Nameless, Faceless (Season 5, Episode 1)
Premise: A vengeful father threatens a trauma surgeon’s teenage son, while the BAU discovers the Reaper has attacked Hotch and found his family.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 5, Episode 1
- Unsub
- Patrick Meyers (Michael Adler), George Foyet, “The Reaper” (C. Thomas Howell)
- Location
- McLean, Virginia
- 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), Haley Hotchner (Meredith Monroe), Jack Hotchner (Cade Owens)
- Opening quote
- “A weak man has doubts before a decision; a strong man has them afterwards.” (Karl Kraus, read by Rossi)
- Guest stars
- Christopher Cousins as Dr. Barton, Paul Butcher as Jeffrey Barton, D.B. Sweeney as U.S. Marshal, John Eddins as Detective Walker, Kelly Jean Clair as Principal Sheila Findlay
- Director
- Charles S. Carroll
- Writers
- Chris Mundy
Summary
The Case
“Nameless, Faceless” finds the BAU, exhausted after a case in Canada and off duty, called to a shooting by Detective Walker. Nelson Martinez is the second Hispanic man in his forties killed in two days. A note left for trauma surgeon Tom Barton says its writer will kill Barton’s 15-year-old son, Jeffrey, and that someone else will die each day the boy is hidden. It is signed “L.C.,” letters also chalked beside the first victim. At Barton’s home in McLean, Virginia, the agents learn that Jeffrey has gone to school, hoping to spare other lives.
The team quietly locks down the school, and Morgan shadows Jeffrey until a SWAT-escorted dismissal. The note’s blunt wording points to a grieving father. Hotch has not answered his phone all day; Prentiss goes to fetch him, finds blood and a bullet hole in his empty apartment, and tells Garcia to keep it from everyone but Reid. Alone with Barton, Reid combs through his surgeries until the doctor recalls a January 3 crash: he repaired Hector Ledezma but did not operate on 18-year-old Jason Meyers, who had no brain function. Jason’s father, Patrick Meyers, accused him of not even trying.
As the students are bused out, Barton sets off to collect Jeffrey with Reid. A call to Reid explains that “L.C.” is hospital shorthand for “living children,” suggesting Barton himself is the target. Shots ring out and Reid is hit in the leg. Meyers holds Barton at gunpoint while Reid pleads with him; Meyers ends up shot in the chest, and Barton keeps him alive until paramedics take over.
The Team
Hotch, stabbed nine times, was dropped at a hospital as a John Doe by a man carrying Morgan’s stolen credentials: George Foyet, the Reaper. As he wakes, pieces return of Foyet taunting him, showing off his own scars and stabbing him. A page is missing from Hotch’s day planner: the B section, where he listed Haley under her maiden name, Brooks. SWAT finds Haley unhurt, and Jack is fetched from a play date. Haley has been told U.S. Marshals will hide her and Jack; Hotch explains that even he cannot know where, and he says goodbye to Jack, likening it to one of his work trips.
The ending
Spoiler: Reid will need crutches for a while. Morgan and Prentiss agree Foyet now means to break Hotch. Rossi tells Hotch how the team saved Jeffrey within hours, but Hotch fears that if Foyet stops killing they cannot track him, as when he waited ten years to torment Shaunessy. He wonders what Jack will remember of him, and Rossi insists they will catch Foyet.
Why it stands out
- D. B. Sweeney guest-stars as Sam Kassmeyer, the U.S. Marshal assigned to protect Hotch’s family until Foyet is caught.
- Matthew Gray Gubler hurt his knee before filming, so Reid spends most of the episode sitting down before being written as shot in the leg.