Criminal Minds (TV Series)

The Tall Man (2018)

A.J. Cook: Jennifer Jareau

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jennifer Jareau : The boyfriend, we thought he was a teenager, a peer, well, he's older. Much older.

  Emily Prentiss : How do you know?

  Jennifer Jareau : [showing Emily her necklace]  Chelsea saw this around my neck. The look in her eyes was recognition.

  Emily Prentiss : The jewelry the unsub gave Bethany.

  Jennifer Jareau : Same one. He gave this to Roslyn, who gave it to me. God only knows how many other girls there's been since then. I have been wearing this around my neck, his trophy, this whole time.

  Emily Prentiss : JJ, we will arrest him.

  Jennifer Jareau : I know. But when we do, I'm gonna need you to keep me away from him, because if I get a chance, I swear to God I will kill him.

• Jennifer Jareau : [opening quotation]  "The most important question anyone can ask is 'What myth am I living?'" - Carl Jung.

• Jennifer Jareau : [closing quotation]  "There are times in our lives when we have to realize that our past is precisely what it is and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it. And by doing that, we can change the future." - Eleanor Brown.

• Tom Davis : What are you doing here?

  Jennifer Jareau : What do you mean?

  Tom Davis : I mean, I remember your sister's funeral like it was yesterday. I could barely keep it together. But you... you live in this world now.

  Jennifer Jareau : I do. I guess I do live in this world now. But you know what? I also get to make a difference in it.

  Tom Davis : Then tell me I won't have to bury my daughter.

• Jennifer Jareau : Ever since we took this case, all of these... memories are coming back, and they are not good memories. You know?

  Emily Prentiss : About Roslyn?

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah. Like that morning she took my father's razor. I found her. And I-I just stood there... frozen... for probably ten minutes.

  [fighting back tears] 

  Jennifer Jareau : It's like my brain couldn't, um, comprehend what I was seeing. You know, sometimes I think... I think that's why I took this job, so I'd always know what to do, so I would never freeze again. So, can you... can you give me something to do, Emily? Because I am starting to freeze up again.

• David Rossi : You know, of all the profilers I've worked with, you've grown the most, from communications liaison to mother to profiler. It's been a privilege to watch.

  Jennifer Jareau : Thank you.

  David Rossi : Oh, I'm not done. Because now you have to do the hard work. If this unsub was in Roslyn's life, he was also in yours. And you're gonna have to dig into your memories to find him.

  Jennifer Jareau : Will you come with me?

  David Rossi : Every step of the way.

• Jennifer Jareau : She was trying to protect me.

  David Rossi : Yes, she was. Now imagine you're the unsub. Your victim has just killed herself, and you see her younger sister wearing your gift to her.

  Jennifer Jareau : He'd see it as a beacon. "That's my next victim."

  David Rossi : You say that as a profiler. But what else do you know about preferential sexual offenders?

  Jennifer Jareau : They, uh... they have an age-specific type. I-I'd be too young for him.

  David Rossi : Roslyn didn't know that, but she knew the unsub, and she knew you. She knew that deep down inside, you were stronger than her, and that the unsub would never come after you because it would be too risky. And you were too tough. Now, was that the best plan? No. But it was the best that Roslyn could do. And I think her plan worked. I think he was terrified of what she might have told you and how you would have looked at him. So, who looked at you like that growing up? It would have been a brief interaction, something probably in the immediate aftermath of her death.

  Jennifer Jareau : [flashing back to Roz's funeral, realization dawns on her]  Oh, my god.

• Jennifer Jareau : Last night, three teenage girls went searching for the Tall Man. It's a-a regional ghost story. According to the survivor recovered this morning, they found him.

  Luke Alvez : [seeing pictures of Ally]  She looks like she went through hell. She say what happened?

  Penelope Garcia : Uh, that would be Ally Macready. And according to her, the Tall Man held them and cut them repeatedly.

  Jennifer Jareau : Now, that is consistent with the legend. So, the Tall Man is your classic "don't go into the woods" dare. Survive the night, you survive him. He catches you, he cuts you until you reveal your deepest secrets.

