I would like to ask a favor that no one posts any comments after these episode recaps and instead make any comments they may have under topics about that specific episode.

I'm thinking it will be easier in the future for anyone wanting to read these if just the recaps are posted in order with no other comments in between them to browse through.

Thanks! :D

Doubt
Original airdate: 9/26/07

Gideon is at a desk in his cabin writing a letter to an unknown person. He has made a decision about his life and this letter is an attempt to explain his actions. He writes that after his friend Sarah was murdered he thought the best thing for him to do was to get back to work and try and help someone else until he could deal with the situation. He begins to talk about the next case the BAU team worked.

Flagstaff, AZ. The BAU jet has landed at the airport and the head detective greets JJ and the team; thanking them for responding so quickly. A murderer on a killing spree has been stabbing victims at a small university. Security has been increased but the killings have continued. As the team makes their way to the police station to get set up a student on campus misses the last shuttle to her dorm before curfew. She hears someone approach her from behind and reaches for the mace she has been carrying in her pocket. Before she can turn around and defend herself she is hit with a taser gun and falls to the ground. When the girl is reported missing her body is quickly located and the team arrives on site. As he examines the crime scene Gideon imagines seeing Sarah in the crowd and as the scene shifts back to the cabin, continues on in his letter that he had always been able to remain objective, but now all he can think about is Sarah. The next morning Reid and JJ are present when the other girls that lived in her dorm are gathered for a meeting and given the news their classmate has been killed. A student named Kate asks how it could have happened with security so high and Reid explains that because the unsub was able to kill in a well-lit area with police nearby indicates that the killer is somehow part of the campus and fits in. JJ also warns the girls that all of the victims were brunette and they believe that the killer is intentionally choosing victims of a specific type. As the team presents their profile to the police they reveal the unsub is most likely attacking girls who remind him of someone he knows. He violently stabs the girls but immediately feels remorse and poses the bodies with their arms folded over their chest. None of the victims showed signs of defensive wounds indicating they felt safe with their attacker. One of the police officers suggests they may be looking for a security guard because they are not allowed to carry guns but are armed with tasers. Garcia checks a list of campus security guards for criminal records and discovers Nathan Tubbs was listed as being a responder at each murder scene. A further search shows that his wife had recently been awarded full custody of their daughter. Meanwhile on campus a dark-haired student is walking down the street toward her car parked a few blocks away. Officer Tubbs pulls along side and advises her it is unsafe for her to be walking alone and offers to drive her to her car. Once inside Nathan tells the girl his wife took his daughter away from him and asks if she would ever do anything like that. Realizing something is wrong the girl answers that she wouldn’t and asks to be dropped off. Tubbs continues to drive until the police and FBI pull up, surround the car and arrest him. Once in custody Nathan insists he is innocent and while he matches the profile there is no evidence and without a confession they do not have enough to charge him with the murders. Gideon is convinced Tubbs is guilty and asks the lead detective to hold him as long as possible. Gideon continues in his letter that a change and feeling of relief was felt all over campus once word got out that a suspect was in custody. But then another student was stabbed and he felt like as with Sarah, he was to blame. A note saying “he’s innocent. I’m still out here.” is sent to the police causing doubt that Tubbs is the killer but Gideon still insists that he is guilty and a profile of the last victim indicates she was murdered by someone else. Gideon argues they have a copycat killer and asks Hotch to hold off the lawyer who is pressing for Tubbs release while Morgan confronts Gideon saying he believes it’s possible that their profile is wrong. Meanwhile at the dorm Kate is asked to inform a student that the campus is being closed and she will need to vacate her room. A brief glimpse into the room reveals newspaper clippings of the killings on the wall and Anna who has dyed her hair black. Kate tells JJ of the girl’s strange behavior and the team closely monitors both Tubbs and the student. Tubbs is finally released under protest and Anna meets Tubbs and asks to talk to him privately in a secluded courtyard. With Gideon and Hotch closely watching and listening with security cameras, Morgan and Prentiss follow the suspects at a distance. The student tells Tubbs she knows he killed the girls and when he was arrested she killed the last victim so he would be released. She pulls a knife from a cloth she has been carrying and tells Tubbs that she wants him to kill her because she can’t kill herself. Tubbs thinking the situation is a set-up tells her he doesn’t know anything and in a moment of rage the girl thrusts the knife into his stomach. Emily and Morgan rush to the scene with their guns aimed and tell her to drop the knife. She asks if they will shoot her and Emily, misunderstanding that Anna wants to die, tries to calm her by saying they won’t shoot her. Before Emily and Morgan can react Anna plunges the knife into her own stomach.

