"From Childhood's Hour" is Episode 5 in Season 7 of "Criminal Minds." It aired on October 19 , 2011, at 9pm ET on CBS.
The episode opens in St. Louis, where we see a mother locked her young son in a closet as she weeps hysterically. Soon the mother drops the child in front of a house, where someone whom the child recognizes comes and picks him up.
Back at the BAU, we discover this was a case of child abduction, and so far the boy, Bobby, has been missing 48 hours. As Reid points out, the first 24 hours are critical in child abduction cases, and so the team hurries to St. Louis. Meanwhile, we see the face of Bobby's abductor, who seems gentle but missing a few screws.
"From childhood's hour I have not been as others were; I have not seen as others saw…" - Edgar Allan Poe
SPOILERS!
We learn that the boy's mother had been previously suicidal and is still in the depths od depression. This depression overwhelms her 'motherly instincts,' and when she dropped her kid off in front of her own mother's house, she did so because she wanted to hurt herself again.
Reid and Morgan check out Bobby's home, where they enter a messy house. Reid notes that depression often causes degradation of ones surroundings, further fueling the depression, causing even more lack of willpower to clean up.
Meanwhile, Bobby's abductor asks Bobby if he'd like him to help his mother aka kill his mother and put her out of her misery; Bobby unknowingly says yes. The abductor finds Bobby's mother, Mrs. Smith, and tells her he'll bring her to her son. He stabs her uncontrollably while creepily the screen flashes back and forth to Bobby coloring with a red crayon, singing "Pop Goes the Weasel."
Agents discover that the unsub cut the mother along the same cut-lines that the mother made when she last attempted suicide. In addition, there's been another child abduction nearby, wherein a young boy was taken as his mother was trying to buy drugs, so the agents see a pattern of the unsub abducting children from dysfunctional mothers.
Back at what appears to be the unsub's home, the unsub explains to Bobby the nature of wolves, in defense of him hurting his mother (after Bobby sees the bloody knife on the table). He says that wolves help thin the herd so the herd can be stronger, that it's in a wolf's nature to kill other wolves when they're weak or sick, and that these wolves take care of motherless cubs.
Meanwhile, agents make a profile for the unsub. They suspect he's male, physically fit, in his late 20s, and he sees himself as a rescuer. Most likely he has abandonment issues, and the impulsive nature of the murder, going from precision to rage, suggests inexperience and psychopathic tendencies. He might be a child services or ambulance worker, as clearly the child trusted this person enough to get into their vehicle.
Out of frustration that he can't kill the second boy's mother (as she's taken into custody), the unsub drops the second boy off at a bar. The boy reveals to agents that he knew the man was coming because the man called his home ahead of time to tell him; the boy says the man is a superhero. Looking at the home's speed-dial, agents discover the unsub is a 911 operator. Meanwhile the unsub goes on a third quest, kidnapping a mother and her daughter after he receives a call about the daughter being abused by her mother's boyfriend.
Agents no suspect that the unsub needs the child's approval before killing his or her mother. Records show that the unsub's mother died committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. However, Reid finds this odd as typically women drown themselves or take pills, committing suicide in a more subtle manner than men.
The unsub gives his gun to the daughter, trying to convince her to kill her mother. Right at the same moment, agents rush in, and tell the unsub that his real reason for wanting to hurt these mothers is to feel justified in his killing his own mother. The unsub is the one who pushed his mother off of the bridge.
"All things truly wicked start from innocence." - Ernest Hemingway
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