Alycia Tran

Criminal Minds: True Night

I chose to watch the television show, Criminal Minds. I watched the episode in

season three, titled True Night. The main character with a disorder is Jonny McHale. He

suffers from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder. His disorder caused him to

become a psychotic serial-turned-spree killer, one-time mass murderer, one-time

abductor, and vigilante. Before his mental disorder and before everything bad he did,

the audience learns that he was a comic book writer, and he had a girlfriend, named

Vickie, and they both were involved in a horrible accident.

Jonny McHale developed a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder after

experiencing a horrible incident, resulting in the death of his girlfriend, Vickie. One night,

Jonny and Vickie went out to the store. While they were on their way home that night,

Vickie told him she was pregnant, and Jonny was so happy and excited about the news,

he proposed to her. Before she could answer, they were approached by a gang called

the 23rd Street Killers. A guy named Glen Hill was the leader of the gang, and Jonny

offered him all the money he had. Instead of taking the money, Glen Hill taunted them,

and yelled at Vickie to answer Jonny’s proposal. The gang leader then had some of the

other members of the gang grab Vickie, and they forced Jonny to watch Vickie being

gang-raped and tortured to death. They ended up slicing Jonny across the stomach and

left him for dead. He miraculously survived, but he ended up developing severe PTSD.

Jonny’s development of post-traumatic stress disorder caused him to become a

psychotic serial-turned-spree killer. In the beginning of the episode, the audience learns

that he is a comic book writer. After the incident, Jonny became a killer. He would go
out at night and kill members of the gang. Once he kills his victims, he goes back home

and draws what happened that night. The next morning he forgets what he did, and all

of the drawings he drew that night, he thinks it is for a book he is writing. Jonny was not

aware of his illness, and he was in denial for a long time, until he got arrested. When

they arrested him, they took him in for questioning. He kept telling the officers that he

did not do anything wrong and that they have the wrong guy. The police tell him how

they think he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, in result of the incident

with Vickie. He does not believe them and starts to rage. The police end up having to

hold him down. To get him to remember and come back to reality, they remind him of

Vickie's death, his stay in the hospital, after having his stomach sliced, seeing Glen

Hill's mugshot, and all the evidence they have against him.

Jonny McHale ends up being put in a psychiatric hospital. Before leaving the

police station, the officers give Jonny his phone, and Vickie’s phone to keep with him. At

the psychiatric hospital, Jonny spends his time drawing multiple sketches of Vickie, and

he constantly calls her phone to hear her voicemail. The episode ends with Jonny

attempting to call Vickie again.

I think the episode portrayed the disorder well. The audience has to keep in mind

that Jonny has a very severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder, so his actions are

made because his mental illness is so bad. He couldn't even remember what he was

doing, or what had happened to him and Vickie. Jonny was in so much pain, and he just

couldn't handle it anymore, so he cracked. PTSD was portrayed very well in the show.