Criminal Minds has cemented its status among the best crime procedural shows, especially with heartbreaking episodes like “North Mammon." Despite major cast and character changes over the years, Criminal Minds has stuck to exploring the trials and tribulations of the members of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU).
As the protagonists analyze and profile some of America’s most dangerous criminals, Criminal Minds dabbles in some familiar crime drama clichés but also reinvents the genre with a focus on the psychology behind the crimes. After a promising debut, season 2 fully fleshed out the show’s emotional core with some of the best Criminal Minds episodes like “Revelations” and “The Fisher King."
The second season also included “North Mammon," the shockingly tragic seventh episode, which found the original ensemble investigating the disappearance of three teen girls in a new territory. The title “North Mammon” seems more than apt as the BAU is compelled to profile the entire Pennsylvanian town of the same name. Regular Criminal Minds writer Andrew Wilde penned the teleplay for the cult-favorite episode, which evolves from a simple case of kidnapping to a twisted game of psychological warfare. The mind games that the three adolescents are subjected to seem reminiscent of William Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies, the Saw movie franchise, and some eerily real cases.
"North Mammon" Saw Kidnapped Teenage Girls Being Forced To Kill One Of Their Own
Considered one of the scariest Criminal Minds episodes, season 2's "North Mammon" begins with three close friends being abducted during a sleepover. Brooke, Polly, and Kelly are forced to stay at an underground bunker as an ominous criminal (or "unsub" in the language of Criminal Minds characters) forces them to starve and turn against each other. With the profilers classifying him as a “predatory abductor," the unsub offers the girls their freedom only if they can kill one of their own. An unsettling atmosphere is set even outside the abductor’s claustrophobic lair as the BAU finds the townsfolk turning frantically turning against each other.
The mind-bending third act of “North Mammon” is what makes this episode particularly heartbreaking. Throughout the first half, the episode hardly offers a look at the abductor, but it’s the psychological torture that he puts the girls through that makes Marcus Younger one of the most terrifying Criminal Minds unsubs. He even succeeds in his manipulative goals as Brooke bludgeons Kelly to death. Even though Brooke committed this act of violence for her own survival, she and Polly are both forced to bear the trauma of what transpired in the bunker. Without even directly harming them after the abduction, Marcus managed to permanently scar the surviving two girls.
"North Mammon" Unsub Marcus Younger Is Similar To Real-Life Criminal Ariel Castro
Ariel Castro's mugshot and Marcus Young looking sideways in Criminal Minds
Marcus Younger, the terrifying Unsub of the Criminal Minds episode "North Mammon," is a disgruntled garbage worker who takes out his frustration on the town, which he believes turned against him when his prospects of becoming a football star failed. Intentionally choosing the time of a high school pep rally as the night of his revenge, Marcus executes his unsettling plan of psychological manipulation. One of the few unsubs on Criminal Minds who actually accomplishes his goal, Marcus is hauntingly similar to real-life convict Ariel Castro. As reported by media outlets including BBC in 2013, three women were similarly held captive in Castro’s home in Cleveland, Ohio.
Abducting them during a period between 2002 and 2004, Castro chained, starved, and sexually abused these women regularly up to 2013 when one of the women manages to run away and alert the police. Like Marcus, Castro abducted teenagers with two of the girls being his daughter’s friends. While Castro’s modus operandi matched that of Marcus, his direct involvement in physically harming them is what sets him apart. Unlike Marcus, who deliberately tried to teach his town a lesson, Castro’s intentions were more ominous. According to his court testimony (reported by WKYC), Castro didn’t have any particular motives but just wanted to act according to his sexual impulses.
Sentenced to a thousand years of imprisonment on numerous counts, Castro hung himself in his prison cell just a month after his sentencing. While the survivors of Castro’s lair have fortunately managed to lead new lives (as reported by Cleveland.com), Castro’s acts later formed the premise of the Lifetime true-crime drama Cleveland Abduction. Even though Castro was arrested years after the airing of “North Mammon," it is all the more tragic and frightening how realistic the show’s scenarios could be. Beyond mere shock value, a nightmarishly memorable Criminal Minds unsub like Marcus Younger reveals the dark and disturbing side of humanity.
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