★ Really too late to call

[poppyapples]

Season One, Episode Nine - Derailed. Episode Wiki

"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?"
- Albert Einstein.

"Because of a particular psychological aspect of the hostage taker which we're specifically equipped to handle."

The secondary theme of this episode is without a doubt mental disorders, specifically paranoid schizophrenia and it's used both to show Reid's expertize on the subject as well as his personal connection to it.

There's still a long way to go before he openly admits to his mothers illness, but Hotch's explanation to why this hostage situation landed on the BAU's table implies that at least he (and probably Gideon) knows about Reid's situation. Reid himself is quick to latch onto the case, immediately recognizing an instance of tardive dyskinesia from a grainy surveillance video. He just as quickly explains it as a side-effect from prolonged use of anti-psychotic drugs, which happens to be the first-line treatment for schizophrenia.

Throughout the episode he continues to drop these little clues, and it's safe to say that they're at least partially due to his own personal experience. He recognizes the side-effects from anti-psychotic medication because he's seen it in his mother, and in the scene towards the end where he's explaining to Doctor Bryar that he knows what it's like to hear voices could potentially be a bit of his mother's illness mixed in with his own experiences as an isolated child prodigy. It's been clearly established that his potential schizophrenia has yet to break out, but the way he talks can't just be a case of good imagination, even less so since he clearly hesitates before embarking on this strategy. He's sharing a part of himself, no matter how concealed it may be and one particular line stands out as a hopeful plea rather than a tactic:

"I have to believe that if you put your mind to it, you'll realize that only you can make Leo stop. You can make him stop by understanding him, by understanding that he's a liar and only wants bad things for you. I have to believe that."

The fact that the subject matter is so closely related to him may be the reason why he's so confident throughout the episode. His involvement in the cases has gradually increased over the last nine episodes, from being non-existant to accidentally coming into physical contact with the UnSub to handling a solo interview. This time he takes it one step further and not only comes up with a risky plan to get in contact with the hostage taker, but also volunteers himself for what is definitely a dangerous and perhaps even fatal task.

His confidence shows through the entire episode, and we're also starting to see what will later become his main behavioral patterns in the field. When asked to take off his protective vest he only hesitates for a moment before complying, which shows that he's willing to put his own safety at risk if that's what needs to be done to finish the job. This is repeated throughout the seasons, either with his vest or with him putting down his gun. Unlike Morgan or Hotch Reid is a very non-threatening person and he knows it, so by becoming even less threatening he has a greater chance of forging a connection with the suspect.

We also see the tactic he first discovered in "107 - The Fox" come into full play. When he's starting to feel like he's losing control of the situation he draws the attention towards himself and then he simply... talks. It's a dangerous approach but a very effective diversion, and a tactic that will grow into his signature over the following seasons.

"Could at least one of you look like you're going to see me again?"

And then we have the other side of the fence; the rest of the team. This episode is especially focused on Morgan and it's easy to see how fond he's become of the Boy Wonder. The more Reid becomes physically involved in field work, the more protective Morgan becomes and he practically refuses to let the young Doctor confront the hostage taker alone. Not only does he suggest that Reid teach him the sleight of hand trick - a suggestion that is both time consuming and dangerous - he's also the one who straps Reid into the kevlar vest, as if he wants to make absolutely sure it's done properly. While I'm sure he'd be worried about any other team member, he seems to be even more so because it's Reid and even Gideon agrees to the risky operation long before Morgan accepts that it's something that'll actually happen.

Gideon takes a back-seat in this episode, and aside from Reid calling him Sir there's not much to report.

There's been some fondness growing between Elle and Reid over the last few episodes, and seeing as this one focuses on the two of them in a large way it's only natural that they get even more scenes together. They don't interact until the very end, but Elle's expression when Reid "magics" out the chip from Dr. Bryar's arm clearly shows that she's impressed and may have a new-found respect for Reid's skills in the field. It's a gutsy move, especially for an Agent who's more suitable for the less action-filled parts of a case.

