Criminal Minds
from the episode "Masterpiece" written by Edward Allen Bernero, from the episode "To Hell ... And Back" written by Chris Mundy, and from the episode "The Longest Night" written by Edward Allen Bernero.
(Prof. Rothchild (Jason Alexander) reveals to David Rossi (Joe Mantegna)why he committed the murders.)
Prof. Rothchild: All animals desperately need a way to attract others of their species, dogs have sent, dolphins have sound, The Golden Ratio is a subconscious identifier of perfect humanness. If I had done all of these things it wouldn't be because those women were beautiful, it would be because they were a perfect example of humanity, hypothetically speaking. Do you know what Homo Sapiens, Sapiens actually means David, its literal translation? Man wise, wise. Think about that, we named ourselves doubly wise, we are twice as wise as every other creature on the planet. Hubris, arrogance, humans are a blight, we should all be eradicated.
I hate humanity every bit as much as you do. I told you I read all your books. It's in there, everyone of them, your hatred. Your first book, chapter three, page eighty-nine: one, three, eighty-nine, all Fibonacci numbers. “The first time I saw one of William Grace's victims I knew I was looking at the residue of pure evil and that I would never again feel completely safe around another human being.” Like you, I know exactly what human beings are capable of. Your fifth book, chapter thirteen, page one hundred forty-four, “I know it makes little sense to try and deter violence with more violence, but deterrence is not why I believe in the death penalty. There are some people that are so violent, so evil, that society has no choice but to be done with them. Vengeance is something that society needs from time to time if for no other purpose then to keep the rest of us sane.” Vengeance keeps us sane. What a fascinating statement. You may have your vengeance as I am about to have mine. They are never going to make it out of that house, David. It was never about that perfect woman, or those wonderful children, it was about your team, your merry band of five, they complete my sequence. It's to late David. The minute they stepped into that house they were dead. I knew that if I kept prodding you that you would rise to my challenge, knew that you would insist on being in the room alone with me. You were trying to beat me but I knew that you would send them all out there. You're not just filled with hatred David; you are also filled with arrogance and hubris just like every other human being. Just like me. William Grace, the man you called the face of pure evil, my brother. My life ended the day you arrested him. Every time people talked about William Grace they always talked about his parents and his brother Henry. No one could believe that anyone so evil could possibly hide in the darkness. Surly someone must have seen, someone must have known, surly his own brother. I had a fiancé David, beautiful woman, perfect woman. She sent the ring back to me, she said she was afraid to give it back in person, she was afraid of me. That is when I started getting these thoughts, these ideas, these images inside of my head and I couldn't, I couldn't escape. But then I realized that my brother wasn't alone in the darkness, I shared the same genetics that you so casually dismissed. So I started a second life. I knew something was missing yet I couldn't figure it out, and then, David Rossi, the man that ruined my life, and suddenly I knew what it was that was missing because you had written it. Vengeance. Vengeance. That's right, I killed twelve people because of you. You took my family, now I take yours.
(After finishing up a job in Canada, Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) returns home and questions if he did the right thing.)
Aaron Hotchner: Sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes to neatly sum up what has happened that day. Sometimes you do everything right, everything exactly right, and still you feel like you failed. Did it need to end that way? Could something have been done to prevent the tragedy in the first place? Eighty-nine murders at the pig farm, the deaths of Mason and Lucas Turner make ninety-one lives snuffed out. Kelly Shane will go home and try to recover, to reconnect to her family, but she will never be a child again. William Hightower, who gave his leg for his country gave the rest of himself to avenge his sisters murder. That makes ninety-three lives forever altered. Not counting family and friends in a small town in Sarnia, Ontario who thought monsters didn't exist until they learned that they spent their lives with one. And what about my team? How many more times will they be able to look into the abyss? How many more times will they be able to recover the pieces of themselves that this job takes? Like I said, sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes to neatly sum up what has happened that day, sometimes the day just ends.
(JJ is broadcasting across all of the radio news networks in an attempt to have a one-way conversation with a murderer.)
JJ (A.J. Cook): Mr. Flynn, I don’t know for sure that you can hear me but my – my name is Jennifer Jareau. I work for the FBI as a communications liaison for the - the Behavioral… Okay, Mr. Flynn I w…I-I…I want to talk to you about letting Ellie Spicer go. I mean, I-I wanna ask you to. Uh, see I’m not a hostage negotiator. Uh, I’ve never done anything like this at all ever. But, um, sometimes circumstances, it’s…[sighs] Look. You can tell I’m not a hostage negotiator. But I am a mother. And I…I know what your mother did to you when you were little. What she was, what she made you watch, what she let men do to you and it makes me so…It’s just not fair. And no one, no one can make that better, I wish I could, I really do, but if I, if I could somehow go back there and, y’know, and make what was happening to you stop, I could just pick you up and just tell you that it’ll all be okay. That’s what moms are supposed to do. They’re not supposed to be the cause of your pain, they’re supposed to make it go away. They’re supposed to hold you and tell you everything is gonna be all right. They’re supposed to tell you that thunder is angels bowling and that it’s okay to be afraid of the dark and that it’s – it’s not silly to think that there might be monsters in your closet and it’s okay that if you want to climb into bed with them just this once, cause it’s scary in the room all alone. [sighs] They’re supposed to say it’s okay to be afraid and not be the thing you’re afraid of. But most importantly they’re supposed to love you no matter what. What happened to you isn’t fair, i-it’s not right but, um. I’m supposed to empathize with you, sympathize, understand. But I can’t. That, that would be a lie. The truth is I don’t understand what you’ve done, I-I don’t sympathize with you killing people all these years and I especially don’t understand you taking Ellie. What I can do is tell you what a mother should tell you. That you can’t take away your pain by hurting someone else. That it doesn’t make all the nights you have to spend scared alone any better if you scare someone else the way you’re scaring Ellie. What happened to you, it isn’t fair, but what you’re doing to her isn’t fair either and if anyone should understand what that feels like it’s you. You have the power. You can do what you want to do. But for once, you can choose to use that power to do for Ellie what should have been done for you. You can choose letting her go. You can choose teaching her that, yes, there are monsters and it’s okay to be afraid of them. But it’s not okay to let them win. And it’s not okay to be one.
Kudos and many thanks to Jeff (first two) and K Rose (third piece) for these monologues, it is very much appreciated.