1.15 Unfinished BusinessThis is a featured page

Season: 1 Episode # 15 Original Air Date: March 1, 2006



Unfinished Business


Synopsis:
A serial killer reappears after 18 years of silence and contacts the BAU, with the promise he will kill another victim in the next five days. He goes through Gideon's retired mentor, Max Ryan, who had made his life's work tracking the killer.

Best Moments Between Characters:
  • On the plane home, Elle and Hotch have a heart-to-heart about how he balances a wife and child with work. He tells her that when he's home, he makes his family his priority, and when he's at work, the job is his priority. He tells her that the job will eat her up if she lets it.
  • When Gideon tells Ryan that things have changed, and that there is a whole team of great FBI agents waiting to help him; he just needs to let them in.

Best Lines:
  • Max Ryan: "Is there anything worse than cop-shop coffee?"
    Gideon: "Day-old cop-shop doughnuts."

The Turning Point in the Investigation:
When Ryan realizes that the reason the unsub changed his methodology is not because he wanted to, but because he had to. They are able to pin down that he had an accident and Garcia pulls up records, leading them to Walter Kern.

Whodunit?
Eighteen years prior, Walter Kern became famous as "the Keystone Killer." He bound his victims with intricate knots before strangling them. Kern killed seven women, before he was in a car accident on his way to the eighth victim's house. The accident paralyzed his right side, and he stopped killing for eighteen years.

Kern resurfaces with a new modus operandi--he now hits the victim, binds her with cuffs, and suffocates her with a plastic bag. He changed his MO because of his accident, which handicapped him. The women that he is now killing were the women that he planned to kill all those years ago--thus, his "unfinished business."



Goofs:
  • In the beginning, Max Ryan stated it has been 18 years since "the Keystone Killer" last killed. Later, when the team regroups at the BAU to get briefed, Morgan says it has been 20 years.
  • They claim that the unsub's right side was affected by his injuries, yet it was his left side that appeared affected.
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#1hotchfan Unfinished Business inaccuracies 6 Apr 4 2008, 9:01 AM EDT by TiffanyQ
Thread started: Dec 30 2007, 5:17 PM EST  Watch
I just finished watching "Unfinished Business" again and noticed quite a lot of inaccuracies.

First, throughout the episode; they keep switching the timelines. Max Ryan states it's been 18 years since "The Keystone Killer" has killed; Morgan and Hotch refer to it as 20 years but later, one says 20 years, the other says 18 years. It is a bit confusing.

Also they refer to Walter Kern's injuries stating that he had a severed nerve in his spine, affecting his right side and limiting use of it. However, throughout the episode, it is his left side he favors and his right side/hand and arm that he uses to hold the gun and bag his victims heads.

The other curious thing is; if Max Ryan is a retired BAU Agent; yet he goes in with the team to take down Scott Harbin and he's got a gun, vest and he's wired. Normally, wouldn't he be considered a civilian and be asked to remain outside until they've secured the house? Later when they go to Walter Kern's house, he and Gideon knock on the door and neither has their kevlar's on; but they show them later going to the latest victim's house and both are wearing their kevlars.

Last thing; rewatching this episode... the character of Max Ryan reminded me a LOT of Rossi. Both stubborn, think they are right, solo acts and have to relearn to work with a team. They are abrupt to the team members, to the point of offending them but they do come around. It's amazing the similarities between Rossi and Ryan....

Thoughts anyone?
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