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In Season 8, Episode 7 (“The Fallen”), viewers were first introduced to Harrison Scott, a military buddy of David Rossi’s. A U.S. Marine sergeant who received a medal for saving Rossi’s life during the Vietnam War, Rossi discovers him homeless and living at a shelter. It soon becomes apparent that many of Scott’s problems stem from his alcoholism, as well as guilt over receiving the medal when it was actually another soldier, Private First Class Anthony Hernandez (Rene Rosado), who had saved both Rossi and Scott. The episode ends with Scott agreeing to let a military program called New Directions help get him off the streets and turn his life around.
Taylor returned in Season 9, Episode 13 (“The Road Home”), and Rossi helps him reunite with his long-estranged son and meet his grandson for the first time. In real life, Taylor had already been diagnosed with cancer, with Mantegna telling Looper that “he was getting treatment all during the time we shot that second episode, and I directed that episode, one of my episodes I directed, that second episode with Meshach.”
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Mantegna was grateful that he could finish Taylor’s “Criminal Minds” arc with the Season 10 episode while also paying tribute to his friend. “Whenever I see that episode, I run across it; that’s so meaningful for me because I’m not saying goodbye just to that character,” he told Looper. “I’m saying goodbye to one of my closest friends in the world.”
