“Unfinished Business” quotes from Criminal Minds

Oraetta Mayflower

Dr. Harvard, I can assure you Oraetta Mayflower is a Christian citizen of the highest character. I'm unsure even of the spelling of the word "crime".

The Americans, when they capture me, I was cooking my belt.

Satchel Cannon

Your belt?

I already eat my shoes. Monte Cassino. They send me here, to Kansas. Did you know they bring war prisoners here? I think I was dead. A corpse, they shipped. A skeleton. It was the food, the smell, that bring me back. Fields of corn, bread for every meal. Land of plenty. That's in the Constitution. Every day the sun come out. That big, yellow American sun. It make me grow again, like a winter weed. And then, I am alive again. I took the blood oath, carve my name on the stone there. "Antoon Dumini, American." This I would become.

Rabbi Milligan

You hurt?

Satchel Cannon

No. I-Is he dead?

Rabbi Milligan

Yes, but don't look away. This is what men do. Snap out of it. We have to go. It's war now, for real. You're not safe here.

Satchel Cannon

Home?

Rabbi Milligan

You're not safe there, either. You trust me? [Satchel nods] I never got to choose. A child soldier, that's what they made me. But that's not gonna happen to you. Understand?

Satchel Cannon

I think so.

Rabbi Milligan

So we're gonna find someplace quiet, wait 'til the dust settles, and if you want to go home - if that's your choice - I'll take you home. Understand?

Satchel Cannon

I'm scared.

Rabbi Milligan

Me too.

Odis Weff

You listen to me, slick. If I knew where your Mormon God was, I'd drive through the night and I'd stab him in the fucking eyes! We're done.

If that's the way you want to go. But careful how many sides you play, palomino. Even a gold coin's only got two faces.

Can I help you?

Good afternoon. There's a guard usually on the porch. But not today. How many kids in the house?

Get out of here.

Answer the question.

How about I got a question for you?

For me?

Yeah. You ever go to the zoo?

[chuckles] Sometime.

Hmm. You see the mama lion and her cubs? You think she's in that cage for her protection? [Buel pulls out a shotgun] To be fair, it's what we call a rhetorical question. Now get the fuck out of here.

Ebal Violante

First, we recognize things have gotten out of hand. Our two families. We recognize this and, uh, we apologize.

Loy Cannon

You apologize?

Ebal Violante

Doctor Senator-

Loy Cannon

Don't...say his name.

Ebal Violante

He was a friend of mine. His death should not have happened, but Gaetano Fadda is the son of Donatello Fadda, chosen by New York. His death is not allowed.

Loy Cannon

Not allowed?

Ebal Violante

I'm simply telling you how it is. There are people you can kill, people you can't.

Josto Fadda

Eh, well... [Ebal looks at Josto] No, I'm just saying he's more animal than people.

Ebal Violante

Hey... [in Italian] He's your bother.

Josto Fadda

Cain was Abel's brother. [in Italian] How'd that turn out?

Loy Cannon

Elevate, don't denigrate. That's what I tell 'em. My kids. What do you think the Italians tell their kids?

Odis Weff

I-I don't know

Loy Cannon

Yeah, yeah, but you see it, though, right? What they're doing? Call a man an animal, keep him in the dirt. But what if he don't grunt? What if he don't honk? What if he walks tall and stays a man? C'mon, you know what that is. You boys do it all the time.

Odis Weff

No, not me.

Loy Cannon

You get in the dirt yourself and you show him how to be an animal! You show him how to hate! You show him how to be cruel! You kill his friends! You murder his child.

Odis Weff

Boss...I didn't know.

Loy Cannon

They can't rise to our level, so they got to drag us down to theirs. But it's a trap. It's a trap, 'cause if I get in the dirt like them, that means they were right the whole time.

Loy Cannon

You know what I think? Every country has its own type of criminal. In America, we got the confidence man. Snake oil salesman, grifter. He don't rob you as much as trick you into robbing yourself. See, 'cause in America, people want to believe. They got that dream. And a dreamer, you can fleece.

Loy Cannon

Tell me.

It didn't work. They're a team now, the brothers. So what do we do?

Loy Cannon

Fargo.

Loy Cannon

I told those ladies no harm would come to them. That makes me accountable.

Should I tell you what I've learned about the criminal mindset? By definition, the criminal rejects accountability, as their identity is based on getting away with things. Similarly, the criminal - you - rejects morality and ethics, for if there is a larger right, then the criminal himself is always wrong. And you don't strike me as the type of man thinks himself wrong.

Loy Cannon

Rarely.

So there goes morality out the window, but in that vacuum, what should rush but a code. A system of rules, mostly having to do with loyalty. And this way, the criminal detaches himself from the civilian world.

Loy Cannon

And yet, here I am. Family man, community leader, deacon in the church.

Oh, the criminal is capable of being all those things. But it's a ruse. For though you claim to share the values of your wife or preacher, the Lord knows it's a disguise. Ask me how I know for certain.

Loy Cannon

How do you know for certain?

Would a family man trade his youngest son to his enemy in exchange for power and monetary gain?

Loy Cannon

You need to leave.

And so we circle back, inevitably, to your original statement. To wit, I'm accountable for those ladies, murderers both, thieves and cheats. But now, since we both know the criminal is capable of love and loyalty only when it suits his own self-interest, I've come to the make the following point: It don't. Not no more. In summation, boy, if you could sacrifice your youngest, like Isaac in the Holy Book, well, then giving up two strangers to keep the might of the federal government off your back, well, now, that should be as facile as breathing.

Odis Weff

This is...this isn't a choice. I got a condition. When I was a kid, the teachers said "oversensitive." The army shrink said I-I worry too much, which...How can you worry too much when you're at war? All those things you called me - twitchy, touched - I been hearing that my whole life. All I know is I-I feel better when I'm in charge, when I got the power. That's why I joined the force. You know, because cops have power. So, now I'm on the street, I'm the boss. Except, turns out, being a cop's real risky. Risky makes me nervous. So I'm...I make a deal with the street. I take a few bucks, I-I look the other way. Less risk, but also less power. So here comes that feeling again. Like I'm...I'm drowning o-on dry land.

Cheer up, palomino. In times like these, my mind goes back to the wisest words I ever heard. And forgive me for the blueness of the final stanza, but here it is: "Behold the amazing pelican, whose beak can hold more than his belly can. He can hold in his beak enough food for a week. I'll be damned if I know how the hell he can."

I got a wife.

I...I ain't married yet. Who's gonna feed the dogs?

Rabbi Milligan

The future is what?

How's that?

Rabbi Milligan

What's it gonna say?

Wait 'til it's finished, then you'll see.

Rabbi Milligan

Well...finish the damn thing already!

Moment I finish it, I'm out of a job. Plus, why do you care? It's just a sign.

Rabbi Milligan

It's the principle. Making people live with uncertainty, it ain't right!

Send a letter to your congressman, you're so irate.