Recap / Criminal Minds S 3 E 16 Elephants Memory

Elephant's Memory

Directed by Bobby Roth
Written by Andrew Wilder

Reid: "A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ." John Steinbeck.

The BAU is called in after a house in a Texas town is blown up, killing the owner and seemingly his daughter. The BAU figure out that the UnSub is a brilliant kid with severe dyslexia who gets bullied and sexually assaulted by the other boys in his high school.

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Includes examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Owen's father had to leave his career in the Marines to look after his son after Owen's mother died in a car accident she caused, and clearly resented them both for costing him his military career, as well as being completely unsympathetic to his son's troubles at school. When the team find his father's body, they note the fact Owen shot his father point-blank in the face is pretty indicative of how much he hated the guy.
  • Jordan's father was said to be physically abusive to her. She was terrified of him.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Owen's bullies try to beg for their lives when he has them at gunpoint. It doesn't do them any good.
  Bully: It was three years ago, man! Nobody remembers!
  Owen: I do.
• Apologetic Attacker: When Owen kills the old man whose house he and Jordan are using to hide out, he's visibly upset and tearfully apologizes to him as he dies, since he wasn't one of the bullies that caused Jordan to snap in the first place.
• Asshole Victim: Pretty much all of Owen's victims, to one extent or another. With the exception of an old man who found out Owen's hideout, and was killed because he knew too much. His death actually disturbed Owen.
• Badass Longcoat: Owen wears a dark trenchcoat in an explicit homage to Johnny Cash. It makes him look even more like a stereotypical mass shooter.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Subverted with Owen, who is brilliant but has a learning disability.
• Bully Brutality: Owen's bullies convinced him to masturbate while they secretly recorded it and posting the video on Internet and Reid's bullies tied him up naked to one of his high school's football field posts and left him there to be ignored by everybody else as he pleaded for help, forcing him to free himself and run home without any clothing in the night.
• Death Seeker: After Jordan leaves him, Owen becomes this, storming towards the police station with the intent of killing as many as possible before he's gunned down. Reid manages to talk him into surrendering.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The bullying turned Owen into what the BAU terms an "injustice collector", a type of killer who goes on a murder spree against those who hurt him (and the one other person he cares about), no matter how small the reason.
• Double Standard: Rape, Male on Male: In-universe. The revelation that Owen was filmed while the other boys forced him to masturbate is treated as horrifying by the main cast, especially Reid. Owen's principal argues that it's all part of growing up for boys.
• Faking the Dead: What was initially thought to be the remains of a local girl turned out to be three hams stuffed in a pair of her jeans.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The video Owen filmed to record the moment in which he fills his bullies with lead conspicuously has the camera turning away from the bullies the moment Owen opens fire and instead focusing on a stream right behind them that gets disturbed by the bullets.
• Ironic Echo: Reid tells Hotch that being the smartest kid in the room is like being the only kid in the room. When calling Reid out for his behavior on the plane back to Quantico, Hotch tells Reid that he may be the smartest kid in the room, but that he's not the only kid in that room.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Owen’s father doesn’t give his son the slightest form of sympathy. He resents his son and deceased wife for forcing him to end his career as a Marine instead of comforting him for the loss, he thinks Owen is outright stupid instead of trying to realize he might have some learning difficulties, and thinks it’s Owen’s own fault for being bullied.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The team's reaction when Owen sends them an ominous message after they convince Jordan what he's been doing.
  Emily Prentiss: Please tell me we did not just get that girl killed.
• Meaningful Name: Owen Savage.
• Morality Pet: Jordan is this to Owen. The team even point out she's probably the only reason he's not gone on a typical school shooter rampage.
  Sheriff Hallum: If he's a school shooter, why hasn't he hit the school yet?
  Emily Prentiss: Jordan. Most of these guys are so angry and hopeless, they just want to kill as many people as possible and commit suicide. But Jordan gives him a reason to live.
• More Dakka: Owen carries around several guns, his personal preference being an M-4 carbine. It's explained that he had access to them because his father is a trainer for the Sheriff's SWAT Team.
• School Bullying Is Harmless: The police believes this. The school's principal believes this. Owen's bullies believed this. Reid makes clear that it isn't, for the exact reasons the episode shows.
  School Principal: Look, boys have a way of sorting these things out.
  Reid: They sure do. Right now, Owen is out there sorting it out with an assault rifle. (Reid storms out)
  Hotch: I'm sorry, it's just we've heard those words before, when we interview school shooters.
• Shout-Out:
  • Owen loves Johnny Cash, and the music in this episode is mostly Johnny Cash songs.
  • Reid quotes a lyric from the Johnny Cash song Owen played in his video of killing his schoolmates.
    There is a man going around taking names
    He decides who to free and who to blame
    Everybody won't be treated all the same
• Spree Killer: Owen's decision to deal with his bullying includes blowing up his girlfriend's abusive father, machine-gunning his bullies to death, and killing a few cops (one of whom is his abusive dad).
• That's What I Would Do: How Reid knows Owen is coming to the police station where they have Jordan.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In the opening, Own walks past a still alive (albeit mortally injured) deputy to shoot his already dead father in the face. The BAU notes this, and quickly conclude he was the real target.
• Title Drop: Morgan says that when it comes to things that have happened to us, we've all got an elephant's memory.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: The only reason Owen tried out for the wrestling team was to try and get some approval from his emotionally abusive father.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Reid doesn't bother to hide his anger at the police force and the locals for effectively turning Owen into a time bomb. Both Hotch and Morgan have to tell him to rein it in somewhat.
    Reid: His life was one torment after another. His teachers gave up on him, his classmates bullied him and his father blamed him while giving him access to guns. Given these conditions, you're actually quite fortunate.
    Deputy Lawford: It sounds like you're saying these victims deserved this.
    Hotch: We're not. Nobody deserves this.
    Reid: But you could have prevented it.
    Hotch: Reid, can I talk to you? [They walk out into another room]
    Reid: It's the truth! They could have done something! They worked with his father, they knew Owen!
    Hotch: So what? All adolescents profile like sociopaths. There's a reason you can't diagnose them until they're 18.
    Reid: Yeah, they could have seen the signs!
    Hotch: Nobody sees the signs, Reid. You know that. And making it their fault is not only unfair, it's dangerous.
  • Hotch tears Reid a new one on the plane back to Quantico for putting himself and others in jeopardy by unilaterally taking off to convince Owen to surrender.
    Hotch: You knowingly jeopardized your life and the lives of others. I should fire you. You're the smartest kid in the room, but you're not the only one in that room. You pull something like this again, you will be. Am I clear?
• Would Hurt a Child: The people Reid went to high school with.

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Reid: "We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that once our eyes watered." Tom Stoppard.