Derailed
Directed by Felix Enriquez Alaca
Written by Jeff Davis & Andrew Wilder
Written by Jeff Davis & Andrew Wilder
Gideon: Robert Oxton Bolt wrote, "A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind."
Elle is on a train to Dallas to interview a serial killer when a schizophrenic passenger notices that she is FBI and gets paranoid. When the train has to stop because of a suicide further down the track, he grabs a gun and takes the whole car hostage, demanding that the Higher Authorities remove the microchip he knows they put in his arm.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Another of the four civilians held on the train.
- Artistic License – Geography: A passenger is said to live "outside Dallas". His driver's license clearly shows an address in El Paso - over 600 miles outside Dallas.
- Busman's Holiday: For Elle.
- Conspiracy Theorist: The former student.
- Double-Meaning Title: The hostage taker, Ted Bryar, is off the rails, and the episode is set aboard a train.
- Foreshadowing: Reid shows he knows a lot about psychosis not just academically but practically, recognising the long-term side affects of Bryar's medication and speaking and interacting with him at the climax better than the rest of the team. And then we learn his family history in the season finale...
- Imaginary Friend/Imaginary Enemy: Bryar has one that only he can see, named "Leo".
- Morality Pet: Despite any hallucinations that tell him to attack his psychiatrist, Bryar seems very hesitant to do so until sufficiently agitated.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Ted finally snaps out of his episode at the end of the episode, he apologizes profusely.
- Pregnant Hostage: One of the four civilians held on the train.
- Retroactive Recognition: The UnSub will later play the sheriff on True Blood.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Bryar is loosely based on Ralph Tortorici, a paranoid schizophrenic who took hostages at the State University of New York in 1994.
- Shout-Out: The student makes a number of quickfire references to Nineteen Eighty-Four, trying to convince Bryar that he's on the same side.
- Stage Magician: Reid convinces Ted that he took out the "chip" he thinks the government implanted in his arm by sleight of hand and what looks like a computer chip.
- Take Me Instead: Elle repeatedly urges Ted to do this to her, since she's the only FBI agent on the train.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Bryar is a former professor expert on string theory. While talking to Reid about it, he sees Reid as a bundle of strings.
- Villain of Another Story: One of the passengers is thinking about killing his wife before the crisis happens.
- Reid: Albert Einstein asked, "The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?"