In the supervisor’s office, Erin Strauss once again asks Hotch to explain the team‘s actions. Hotch tells her the decision to release Tubbs knowing the copycat would find him or he would find the copycat killer was the best chance they had of catching them both. He insists it was his decision alone to make and the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for. Strauss informs Hotch that he is being suspended for two weeks while she conducts an investigation into his behavior.

Back at the cabin Gideon finishes writing his letter saying Hotch’s suspension over his idea of letting Tubbs go in order to catch him was the final straw. Gideon concludes his letter by apologizing that he can’t explain any better but says he doesn’t understand anything anymore. He sits at his desk holding his gun as the scene fades out.

In Birth and Death
Original airdate: 10/03/07

“Let your heart feel for the affliction and distress of everyone.” - George Washington

JJ arrives at the BAU to brief the team on a new case. Reid and Morgan meet her in the conference room but Gideon, Hotch and Prentiss do not show up. Thinking they are each running a little late, JJ informs Morgan and Reid of the case in Milwaukee and decides they can give the others the details on the plane. Women are being abducted in public places and then their bodies dumped a few days later; each victim has had their heart cut out.

Hotch has been on suspension for two weeks and is due to return to work at the BAU. But Hotch has already decided to put in for a transfer and his wife Hayley is encouraging him saying it will be the best thing for their family. When Hotch arrives at the BAU to speak with Supervisor Strauss, he meets Morgan in the hallway and informs him he will not be working the new case with the team. While Hotch is talking to Erin Strauss, Emily enters the room and announces that she has decided to resign from the FBI. With no word from Gideon, Strauss decides she will accompany the team to Milwaukee. While Hotch begins to clean out his office Garcia enters with a file folder and puts it on his desk saying it is the new case and JJ had requested that she give him a copy. At home Hotch reviews the file which upsets Hayley and calls Morgan to tell him he thinks the unsub may have something to do with the local school system because the victims are taken soon after school gets out in the afternoon and each body dumped just before school begins. In a department store a woman is browsing through clothes when a young boy comes up to her and tells her that he can’t find his father. She offers to help and the boy leads her to an empty hallway saying this is where his father had told him to meet him should they get separated. The father soon arrives, shows the woman a knife and tells her to ask if she may accompany them home or he will kill his son. Meanwhile Morgan calls Hotch to say they still haven’t heard from Gideon and they need his help. Hotch begins to pack a bag, explaining to Hayley that it won’t affect his transfer and this will be his last case. Hayley angrily tells him there will always be another case and says she needs him there. Hotch tells her he can’t just switch off his loyalty to the team, says that he will be there when the case is over and leaves. Instead of going straight to Milwaukee Hotch goes to Emily’s apartment and tells her the team needs them. Emily asks why he is really there and Hotch honestly answers that he thinks she is resigning because Strauss was trying to get her to give information that could get him fired. He acknowledges that she chose to quit rather than help Strauss and possibly further her own career.

In Milwaukee Hotch and Prentiss arrive and the team decides their best approach may be to focus on the boy rather than the unsub. When the most recent victim’s body is discovered the team goes to the crime scene where Strauss, when confronted with the brutal reality of the crime before her, nearly breaks down and needs to step away. Reid comes up with a theory that they may need to be looking for a model student and not a troubled one, and they quickly come up with a name; David Smith. When JJ and Reid go to his classroom his teacher tells them he was complaining he wasn’t feeling well and the school nurse volunteered to drive him home. From outside the house they see the boy inside watching TV but his father and the nurse are no where to be seen. Strauss insists they don’t have probable cause to enter the house so Emily volunteers to knock on the door and try to get invited into the house. David answers the door and willingly lets Emily inside to meet his father. David points to a closed door and tells Emily that his father is in the other room but he is not allowed to go in there while he is working. Emily, with her gun drawn, opens the door and sees the nurse with her arms tied with rope and gagged. As she begins to look around the room for the unsub she is suddenly hit in the head with a board. Dazed, the unsub grabs her gun and hands it to David, but Emily manages to send an electronic signal to the team outside and they rush into the house and arrest Mr. Smith. As the unsub is being led away Strauss tells Hotch that she can’t officially approve of how the case was handled. Hotch tells her that it would be a mistake to break up the team. Strauss advises Hotch that none of them would ever be eligible to move up the chain of command but Hotch only remarks that he doesn’t want to leave the BAU. Hotch calls Garcia and tells her to stop the glitches in the transfers and resignations.

Hotch arrives back home to find Hayley and his son are not there. Reid goes to Gideon’s cabin to find it empty except for his badge, gun and a letter addressed to him on the desk. Gideon is last seen at a diner paying for a meal. The waitress asks where he is heading and when he responds that he isn’t sure she asks how he will know when he gets there. He replies it is a good question and leaves. As he is seen driving away Gideon’s voice is heard saying that he is looking for the belief he once had; the belief in happy endings.