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“ | I couldn't have written this any better. | „ |
~ Peter Harper preparing to act on a long-held murder fantasy. |
Peter Harper is the secondary antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "The Gathering". He is a sexual sadist who is part of a therapy group in which he writes down his homicidal fantasies, unaware that the group leader, Mark Jackson, is a serial killer who models his own murders on the others' fantasies.
He was portrayed by Patrick Breen.
Biography[]
Harper is a socially-awkward office worker who lives an unremarkable, solitary existence. He has a rich fantasy life, however, nurturing violent, sadistic fantasies of kidnapping and murdering women he is attracted to. He has recently begun to stalk one of these women, his coworker Tammy, by spying on her online and sending her anonymous messages. Anonymity is key to his stalking her, as even though they work in the same building, Tammy does not even know he exists, enabling him to follow her without being noticed.
He has at least some awareness that his urges are unhealthy, however, and tries to suppress them. He attends a "document therapy" group in which members write down their violent fantasies on a secure online social network, read them out loud, and express their feelings of guilt and shame. Unbeknownst to Harper and the other group members, the group's leader, Mark Jackson, is a serial killer who finds inspiration for his murders from the others' fantasies. He takes particular inspiration from Harper, whose sadism and hatred of women matches his own.
“The Gathering"[]
Harper is first seen at his job, fantasizing about killing his female supervisor after she reprimands him for looking at the website on company time. Later that day, he spies on Tammy in a nearby swimming pool, and sends her an anonymous text message while fantasizing about drowning her.
He sees a news report about Jackson's latest victim, murdered in a way that exactly resembles one of the fantasies that he shared during a group session. He figures out that Jackson is the killer, and confronts him at the next session, accusing him of "stealing" his fantasy. Jackson replies that he had actually done what Jackson could only fantasize about, and dismisses him as a weakling and a coward. Jackson's derision finally pushes Harper over the edge, and he beats him to death in a fit of rage.
Having finally acted on his urges, Harper feels like a new man, and decides to make Tammy his next victim. He breaks into her house and kidnaps her, and holds her prisoner at the pool. Playing out his fantasy, he tells Tammy to convince him not to kill her. She plays along, even allowing him to kiss her, but angers him by telling him that he needs help. He pushes her, tied up, into the pool, intending to watch her drown.
At that moment, however, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), having found him during their investigation of Jackson's murders, bursts in and tries to arrest him. Terrified of going to prison, he puts a knife to his throat and threatens to kill himself. While Agent Derek Morgan dives into the pool to rescue Tammy, Agent Spencer Reid tries to talk Harper down, telling him that, while there is no cure for his pathology, he can control it by refusing to act on his violent urges. After considering this for a moment, Harper thanks Reid for his honesty, and slits his own throat, killing himself.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Harper is inspired by multiple real-life and fictional criminals:
- Richard Farley, a mass murderer responsible for shooting his office space as retaliation for stalking his colleague and attempts to bar him from more aggressively pursuing her.
- Archibaldo de la Cruz, the titular protagonist villain of the classic Mexican film The Criminal Life of Archivaldo de la Cruz, a murderer wannabe who never has chances to murder women as he wants, having imagery of his fantasies mixed with attempts to murder being sabotaged by when women he targets die by other circumstances.
External Links[]
- Peter Harper on the Criminal Minds Wiki