• Jennifer Jareau : [returning home to find Will sleeping with the boys]  Oh, don't... don't move. Let me take this in.

  William LaMontagne Jr. : They wanted to wait up. They have a present for you.

  Jennifer Jareau : A present for me?

  William LaMontagne Jr. : Mm-hmm. We heard it through the grapevine it was a tough case.

  [opening the gift, she finds a locket with pictures of Henry and Michael inside] 

  William LaMontagne Jr. : You like it?

  Jennifer Jareau : I love it.

• Penelope Garcia : I'd like to direct your attention to two oddities. Oddity number one is Ally Macready's medical exam.

  Emily Prentiss : Give us the headline.

  Penelope Garcia : Despite outward appearances, Ally had a sum total of zero wounds on her. So whose blood is on her clothes, you ask? DNA report is not back yet, but typing and matching points to the other girls.

  Dr. Tara Lewis : She could have escaped before the unsub got to her. Holding three girls takes a lot of control.

  Emily Prentiss : What's oddity number two?

  Penelope Garcia : That would be a text exchange between Bethany and Chelsea. Bethany says to Chelsea "What if we do it in the woods tonight?", to which Chelsea responds "We'd have to do it fast. Ally can't see us coming."

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Vaguely threatening. Although Ally didn't say anything like that in her interview.

  David Rossi : Two of the girls had some agenda besides the Tall Man. We need to see if it played a part in their disappearance.

  Jennifer Jareau : Chelsea's dad, Tom, he dated my sister in high school, so I can talk to him.

  Emily Prentiss : Good. Do that. We will divide and conquer when we land. We will investigate this as if Bethany and Chelsea are still alive, and we will not sleep until we find them.

• Ethan Howard : What in the world is this? Seriously.

  Jennifer Jareau : Ethan, I am so sorry.

  Ethan Howard : This is ridiculous. They seem to think I've hurt those girls or something.

  Jennifer Jareau : I know. It's just we have a warrant for your house. And they've already pulled your computer.

  David Rossi : [watching outside]  Is that...?

  Emily Prentiss : No, she's bluffing.

  David Rossi : That's a hell of a bluff. Guys like him keep souvenirs, usually on computers.

  Ethan Howard : Did you see what was on it?

  Jennifer Jareau : I did.

• Luke Alvez : [searching the school's trophy case]  This can't be it. There's nowhere for her to hide in here.

  Jennifer Jareau : [noticing a "Staff only" door]  Guys, over here.

  [spotting something as they enter] 

  Jennifer Jareau : What's under here?

  Matt Simmons : That's, uh, an electrical breaker room. The police, they cleared it already.

  Jennifer Jareau : Well, we need to clear it again.

• Ethan Howard : Were you able to buy me more time?

  Jennifer Jareau : No. No, I didn't. You put my sister in your trophy case because she was just another one of your trophies.

  Ethan Howard : No, no. No, that's not... that's not true. I didn't...

  Jennifer Jareau : [roughly standing him up and cuffing him]  Roslyn probably wasn't your first victim. But Bethany... she will be your last.

• David Rossi : Did she ever let on that she was hurting?

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah. It got really bad right before she was gone.

  Young Jennifer Jareau : [flashback]  It's dinnertime, mom says.

  Roslyn Jareau : JJ, not now.

  Young Jennifer Jareau : You have to come eat because you haven't eaten in three days.

  Roslyn Jareau : [throwing her necklace at her]  Get out!

  Young Jennifer Jareau : Why are you like this? Is it Tom?

  Roslyn Jareau : No. I broke up with Tom months ago. Will you just go away, please?

  Jennifer Jareau : [return to present]  No, that's not right. Weeks earlier, she and my father were fighting.

  [flashback to Roslyn and Mr. Jareau's argument] 

  Jennifer Jareau : If she had already broken up with Tom, who was she talking about?

  David Rossi : The unsub. He recognized a girl in pain, parents divorcing, vulnerable, so he took advantage of that.

