Regarding Elephant's Memory

[gershwhen.livejournal.com]

Hey, just finished watching a rerun of Elephant's Memory and I have a question and then a point for discussion.

1.  Who is the guy who gives Reid his one year coin?  Are we supposed to know who he is as a character?  Or was he a guest cameo?

2.  Does anyone else get the feeling that the team was too hard on Reid in this episode?  I sometimes think that Morgan is allowed to get upset and punch doors, Hotch can go back to work with a hearing impairment or after he is almost murdered and they are cut a lot of slack.  Yet Reid is considered in the wrong every time he tries to define what this kid has been through and points out the that the adults should have done more.  Is it just me?

Comments

[djan31.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I never noticed the thing about them being hard on Reid being a double standard until you mentioned it.
I really don't have a good explanation, haha.

-ponders-

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

1. We haven't seen him before or since, and we can't be sure, since "There are no 'sirs' here. Here I'm just John", but we suspect Spencer Reid just acquired the director of the FBI for his sponsor. With every indication that the director has been watching Agent Reid's progress in the Bureau for a while now. *g*

2. No, I don't think they were too hard on him. Reid's behavior, unlike Morgan's periodic physical venting or Hotch's repeated too-early returns to work, was actually interfering in the investigation. He was putting witnesses' and local officers' backs up and making them less likely to cooperate. He was identifying with Owen so much he was coming close to behaving like him--an outsider. And in most investigations, behaving like an outsider within the team endangers the team. Witness the talking-to Rossi got for acting without communicating on his first case back.

Reid got away with it on the Owen Savage case. But Hotch calling him on it afterward on the plane, even though he succeeded, was necessary. Unlike on other TV shows, on this one, the brilliant maverick puts everyone at risk.

[shelcha.livejournal.com]

I think it was actually nice to see them react to his behavior.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I was assuming an AD, me.

Also, the actor was Michael Ironside. And I agree--I LIKE that in CM, actions have consequences.

[dragonladyk.livejournal.com]

We can't give greens on LJ, but how about a gold star and a rare Hotch-smile?

DragonLady

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

Unlike on other TV shows, on this one, the brilliant maverick puts everyone at risk.

I'd say this is on the list of reasons I love this show so much, but the list got too long and I had to stop mentally constructing it. :P

[scarredlove.livejournal.com]

I second everything you said. I completely agree.

[iamtheliquorr.livejournal.com]

Re: Reid, totally agree. I like that on this show, for the most part, team members don't get away with being "the brilliant maverick." I thought the situation was handled quite well in this ep.

[shelcha.livejournal.com]

The reactions of the team seemed pretty spot on to me. It doesn't seem very helpful to me to tell people all the things they did wrong when there is a kid killing people on the loose.

[zippitgood.livejournal.com]

RE: 1, we're just supposed to know he's some bigwig at the FBI. They didn't give us much more than that.

RE: 2, I don't believe Reid had suffered anything recently to warrant his being "given slack" by the team. They were hard on him because he was over identifying with the unsub and taking it out on those he's working with. He was letting his emotions cloud his judgment on the job for which he rightly was reprimanded.

[ladymalchav.livejournal.com]

While I agree with what the others are saying, re: Reid's behavior being bad form, and quite liking the fact that he got called on it, I do think Reid is, in general, held to higher expectations than the rest of the characters.

The fact is, he doesn't get emotional. Not to the degree that the other characters do. Or, rather, he does, but he doesn't let it interfere detrimentally with the case, with the team, with his work. I'd have to say Elephant's Memory and Jones are the only times we've seen him let his personal problems eclipse the well being of the case. The other times it gets too personal, he uses that energy to solve the case, and to bring the unsubs to justice, even when he identifies with them, which seems to happen a lot (see: The Popular Kids; The Fisher King; Sex, Birth, Death; Memoriam; Conflicted; The Uncanny Valley)*.

So, when it happens, it is called upon more readily, and more seriously, than when it happens with one of the other members. I mean, you see Morgan go off and tackle someone, and you go 'Eh, there goes Morgan, bein' all crazy again.' But then when Reid goes off the rails, you have to go 'Oh man, this cannot be good.'

