Criminal Minds (TV Series)

Miasma (2018)

Joe Mantegna: David Rossi

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Emily Prentiss : I have an announcement to make. I have been suspended from active duty. I've turned in my badge and my gun.

  Penelope Garcia : What... I don't understand.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : For how long?

  Emily Prentiss : Indefinitely. Uh, JJ will continue being acting Unit Chief, but as of today, Assistant Director Linda Barnes will be personally overseeing the unit.

  David Rossi : Are we under investigation?

  Emily Prentiss : Yes, we are under investigation. And I tried, but with the suspension, I can't protect you. I'm sorry.

• David Rossi : Hey. Just, uh, checking in to see how you're doing.

  Emily Prentiss : It's tough to remain calm when someone's trying to get under your skin.

  David Rossi : This isn't an annual review?

  Emily Prentiss : Ostensibly, yes, but Barnes has been through every command decision I've made since taking over as Unit Chief and thrown them back at me, including Stephen's death.

  David Rossi : She's trying to rattle you.

  Emily Prentiss : Yeah. She's after something. I just don't know what.

  David Rossi : You know we've got your back, right?

  Emily Prentiss : I do.

  David Rossi : So how can we help?

  Emily Prentiss : Solve this case. Show Barnes we can color within the lines.

  David Rossi : Okay. Well, hang in there. When I get back, drinks are on me.

  Emily Prentiss : [with a laugh]  Deal.

  David Rossi : And Emily, don't let her push you around. You've earned that seat.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : Medieval medical practitioners believed that chickens could absorb illness. They would rub the birds all over the bodies of the diseased in an attempt to rid them of their sickness.

  Jennifer Jareau : See, uh, this is a venetian bird mask. During the 17th century, doctors would stuff these with herbs and spices and wear them to protect against infection.

  Chief Thomas Wheeler : From the plague.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : That, along with the burning of the bodies and the burial ground, Tremé Cemetery number two, and the fact that it was originally built to house victims who died from cholera and smallpox, tells us that this unsub believes himself to be a modern-day plague doctor.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : A vigilante or angel of death whose job it is to stop sick people from spreading disease.

  David Rossi : Our unsub wants to eradicate not just the sick, but the sickness within them.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : In fact, it wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that humorism, the belief that illness was caused by an imbalance of the fluids in the body, was discredited. Before that, it was believed that there were four humors in the body: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm, all of which were susceptible to miasma, or bad air, that carried disease.

  David Rossi : Our unsub's fixation on these ancient medical practices speaks to a very specific kind of stressor.

  Jennifer Jareau : It indicates a distrust in modern medicine. He or a loved one may have suffered a loss brought on by illness or disease.

  David Rossi : Or he may blame modern medicine for failing to save a loved one.

  Jennifer Jareau : Our unsub was living on the fringes of society. His van was not just his means of transport, it was his whole life. And now that he's lost it, there's no telling what he'll do next.

• Dr. Tara Lewis : So the burning was postmortem, like the others?

  M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : Yes, but C.O.D. was a stab wound to the back.

  David Rossi : Well, just as we predicted, this is our guy. He's gone widly off pattern. Burned the clinic, attacked the doctor here. He's devolving.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : Well, maybe he finally figured out that killing sick people won't stop the spread of disease.

  David Rossi : The clinic was probably a stark reminder of the failure of modern medicine.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : It shows an evolution of thought, and he's gone from putting the blameless out of their misery to punishing those in the medical profession.

  David Rossi : Yeah, he's no longer on a mission of mercy, that's for sure. This could very quickly become about finding that person that he thinks is responsible for the loss he suffered.

• Penelope Garcia : Talk to me, my pretties.

  David Rossi : What can you tell us about Tanesa and Kevon Winters?

  Penelope Garcia : Okay. Tanesa Winters. She died three weeks ago. She's survived by her son Kevon. It looks like he was born in New Orleans. Uh, he spent some time in Houston, but he returned at some point because I've got a local college transcript and a notice from a collection agency. Kevon dropped out of school, thousands of dollars in debt. That's when the trail goes cold.

  Jennifer Jareau : We also need information on this flophouse. It was condemned about ten years ago. It's on 44th and Fig.

  Penelope Garcia : Uh, I can tell you it's not there anymore. It's now a coffee shop. Let me take a deep dive here and see what secret secrets I can find.

  David Rossi : We believe Tanesa Winters lived there for a short time.

  Penelope Garcia : Yeah, she did. The tenants there filed a civil suit. It looks like Tanesa was the primary plaintiff. Uh, they sued for negligence and bodily harm. That building sustained a lot of damage after the flooding caused by Katrina.

  David Rossi : And let me guess. It was never properly cleaned or vented.

  Penelope Garcia : It was not. Uh, Tanesa became very ill due to black mold. The residents repeatedly asked for the building to be inspected, and the landlord and the insurance companies ignored them.

  Jennifer Jareau : That's it. That's the unsub's stressor. That's the root of all of this.

• David Rossi : Whatever happened to the landlord who owned the building?

  Penelope Garcia : Walter Trudeau paid out a modest settlement and went on to become a local business mogul. He owns a lot of property in the area.

  David Rossi : If the unsub is now directing his anger to those he holds responsible for failing to help his mother, Walter Trudeau will be on that list.

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah, we need to warn him. Penelope, can you get ahold of Mr. Trudeau and let him know that we'd like to speak with him? And send us...

  Penelope Garcia : His home and work address? It's like I do this for a living. And... oh! Flag on the play. Sports reference. Uh, Trudeau spends a lot of time at a bar he owns. I'm sending you the address now.

