Unknown Subject - Recap

The scene opens in Houston, Texas. A woman gets home and treats herself to a glass of wine and a cigarette. Suddenly she feels dizzy. Immediately she forces herself to vomit. She sees a person come through the glass door. He goes into the living room and plays “You’re My Inspiration” by Chicago. He goes back to the woman and she is screaming. Meanwhile, Emily meets with her therapist and her therapist tells her that she is still grieving over her own death. Emily is confused and her therapist says that the team had to bury her and that they lost someone they loved. She suggests that Emily might have done the same. Emily says that she will try to cope with it. Later, Penelope says that Houston PD needs them for the Piano Man case, about the serial rapist. Hotch says that need to get there soon and Emily asks how the rapist is drugging his victims. Penelope says that the drug metabolizes quickly and that he has elevated his game. Vanessa Campbell is missing and A.J. says that is not like the rapist’s M.O. Derek says he is going back to his old victims. Rossi wants to know why. Emily points out some liquid and Penelope says that it is Vanessa’s stomach contents from vomiting. The team realizes that the rapist wants to see the fear in the women.

Later, Hotch and Emily are on a plane and Hotch says that he wants to review her profile with her. He says that she has been lying to her therapist and says that she has been pushing too much to reconnect and says that she is trying to avoid dealing with what she went through. Emily says that she knows what she is doing. Hotch tells her to let him know when she is having a bad day. He asks who Sergio is and she says that he is her cat. Rossi and Hotch go to the Houston and they are told that they have a partial, but nothing to match it. Emily and A.J. interview the women who were raped the second time. At the same time, Derek and Spencer go to Vanessa’s home and talk with her husband. At the interviews, Emily and A.J. realize that all the women are all smokers. Spencer asks Vanessa’s husband if she smokes and he says that she does. They see the playlist that was deleted. Penelope hacks into it and says that the kidnapper loaded the playlist and when they play the song, Vanessa’s husband says that Vanessa hates the song and says that she doesn’t know why.

At a bar, Regina Lampert is serving tables when a man plays a song on the piano that Regina recognizes. She tells him not to play that song and then goes in the back room and starts to panic. Emily talks to Diana, one of the women who were raped again. Emily asks about her comment “No one believes the slut who cried wolf” and asks if she blacked out. She says that she doesn’t remember anything. The team gathers and talks about how the songs are triggers. Spencer says that the Piano Man probably played the song over and over to trigger something later. Daren calls and tells the team that Vanessa’s body has been found and that it is not like the Piano Man at all. Later that evening, Regina and the man who was playing the piano are walking to their cars and Regina is drunk. The man says that he can’t allow her to drive. She says that she is going to sleep in it. She asks the man for a cigarette and he obliges. She reaches in her purse and says that he helped her out remembering the song tonight. She says that is the song that he played when he raped her. She tazes him and says that she was hoping that he would come back. The Medical Examiner, Hotch and Spencer talk about Vanessa’s murder and the Medical Examiner says that he found a fragment from a glove that is for people allergic to latex. Hamilton, the man Regina abducted, wakes up wired to the piano. Regina comes out with “Total Eclipse of the Heart” playing. She tells him that she remembers him and that song.

Emily and Hotch look at the victims on the board and try to understand why the Piano Man would kill Vanessa. Penelope calls and tells him that she found a Herman Scobie who matches the profile. Months after the attacks, he accessed the insurance accounts. Diana comes back into the station and tells her that she can’t believe that the Piano Man killed Vanessa and says that he could be coming for any one of them now. Meanwhile, Regina pulls a gun on the Hamilton and he tries to tell her that he only learned the song so that he could serenade his wife. She can’t believe that he sang “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to his wife. Hamilton tells him that he can prove that it is. Back at the station, Diana tells Emily that she wasn’t blacked out during the rape and that she remembers things that were different and that he talked to her.

The team moves in on Herman Scobie’s place and catches him trying to escape around back. Back at Regina’s, Hamilton sings the song and Regina still doesn’t believe that he is not the Piano Man. The team arrests Herman after they find the gloves in his van. Regina tells Hamilton that she remembers that he sang the song just like that and she shoots his hand. She shows Hamilton the scars that she received when he raped her. At the station, Emily goes in to talk to Herman. He says that he wants a lawyer. She tells him that she understands that he likes it rough and asks if he got too rough. He says that he never did and says that nobody believes a “slut who cries wolf”. Diana panics and says that is what she said. Emily talks to Hotch and he says that they are going to build a case around Herman as the Piano Man. Regina gets a call from someone who tells her to turn on the news. She does and finds out that they have the Piano Man in custody. Regina realizes that she made a mistake. Later, Daren, A.J. and Spencer go to Herman’s home and look at his music. It is all Heavy Metal. Spencer says that they make their type of music that they will listen to when they are 14 so whatever music Herman was listening to, which is Heavy Metal, is his favorite. They realize that Herman is not the killer, but a copycat.

Back at Regina’s, Hamilton says that he remembers her now. He says that they met at a bar and where she pressed him to sleep with her. She showed him her scars and told him everything. He says that he knows her, but she doesn’t know him. The team discusses the case and realizes that Herman was set up. They go talk to him and offer him the deal. Herman says that he never met with the man, but that he read about the cases. He says that one of the women, Regina Lambert was next on his list. Back at Regina’s, Hamilton tells her that he is losing a lot of blood. Hamilton starts to chew the piano wire. She gets back into the room to find him laying on the piano. She sees that his wire is undone. Hamilton grabs her and runs away. At the station, the team watches the video footage of the bar. They see Regina warm up to Hamilton and that she is playing him. They pull Hamilton’s fingerprints and run them through to match the partial. They go to Regina’s and find her standing over Hamilton with the gun. Emily tells her that Hamilton is not the Piano Man. However, when they get him away, they arrest him as the Piano Man.

Later at the station, Emily goes in to see Regina. She tells her that she can’t believe that she wouldn’t let her shoot him and that she has to live with that now. She tells Emily that she has no clue what she is going through, but sees the pain in Emily’s eyes and realizes that something did happen to her. Emily says that she didn’t kill her attacker, but says that he is dead. Regina says that she still has to know that her attacker is alive. She tells Emily that she can put that as her statement. Hotch goes up to Emily later on the plane. She tells him that she is having a bad day. The episode ends.

Written By David Sibert

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