Haunted

[a_blackpanther]

This is the discussion post for episode 5x02 "Haunted". Watch out for SPOILERS in the comments.

Comments

[dragonladyk.livejournal.com]

He was trying to get Hotch to not trust the profile.

I think they both take each other too personally for it to be a simple narcissist-dinking-with-the-cops deal.

Rossi and Hotch both insisted in the apartment that the Reaper would be caught and Foyet would be safe (and that, therefore, they knew his profile). However, in "Omnivore," Foyet delivered his "then why can't you catch him" to Hotch, looking at Hotch, and his entire bit about "being bigger than Bundy" and "more famous than you'll ever know" was also delivered to Hotch. He only looked away from Hotch to taunt Derek and then, bam, right back to Hotch. He offered the deal to Hotch and then killed a bus full of people and faked his death (dramatic much?) when Hotch refused.

Before meeting Hotch again Foyet went to a lot of effort: learning to break and enter instead of relying on a cop ruse, ditching the Alexis Denisof haircut for a butch buzz, adding muscle at least in his arms so he wasn't the reedy thing he was in "Omnivore." Then he replicated his own scars on Hotch's body. Just scaring him up wasn't enough, no, it had to be Foyet's scars. That was not just principle or dominance, that was incredibly personal. And I think his offense at the impotence-bit was also personal: not only did Hotch think he was "less of a man" in some way, but narcissits as a whole have a history of not taking the impotence thing well (something Gideon and Rossi have both used to their advantage).

Hotch, for his part, forgets how to be rational whenever the Reaper comes on scene. He wasn't pissing in the Reaper's cornflakes to force the unsub into making a mistake in "Omnivore" and "Nameless, Faceless," he was shooting off his mouth out of emotion.

They drive each other to behavior that is outside the norm for both of them. That's not a simple narcissist/detective dynamic, IMO.

DragonLady

[took-skye.livejournal.com]

He wasn't pissing in the Reaper's cornflakes to force the unsub into making a mistake in "Omnivore" and "Nameless, Faceless," he was shooting off his mouth out of emotion.

Ahahaha!!! I was laughing a full minute after reading that, hahaha!! (I like the "Alexis Denisof haircut" comment too, haha!)

And, I agree, for Hotch and Foyet it'll always be an abnormally close connection (even for their positions in life) for them and they will likely continually push each other to extremes.