I’ve Always Wanted ‘Criminal Minds’ To Bring Back This Unsub

Criminal Minds has introduced us to a wide range of killers, from sickening sexual sadists who make our stomachs churn to lost traumatized souls who end up eliciting our empathy. Of them all, there has always been one kind of killer that never fails to horrify me whenever they are revealed: children. It is always acutely creepier when a child, someone who is supposed to represent innocence and purity, performs the heinous action of killing someone, especially when it’s on purpose. There have been a handful of juvenile offenders in Criminal Minds, but there is one in particular whom I would love to see return to the rebooted show, Criminal Minds: Evolution.

Danny Murphy (Kendall Ryan Sanders) was the shocking unsub in Season 4, Episode 21, “A Shade of Gray” and as much as he terrified me, I’ve always wanted him to return to the show. While he may not be the most gruesome or textbook scary killer in Criminal Minds‘ repertoire, bringing him back would be an invaluable opportunity for the show to examine the progression of homicidal tendencies in a person. Besides, what better way to show the “evolution” of a criminal than by re-introducing a child offender as an adult?

What Happens in ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 4, Episode 21?

In “A Shade of Gray,” the BAU is investigating a string of child abductions and murders, with the latest case being that of Kyle (Robbie Tucker). His body was found in the forest, half-covered with twigs and laid in a mournful pose. With the respect this corpse was treated with, the BAU soon realized that this case was not actually connected to the serial killer murders, and eventually came to the uncanny realization that his older brother, Danny, was the killer. Turns out, Danny was annoyed that Kyle broke his wooden model airplane and, in a temper tantrum, shoved it down his throat. His parents covered up the murder because they couldn’t bear to lose another child.

In an unnerving scene, Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) sits with Danny while his parents are being interviewed and notices the boy’s marked nonchalance over the whole situation, asking for a bag of chips and casually answering questions. He exhibits signs of a textbook sociopath and, due to his age, is given psychiatric care rather than jail time. As a juvenile offender, enough time has now passed for Danny to potentially be out of the psychiatric facility, and it is completely plausible that he could return to the BAU’s radar as an adult.

Bringing Back a Killer Child Would Be a Dark Move for ‘Criminal Minds’

If Criminal Minds brought back Danny, he could become a fascinating case study of how sociopathy can evolve into the traditional adult killer we are used to seeing on the show. Already, in his Season 4 episode, we saw precursors of these more familiar behaviors, where his nonchalance could progress into cold, calculating stares and his temper tantrums into dark, icy violence. His sociopathy creates a foundation for being disconnected from the emotional events around him, and adding the nuance of his childhood, an age where humans still don’t quite comprehend death, makes his character even more chilling. As such, seeing him as an adult, when he does understand the consequences of death but is still sociopathic, creates that direct link that would be scintillating to unpack.

If he does return, it would also be an opportunity to explore the show’s best themes, like psychiatric care, child criminals, and nature vs. nurture. Turning into an adult killer that the BAU is hunting down would imply that the psychiatric care Danny received either worked only temporarily or simply failed, allowing the show to examine the limitations of the field, since some of its most compelling episodes are centered on criminals who have already been caught. His appearance, which would draw on the baseline of his childhood in “A Shade of Gray,” would also allow Criminal Minds to play on the innate spookiness of a killer child (a type of unsub we haven’t seen in a while, which I have been longing for, as macabre as that is). Danny’s mental condition of sociopathy mixed with the implied progression of time would also tap into ideas of nature vs. nurture, a concept not alien to Criminal Minds. However, it isn’t something the series has done with a repeat offender with this many years having passed. Danny’s return to the series could be a delicious amalgamation of classic Criminal Minds’ themes, but with a fresh twist — I have never wanted a child (turned adult) to kill again this much before.

Prentiss Needs More Personal Trauma in ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’

Apart from the usual psychoanalytical and social themes Danny’s return could precipitate, his appearance would likely deeply impact one particular member of the team. In “A Shade of Gray,” Prentiss is the first team member to identify sociopathic qualities in Danny and she is horrified when the realization dawns on her, especially when she has to tell his parents. Brewster’s restrained performance perfectly captures my own sick-to-the-stomach response to the fact that an older brother (me being an older sibling myself) could intentionally snuff the life from the person you’re taught to protect. Between her unnerving conversation with him and Brewster’s performance, it is clear that Prentiss was deeply affected by Danny, and thus, his return could throw a wrench in Prentiss’ emotional arc.

Throughout Evolutions, the BAU has been viscerally tormented by the notorious serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), with David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) especially bearing the brunt of the psychological trauma. While Prentiss has had to deal with the pressures of leadership and the burden of bureau politics, to me, it’s not quite at the level of Rossi. This blast from the past feels like the perfect move to incite some sort of emotional turmoil for Prentiss, especially as it considers the question: was Danny always doomed to grow up a killer? Was there anything else Prentiss, the criminal justice field, or the realm of psychiatric care could have done to prevent his fate as a killer? It would be such a bleak, hopeless, and dark move that fits seamlessly into the show’s new atmosphere, giving us a more intensive look into a criminal’s mind than we have ever gotten before.