  Jennifer Jareau : She was already in such a bad place. And now she's heartbroken. She thought there was only one way out.

  David Rossi : But there's that nagging question, isn't there?

  Jennifer Jareau : [fingering her necklace]  Why did you give this to me, Roz?

• Emily Prentiss : JJ? Wheels up!

  Jennifer Jareau : Wheels up

• Tom Davis : My daughter and her best friend are missing, and you're asking about their texts? God, JJ, is that really what's important?

  [calming down] 

  Tom Davis : I'm sorry.

  Jennifer Jareau : It's okay.

  Tom Davis : It's the worst day of my life. And then Roslyn Jareau's little sister shows up to ask me about it.

  Jennifer Jareau : I usually don't see people on their best day. That's why it's important to look into every lead.

• Jennifer Jareau : Our next case, where we're headed to.

  William LaMontagne Jr. : East Allegheny. Your hometown, huh?

  Jennifer Jareau : I-I swore I would get out of there and never go back. I have to go. Right?

  William LaMontagne Jr. : Well, you don't have to do anything, darling. But this case, two girls missing in the woods, it's gonna bother you if you don't go.

  Jennifer Jareau : Wait, wait, wait. Where?

  [taking her phone] 

  Jennifer Jareau : Where?

  William LaMontagne Jr. : In a park, Dead Man's Conservatory. Is that important?

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah. I think I know what they were looking for.

• Jennifer Jareau : So, these texts between Bethany and Chelsea didn't sound too friendly.

  Tom Davis : Ally's getting worse; singing, talking to herself. So last night they were gonna to try to talk Ally into getting some help.

  Jennifer Jareau : Why in the... the woods? I mean, there are... there are at least a hundred better places to have that conversation.

  Tom Davis : I don't know. I really don't.

• Emily Prentiss : I'm starting to think Bethany or Chelsea might be pulling the strings here.

  David Rossi : Whoa, slow down. All three girls' phones were drugged, and Ally had the other girls' blood on her.

  Luke Alvez : I'm with Rossi. I mean, if one of the girls was staging this, she would have had to have knocked herself out and let herself get cut. That's one hell of a gaslight.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : But not an impossible one, especially with a partner.

  Matt Simmons : Well, if that's true, I think we're missing the bigger picture here. Chelsea and Bethany are best friends. Why would one recruit a partner to terrorize the other?

  Jennifer Jareau : Okay, it has something to do with this. "Where is it?". That's what Ally heard. So they're looking for something they lost, something they think the other girl can find.

  Emily Prentiss : I think we need to take another look at their high school, see what we can find.

  Jennifer Jareau : I know a guy over there that could help us.

• Ethan Howard : Jennifer Jareau. Is that you?

  Jennifer Jareau : Well, how are you, Mr. Howard?

  Ethan Howard : I'm good. I'm good. Listen, you graduated, you can call me Ethan.

  Jennifer Jareau : I heard you got promoted. Can't believe you're not the guidance counselor anymore.

  Ethan Howard : Oh, I'm still the guidance counselor. Yeah, I'm also the A.P. English teacher, and some kids actually think I'm principal.

  Jennifer Jareau : [they briefly share a laugh]  So, did you get my message?

  Ethan Howard : I did. And I pulled all the kids that Bethany and Chelsea were linked in with.

  Jennifer Jareau : Great.

  Ethan Howard : This way.

• Riley Taylor : There's not much I can tell you. Bethany and Chelsea, they-they loved each other. THey were more like sisters than friends.

  Jennifer Jareau : Well, sisters fight. Did they get on each other's nerves? They ever have any kind of disagreement?

  Riley Taylor : I mean, this is, like, totally a rumor, but Bethany had this secret boyfriend. She wouldn't tell anyone who he was. And Chelsea made fun of her for it, about Bethany keeping it a secret. And Bethany was like "Why can't you understand?".

  [as Riley talks, JJ flashes back to her sister arguing with their father] 

  Riley Taylor : Do you know that feeling?

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah. Yeah, I know that feeling. Could you tell me more about this boyfriend? We might need to talk to him.

