The third season's finale (Episode 3.15, "Quentin Costa") revealed the Carver to be Quentin Costa, with assistance from his sister, Kit McGraw.
Exegesis: Summary of Episode 3.15
Detective Kit McGraw brings Dr. Quentin Costa in for questioning, suspecting him to be the Carver; she subsequently finds that, due to a medical condition, Costa was born with no penis. Since all of the Carver's victims were raped, Costa is released.
The Carver attacks a group of nine sorority girls. During questioning, one victim recounts walking in on the Carver raping her sorority sister, and was able to see that the Carver did not have a real penis, but rather was wearing a strap-on dildo.
Kit and the police storm Costa's apartment only to find Costa tied to his bed, bearing the trademark cheek slashes of The Carver, and the message "I can't stop" written in blood on the wall behind him.
Once again exonerated from the suspect pool, Costa asks Christian and Sean to repair his face. After initially refusing, Christian and Sean agree to perform the surgery. During this conversation, Costa explains away some potential plot holes from earlier in the season. Specifically:
- When Sean witnessed Costa receiving oral sex at a college party, Costa explains how he paid the girl $100 to pretend to perform fellatio on him.
- When Costa was beginning to have 4-way sex with Christian, Kit and Kimber, he intentionally grabbed Christian's buttocks so he could end the session early and thus retain his secret.
During Costa's operation, Kit arrives with a S.W.A.T. team and arrests Liz Cruz (Roma Maffia), McNamara/Troy's anesthesiologist, as the next prime suspect. During the interrogation, Kit explains the evidence against Liz:
- A search warrant of Liz's house led to the discovery of a strap-on dildo.
- A receipt for an order of the same drugs the Carver uses on his victims was found at McNamara/Troy with Liz's signature on it.
- Liz has been visiting numerous area sperm banks and therefore could have obtained Christian's sperm and planted evidence that led to Christian's arrest as a suspect earlier in the season (it is known by the viewers that Liz received a sample directly from Christian in Season 2, but not mentioned by Kit). Liz attests her innocence during questioning.
Sean checks up on Quentin in recovery. Gina, carved but not dead, is the body in Quentin's bed — seen only by the audience. The Carver suddenly appears behind Sean, injects him with the paralyzing agent and unmasks — revealing himself to be none other than Quentin Costa.
Sean awakens to find both Christian and himself tied to separate operating tables. Costa cuts off Sean's pinky finger and attempts to force Christian to cut off his own hand. Just before Christian is about to do it, Kit arrives and shoots Costa in the back. Kit tells paramedics to make sure the autopsy on Costa's body is not started without her.
At police headquarters, Kit explains to Christian and Sean that Gina (who was at the office to drop off a Christmas gift for Christian) called 9-1-1, which is why Kit showed up. Kit then explains Quentin's life story.
Costa was born with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, a debilitating disease that left him with no penis. He also had a sister, Violet, who suffered severe facial disfigurement. Apparently both medical anomalies were a result of incest. After their parents abandoned them, the two lived in a convent in Maine. Quentin worked his whole life to become a plastic surgeon so he could fix his sister's face, but she died at the age of 29 during her final operation.
Kit leaves Miami after closing the case. While talking to Gina, Sean and Christian discover that Gina never called 911, as she was completely paralyzed after being attacked by the Carver.
In the morgue, we see a body laid out covered by a sheet. A hand removes the sheet to reveal Quentin Costa, who opens his eyes and sits up, revealing a bulletproof vest beneath his black suit. "What took so long?" asks Costa.
Christian and Sean take a Red-eye flight to Maine to visit the convent where Costa was raised. When they mention Violet's death, the Mother Superior is confused, explaining that Quentin's sister's name isn't Violet, it is Katherine; but Quentin always called her Kit. The Mother Superior then shows Sean and Christian a Christmas card that the pair sent her three years before, which includes a photo of Quentin and Kit.
The Carver storyline ends with Quentin and Kit relaxing at a luxury hotel in Málaga. Although Kit wants to take a brief vacation, Quentin is spurred on by the sight of a woman with breast implants. The scene ends with a shot of the woman lying in a deck chair with Quentin and Kit's shadows hovering over her.
Correct guesses and a premature reveal
Prior to the finale, a few fans were able to correctly guess the identity of the Carver through the use of sound-editing programs. As a promotion for the show, FX set up a profile for the Carver on myspace.com, which included videos of the Carver espousing his philosophy. Within days, various tech-savvy audiophiles took the audio from these videos, filtered out the distortion from the Carver's voice synthesizer, and were able to reveal that at the very least, Campos was voicing The Carver. [1]
The Carver's identity was also leaked prematurely by FX Networks itself. One day before the finale episode aired, the press section of the FX Networks website published three pictures which revealed the identity of the Carver. While the pictures were removed from the site later that evening, they had already been re-published on various fan-based message boards.
