If I tell you, holder of three doctorates (Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering), mid-twenties, shoulder-length hair, perpetually in a shirt with a vest (with or without sleeves depending on the season), and with a watch tight on his wrist without ever touching his skin. And if I tell you that he is self-taught, very unsociable and that he speaks with the flow of a machine gun that few characters (except perhaps a certain LorelaiGilmore) managed to master. You will then have no trouble answering: Spencer Reid, the youngest agent of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) of the FBI, a character well known to all fans of the series Criminal Minds – Criminal minds.
Appearing from the start of the series, Doctor Reid quickly proved to be very endearing. With a rather heavy family background (an abandoned father and a paranoid schizophrenic mother), Spencer, armed with an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory and autistic tendencies, is a special case. Over the seasons, the scriptwriters reveal its past to us and, in a way, lead us to admire this extraordinary pole.
Like his friend Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer is also a little “damaged” by life. The episodes The Instincts (4.06) and Memoriam (4.07) lead us to discover, alongside him, the truth about the murder of a boy around him when he was only 4 years old. It is this traumatic incident that will sculpt his future life and promote his father’s escape. Difficult then not to take sympathy for the young man, especially since he had already come a long way with his kidnapping and the acts of torture he had suffered (Revelations – 2.15). His resulting addiction to painkillers will be dealt with in subsequent episodes leading Spencer to attend meetings to get out of it. But even after 8 seasons, and like any character in Criminal Minds, the young FBI agent is not at the end of his troubles. He will also be held hostage by a cult with Emily (Paget Brewster), contract anthrax and be shot in the leg. This last part surely corresponds to the dance accident of the actor who interprets it, Matthew Gray Gubler.
Another character trait of Spencer that makes you smile this time around is his inability to talk to women. This naivety and nervousness when he has to talk to female characters is funny, introducing good scenes with his colleagues. However, this situation of celibacy that the viewer has known him since his debut is set to change, with the appearance in the last season of a young woman who is particularly close to his heart. Spencer is also the protagonist of the series who has benefited the most from an evolution: 8 years after the launch of the show, we are far from the withdrawn and asocial young man that he was. He was able to forge bonds of friendship with Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) and Emily, and he developed a brotherly relationship with Derek. His relationship with JJ (AJ Cook) has always been a little more ambiguous since he felt a slight crush on the young woman.
Spencer Reid therefore has his peculiarities, his tortuous past and his character which make him one of the most sympathetic characters of Criminal Minds. Unfortunately for him, it seems that the young doctor must face what could be the beginnings of schizophrenia. This sword of Damocles introduced by the writers in recent seasons is well found and raises many questions about Spencer’s future within the BAU which will no doubt be explored later.
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