Enríquez Alcalá
- Writers
- Chris Mundy
Summary
The Case
“Penelope” picks up moments after Garcia’s date, with Garcia shot outside her home and rushed into surgery. Her heart stops on the table before doctors revive her; the bullet missed her heart by a centimeter. Hotch orders the team to take no new cases until the shooter is found. The police see a botched robbery, but there is no shell casing and the shot was too precise for a fleeing thief. Awake, Garcia names her date, James Colby Baylor, and the team suspects the name is false and the robbery staged, with a revolver chosen to leave no casings. Replaying the date with Reid and Morgan, she recalls a fake Rolex and a man posing as a city attorney, though, Reid points out, city attorneys do not try murder cases.
After Internal Affairs takes the BAU off the case, Garcia goes home under guard with Morgan on her couch. The shooter kills a police officer on guard downstairs, and Morgan hands Garcia a gun before the man escapes. Garcia recalls that her date chose a corner seat facing the room and had the seat belt buckled behind him, habits of law enforcement. Pressed by Rossi, she admits she has been flagging unsolved murders for victims’ families she counsels. She hacks past analyst Kevin Lynch to retrieve the files, and one name recurs: Deputy Jason Clark Battle, first on the scene at three close-range revolver shootings and twice honored as a hero. The team sees an angel of death who shoots people in order to play the rescuer, and who shot Garcia believing she was onto him.
The Team
Morgan, turned down by Garcia that night, missed the shooting while in church with his phone off, his first prayer in 20 years. Kevin finds an encrypted file on Garcia’s computer, and Internal Affairs suspends her while its agent, Adam Fuchs, oversees an audit. Fuchs reveals that the bureau recruited her from a short list of skilled hackers; Garcia recalls dropping out of Caltech after her parents died. The file turns out to be her record of the team’s work, locked after the hack that preceded Elle’s shooting.
The ending
Spoiler: Battle walks into the BAU to have his files erased, and Garcia, given a link by Kevin, spots him in the bullpen on camera. Cornered, he refuses to back down and is shot. Fuchs is expected to sign Garcia’s reinstatement, and Kevin finally introduces himself to her.
Why it stands out
- This is the first time Morgan visits Garcia’s apartment.
- Reid likens Garcia’s hiring to that of Frank Abagnale, the con man and forger the FBI later used as a fraud consultant, whose life became the film “Catch Me If You Can.”
- It is the last episode of the series rated TV-PG.