Recap / Criminal Minds S 15 E 7 Rusty

Rusty

A man in Denver beheads people in an attempt to get his dead son back from a different dimension. After a while of it not working, he kidnaps two children and tries to sacrifice them. The team discovers that the UnSub's son died in a car accident when the UnSub was drunk driving.

Tropes

• Ambiguous Situation: The UnSub is unclear on whether he wants to enter the alternate timeline where he believes his son to be, or wants the son to come to his timeline.
• Bury Your Gays: Subverted on the show Garcia discusses in the opener - the main character, who is in love with her female boss, dies not once but twice in that week's episode - but it's OK because she has magical healing powers.
• Companion Cube: Garcia's car, Esther.
• Continuity Nod: Garcia catsat Sergio, Emily's cat. We haven't seen him since Lauren, but it's good to know he's still around.
• Daddy Issues: Subverts the usual pattern by having the UnSub hate himself for failing as a father. (The usual pattern being that an UnSub is angry with his own dad and takes it out on victims.)
• Department of Child Disservices: Brenda the social worker takes bribes to convince judges to let alcoholic men get custody of their children.
• Fake Memories: The Mandela effect is this, and though the UnSub isn't shown to have false memories (unless you count his actual delusions), he believes this effect proves that alternate timelines exist. It is never made clear whether he thinks people with false memories sacrificed anyone to a demon to get to a timeline where Nelson Mandela survived prison and Curious George has no tail.
• Hidden Depths: Reid claims he would be a cowboy if he weren't an FBI agent.
• Human Sacrifice: The UnSub thinks he has to sacrifice other dads to a demon to get to go to another timeline.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Prentiss is in one with a cop she met in season fourteen.
• Motor Mouth: Garcia gets this way from caffeine.
• Shout-Out
  • Subverted with the show Prentiss and Garcia discuss in the beginning. Garcia describes a show very much like Criminal Minds.
    Garcia: The blonde one? She died – twice! It was crazy with a K! So there was that battle, right? And they needed her to have a secret identity. [cut to them coming out of the elevator] Well, after that race car thing, and then this week she's back at work (Emily: Wait, she's already back at work?) Because she has special healing powers, remember? She gets back to work and she professes her undying love to her boss, Stephie. And I like screamed, 'they're gonna do that now? Now?' She has loved her for years! Remember that one case they had and they went on the date afterwards? I mean, not date date…
  • Tara watches Doctor Who.
• Title Drop: When the UnSub calls his demon hallucination to negotiate Ethan's release from the alternate timeline, it turns out the demon's name is Rusty.
• Would Not Hurt A Child: The UnSub zig-zags this. He kidnaps two kids, and he wants to hurt them, believing it will reunite him with his son, but he can't quite bring himself to do it.

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