It’s insane how easy I can propose characters for criminal minds, but I think I’m going to switch to SVU for a few weeks so I guess I’m doing another two finale antagonists for my last one.
What's the Work?[]
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis and Erica Messer. The story follows the BAU, a form of FBI that explores a series of murderers, shootings, bombings, rapes, etc… and investigates who is the culprit. This specific episode is in season 5.
Who are they and what have they done?[]
Izzy Rogers is former assassin who killed several people as a hitman, she later meets Mathew Downes, a former solider forced to leave on dishonorable discharge, and they together instigate bombings in Chad which kill 30 people, one such being the bombing of a train station which could had way more. Finally finishing the bombings, they wanted to do in Chad, Izzy finds robbers Oliver Stratton and Chris Stratton, she feigns love for Chris while Matthew works as a helper in the robberies by spying on the cameras as a fake hostage, something the brothers dont know about. Izzy also kills a random hostage in every robbery by bleeding them to death with one bullet to the stomach. Arriving in Washington, D.C. on the 4th anniversary of the N’Djamena bombings, they instigate a robbery. At the start, Izzy ends up killing a guard, meanwhile William LaMontagne Jr, Jennifer Jarreau’s husband, responds to the call. Hiding behind a car with his partner, Jodi Ketelson, the brothers attempt to leave out the side doors, but a gunfight ensues which leads to Jodi being shot in the head and Will injuring Oliver. Izzy in the meanwhile shoots and kills Zack Hansen in front of his daughter, later, an FBI Agent, Travis Green, a character shown in two other episodes, goes into the bank and helps Oliver but instead tries to kill Chris and gets shot in the stomach and then in the head. Attempting to turn Downs and Izzy on each other, they instead force Shawn Harper to answer a call but coldly shoots him in the stomach while Izzy enjoys the man's suffering. Will finally walks in and says his name, but Chris knows he is the man who killed is brother and shoots him twice. For the finale, they release 3 hostages, including Reese Hansen, out of the bank and leave for a secret entrance, but Izzy secretly rigs the gas main, killing 19 hostages and wounding several officers and bystanders. Fixing a conflict of Chris pointing a gun at her, Izzy and Chris go to a police department and forces a medic to heal Will’s wound before shooting the medic dead. Not needing him anymore, she ruthlessly and sadistically shoots Chris in the stomach 3 times and then forces Will to open the car door to leave the last Stratton brother to die. Still holding William hostage, she forces him to drive to his home to where Henry LaMontagne is, Izzy hating kids, supposedly because of her former abusive father, acts like a babysitter and taunts Will by conversating with Henry about doing an activity. Realizing the unsubs know about the location of her and her husband's kid, JJ and Rossi travel to the house; JJ goes inside, finds Izzy, and holds her at gunpoint, but she is distracted by the sounds of Henry in a closet, to which they get into a fight. In the struggle JJ is kicked away and Izzy rushes for Henry but gets a well-deserved roundhouse kick to the face. Meanwhile, Matthew's plan to bomb a Union Station is foiled when Emily Prentiss disarms the vest around William and evacuates the inhabitants. Derek officially spotting Matt on the street runs at him to an alleyway where Derek is beat and put in a chokehold, thankfully, he also gets a well-deserved fate but instead a permanent one in the form being shot by Aaron Hotchner.
What makes them heinous?[]
- Izzy Rogers is former assassin who killed several government figures as a hitman, one such was an ambassador at the Scotland Yard
- Meeting Mathew Downs, a man forced to leave the military for PTSD, they fall in love and together bomb and kill 30 people in Chad inside a church and train station
- Finally finishing their bombings in Chad, Izzy with the help of Matthew decide to recruit Petty robbers Chris and Oliver Stratton, her M.O is to shoot one hostage in the stomach to bleed them out and she hides the identity of Downs, opting to making him a hostage in the Robberies with the brothers none the wiser.
- Arriving in Washington, D.C. on the 4th anniversary of the N’Djamena bombings, they instigate a robbery starting with Izzy murdering a guard and Chris shooting Jodi Ketelson, Willam LaMontagne Jr’s partner, in the head.
- For no reason except sadism and a hinted at abusive parent, she ruthlessly kills Zack Hansen in front of her daughter, something that disgusts Chris, later, she gets Travis Green killed when he attempts to shoot Chris while acting like a medic.
