Spencer Reid
Encyclopedia
Dr. Spencer Reid is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds
, portrayed by Matthew Gray Gubler
.
He is a genius
and autodidact who graduated from a Las Vegas
public high school at age 12. His fellow team members almost always introduce him as Dr.
Reid. Hotch
revealed in the first season that Gideon
insisted on introducing him as Dr. Reid because Gideon feared that, because of his age, Reid wouldn't be taken seriously as an FBI agent. It has been revealed that he holds Ph.Ds in Mathematics
, Chemistry
and Engineering
, as well as B.A.s in Psychology
and Sociology
; he is also working on a B.A. in Philosophy
. He has an IQ
of 187 and an eidetic memory
that applies mostly to things he has seen or read (he is shown occasionally to forget things he has heard, such as "that new tech girl's name"). It is also said in "Extreme Aggressor" that Dr. Reid can read 20 000 words per minute
(an average American adult reads prose text at 250 to 300 words per minute).
Spencer's birthday is noted in one episode, "Plain Sight" as having been "three days ago", the setting of this particular scene having been October 12, 2005, and his age was said to be 24, concluding that Spencer Reid's birthday is October 9, 1981.
Spencer's place of residence is speculated to be near the Van Ness Metro Station in the District of Columbia, as surmised by the opening scenes in "Coda", where he is seen walking near the Van Ness-UDC Metro sign. Adding to the speculation is the fact that his car, as seen in "In Name and Blood", has DC license plates.
. It was revealed in a later episode "Memoriam", however, that his father actually left because he couldn't bear all the stress of Diana's involvement in a murder when Spencer was a child. The Reids' neighbor, Mr. Jenkins, killed a man named Gary Michaels with a baseball bat because Michaels had sexually abused and murdered Jenkins' son, Riley, and Diana had seen the same man approach Spencer. After going to see what was happening, Diana witnessed the murder and got blood on her clothes, forcing Reid's father to burn her clothes to protect her.
Reid once mentioned that he had been a victim of severe bullying in school. In "Elephant's Memory", he recounts one instance where he was stripped naked and tied to a goalpost in front of other students. He grew up learning nearly everything he knows from reading and listening to his mother (a college professor of 15th Century Literature), as revealed in "The Fisher King, Part 1". It is revealed in "The Boogeyman" that Reid is afraid of the dark because of the "inherent absence of light".
While Reid was close to his mother growing up, and learned everything he knows from her, he nevertheless realized that the way she was living was unhealthy. When he was 18, he had his mother committed involuntarily to a psychiatric institution, as revealed in "Revelations". Diana still resides in the same institution, and Reid has stated that he sends her letters every day, in part because of the guilt he feels for not visiting her. He worries about the fact that his mother's illness can be passed on genetically; he once told Morgan: "I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind" in "Sex, Birth, Death".
Reid has an obvious lack of talent when it comes to talking to women; there are very few times that he has actually interacted with a woman without being noticeably and obviously uncomfortable. The only two exceptions are Lila Archer, a young actress he was assigned to protect; and a bartender he wooed with magic tricks while showing her a sketch of a potential suspect, or "UnSub" (unidentified subject). In "Memoriam", a prostitute hits on Reid in a Las Vegas casino and he seems oblivious to her intentions. It is mentioned that Reid has been subject to the flirting of other prostitutes while searching for the suspect.
Reid got his Mathematics doctorate when he was 17. He has attended both California Institute of Technology
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. He has also stated that Yale University
was his safety school.
team members had their suspicions about Spencer's addiction, none of them confronted him about it. An old friend of Reid's in New Orleans is also aware that Reid suffers from 'problems' in "Jones". Reid has become clean since then and has attended a support group meeting for addicts in Law Enforcement in "Elephant's Memory", at which he admitted struggling with cravings as well as with traumatic memories, including a young adult suspect's shooting death in his presence. Memories of his torture under Hankel also allowed him to empathize with other victims.
Reid and Prentiss were once held hostage by a cult led by Benjamin Cyrus (portrayed by Luke Perry
). Though he was not injured, Reid struggled with guilt over "allowing" Prentiss's beating at the hands of Cyrus in "Minimal Loss".
Reid also contracted anthrax
during an outbreak in Maryland
, and was later shot in the leg protecting a doctor whose life was being threatened.