Also, since Reid is usually so good at... not 'repressing', but controlling his emotions, he holds himself to a higher standard. A much higher one than anyone else would, at that. He holds his emotions in check, and in check, and finally, when he can't or won't any longer, it's, again, a much bigger deal than when it happens to any of the others (I believe the term I've seen used is 'Reidalanche'?).


The newest episode being the best example. Reid, in some way, identifies with the unsub (probably having to do with his mother's mental illness and his own abandonment/betrayal issues with his father, added to his fierce protectiveness of abused children), and when he figures out what her father had done to her... he. is. PISSED! But he doesn't rail, and he doesn't yell, he doesn't get physical. He uses the man's hubris and cowardice and intelligence against him. From seemingly aimlessly wandering the room, to narrowing his focus on the toys on the shelf, to finally pouncing on his unsuspecting prey, Reid is like a cat playing with it's food. He sets him up exactly how he wants him, makes the man reveal information he never would have other wise, lulled into a false sense of security, until exposed to the full intensity of Doctor Spencer Reid's contempt. He is left a quivering pile of bad-guy jelly. This is what Reid's emotions and intellect, fused together and honed to a razor-sharp point can do.

But when he's angry at the wrong person, especially when he's angry at himself, as is the case in Elephant's Memory, that razor sharp point becomes a nuclear warhead, capable of destroying everything around it, including itself.

THAT is why, in my honest opinion, the team is hard on Reid in that episode. Hard? Yes. Too hard? Not at all.

*is it just me, or does Reid tend to identify with a LOT of unsubs?

[bbt-criminal.livejournal.com]

I always had it in my head that Reid is afraid of becoming an unsub. Between the mental illness and an obvious fascination with murder and mayhem, plus a tiny desire for revenge he's pretty much on the line. (i know it's the job, but who decides when they're 12 to study serial killers for a living? He was groomed for this [see Jones] and can't do anything else.)

[ladymalchav.livejournal.com]

The great thing about Criminal Minds is that ALL the main characters had the potential to become the very thing which they fight. The only one I actually cannot think of a plausible 'reason' for growing into a supremely fucked-up person would be JJ, and I think that's simply for lack of background information.

With Reid, I think it's less fear and more insecurity. He is still much closer to that vague area between 'growing up/into' and 'what I am', and I don't just mean age-wise. Over the seasons, Reid's character had been the most trasformative. He is still becoming who he is, which leads to his self-doubt and fear of 'slipping' or becoming that which he does most not want to be.

I think he does also feel like he hasn't been allowed to make many of the choices in his life which lead him to where and who he is. How hard must it be to see, every day, some version of that you could have been, if not for one decision, one right turn? Or at least to see it that way. And to see a little bit of yourself in the monsters? I just think Reid's the only one insecure enough in himself to actually believe it, however little. And he's too smart not to recognize that. He is, sadly, confused enough to actually believe it.

Through the whole course of the series, the only member of the BAU who I would realistically see going rouge and crossing the line into unsub territory actually... kind of did.


Hotch said it straight out in Natural Born Killers:

'When you grow up in an environment like that, an extremely abusive and violent household.. it's not surprising that some people grow up to become killers... And some people grow up to catch them.'

[bbt-criminal.livejournal.com]

true that. Hotch definitely fell into overkill mode with Foyet. Understandable, but scary. I sort of wondered if there would be some blowback from that- the fact of the incredible catharsis that must have been. The relief of the whole thing being over must have felt good on some level. It opens the door to a lot of guilt and confusion. "If I enjoyed killing him, does that make me just the same as he is?" Of course, Hotch doesn't think that way. He's much too pragmatic. Still, there's a fun little twist. Oh to be a fly on the wall for those therapy sessions...

[eiko82.livejournal.com]

I agree 100% with all you said.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

There was one episode early on ... it might have been Fisher King since the team, or at least Garcia, learns that Reid's mom is in a santitarium ... where Reid mentions that there's only a thin line between schizophrenia and genius (obviously not the quote, but the gist of it) ... I think he's afraid that his mind will turn him into a schizophrenic and he will become an unsub. I also think that's why he can identify with the 'outsider' unsubs ... Adam, Owen, the guy from Sex, Birth, Death ... people with brilliant minds, or young lives just starting, that 'except for the grace of God' could have been Reid's fate.