- Forces a man named Shawn Harper to answer a call with the FBI but orders Chris to shoot him in the stomach to show that it feels good to watch ones suffering and also threatening to kill a hostage every minute
- When William goes into the bank and tries negotiation, Chris identifies him as the one who shot is brother and shoots him in the chest several times.
- In a final attack, she kidnaps Will and rigs the gas mains under the bank, blowing it up and killing 19 hostages and injuring several SWAT and bystanders.
- When William goes into the bank and tries negotiation, Chris identifies him as the one who shot is brother and shoots him in the chest several times.
- Forces a man named Shawn Harper to answer a call with the FBI but orders Chris to shoot him in the stomach to show that it feels good to watch ones suffering and also threatening to kill a hostage every minute
- For no reason except sadism and a hinted at abusive parent, she ruthlessly kills Zack Hansen in front of her daughter, something that disgusts Chris, later, she gets Travis Green killed when he attempts to shoot Chris while acting like a medic.
- Fixing a conflict of Chris pointing a gun at her, Izzy and Chris go to a police department and forces a medic to heal Will’s wound before shooting the medic dead
- Not needing him anymore and Matthew saying it should be a good time to betray him, she ruthlessly and sadistically shoots Chris Stratton in the stomach 3 times and then forces Will to open the car door to leave the last Stratton brother to die.
- The BAU actually says that she called the police on herself, meaning she got Oliver killed, but its either to turn them against each other or the actual truth, the latter being likely as she ignores the question and doesn't answer truthfully.
- She forces William to drive to his home to where Henry LaMontagne is, Izzy hating kids, supposedly because of her former abusive father, acts like a babysitter and taunts Will by conversating with Henry about doing an activity.
- Realizing the unsubs know about the location of her house and that she has a son, she enters the house while Rossi is outside and fights Izzy in hand to hand, Izzy tries to get the gun but fails and in a final attempt, tries to supposedly take Henry hostage.
- Meanwhile, Matthew's plan to bomb a Union Station is foiled when Emily Prentiss disarms the vest around William and evacuates the inhabitants.
- When Derek spots him on the street, he corners him in a street and they get a fist fight, unfortunately Downs is ex-military and almost strangles Morgan, but is stopped with a bullet by Aaron Hotchner.
Mitigating factors[]
Matthew is the easier one, he is arguably tragic, you see the reason he was forced to leave on dishonorable discharge wasn't from an insane war crime, but him gaining PTSD, when he talks to William in the car, he shows that he is affected, talking about the struggles in the war and how it causes his motive, which i can say, is slightly valid
Izzy is harder, its implied that she MAY have had an abusive granfather, but this is nowhere near confirmed and her sadism is shown WAY more than Downes, Izzy cares about almost no one, not even Chris Stratton who she had sexual relationships with, and as you know... SHE FUCKING EXECUTES HIM.
But they both share two things in common, they love each other, it's not like Izzy with Chris where her "Affection" is clearly faux, they do share some sort of love for each other, Izzy brings Downs to every robbery, even in the small ones where it's not necessary. In a scene they kiss, and they seem to enjoy it together, love for anarchism doesn't seem to be the only reason they care. Here it is, when Emily is defusing the bomb, she tries two codes that have to relate to each other as they all talk about the duo, no one else, then the last code is Izzy's name, so even Emily knows they are going to center it around them, even the fucking wire to clip is yellow because it has to do with Chad having red yellow and blue, but yellow not being in the US flag, everything can be centered around their meetup, which shows enough love to prevent Izzy from PE.
Heinous Standard[]
First, Matt may not be the one killing in the robberies, but he is the one who helps with the planning and plays just as equal of a role as her, also assisting in every crime as they both planned what would happen, may not be very direct, but sure contributes enough to be as heinous. So, for terrorists, most are insanely bad but 90% of them don't even have kill counts in the double digits, Izzy and Downs have 30 before the story in serial bombing, but they honestly could have claimed more if succeeding in killing people close. In Story they become serial bank robbers, killing victims by shooting them with a stomach to torture them and one of victims being a child. Coming to D.C, they kill several people in the robbery and blow it up, killing 19, severely injuring 2 bystanders (Who arguably died) and hurting other SWAT and civilians. She kills Chris and has personal villainy, so I think that allows her to stand out enough to Hayman Vasher and Mitchell Crossford. Finally attempting to kill hundred+ people in a union station bombing just further makes them pass.
I changed my mind, Downs fails, Izzy is an assassin before the story who killed one ambassador and several other officials, so nah, I think he fails barely
Verdict[]
An easy yes for both