Rumination after watching an episode of "Criminal Minds"

There is an American television series called "Criminal Minds." It follows the activities of the "Behavioral Analysis Unit" of the FBI as it investigates serial killings and sex crimes and all other nasty things all over the United States. In this particular episode the "unsub" (unknown subject) is a truck driver who abducts women to be a mother for his 8-year-old (I think?) daughter, who has been removed from his custody and who will be adopted if he cannot provide a stable two-parent home for her. He has abducted a number of women, found them wanting, and killed them as he continues his search for the "perfect mate."

During the process, he tells his daughter these stories about "the lonely king" who meets and courts a series of queens. When the lonely king finds out that they won't love his princess enough or that he feels they won't provide adequate care, he explains, he sends the queens off to "a better place." He's done this several times (I want to say eight) already.

Anyway, at the end of the episode, the BAU has found the unsub and has brought the girl to safety at her foster parents' home. The trucker has his last kidnapped queen outside of the house, in the truck cab. (The king and the queen have arrived, but the guards are keeping them from the princess, he says.) His daughter eventually talks him into letting the queen come into the house, so that they can meet, since her father believes she is the one who will raise her. After the kidnapped woman comes into the house, the father tells the girl that he won't be coming inside. The girl innocently asks, "why Daddy? Are you going to the better place?" Naturally, the BAU knows what "going to a better place means" and they try to prevent him from committing suicide. They fail.

Here's where my rumination begins:

The girl is not a stupid girl. She's very creative, having painted all kinds of pictures of kings and queens after her father tells his stories. She can clearly make connections on her own. Thinking beyond the end of the episode, what do you think might happen to this girl, mentally, when she understands that her killed all those women looking for a mother for her? How long do you think it will take before she puts two and two together? I know what I think, but I'm not saying so that I don't end conversation before it begins. Your thoughts?

 

She grows up to hate FBI profilers and becomes a serial killer (much later series LOL) we get it over here as well and that was a rather good episode

 

I caught the end of this program, and I believe it's the only time I've seen it... oddly coincidental that you'd post about the program here lol

Ignoring the fictional aspects, and assuming it occurred in real-life, the girl should have already been suspecting her father's behaviors. As she grew up, she'd learn more and more about the truth of what actually was going on. By 18 or so she'd have a real sense of the kind of monster he was, and would be questioning herself more and more on whether she was like him. Therapy would be essential for her mental health... if she wasn't smart enough to realize she's not him.

In real-life there are people like this, being the child of a monster, and they occasionally speak out on the subject.

 

I never watch TV; and I don't read fiction. So I wouldn't know how to go about commenting from that perspective. Your question is focused on the girl. I found, in reading your synopsis, my attention going to the father. I don't understand this part: How did he determine that the abducted women were unsuitable as mothers for his daughter? Did he actually try them out? In other words, did the girl ever meet any of them?

If the girl did meet them, which seems doubtful from the way you describe the situation, then there would definitely be psychological consequences for her. And these would be long-term, because of the hopes raised, and dashed, each time one woman was brought and then taken away.

If the girl never got to see any of them, but simply went by her fathers fairy tale version, she would likely grow over it, as most of us grow over the fairy tales we hear in childhood. But if indeed the father never brought the women to meet his daughter, the whole tale becomes unrealistic. Obviously he was doing all this due to his homicidal tendencies, and not for the sake of his daughter, because he never gave a chance to either the women or the daughter to build a relationship.

And finally, it's really stupid. How can anyone expect an abducted woman to agree to become a mother to her abductor's daughter? I'd say the whole case is about the father and his unacknowledged urge to kill. I wonder what that implies for the story in terms of being realistic.

 

I have seen this episode and all of the Criminal Minds episodes. It is one of the few shows I watch on a regular basis. The others being Bones (which is based on the life of a real forensic anthropologist who makes sure it is accurate), The Big Bang Theory and reruns of Star Trek.
The daughter was not exposed to the victims. He just abducted them and tried to figure out if they would fill his purpose. When they didn't live up to the illusion in his mind then he killed them. The little girl was in foster care and didn't know anything about what her father was doing. The only thing she had were the stories he made up. She didn't have a clue what was going on.
The psychological damage is going to be extreme because suddenly she is going to get a glimpse of what her father was doing. She will also know that he supposedly was doing this for her and that is going to bring guilt which she will have to deal with. It isn't going to be a matter of intelligence.

My father was not a serial killer. At least, not that I know of. He was, however, most definitely a monster. He was a child-molester, a torturer and a killer. He just did his killing in the military.The psychological damage took years to overcome and it is never an easy path. It would not be for this little girl either. Interestingly enough one of the later characters in Criminal Minds is the daughter of a serial killer. She joins the FBI to help other people with serial killers.

 

I completely agree with these statements, Dee. All of the time that he was making up his stories for her, he was telling her that he was sending the women to "a/the better place." In her mind, because they were "queens," I'm sure she imagined that he was sending them to castles or really nice houses or something. When he says that he is "going to the better place" and kills himself, she is going to realize that all of those women are dead. She may not understand it at first, but she will eventually understand it and that will damage her for a long time.

 

Dee, you have my sympathy for having a father who was a monster.

When I say "smart enough to realize she's not him" I don't necessarily mean intelligence. I know a lot of strong-willed people of limited intelligence, young and old, who would never believe they were like their father (in this kind of situation). Some people would just dismiss the man and rarely put more thought into it. Not all, of course, and that behavior in itself is not exactly healthy, but in this case it would be "smarter" to realize the differences between themselves and their fathers than to let it rule over their lives. Not all can though, and I have sympathy for them as well.