The final scene between them also gives a glimpse of how she feels about him and how comfortable they are around each other at this point, with the both of them joking around in a playful manner. However, it also shows another part of Reid's personality - up until this point he's been introverted and withdrawn because he lacked confidence and hadn't found his spot on the team. This no longer applies but he still brushes away Elle's question about why he could relate to hearing voices, a habit that he will continue throughout the next seven seasons. It's a major part of Reid's personality, a clear example of his trust issues and the first time we see that he keeps his friends and team-mates at arms length, regardless of how comfortable he is around them.

"I'm not used to being around guns."

It's worth mentioning a few things about bodylanguage, especially since Reid's has evolved so drastically over these first nine episodes. At the start of the series he has a much tougher time maintaining eye-contact, but from "The Fox" and onwards that seems to be much less of a problem. Instead his secondary tell is coming into play much stronger, with him frequently sucking his lips in between his teeth. He's also a lot less fidgety than he was in earlier episodes, despite being in a much more stressful situation.


Miscellaneous observations.

• "I used to do this during college exams!" Is Reid saying he was so bored that he practiced magic tricks during exams?

• This is also the first time it's mentioned that Reid is an amateur illusionist.

• It bears to mention that Reid refers to the UnSub as Doctor Bryar every single time. Compare that to how Gideon wants him to introduce himself.

• "I'm fine, dad." Elle is doing a fine job lampshading Gideon's position on the team.

• Reference to John Forbes Nash, famous mathematician, Nobel Prize winner and sufferer of paranoid schizophrenia. Reid is very quick to claim that A Beautiful Mind didn't portray him accurately, and it's easy to see how a genius afflicted with the same mental disorder as his mother (and potentially himself) would be important to him.

• Actor Spotting: Chris Bauer // Andy Bellefleur from True Blood.

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Season One, Episode Ten - The Popular Kids. Episode Wiki

"Unfortunately, a super abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares."
- Sir Peter Ustinov

"What keeps young Doctor Reid awake at night?"

More than anything this episode is about Morgan and Reid. The two men are opposites in practically every single way - Morgan is experienced, street-smart, confident and charming, with a physical strength that surpasses the rest of the team. Meanwhile Reid is shy and insecure, physically inadequate, socially inexperienced and with a book-earned intelligence that blows pretty much anyone out of the water. They mirror each other near-perfectly and up until this point it's very much been a hindrance to their friendship. Morgan doesn't understand Reid half of the time, and the young Doctor feels horribly inadequate when compared to the older, muscular man.

There's been some budding affection between them ever since "L.D.S.K" and in this episode it finally breaks out and blossoms. At the beginning of the series Morgan was mostly making fun of Reid, practically bullying him at times but the more Reid is out in the field the more protective he's become, and although he's still teasing him about being a nerd that ends as soon as he realizes just why Reid has been kept awake at night. The sympathy is instant and although he redirects Reid to Gideon almost immediately it's not because he doesn't care - rather the opposite. At this point Morgan is very fond of Reid and knowing what he's going through it's no big surprise that he's trying to cut his team mates suffering short.

This need to protect Reid also shows clearly towards the end of the episode. Morgan, being the more experienced one in the field, quickly realizes that Cory may be the their suspect and promptly sends Reid away from the scene in order to keep him away from a potentially dangerous situation. They're both armed and wearing vests, but rather than risk that the young Agent comes in harms way Morgan puts his own safety at risk by putting himself alone with the killer.

It's also worth mentioning Morgan's motivation for telling Hotch and Gideon about Reid's issues. Elle practically walked in on their initial conversation and even asked if something was going on with the two of them, but Morgan didn't so much as hint at what they'd been talking about. No joke, no looks towards Elle, no nothing aside from casual reassurance that nothing was wrong, out of sheer respect for Reid. Elle didn't need to know but Hotch and Gideon did, not only because of their hierarchical position but also because both of them knew what to do. Morgan clearly did not know what to tell Reid, he even tells him that he's not the right guy to talk to because he's still struggling. It's a breech of confidence, but a necessary one.


"What if they think I can't do my job?"

And then we have Reid's side of the story, especially why he approached Morgan instead of doing what he usually does when he has a problem - talk to Gideon. Over the last ten episodes he's grown increasingly independant, and starting with "Derailed" he began to take more initiative, breaking away from his previous habit of teaming up with another team member. This newfound confidence left him with a desire to prove himself and showing a weakness like suffering from nightmares doesn't adhere to that desire. The team never talks about these things and being what could be seen as the weakest link Reid is afraid that this is something unique to him, that he's weak for succumbing to the stress of their job. Where Gideon was previously a confidante he's now even more of a father figure, and as such the last person in the world that Reid wants to disappoint - with his biological father absent throughout most of his life he's desperate to get the paternal approval from the next best thing. If he can't keep an even pace with the rest of the team, if he's struggling more than he should... how can he make his mentor proud?

