Criminal Minds (TV Series)

Miasma (2018)

Kim Rhodes: Assistant Director Linda Barnes

Quotes 

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : I'd like to pick up where we left off yesterday.

  Emily Prentiss : No. Let's not. This is not about our case in Mexico last year or any other cases. This is about you. You want something.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : I want the BAU to be held accountable for its actions.

  Emily Prentiss : If you truly believe that we acted inappropriately or had evidence of a crime that was committed, you would have had me arrested. The fact that you haven't tells me that's not what you're after.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : No?

  Emily Prentiss : No. Your specialty is remaking units and divisions in your image; slimming them down, dividing their resources so you can maximize their efficiency. You want to make a name for yourself. Everything about your demeanor says "I want to be in charge." And you project power not because you fear you don't have it, but because you can't get enough. You want to be the Director someday. That's why we're here. To appease your ego, your ambition.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Have you always had issues with authority?

  Emily Prentiss : Better agents than you have tried to split the BAU and failed. Each time, the BAU has done its job, and done it well, and so have I. And you know what that's gotten me? Respect, support, and capital. So whatever game it is you're trying to play here, I want no part of it.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Why don't we take a break before you say something you will regret?

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Now that you've had a chance to gather yourself, I would like to get back to the task at hand, because I may be ambitious, but I've read your file, Agent Prentiss. There's more of me in you than you'd like to admit. But the BAU is not infallible and I'd like to talk about your team and their role in all of this.

  Emily Prentiss : I'm the unit chief. The buck stops with me.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Sure. But Agent Rossi has just published another book. He's been spending a lot of time with his family. Perhaps he hasn't always been as focused as he could be. And Agent Reid's been busy with his teaching assignment. Academia is a more natural fit for an intellect like his. I think even he would agree with that.

  Emily Prentiss : Wait. That's what this is, a... fishing expedition?

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : My investigation has revealed a pattern of negligence within the BAU.

  Emily Prentiss : You want me to give you a fall guy? So the Bureau can avoid some bad PR and you can get a win. And you thought if you threatened my career that I'd play ball.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Rossi put himself in charge following your abduction. Reid spent months in a federal prison. Neither are good at following the rules.

  Emily Prentiss : They're indispensable.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : They are loose cannons! I am asking you to sacrifice a couple of pieces to save the whole board.

  Emily Prentiss : I stand by my team and the actions we've taken.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : So, despite having one of the highest solve rates in the Bureau, your leadership record is complicated. This business in Roswell just being the most recent example.

  Emily Prentiss : Most recent example of what?

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : A team gone rogue.

  Emily Prentiss : We've been accused of that before, and we've even testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It wasn't true then, and it isn't true now.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : But you'd agree that transparency and accountability are of the utmost importance?

  Emily Prentiss : Of course.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : So the shooting death of a man in custody in a police station in Roswell...

  Emily Prentiss : Hold on. Let's just get our facts straight first. It was a suicide, not a shooting. The man in question wasn't in custody, and he was not in a police station. Mr. Downey voluntarily agreed to speak with the police about an unsusal death in the Roswell truther community.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : And he had a concealed weapon?

  Emily Prentiss : The weapon wasn't detected due to a mechanical error with the metal detector that the Roswell PD had installed. There was no indication that he or anyone else would be armed.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : However, if you had questioned this group formally in a police station, the outcome might very well have been different.

  Emily Prentiss : The truthers distrust law enforcement. They would never have cooperated if we'd brought them into a police station.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Perhaps not.

  Emily Prentiss : And ultimately, that decision allowed us to find the person responsible for the murder of a local man.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : At the cost of another. And then there's the death SSA Stephen Walker, your team member. You knew Agent Walker. You worked with him on assignment in France. You recruited him to join the BAU.

  Emily Prentiss : He was an exemplary agent.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : SSA Walker was the first agent to die in the field in the BAU's storied history.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : I want to reiterate that this conversation is on the record. Today is February 1, 2018. This is Assistant Director Linda Barnes sitting with Unit Chief Emily Prentiss. Now, Agent Prentiss, do you know why you're here today?

  Emily Prentiss : I do not.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Agent Jareau didn't call you?

  Emily Prentiss : No.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : [turning off her recorder]  We're not off to a very good start, are we? I've asked you one question and you've lied to me. Shall we try that again?

  [turning the recorder back on] 

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Did Agent Jareau call you?

  Emily Prentiss : No, Agent Jareau did not call me. I called her to let her know we had another case. She informed me that she had spoken with you, but she did not disclose what was said.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : As I'm sure you're aware, it is the one-year anniversary of Agent Reid's arrest in Mexico following a high-speed chase with the local authorities. Your team traveled down to conduct your own investigation into the incident and, per your case report, transfer him to a federal facility in the U.S. I went through your findings and subsequent months-long investigation. The thing is, once I started to dig, I couldn't stop. What I found, Agent Prentiss, was that with you at the helm, team loyalty is more important than Bureau policy.

  Emily Prentiss : That's not a fair assessment.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : As your team has expanded, so have the cases you've agreed to investigate. Mistakes have been made. So that's what we're here to discuss: the state of the Behavioral Analysis Unit under the leadership of Emily Prentiss.

• Emily Prentiss : We gave a full report on our year-long investigation to apprehend Mr. Scratch. Stephen Walker's work was essential to our case.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Your team drove into an ambush.

  Emily Prentiss : No. We spent months on the offensive luring Scratch out of hiding, and it worked. Agent Walker's death was a tragedy, but it wasn't...

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Anyone's fault? Preventable? I spoke with Agent Walker's widow, and you're lucky she's not suing the Bureau for negligence. What we have here, Agent Prentiss, is a series of questionable decisions.

  Emily Prentiss : You're not out in the field. It's not black and white. These are snap decisions.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Okay. Let's go back to the case that triggered this review. I spoke with an Officer Casteneda in Matamoros, Mexico. Do you remember him?

  Emily Prentiss : I do.

  [flashback sequence] 

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : He says you deleted a voice memo in which Agent Reid allegedly confessed to the murder of Nadie Ramos. That's not just tampering with evidence. That's obstruction of justice. Charges that could end your career.

  Emily Prentiss : I'd like to take a break.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : My apologies for the cloak and dagger routine with the e-mail. I needed a reason to bring you in that would ensure a certain confidentiality.

  Jennifer Jareau : What do mean Agent Prentiss has been placed on administrative leave?

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : I've been looking over your work, and I think you're doing an excellent job. Why do you think the brass didn't give you a shot at Unit Chief when Agent Hotchner elected to leave?

  Jennifer Jareau : Prentiss was the natural choice. She had seniority.

• Assistant Director Linda Barnes : You're aware this month marks the one year anniversary of Agent Reid's arrest in Mexico?

  Jennifer Jareau : I was aware that was coming up, yes.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : When something like this happens, it's standard operating procedure for the Director to initiate an internal audit. I've been asked to go over the BAU's case load to make sure that you're following protocol.

  Jennifer Jareau : We work by the book, always.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : Then this should be a fairly painless process.

  Jennifer Jareau : Of course.

  Assistant Director Linda Barnes : As team leader, Agent Prentiss will need to give a full account of the BAU's actions. That's why, effective immediately, you will be the acting head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Pending further review, you and your team will remain on active duty. Agent Jareau, as a courtesy, I chose to inform you first. I'll be speaking with Agent Prentiss in the morning, so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this between us until you hear from me.