Directed by Kevin Bray
Written by Veena Sud
The hunt for a serial killer commences when Lilly and the team reinvestigate the 1985 disappearance of Janet Lambert, a 31-year-old mother whose headless torso was found by hikers. Subsequently, the team discover eight more victims, all of whom were beheaded.
Tropes
- Agony of the Feet: Upon finding the bodies of the missing women, the coroner notes that their feet are badly injured and show signs of being forced to run barefoot over uneven terrain. Numerous flashbacks depicting their murders show that this is indeed what George did to them—"He made them run until they couldn't anymore."
- The Bad Guy Wins: George Marks smugly walks away from the interrogation without facing justice for his crimes, based on a lack of evidence.
- Breaking Speech: Each of the detectives attempts this on Marks, who turns it back very swiftly on them.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: DeeDee, the woman who got away from George, is smoking nervously as she recounts her story.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: After George kills Janet Lambert, a park ranger hears the shots and confronts him but merely assumes that George is poaching. George wordlessly seems to acknowledge this accusation, and the ranger lets him go with a warning.
- Damsel out of Distress: Marks specifically targeted women who fought their attackers. These including a teenage girl who sprayed an attempted rapist in the face with tear gas, a mother who fought back when her abusive husband went after their daughter, a woman who broke away from and outran a rapist, and a woman who broke her would-be mugger's nose. The other victims presumably qualified, but no details are given.
- Domestic Abuse: Janet's husband hit her and after her disappearance, continued taking his anger out on their daughter. In the present day, he has no remorse about this, to the point of explicitly wishing that he'd been Janet's killer and stating that their daughter deserved the same fate.
- Downer Ending: Marks walks away free, and the whole team is haunted by their failure to arrest him and by his taunts.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played with. A flashback shows that George tried to kidnap Janet earlier in the day, but backed off when he saw that she had her daughter with her. It might be this trope, but given that he had no qualms about killing a 14-year old girl and heavily implies that he threatened to harm Janet's daughter anyway during his second kidnap attempt, it's more likely that he didn't want any witnesses or the hassle of dealing with two victims at once.
- Eye Scream: In 1994, Tina James used tear gas her father made her carry on a man who tried to rape her when she was eleven, blinding him for life.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Marks hunts women in the woods, specifically choosing those who had once been victimized and fought back. This stems from his own hatred of women rather than any desire for a genuine challenge.
- Hypocrite: Janet's husband smacks her around, but the minute their daughter is rude to her, he slaps her and orders her "Don't you sass your mother!"
- I Have a Family: Janet begs for her life for her daughter's sake.
- I Want My Mommy!: Tina's father asks the detectives if she called for him in her last moments. A flashback reveals that yes, she did. Inverted with Janet, who is seen begging for her life for her daughter's sake and whose final words were to declare "I love you, baby girl."
- Little Miss Badass: One of George's victims, Tina, is a 14-year-old girl with braces and a tracksuit whose father trained her in self-defense. Prior to her encounter with George, she blinded a man with tear gas when he tried to rape her. Unfortunately, George wears a gas mask to counter this when he goes after her.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: George tauntingly refers to the childhood story which inspired his prisoner, DeeDee Cooper, to escape her rapist. Remembering this lets her summon the courage and boldness to escape from him too. It also causes the police to realize that the killer had to have access to police reports to know that detail about her original assault.
- Perp Walk: Played with. The episode still gets its requisite perp walk...but it's Marks triumphantly walking away as a free man.
- Post-Rape Taunt: Marks didn't rape any of his victims, but he seems particularly smug about putting the fear of that possibility into them—he forced them to strip to their underwear—especially the 14-year-old girl who had escaped an Attempted Rape sometime prior. He sleazily implies that the girl went from being terrified that she would be raped to practically offering herself to him in the futile hopes that this would make him reconsider killing her:"You have no idea of the things a woman will beg you to do if you'll just let her live."
- There's another variation when he mocks Vera over his failure to solve the Serial Rapist case that haunted him in Season 1.
- Pubescent Braces: Closeups prominently display 14-year-old Tina James' braces as she begs for her life, which helps emphasize both her youth and the depravity of the smirking man about to kill her.
- Red Herring: While it naturally seems that Janet's abusive husband is her killer, his alibi for the time she disappeared is rock solid and he can't be linked to the other women.
- Saying Too Much: Averted. The detectives try to goad Marks into slipping and saying enough for an arrest, but he never does.
- Sequel Hook: The police are forced to release George, who tells Lilly the two of them should go hunting sometime.
- Shameful Strip: Marks forced his victims to strip to add their terror and helplessness.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of Marks's victims was a 14-year-old girl.