  David Rossi : Garcia, before you go, find out what you can about Tanesa Winters' death, specifically the cause.

  Penelope Garcia : Copy that. Here it comes.

• David Rossi : Not bad for the first time steering the ship. Prentiss would be proud. Have you heard from Emily?

  Jennifer Jareau : No. I, uh, I texted her to let her know we were on our way back, but...

  David Rossi : I'll be glad when this is all over.

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah.

• David Rossi : Looks like local PD is still working on IDing the victims.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : Has a cause of death been determined?

  Penelope Garcia : No, but the coroner did reveal this one super-icky detail: all of the bodies had been drained of their blood.

  Emily Prentiss : Let's make sure to check on that first thing.

• Jennifer Jareau : Tremé Cemetery's an active site. It's famous. It's the oldest cemetery in the city.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Home to Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen of New Orleans, known for her powers of clairvoyance, healing, and intimidation. Legend has it that she once helped free a man accused of murder by praying for 72 hours straight with three hot peppers in her mouth.

  Luke Alvez : Voodoo queen. I mean, is that what this is? Some kind of ritualistic killing?

  Matt Simmons : I see these Xs here. They're used to denote the grave of a powerful voodoo practitioner.

  Jennifer Jareau : Markings like this aren't uncommon in these parts. These look like they've been here for a while.

  David Rossi : Could be the reason our unsub chose this particular crypt to do his bidding.

  Emily Prentiss : New Orleans PD wants us there ASAP. There is one more thing. I won't be coming along. JJ will be acting as Unit Chief in my absence. I have a meeting with Assistant Director Barnes tomorrow morning. It's short notice, but as far as I understand, it's just a standard administrative review, so I'm sure everything will be fine.

  Jennifer Jareau : Okay. Um, wheels up in thirty.

• Luke Alvez : First Barnes pulls you in for a late-night meeting, then Prentiss. I mean, it feels like something's going on.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : Yeah, and why all the urgency? I mean, couldn't it have waited 'till we all got back?

  David Rossi : Something must have triggered an internal review.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : It's me. It's been almost a year since my arrest in Mexico.

  Jennifer Jareau : It's just an annual review. Standard operating procedure.

  Luke Alvez : Matt, you worked with Barnes on your last assignment. How much trouble are we in?

  Matt Simmons : I mean, I hate to say it, but this is the exact same thing that she did with the IRT before disbanding the unit. She started with the head of the team, then she worked her way down. She tried to pit us against each other.

  David Rossi : Barnes' reputation precedes her. She's climbed the ranks well.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : Well, clearly she's good at her job.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : We're better.

  Jennifer Jareau : And we haven't done anything wrong. We can't worry about this right now because we have a case. People need our help.

• Chief Thomas Wheeler : Five of the ten victims have been identified. These three, Jason Chambers, Lindsay Montoya, and Gary Keulchy, were homeless. And these two, Sonequa Fox and Daniel Rikers, were working professionals.

  Jennifer Jareau : And Mr. Rikers and Ms. Fox were both reported missing a week and a half ago.

  Chief Thomas Wheeler : That's correct. They both left their homes in mid-city and never returned.

  Matt Simmons : And the three homeless victims were last seen in a shelter near the French Quarter?

  Chief Thomas Wheeler : Yes. We periodically check the night roll calls when we find a body. They were most likely panhandling in the area.

  David Rossi : Our unsub crossed racial and gender lines.

  Luke Alvez : And he's mobile.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : You know, realistically, it's likely each victim was abducted, killed, and disposed of individually.

  Jennifer Jareau : We need to see what the M.E. can tell us about the timeline of the murders.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : And we'd expect an unsub like this to start with high-risk victims like the homeless and then move on to low-risk victims like Sonequa and Daniel, but until we ID the remaining victims, it's really hard to draw any conclusions.

  Luke Alvez : So he'd need somewhere to hold them and do his bloodletting business before bringing them back to the crypt.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I've already started a geo-profile, but the more we can learn about the victims' last moments, the more accurate it'll be.

• Chief Thomas Wheeler : Found another burned body. This time in a crypt in Tremé Cemetery number two.

  Jennifer Jareau : Just one?

  Chief Thomas Wheeler : Yeah. And the crypt wasn't nearly as secluded.

  David Rossi : We've disrupted his routine. Another tomb, but now he's improvising.

• M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : So, I can tell you what kind of accelerant he used. Good old drugstore variety rubbing alcohol. That's why the burn patterns on the bodies are so uneven.

  David Rossi : These aren't defensive wounds, are they?

  M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : No. The flexion of the elbows, knees, and hands is caused by the shrinkage of body tissues due to dehydration.

  David Rossi : So the pugilistic pose is a result of the body being exposed to extreme heat?

  M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : Yes. And it can occur even if the bodies were dead before they were burned, which I believe was the case here.

  David Rossi : And the bloodletting, was that done postmortem as well?

  M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : Yes. He sliced the carotid. Nice clean cut.

  David Rossi : So the unsub is skilled with a knife.

• David Rossi : If exsanguination wasn't the cause of death, what was?

  M.E. Dr. Aristeo Caruso : Each victim had large quantities of pure ketamine in their system. A powerful anesthetic. They were most likely injected with a pretty hefty dose.

  David Rossi : So all the violence done to the body was postmortem.

• Matt Simmons : What do you have, Rossi?

  David Rossi : A strange contradiction. The cause of death was a lethal dose of ketamine. Now, these kills may look extreme, but the C.O.D. itself was practically painless.

  Luke Alvez : Well, it's doubtful the unsub would even need to interact or create a ruse with his victims. I mean, he could just sneak up and inject them.