Riley Jenkins: Little Spencer Reid's murdered BFF

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

Spoiler Warning for old episodes: "Jones", "Memoriam", and "Uncanny Valley"

Trigger Warning: for sexual abuse and child abuse

Why Spencer's rage against Samantha Malcolm's father was personal:

While Reid did have friends as an adult outside of the BAU, there was Ethan ("Jones") a Jazz musician that he met up in college? Highschool? I have the general impression that he had a lonely childhood - he skipped grades all the way up to highschool (where at age 12, the highschool teens stripped him and tied him to a football post, srsly skeevy). I remember the kids who would sometimes dumb themselves down just to stay in the same grade as their friends.

Well the other day, rewatching the scenes in "Uncanny Valley" in which Reid was very gentle with Samantha while verbally tearing apart her pedo father, in a way that just feels personal - as if he was fighting for someone done to a personal friend, I remember "Memoriam" (which was what I viewed this time before the Uncanny Valley episode, in order). It was personal for Reid. I don't think Spencer had been assaulted as a child, beyond the football incident, but it happened to his childhood BFF. Gary Michaels had raped Riley and then stabbed him to death. I don't know what they told Spencer about his disappeared friend vs what he eventually found out, but he had nightmares about it for years. His mother thought that Riley was an imaginary friend of Spencer (further adding to his sense of being deprived of his BFF plus Survivor's Guilt of 'letting' his BFF fade away), but whatever 'he went to boarding school' story Spencer might have been fed, I'll bet that he probably reads the newspaper.

In summary: Spencer's super stomping of Uncanny Valley's evil shrink, was one part because the evil shrink was a scumbag, one part on behalf of his dead BFF, against someone who had so ruthlessly victimized a terrified child. (That flashback of Reid playing chess with a smiling Gary? That took place after Riley's murder and it did not show a remorseful looking man. I sure hope the Prosecutor sent Lou out the door with a pat on his back for the PSM)

Comments

[szarabasjka.livejournal.com]

Those must be few of my fav episodes for Dr. Reid, the fact that he's no longer the scared little child from The Fox,he's the full grown up assertive man,obviously superior to his rival in Uncanny Valley, When he's interrogating his dad and turns and yells at the cop not to interfere,or little pieces here and there. Maybe that's why I love the Characters of this show so much, most of them have grown and maturedlike real persons during this show.

What's the episode when he goes back to play chessin the park? It made me notice how much it hurt him that Gideon left.

I do understand the fact thathe is always on thew side of the weaker,not onlyu asan FBI agent and an autority, also because it shows he's a great man coming from a bad life.

He wasn't the first reason to watch this show but now is the main reason for me. he and Hotch

[define-serenity.livejournal.com]

i think the episode where he starts playing chess again is incidentally The Uncanny Valley :))

[szarabasjka.livejournal.com]

awww. well know there's an answer to why he's still feeling left out...
Hey! checking on my comment I notice how bad I am into sending texts, So sorry for all those mistakes.
thnx for the info

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Well, he wasn't so much a scared child in The Fox so much as he was acting like a scared child to get a response from the suspect he was interviewing. Reid has definitely matured, but he always been a tough, manipulative bastard - and I mean that in a completely positive way.

I think a lot of his personalized anger in "The Uncanny Valley" comes from his own 'daddy' issues; Evile Dr. Riker abandoned his daughter in an even worse way than Spineless!Fucktard abandoned Spencer.

[rebak1tten.livejournal.com]

I think it was also due to a doctor abusing his patients. His mother being cared for by doctors and having to rely on doctors with ethics. My opinion.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think a patient - particularly one with mental problems - being abused/neglected by a caregiver is also a big old gold-plated trigger issue for Spence.