Morgan's confession sheds some more light onto this thought process. Although it was heavily implied both from Morgan and Hotch that they too suffered from nightmares, Reid chooses to see this as an attempt to comfort him and he's honestly surprised to hear Morgan detail his own experience. During their first conversation he's reluctant to talk, embarrassed even but here he practically hangs to every word, suddenly realizing that this isn't Morgan baby-ing him.

His expressions in that scene speaks volumes. Reid is a subtle character who rarely speaks up about his issues or emotions, and even his expressions tend to be low-volume and up to this point you don't really get to see how much this scares him. There's yawns, dark rings under his eyes, classic signs of sleep deprevation but it's not until now that he shows how it's affected him emotionally. He's tense and full of empathy throughout Morgan's story, he practically lights up when he mentions that Gideon was the one who gave him the solution to his problems, nodding with an almost desperate fervor because he wants it to get better that badly.

Another point of interest with this scene is how quickly he snaps once he learns that Morgan not only told Hotch, but Gideon as well. That one line of "This is exactly what I get when I trust someone, it gets thrown back into my face." perfectly sums up Reid's obvious trust issues. He's tried in the past and he's always been betrayed. This time is no exception and you can see clearly how much he regrets saying anything in the first place - no one ever cared before, so why should the BAU be any different? This is something that continues throughout the seasons in varying degrees, and perhaps the most important part of Reid's personality.


"We hunt the worst of humanity, we see the depths of depravity, we dream of monsters..."

While I could say a lot about Gideon's speech at the end of the episode, I feel like there's something else that's even more important to point out; just what Reid has been doing at the BAU over the last two years.

Morgan claims that his own nightmares started six months after he joined the BAU. Before this he worked as a cop, doing under-cover work and even his upbringing gives him a lot of life experience. He's tough, and although he's not nearly as stoic as Hotch he's rarely openly emotional. The job gets to him as much as it does anyone, but his experience in the field has toughened him up and he's not as dramatically affected by what they do as some of the others on the team. It's easy to assume that this applied even before the BAU, and that his mile-stone of six months is fairly plausible for an Agent with his experience.

Compare that to Reid's two years.

Reid doesn't have any prior experience that would desensitize him. In fact, he is by far one of the more sensitive members of the team, even now when he's been working in the BAU for years. He's not tough and he certainly hasn't learned how to compartmentalize the way some of the more experienced members on the team has. He's inexperienced, and as such he hasn't had the time to work out a coping mechanism (something this episode deals with to a great extent) and to top it off he has a perfect memory. Although he states that he's had nightmares before they didn't really flare up until just recently, and there can only be one explanation for this; he didn't do field work. Up until Gideon's reinstatement at the start of the season Reid was not an active agent in the field, but rather stuck doing research, paperwork and TA'ing Gideon's lectures at the Academy. Over the last ten episodes Reid's become more and more involved with the cases, which neatly ties in to when his nightmares really started to become unbearable.

My guess is that they didn't start until after he shot Phillip Dowd in "L.D.S.K.", which also ties in to his reluctance to tell Gideon. His mentor said that he was proud of him, and now he can't own up to how shaken he's become from the experience.


Miscellaneous observations

• "You play ball?" That small, nervous laughter of disbelief at the very beginning says so much more than his actual answer ever could.

• First instance of Reid bonding with a young, intelligent outsider. First time said bonding habit turns sour.

• The first appearance of the purple scarf.

• Black coffee, two tea spoons of sugar.

• Song playing at the end of the episode is Brian Seymour - Always Leaving which... happens to fit Reid and Gideon quite well.

• He identifies the skeleton of the hiker as male within ten seconds of looking at it. This shows some knowledge of forensic anthropology, and chances are that he's studying that on the side.

• Headcanon moment: Reid still carries the photo of Deborah in his wallet.

• Actor Spotting: Aaron Paul // Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad