Directed by Nelson Mc Cormick
Written by Veena Sud
After nine skulls are found in the yard of a derelict house, the team rapidly finds that this discovery was set up by George Marks, the Serial Killer who managed to walk free and promised Lilly that they "should go hunting sometime." In an effort to find George before he can strike again, the team reinvestigates the event that may have started all of this: the unsolved murder of his mother, Simone.
Tropes
- Abusive Parents: Exaggerated with George’s mother Simone, giving him his Freudian Excuse.
- Armor-Piercing Question: How Lilly defeats Marks. After forcing her to relive one of her worst memories (her mother sent her out to get alcohol, which resulted in Lilly getting attacked and beaten by a mugger), she finally realizes why George is so interested (as well as the double meaning of his taunts about how she was "betrayed by those you thought you loved most")."Who sold you out, George?"
- George himself asks one of his mother, about how she could have known about "the woods" (how the walls of the room are decorated) if she's blind. He soon realizes that all of the hell she's put him through even before she told a burglar to rape him instead of her because of her supposed blindness—which she blamed him for—was completely unwarranted. It's this that makes him snap and kill her.
- Asshole Victim: As if being abusive and unloving toward her son wasn't bad enough, Simone also sells out George to a rapist. It's difficult to feel bad for her when George snaps and shoots her dead.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Zigzagged. Even though George is dead and can no longer hurt anyone, he was killed by Lilly, which is what he wanted since he felt she was the only one worthy of killing him.
- Beneath the Mask: Throughout the episode, George Mark's Smug Snake facade is pulled back to reveal a troubled and ultimately pathetic man who never got over his betrayal by his mom. Notably, when he's telling Lilly about his mother's actual medical condition (hysterical blindness), his tone of voice is more of a "I really wish I'd known this before".
- Bittersweet Ending: In the end, Lilly prevailed over George by discovering what really happened to him in the house and the serial killer is finally stopped, meaning all of his victims's cases can be finally closed for good. However, George still partially got what he wanted by getting killed by someone he deemed worthy and by killing the only victim who managed to escape him, while Lilly is clearly shaken by this final confrontation.
- Child by Rape: It's implied that George is this, resulting in his mother's hysterical blindness and her abuse of him.
- Dead-Hand Shot: The detectives are searching the park that they traced George to when they come across a woman's hand sticking up from the ground—it's the woman from his last episode who was initially fortunate enough to get away.
- Department of Child Disservices: The child service worker here is a burglar, though he did care enough to try to get George away from his mother and only tried robbing the house afterwards.
- Freudian Excuse: George's issues come from the fact that his mother abused him and ultimately let a pedophile rape him in order to save her own skin. Killing his mother was the one time he really felt in control and he became determined to replicate that moment again and again. Realizing this is what allows Lilly to turn the tables on him.
- It's implied that the reason George's mother hated him was because he was the product of rape.
- Karma Houdini: Zigzagged. George is killed by Lilly, which technically is bad, except that he wanted her to do it because he believed her to be the one worthy to end his life, so technically in the end, it wasn’t really all that karmic.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After getting away in "Mind Hunters", George finally faces justice in this episode.
- Killed Offscreen: Deedee Cooper, the only victim of Marks who managed to escape him, is killed offscreen as Marks finally catches up with her.
- Mommy Issues: As a child, George cared about his mother and tried to help her with her "blindness" despite Simone's blatant verbal and emotional abuse, and the fact that she kept him locked in their attic. He couldn't comprehend that his mother despised him and he would be better off without her, to the point that George actually ran away from the group home a social worker sent him to, which led to his rape.
- Suicide by Cop: George deliberately chooses this after Lilly defeats him. He sees Lilly as the one person worthy of ending his life so he goads her into shooting him.
- Sympathetic Murderer: In this particular instance, George was more sympathetic than his murder victim.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Or at least understanding of the devil; Lilly does acknowledge that George's murderous hatred of women is a direct result of his mother's completely abusive, unloving treatment and betrayal.George: I am God in these woods!
Lilly: No, you're a little boy whose mother didn't love him. - Villainous Breakdown: George suffers a SPECTACULAR one when Lilly figures out his Freudian Excuse and confronts him on it, causing him to go from a Smug Snake to screaming at her to shut up.
- Wham Line: "Your mother wasn't raped in this house... you were."
