This creep would’ve made Jigsaw proud!
The Big Picture
- The
Criminal Minds
episode, “North Mammon,” shares themes with the Saw movies, exploring dark ethical dilemmas and high stakes for victims. - Themes of choice and moral quandaries are central in “North Mammon,” echoing Saw’s intricate traps and emphasis on personal connections.
- Both
Criminal Minds
and Saw are at their best when following the investigative work of professional detectives.
Criminal Minds is not afraid to push the boundaries in terms of shocking cases that the team has to solve. From cannibalistic serial killers to child abductions, the show proves time and time again that it is more than just a standard police procedural. The seventh episode of Season 2, “North Mammon,” follows this theme with its dark subject matter and unsettling tone. The episode sees three teenage girls and soccer teammates kidnapped by a mysterious figure and locked in a small, dark room. In a manner that reflects the videotapes of the Saw franchise, the voice tells them that one of them must be sacrificed for the other two to survive. As the episode unfolds, the girls grapple with the situation and the morality of potentially choosing one of them. It follows a lot of similar ideas to Saw in its claustrophobic environment and the episode’s decision to focus on the victims. When the perpetrator is revealed, he shares a similar ethical standpoint to John Kramer and furthers the episode’s connection to the iconic horror franchise.
Criminal Minds
A group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub.
- Release Date
- September 22, 2005
- Creator
- Jeff Davis
- Cast
- A.J. Cook , Joe Mantegna , Adam Rodriguez , Daniel Henney , Aisha Tyler , Matthew Gray Gubler , Kirsten Vangsness , Paget Brewster
- Main Genre
- Crime
- Seasons
- 15
- Studio
- CBS
The Plot of the “North Mammon” Episode From ‘Criminal Minds’ Shares Themes with the Saw Movies
The victims in “North Mammon” are Kelly (Kelly Kruger), Brooke (Mimi Michaels), and Polly (Kayla Mae Maloney), who all play high-school soccer together. Whilst the three of them are getting excited about spending the weekend together in an empty house, they are kidnapped by a mysterious figure. The girls wake up in a small, dingy storm shelter with no furnishings, but damp gray walls and a hard floor. There is a single source of outside light, and the girls huddle together cold and afraid. A voice then announces that they must offer one of them to perish to guarantee the survival of the others. As time passes, the lack of nutrition causes Brooke to become sick and weak, and it looks unlikely that she will survive much longer in the conditions.
Brooke’s deterioration causes Kelly to speculate about the potential of sacrificing Brooke, as she is likely to die anyway. Polly, stuck in the middle of the situation, struggles with the internal conflict but eventually comes to the conclusion that there is no other choice. The reveal of two hammers being thrown into the room is gut-wrenching as it comes with the realization that the girls are expected to kill their friend. Having spent its short runtime highlighting the close bond these girls have through sports, it is a cruel reveal and raises the stakes of “North Mammon” massively.
Evan Peters Starred in One of the Most Disturbing ‘Criminal Minds’ Episodes
A heartfelt acting performance elevates a disturbing episode.
The emotional weight of the girls’ situation is a theme ever-present in the Saw franchise. The kidnapping is particularly reminiscent of traps that require its participants to take an active role in their survival, and often pit individuals against each other. For example, the “Pound of Flesh” trap from Saw VI sees two co-workers competing for survival, although the major difference is they are harming themselves rather than each other. The theme of choice is prevalent throughout the Saw franchise, particularly the sixth installment, which sees William Easton forced into situations where he must choose which of his employees to save. His inner turmoil of knowing the other victims personally plays a huge part in the emotional burden of his decision, and the casualties in his traps feel much more intimate. This sentiment is echoed in “North Mammon,” where the decision is deeply troubling for the characters. Although the Criminal Minds episode omits the violence, so it is nowhere near as graphic as any Saw movie, the brutality of the situation is evident in the faces of the survivors.
‘Criminal Minds’ and Saw Are at Their Best in Their Police Storylines
Both Criminal Minds and Saw focus on the FBI (the latter not getting enough credit for doing so), and watching individuals at the top of their game solving difficult cases is just as thrilling for the audience as the traps and murders. The serialized nature of both allows them to have time to introduce these professionals and give them more of a purpose than simply being there to catch the criminal. This particular episode of Criminal Minds utilizes Jennifer’s (A.J. Cook) athletics background throughout the investigation. It’s because of her similar teenage interests that the idea of the girls having run away is immediately dismissed as they would not jeopardize their potential scholarships. The episode ends with her looking at a photo of herself as a teenager with two friends, mirroring the photo seen of the victims early in the episode and showing the personal connection Jennifer has to the case.
The detective links to the cases in the Saw franchise are often fabricated by Jigsaw or one of his apprentices. However, the personal connections still ensure the police storylines of Saw are just as exciting as the trap plotlines. Often, the detectives on the case have a co-worker in jeopardy, such as Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) in Saw IV. What is most important about these detective plotlines is their ability to lead the audience to the solution, while throwing in red herrings. Saw at its core is a mystery, with many of the plot twists hinging on the many reveals of new Jigsaw apprentices. It is fun as a viewer to try and uncover these reveals before they unfold, and this is done best in the original movie, with red herrings such as Dr. Gordon’s (Cary Elwes) pen lid being discovered on the scene and Zep’s (Michael Emerson) unnerving persona. Criminal Minds uses similar red herrings to keep the audience guessing, and in “North Mammon,” this comes in the form of a soccer jersey found in a dumpster. The procedural side of both franchises encourages active viewing, allowing viewers to attempt to piece things together before revealing the killer as someone in plain sight.
This ‘Criminal Minds’ Killer Has a Lot in Common With Saw’s Jigsaw
When the FBI finally finds the man who kidnapped the girls, he is standing over the body of one of them. He explains that he never touched her, and it was the other girls who were responsible. He insists that since he never came into the room, he merely showed what the girls were capable of. This monologue echoes his own feelings of abandonment by his teammates after he got injured during the biggest game of the season. He used the girls as an example of human nature’s inherent selfishness as they were his former teammates’ daughters.
These revelatory scenes feel similar to John Kramer’s insistence that he has never killed anyone and that his victims’ fates are always in their own hands. Kramer’s ethical belief is that he gives people all the tools they need to survive, and he is simply testing their will. In both Saw and “North Mammon,” the disconnection between the perpetrator and the victims raises questions about the morality of any decisions made. In “North Mammon,” there are huge question marks surrounding what would’ve happened if the girls had waited or if what they did was inevitable, especially considering the kidnapper was only found after being identified by one of the survivors. These ethical quandaries show how similar “North Mammon” and Saw are, thematically, with both featuring a game created by an antagonist who claims the moral high ground and leaving the victims with a huge ethical dilemma.
Criminal Minds is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com