Reid is a good map-reader, and is always the one doing the geographic profiling and reading maps for the team as they chase down suspects. He also has a talent with words, and is the team's go-to linguistic profiler, as well as their unofficial discourse analyst . He is rarely seen behind the wheel - one time when Morgan hands him the keys, JJ and Emily
exchange horrified expressions - but in "Lo-Fi" he is seen getting in to the driver's side of a vehicle and even driving that same vehicle in one scene.
Gideon was his closest confidant on the team during the first two seasons, and often served as a mentor to Reid. Gideon even prodded him to ask out JJ after giving him Washington Redskins
football tickets for his birthday. Reid is close to JJ, who asked him to be godfather of her son Henry, and is the only one on the team who calls him "Spence." It is implied in 'Plain Sight' that Reid may have a slight crush on JJ, but they have a brother-sister relationship
In the episode "Somebody's Watching", with the team on a case to protect a TV starlet, Lila Archer (Amber Heard
), from being harmed by a serial killer, Reid and Lila kindle a short-lived romance, beginning when Lila pulls Reid, fully clothed, into her pool for a kiss. At the end of the episode they go their separate ways and Lila is not seen in further episodes. In yet another episode, Reid and Morgan are in a nightclub trying to find a serial murderer who picks up women in nightclubs. Reid is having trouble talking to the women in these clubs, especially since he is spouting out facts about club-related deaths, but Morgan helps him out. Reid starts a conversation with the female bartender, and proceeds to do a magic trick in which he appears to jab a pen through the eye of a police sketch, but pulls it through, leaving the paper unscathed. She expresses interest in him, and he gives her his business card in case she hears something about the killer. Later, she sees the killer with another potential victim and intentionally spills her drink on the lady, pulling her away. The killer seems to disappear, and while the bartender goes outside to phone Reid, he grabs her. The team responds quickly and saves her before she is harmed. At the end of the episode, she and Reid are talking over the phone, and he opens a package at his desk that contains the card that he gave her—with a lipstick kiss on the back.
During the episode "Corazon", Reid begins to suffer from severe headaches and hallucinations. He goes to see a doctor in order to find out the source of his headaches, but the doctor says that there is no physical cause for his headaches, and that they may be psychosomatic. Reid refuses to believe this, afraid that he may be suffering from the same illness as his mother.
It is not mentioned again until "Coda", when he is seen once again wearing sun glasses and is carrying a book on migraines. In the same episode, Reid bonds with a young autistic boy.
In the episode "Valhalla", Reid tells Prentiss about his headaches. By then, Reid had gone to several doctors, but no one has been able to diagnose what is wrong with him. He tells Prentiss that he has not told any of the team members because he is afraid that they will "treat him like a baby."
In the episode "Lauren", it is Reid and Garcia
who react strongest to the news of Emily's death; when he's told, he tries to run out of the room, and winds up sobbing into JJ's shoulder telling her that he "never got a chance to say goodbye."
In Season 7 when Emily
returns and Reid discovers Hotch
and JJ
faked her death, Reid is upset, especially with JJ. He tells her he felt betrayed because he came to her house "for 10 weeks, crying" and she didn't say anything. He also mentions that he considered taking Dilaudid again after Emily "died." .
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, portrayed by Matthew Gray Gubler
Matthew Gray Gubler
Matthew Gray Gubler is an American actor, film director, sketch artist, and former fashion model. He is best known for his role as the young genius Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show Criminal Minds, of which he has also directed two episodes...
.
He is a genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
and autodidact who graduated from a Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
public high school at age 12. His fellow team members almost always introduce him as Dr.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
Reid. Hotch
Aaron Hotchner
Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Thomas Gibson. He is a Supervisory Special Agent within the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and has appeared from the series' first episode, originally broadcast on September 22, 2005. Hotch begins...
revealed in the first season that Gideon
Jason Gideon
Jason Gideon is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Mandy Patinkin. Along with Agents Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss, he seemed to be the traditionally academic of the group...
insisted on introducing him as Dr. Reid because Gideon feared that, because of his age, Reid wouldn't be taken seriously as an FBI agent. It has been revealed that he holds Ph.Ds in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, as well as B.A.s in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
; he is also working on a B.A. in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He has an IQ
Intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
of 187 and an eidetic memory
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...
that applies mostly to things he has seen or read (he is shown occasionally to forget things he has heard, such as "that new tech girl's name"). It is also said in "Extreme Aggressor" that Dr. Reid can read 20 000 words per minute
Words per minute
Words per minute, commonly abbreviated wpm, is a measure of input or output speed.For the purposes of WPM measurement a word is standardized to five characters or keystrokes. For instance, "I run" counts as one word, but "rhinoceros" counts as two...
