Spoilers about season eight!

[klutzy-girl.livejournal.com]

Got any new information on Jeanne Tripplehorn's character on Criminal Minds? — Cynthia

ADAM: Yep! Her name is Alex Blake and she's a seasoned FBI linguistics expert, who has some history with Reid. "People like Reid learned from [her]," executive producer Erica Messer tells us. "She is also a professor at Georgetown and Reid has guest-lectured at her forensic linguistics class before." And before you even ask, don't look for her to be striking up any interoffice romances. "She is in a relationship," Messer teases. "When you get your heroes involved romantically, it just changes the show so much. I feel pretty strongly about that as a rule."

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Comments

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

I'm really excited about this. At the very least, I'm thrilled they're giving her a backstory that'll explain why she can so immediately be so buddy-buddy with everyone. That was one of the things I hated about Seaver. Here's this new upstart - a complete stranger no less - and suddenly she's all family enough to "tease" Reid when in reality she barely knows him. Alex OTOH will know Reid well enough to know what he's like, and she's someone he can immediately be comfortable with. Of all the characters, it's Reid the writers have to worry about, since he does such odd things all the time that constantly make people go WTF. With Alex, the writers are foregoing all that and bringing in someone who will know him. I'm really not going to miss Prentiss, but I *am* going to miss a character capable of pulling off such lines as "he's so life-like" and "there really is a lot to hate about you, Dr. Reid" and have it come out as endearing instead of bitchy. Sounds like they're setting up that familiarity with Alex so that maybe she can continue it on.
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~ Plus, believe it or not, I always had a fic idea that Reid went to an old linguistics teacher of his for help on a case. She was a bit mom-like to him, since she knew him as a child. He needed her help because their suspects were twins with their own made up language, and the two of them together worked on deciphering and translating it.

[full-metal-ox.livejournal.com]

She was a bit mom-like to him, since she knew him as a child.

And, I should think, because his mother was in fact a professor.

He needed her help because their suspects were twins with their own made up language, and the two of them together worked on deciphering and translating it. .

That sort of communication challenge suggests analogies with the case of Donald Lang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lang_(deaf-mute)).

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

And, I should think, because his mother was in fact a professor.

Yeh, my idea was she'd known him at CalTech, when he was only 12 or so. I like to imagine Reid had a lot of people treating him as "sweetie" :D

That sort of communication challenge suggests analogies with the case of Donald Lang.

Ooooooooh.