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| “ | I cannot abide lies! | „ |
| ~ Marvin Caul exercising control over his homeless minions. |
Marvin Caul is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Persuasion". He is a charismatic, ruthless career criminal who leads a cult of homeless people, whom he uses to enrich himself and get revenge against people whom he believes have wronged him.
He was portrayed by David Clennon.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Caul is a small-time stage magician who, for most of his career, eked out a living performing at private parties and children's parties, while envying more successful illusionists. Five years before the events of the episode, Caul's assistant, Carrie Bailey, quit his act to go work for an up-and-coming magician calling himself Romeo. Enraged by her rejection, Caul drowned her and buried her body under a parking lot.
After committing the murder, he went underground and developed a fanatical following of homeless people in the Las Vegas area whom he trained to con and steal from people, taking the money for himself in return for providing his minions food and shelter in the city's sewer tunnels. He planned to ultimately use the money to put on a magic show at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, which he hoped would finally launch him into the big time.
He hypnotized one of his minions, ex-con Cesar Jones, into murdering people whom he felt had wronged him, including two of his underlings who tried to leave his compound. He brainwashed Jones into believing he was punishing "traitors" at the command of an all-powerful being called "The Doctor".
"Persuasion"[]
Caul takes in a drifter named Finn after catching him ineptly trying to pickpocket. Finn says that he is trying to find his missing sister, and Caul promises to help. He takes Finn to a party he is working to give him an opportunity to improve his pickpocketing skills, but they leave abruptly after Caul sees that Romeo is the headlining magician at the party, denouncing him as a fraud. Caul takes Finn back to the compound, and later influences Jones to murder his underling Elijah Hall, who had tried to get out of paying Caul his "taxes".
When new arrival Sarah Renfield is discovered to be an investigative reporter researching a story about the city's homeless, Caul orders Finn to kill her, as he is the one who vouched for her to join the compound. Finn agrees and follows Caul as he takes her outside, but then pulls a gun on him and reveals that he is Carrie Bailey's brother, and that he joined the compound in order to kill him and avenge her.
Meanwhile, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) investigates the murders of the three homeless people, profiling the killer as a charismatic sociopath who wields near-total control over a homeless camp, and kills anyone who defies him or tries to leave. Reasoning that the killer will need to replace the followers he has murdered, they go to the compound in the sewers, where he is likely to recruit. They arrest Jones when he attacks Agent Jennifer Jareau with a pipe, and he tells them that he is following The Doctor's commands. Agent Spencer Reid gains Jones' trust by pretending to have been sent by "The Doctor" to help him, and conducts a cognitive interview with him that helps realize that Caul and "The Doctor" are one and the same.
The BAU arrive just in time to find Finn about to kill Caul. Reid convinces Finn that his sister died of a drug overdose and that Caul is innocent, and a brokenhearted Finn lets Caul go and surrenders, allowing the BAU to save his life and Sarah's. Reid then tricks Caul into confessing to murdering Carrie by pretending to be a fan and playing to his inflated ego. Once Caul realizes his mistake, he tries to backtrack, but Reid tells him he can still get recognition as a criminal mastermind if he reveals the location of Carrie's body. Desperate for adulation, Caul reveals the location of the burial site, and allows Reid to arrest him.
Trivia[]
- Caul is inspired by Bill Sikes, the main antagonist of Oliver Twist, a criminal mastermind using the protagonist and even dominating his former mentor, Fagin, into ruthless violent crimes extending further than Fagin's pickpocketing ring.
External Links[]
- Marvin Caul on the Criminal Minds Wiki