(an average American adult reads prose text at 250 to 300 words per minute).
Spencer's birthday is noted in one episode, "Plain Sight" as having been "three days ago", the setting of this particular scene having been October 12, 2005, and his age was said to be 24, concluding that Spencer Reid's birthday is October 9, 1981.
Spencer's place of residence is speculated to be near the Van Ness Metro Station in the District of Columbia, as surmised by the opening scenes in "Coda", where he is seen walking near the Van Ness-UDC Metro sign. Adding to the speculation is the fact that his car, as seen in "In Name and Blood", has DC license plates.
Backstory
In Reid's youth, his father abandoned the family, ostensibly because he couldn't tolerate his wife Diana's paranoid schizophreniaSchizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. It was revealed in a later episode "Memoriam", however, that his father actually left because he couldn't bear all the stress of Diana's involvement in a murder when Spencer was a child. The Reids' neighbor, Mr. Jenkins, killed a man named Gary Michaels with a baseball bat because Michaels had sexually abused and murdered Jenkins' son, Riley, and Diana had seen the same man approach Spencer. After going to see what was happening, Diana witnessed the murder and got blood on her clothes, forcing Reid's father to burn her clothes to protect her.
Reid once mentioned that he had been a victim of severe bullying in school. In "Elephant's Memory", he recounts one instance where he was stripped naked and tied to a goalpost in front of other students. He grew up learning nearly everything he knows from reading and listening to his mother (a college professor of 15th Century Literature), as revealed in "The Fisher King, Part 1". It is revealed in "The Boogeyman" that Reid is afraid of the dark because of the "inherent absence of light".
While Reid was close to his mother growing up, and learned everything he knows from her, he nevertheless realized that the way she was living was unhealthy. When he was 18, he had his mother committed involuntarily to a psychiatric institution, as revealed in "Revelations". Diana still resides in the same institution, and Reid has stated that he sends her letters every day, in part because of the guilt he feels for not visiting her. He worries about the fact that his mother's illness can be passed on genetically; he once told Morgan: "I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind" in "Sex, Birth, Death".
Reid has an obvious lack of talent when it comes to talking to women; there are very few times that he has actually interacted with a woman without being noticeably and obviously uncomfortable. The only two exceptions are Lila Archer, a young actress he was assigned to protect; and a bartender he wooed with magic tricks while showing her a sketch of a potential suspect, or "UnSub" (unidentified subject). In "Memoriam", a prostitute hits on Reid in a Las Vegas casino and he seems oblivious to her intentions. It is mentioned that Reid has been subject to the flirting of other prostitutes while searching for the suspect.
Reid got his Mathematics doctorate when he was 17. He has attended both California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. He has also stated that Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
was his safety school.
Criminal Minds
Reid joined the FBI at the age of 21 and was hand-picked by Gideon to work on Hotch's team. After being kidnapped by a serial killer with multiple personalities, Tobias Hankel, Reid was tortured and drugged over the course of two days in "Revelations". This led him to develop an addiction to the narcotic painkiller Dilaudid. While the BAUBehavioral Analysis Unit
The Behavioral Analysis Unit is a component of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime that uses behavioral sciences to assist in criminal investigations...
team members had their suspicions about Spencer's addiction, none of them confronted him about it. An old friend of Reid's in New Orleans is also aware that Reid suffers from 'problems' in "Jones". Reid has become clean since then and has attended a support group meeting for addicts in Law Enforcement in "Elephant's Memory", at which he admitted struggling with cravings as well as with traumatic memories, including a young adult suspect's shooting death in his presence. Memories of his torture under Hankel also allowed him to empathize with other victims.
Reid and Prentiss were once held hostage by a cult led by Benjamin Cyrus (portrayed by Luke Perry
Luke Perry
Luke Perry is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 1990–95, and then from 1998–2000. Much publicity was garnered over the fact that even though he was playing a sixteen-year-old when 90210 began, Perry was actually in his...
). Though he was not injured, Reid struggled with guilt over "allowing" Prentiss's beating at the hands of Cyrus in "Minimal Loss".