[ladymalchav.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was Fisher King. In the same conversation, he also casually mentions that schizophrenia can be genetic, it's actually how he breaches the subject. That's why I included it on the short list.

[bbt-criminal.livejournal.com]

Thing one: Reid was out of line.
Thing Two: anyone, profiler or not, could see it coming a mile away. The team knows that Reid always over-identifies with picked on loner kids.

The most annoying thing about this episode for me was the disruption of time. It's 10 months later already? What did I miss?! Oh, nothing. They just couldn't be bothered to actually show us any true addict behaviour, if there was any. If the addiction was that bad, then he'd have had to hit bottom, which usualy entails losing either your job, your friends or your family. Reid lost nothing. It was a cop-out from start to finish. It's the only time CM wasn't brave enough to go where the map lead. Sure, it would have been angsty and hard to watch, and a lot of Reid fans would have stopped squeeing. Big deal- it would have been a lot more believable than what they did.

All that bitching, and this is still my favourite episode- i pretty much cheer every time i see Reid tell them it's their fault. "You could've helped him. But you didn't." Damn skippy it's your fault, Owen deserved better.

[iamtheliquorr.livejournal.com]

I agree about the drug plot. I marathoned the whole series in an extremely short time, but I was a more than a bit "buh?" over the way the drug plot was handled. It seemed to easy, for lack of a better term. That is a plot thread I've have definitely liked to see explored more. (Hmm... fanfic anyone?)

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

1. He was just a guest cameo. I think we're supposed to understand that he's someone Reid knows a bit, or knows of, but beyond that who he is isn't important.

2. No. He was being a stroppy unprofessional brat from the first walk through the house, and he knew it, and he didn't care. And he should have cared. They had to work with those men, no matter how unpleasant they were, and he knew that. He risked destroying the entire team's capacity to do their job and sve lives - some broken relationships even JJ can't salve - because he couldn't or wouldn't control himself.

I'm not saying I don't understand why he was furious and rubbed raw at that point, but still. Stroppy unprofessional brat, and he more than deserved to get called on it.

[woodchoc-magnum.livejournal.com]

No. He was being a stroppy unprofessional brat from the first walk through the house, and he knew it, and he didn't care.

Agreed x a million.

[aratama.livejournal.com]

2. I love Reid to itsy-bitsy pieces, like the majority of this fandom, but sometimes I have a hard time controlling my urge to tell his fans to stfu already about how Reid has it so bad wah wah he's so much more traumatized than Morgan/Hotch/whoever wah wah, he's being treated so unfairly omg wah wah whine. No, Reid was acting like an unprofessional and jeopardizing the investigation, and Hotch, as his leader, told him to cut it the fuck out. And then Reid went out and did something even more unprofessional (taking off his bullet-proof vest and facing an unsub alone? after he lied to his team and team leader?), and if anything, Hotch and the world is unfairly biased for Reid that he wasn't let go on the spot.

Look, I love the guy, but can this bias stop? Please?

As for Hotch, I agree that he also has a positive bias from his team and the world in general. Sometimes he seems like a Gary Stu to me. That doesn't mean Reid is treated unfairly, however.

[woodchoc-magnum.livejournal.com]

Re #2 - I actually don't think they were too hard on him at all. I think Reid was acting like a petulant child at times during that episode. He had valid points, but he went about it in the wrong way.

[nebula99.livejournal.com]

I think Reid's behaviour was dangerous - but Hotch let him stay on the case when he knew Reid was overidentifying with Owen, and so Hotch would have been also to blame if it had all gone wrong.

The bit that annoys me is when Morgan charges across and takes over, tackling Owen and cuffing him really roughly. Reid has just talked him down but they won't even allow him to cuff his own suspect. Maybe they were all too annoyed with Reid's attitude.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

Remember as well, Morgan was called on his attitude in Lo-Fi when he was getting bitchy with Joyner (?) about not putting the team out on the streets to help catch the unsubs. He was basically told to take a walk, and we were never shown whether Hotch actually dressed him down about it (unless it was during the drive home); and Elle was reprimanded for her attitude during the Lee case.