[s13e7] Dust And Bones -

After a heavy Season 12, it was great to see "Classic Reid" back in action, rattling off complex blood tests like Partial Thromboplastin Time to identify the snake venom.

In a refreshing twist, the unsub is revealed to be a woman, (played by Doris Morgado). Desi’s rage is fueled by a deep-seated "mother wound." Her mother, Laura, a successful realtor, was physically and emotionally abusive, famously locking Desi in a shed with snakes as a child. [S13E7] Dust and Bones

The BAU is called to Austin when a series of prominent women are found drugged and disfigured. The unsub’s signature is impossible to ignore: victims are left with their faces intricately sliced—resembling a form of scarification—and a white plastic mask placed beside them. After a heavy Season 12, it was great

While the case was the main course, "Dust and Bones" gave us some fantastic character moments: The BAU is called to Austin when a

The BAU identifies the mask as a symbol for peeling away the "fake" public personas of the victims to reveal the "monster" underneath. The Unsub: Desi Gutierrez