Reid also contracted anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
during an outbreak in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, and was later shot in the leg protecting a doctor whose life was being threatened.
Reid is a good map-reader, and is always the one doing the geographic profiling and reading maps for the team as they chase down suspects. He also has a talent with words, and is the team's go-to linguistic profiler, as well as their unofficial discourse analyst . He is rarely seen behind the wheel - one time when Morgan hands him the keys, JJ and Emily
Emily Prentiss
Emily Prentiss is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Paget Brewster. Prentiss first appeared in "The Last Word" - episode nine of season two, replacing Agent Elle Greenaway who had quit in "The Boogeyman"...
exchange horrified expressions - but in "Lo-Fi" he is seen getting in to the driver's side of a vehicle and even driving that same vehicle in one scene.
Gideon was his closest confidant on the team during the first two seasons, and often served as a mentor to Reid. Gideon even prodded him to ask out JJ after giving him Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
football tickets for his birthday. Reid is close to JJ, who asked him to be godfather of her son Henry, and is the only one on the team who calls him "Spence." It is implied in 'Plain Sight' that Reid may have a slight crush on JJ, but they have a brother-sister relationship
In the episode "Somebody's Watching", with the team on a case to protect a TV starlet, Lila Archer (Amber Heard
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard is an American actress and model. She played the lead and title character in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. Heard's first starring role came in 2007 on the CW television show Hidden Palms...
), from being harmed by a serial killer, Reid and Lila kindle a short-lived romance, beginning when Lila pulls Reid, fully clothed, into her pool for a kiss. At the end of the episode they go their separate ways and Lila is not seen in further episodes. In yet another episode, Reid and Morgan are in a nightclub trying to find a serial murderer who picks up women in nightclubs. Reid is having trouble talking to the women in these clubs, especially since he is spouting out facts about club-related deaths, but Morgan helps him out. Reid starts a conversation with the female bartender, and proceeds to do a magic trick in which he appears to jab a pen through the eye of a police sketch, but pulls it through, leaving the paper unscathed. She expresses interest in him, and he gives her his business card in case she hears something about the killer. Later, she sees the killer with another potential victim and intentionally spills her drink on the lady, pulling her away. The killer seems to disappear, and while the bartender goes outside to phone Reid, he grabs her. The team responds quickly and saves her before she is harmed. At the end of the episode, she and Reid are talking over the phone, and he opens a package at his desk that contains the card that he gave her—with a lipstick kiss on the back.
During the episode "Corazon", Reid begins to suffer from severe headaches and hallucinations. He goes to see a doctor in order to find out the source of his headaches, but the doctor says that there is no physical cause for his headaches, and that they may be psychosomatic. Reid refuses to believe this, afraid that he may be suffering from the same illness as his mother.
It is not mentioned again until "Coda", when he is seen once again wearing sun glasses and is carrying a book on migraines. In the same episode, Reid bonds with a young autistic boy.
In the episode "Valhalla", Reid tells Prentiss about his headaches. By then, Reid had gone to several doctors, but no one has been able to diagnose what is wrong with him. He tells Prentiss that he has not told any of the team members because he is afraid that they will "treat him like a baby."
In the episode "Lauren", it is Reid and Garcia
Penelope Garcia
Penelope Garcia is a fictional character on the CBS crime dramas Criminal Minds and its short-lived spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, portrayed by Kirsten Vangsness...
who react strongest to the news of Emily's death; when he's told, he tries to run out of the room, and winds up sobbing into JJ's shoulder telling her that he "never got a chance to say goodbye."
In Season 7 when Emily
Emily Prentiss
Emily Prentiss is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Paget Brewster. Prentiss first appeared in "The Last Word" - episode nine of season two, replacing Agent Elle Greenaway who had quit in "The Boogeyman"...
returns and Reid discovers Hotch
Aaron Hotchner
Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Thomas Gibson. He is a Supervisory Special Agent within the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and has appeared from the series' first episode, originally broadcast on September 22, 2005. Hotch begins...
and JJ
Jennifer Jareau
Jennifer "JJ" Jareau is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by AJ Cook.- Back Story :During various episodes, JJ has described growing up in a very small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She collected butterflies as a child, and also lost her sister to...
faked her death, Reid is upset, especially with JJ. He tells her he felt betrayed because he came to her house "for 10 weeks, crying" and she didn't say anything. He also mentions that he considered taking Dilaudid again after Emily "died." .