Brothers in Arms (Season 4, Episode 10)
Premise: An unseen gunman is setting deadly traps for Phoenix police officers, and the BAU must look past an easy gang suspect to stop him.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 10
- Unsub
- “Animal” (David St. Pierre)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Starring
- David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), Jordan Todd (Meta Golding)
- Opening quote
- “We are all brothers under the skin, and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.” (Ayn Rand, read by Morgan)
- Closing quote
- “For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.” (William Shakespeare, read by Morgan)
- Guest stars
- Mark Pellegrino as Lt. Evans, Joe Regalbuto as Commander Marks, Guillermo Díaz as Playboy, Doug Jones as Beanie, Bo Foxworth as Officer Ron Mercer
- Director
- Glenn Kershaw
- Writers
- Holly Harold
Summary
The Case
“Brothers in Arms” opens in Phoenix, Arizona, as Sergeant Manuel Rodriguez and his rookie partner, Officer Thomas Kayser, answer a domestic violence call and are both gunned down: three officers dead in four days. The first, Jason Kessinger, was shot through the throat after chasing a speeder away from a DUI checkpoint. Every victim is hit in the neck, above the body armor, and loses his badge. Commander Marks has called in the BAU over his own officers’ resentment, and Lt. Evans pushes the theory that the Twelves gang and its captain, Playboy, are avenging a brother shot by police. The team sees one planner with an interest in police procedure, and dash-cam footage shows him lingering over a victim. Next he lures two officers with an assault call; Officer Mark Cunningham dies while his partner, Ron Mercer, survives. The calls work like a lottery, so the targets are random.
Under pressure, Marks hauls in Playboy. Morgan uses the interview to get a lead: Playboy’s lieutenant, Bobby Q, was shot by a white man months ago, and the police shrugged it off. When a gang member called Diablo kills another officer and dies in a standoff, Marks declares the case closed, but Hotch wins four more hours. Diablo, the team finds, had just been paroled and simply settled a score with the officer who sent him away. Evans comes around, and Bobby Q’s file confirms his gold chain was taken, another trophy. Garcia turns up an earlier victim, a bouncer in a ballistic vest, and the trail leads to an underground fight club. Its leader, Beanie, describes a scrawny regular called Animal who lost every bout and raged at being mocked, and he explains the thrill of holding a beaten man’s throat.
Hotch then announces on television that the FBI is taking over because of local mistakes, deliberately making himself the target. A tip sends officers to an empty building, a planned diversion, and when Animal moves on Hotch, who appears to be alone, he is taken.
The Team
When Evans insists Playboy is guilty, Morgan tells him he once wore a uniform himself, saw many officers fall, and before that watched his own father, a police officer, shot dead on the job.
The ending
Spoiler: Afterward Evans thanks the team, and Morgan stays behind. Mercer introduces him to Cunningham’s widow, Maggie, and young son, Sam, and the boy is told his father was a hero.
Why it stands out
- Mark Pellegrino guest-stars as Lt. Evans, with Guillermo Díaz as gang leader Playboy and Doug Jones as fight-club captain Beanie.
- Morgan’s closing quotation comes from the St. Crispin’s Day speech in Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Henry V.
- The word “unsub” is spoken 21 times, possibly a record for the series.