  Riley Taylor : All I can tell you, he gave Bethany a gift. Jewelry, I think. Chelsea got her hands on it somehow, and she made it her mission to find out who Bethany got it from.

  Jennifer Jareau : And did she?

  Riley Taylor : She tried. She never got there.

• Emily Prentiss : Okay, so let's roll with this for a second. Bethany has a secret boyfriend. He doesn't want to be exposed, neither does she. But then Chelsea gets her hands on something neither one wants her to have.

  Jennifer Jareau : Right.

  Emily Prentiss : So, the jewelry has to be the key to all of it. What motivates them to this extreme?

• Dr. Tara Lewis : Ally, open your eyes and focus on the metronome. Now help us find your friends. Describe the room.

  Ally Macready : There's the door that he came through. It's like I'm in a tunnel or something. There's windows along the walls, but they're covered in this weird cloth.

  Jennifer Jareau : Ally, what's on the ceiling?

  Ally Macready : Stars. But they're pink.

  Jennifer Jareau : I know where they are.

  [cut to the precinct] 

  Jennifer Jareau : [taking a map off the murder board]  It's a train car. It's abandoned. We used to have parties there back when I was in high school. Somebody put pink stars up on the ceiling. Okay, so it's-it's right here if it hasn't moved.

  Emily Prentiss : Okay, you'll lead SWAT. Tell them to watch their front sight. There are teenagers in there.

• Emily Prentiss : [with JJ, watching Matt and Luke question Tom]  You okay with this?

  Tom Davis : I was at home by myself. You can check my cell phone. It's got GPS on it.

  Luke Alvez : All that means is that your phone stayed home, not that you did.

  Jennifer Jareau : How he responds to my sister's necklace will tell us everything.

  [Prentiss gives her a nod of approval] 

  Tom Davis : [she enters the room]  JJ, thank god. Can you please explain...

  Jennifer Jareau : We pulled this off of Bethany.

  Tom Davis : What is it?

  Jennifer Jareau : [studying his face, then leaving]  It's not him.

  Emily Prentiss : We're holding him anyway.

  Jennifer Jareau : Fine. But it's not him.

• Jennifer Jareau : Emily send you in here?

  David Rossi : No. Well, I might have mentioned I was gonna check up on you.

• David Rossi : You're eleven. That's a fun age.

  Jennifer Jareau : Yeah.

  David Rossi : What was going on?

  Jennifer Jareau : My parents weren't doing well. There was a lot of fighting.

  David Rossi : Did that contribute to Roslyn's depression?

  Jennifer Jareau : It did. But she'd always make time for me.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : I searched his car, his house, and the school. No sign of Bethany.

  Emily Prentiss : Dave, I think he'll respond to your authority. I want you to take the first crack at him.

  Jennifer Jareau : [handing over her gun]  Actually, I'd like to.

  [Prentiss glances at Rossi, who gives her a nod of approval] 

  Emily Prentiss : Okay.

• Ethan Howard : What Roslyn and I had, it was... it was different. All right? I mean, we... really loved each other.

  Jennifer Jareau : I know.

  [showing him Roslyn's necklace] 

  Jennifer Jareau : Roz gave this to me because she wanted me to know how special you were to her. You know who else is special? Bethany. Look, you don't have to tell me where she is, but you got to give me something so I can buy you a little more time.

  Ethan Howard : She's where I keep all the kids that are special to me.

  Jennifer Jareau : I'll be right back.

  Ethan Howard : You meant it, right? About Roz? She loved me?

  Jennifer Jareau : [coldly closing the door, to the others]  She's at the school.

• Jennifer Jareau : Breakfast is served.

  William LaMontagne Jr. : Thank you, babe. Say thank you, boys.

  Michael LaMontagne : Thank you.

  Henry LaMontagne : Thank you.

  Jennifer Jareau : You're welcome. Uh, any special requests while I'm up?

  Henry LaMontagne : Can I have some ketchup with my eggs?

  William LaMontagne Jr. : Can I have lime juice?

  Jennifer Jareau : [amused]  Lime juice? What? On your eggs?