Spencer Reid

"I find that I do some of my best work under intense terror."

Dr. Spencer Reid is a Supervisory Special Agent with the BAU. He is hailed as a genius and an Autodidact.

Background
Reid graduated from high school at age 12. In his youth, his father left him and his mother since his father could no longer deal with his mother's paranoid schizophrenia. He once mentioned that he was a victim of bullying in school where he was stripped naked and tied to a goalpost in front of other students. After waiting for all the other teenagers to leave, he walked home, only to find that his mother had not noticed he was so late to return because she had been having one of her schizophrenic episodes. Reid grew up learning nearly everything he knows from books, with his mother (a college professor) often reading to him. Still, Reid knew that the way his mother was living wasn't healthy.

When he was eighteen, he had his mother, Diana Reid, a professor of 15th century literature, placed in a mental institution. His mother still resides in that same mental institution and Reid has stated that he sends letters every day because of the guilt he feels for not visiting her. Reid is also worried about the fact that his mother's illness can be passed on genetically; he once told Morgan that "I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind."

Reid has an eidetic memory, meaning that he can remember an exceedingly large amount of information with extraordinary detail. This, however, only applies to information gathered visually (especially things he's read, as implied with the word eidetic); he has not been so successful in auditory information, as evident when he once noted he could not remember "that new tech girl's name."

On the Job
Reid joined the BAU at age 22 (stated in an article on his father's computer in "Memoriam"). One of his first cases was that of The Blue Ridge Strangler (Tabula Rasa). Though he went to the FBI academy, he had trouble with just about everything that wasn't book-related, including marksmanship, physical training and obstacle course. In the end, they had to make special exceptions to get him into the field (What Happens at Home).

Season One
Reid turned 24 in the episode "Plain Sight". He also asked JJ out on a date, after being handed tickets to a football game by Jason Gideon; who tells Reid that JJ is a big fan of football. In the following episode, Reid only said that the date was "top secret" and it was never mentioned again.

In "L.D.S.K.", despite failing his gun qualification, Reid still manages to deliver a fatal shot to the head of Phillip Dowd (with Aaron Hotchner's backup weapon, a Glock 26); thus saving himself, Hotch, and a room full of hostages. He later joked that he was "aiming for his leg". Hotch is so proud of Reid he lets him keep the gun. It is not clear whether or not he kept the weapon as he is never seen using it again.



In "Derailed" Reid reveals that he is capable of impressive sleight-of-hand magic tricks, which he uses to trick the deranged hostage taker. He then shows remarkable insight into the mind of the delusional man, successfully distracting him to protect the hostages. After Elle Greenaway admits that Reid saved her life, she asks about how he gained such insight, implying that Reid may have some personal experience with mental illness. Reid explains that he was just pretending, pats Elle on the knee, and walks away; leaving Elle and the audience wondering if he is hiding something.

In "Somebody's Watching", Reid garnered the affection of Hollywood starlet Lila Archer, who was being stalked by an unsub who killed people to further Lila's career. Lila gives Reid what may have been his first kiss. It is unclear whether Reid tried to pursue the relationship further, but JJ teased him about it briefly in Season 5 episode "The Performer" asking if he still talked to Lila. Reid declined to answer and quickly changed the subject back to the current case.

Season Two
In "The Fisher King II" Reid reveals to the rest of the team that his mother is "a paranoid schizophrenic who wouldn't remember to eat without being properly medicated and supervised". He mentions to Garcia that schizophrenia is passed on genetically, something he is evidentally worried about.

In "Aftermath" Reid seems to be the only team member who notices Elle's odd behavior, and confronts her; he gets her to open up to him but it does not stop her from spiraling out of control. Reid later blames himself for not having done more to help her.

While being held hostage by Tobias Hankel, Reid was repeatedly tortured and forcibly injected with dilaudid, which caused hallucinations of his past and he became addicted. He had a near death experience when he went into a seizure where he saw shadowy figures and a bright light (and, as he later pointed out to Morgan, it couldn't be like other cases where these visions are just doctors in the emergency room). Reid was forced to kill for a second time using the revolver that his captor used to torment him. Reid's addiction was noticed by Hotch and Gideon over time, as well as an old friend of Reid's in New Orleans ("Jones"). He has since become clean; in Elephant's Memory, he attended a support group (called The Beltway Clean Cops) meeting for addicts in law enforcement. He said he'd been experiencing cravings recently and spoke of the young man shot in front of him (in "3rd Life") before being interrupted by multiple calls summoning him to work. He was surprised to find one of his superiors attending the same meeting. The older agent, named "John", loaned Reid his one year sobriety coin, making Reid promise that he would return once he earned his own. He is still very particular about staying clean, as seen in Amplification when he strictly refused to take any narcotic painkillers after being infected by anthrax.

When Gideon does not show up at work and fails to answer phone calls ("In Name and Blood"), Reid drives out to Gideon's cabin in his own car. Upon arrival, he finds a note addressed only to him explaining why Gideon chose to leave the BAU. Later, Reid explains to Prentiss that his father did the same thing when he abandoned Reid and Diana.

Season Three
In the episode Damaged, he managed to save himself and Hotch from Chester Hardwick (who intended to kill them as a way to evade the execution of his death sentence) by giving a thirteen minute lecture on the medical explanations for Chester's condition and behavior. When the situation had been diffused, he stated that he didn't know if the profile was accurate, thus revealing it had been improvised on the spot using his encyclopedic knowledge. He also stated that he does some of his best work when under 'intense terror'.

Season Four
In the season 4 episode Minimal Loss, Prentiss and Reid went undercover as "child interview specialists" to determine if the polygamist / cult leader was sexually abusing young girls. Prentiss took a severe beating in order to protect Reid, causing him to feel guilty about her having to protect him. In The Instincts, a young boy disappears, and it leads Reid to some questions about his own past. He visits his mother, who inadvertently helps him solve the case.

In "Memoriam," Reid reunites with his estranged father, William Reid, whom he hasn't seen in 17 years. It is not a happy reunion, as Reid is still very angry and suspects his father of murder.

In "52 Pickup," Reid impressed a female bartender named Austin while investigating a serial killer. On Morgan's advice (who told him "chicks dig magic"), he performed an impressive illusion with a pen and a flier showing a police sketch of the Unsub. When she asked for his number, he told her she already had it behind her barrette, which she pulled out of her hair. The bartender would later call him and ask him out, though nothing appears to have come of it.

Season Five
In Nameless, Faceless, Reid is shot in the leg by an unsub while protecting a doctor whom the killer had targeted. It is a non-life-threatening wound, and Reid tells the doctor to treat the unsub instead of him. In the next episode, Haunted, he carried crutches. Later in the season, he moved on to use a cane and continued doing so until the episode The Uncanny Valley.

In "100," Reid manages to figure out that George Foyet is using the alias "Peter Rhea," which is an anagram of "The Reaper". The team finds out Rhea's address and storms his apartment, only to find that Foyet had posted an Internet alert on the name Peter Rhea (to alert him if the name was ever investigated) and has disappeared.

Season Six
In Corazón, Reid began suffering powerful headaches, as well as having hallucinatory episodes, while working the case. In the end of the episode, he goes to see a doctor, who finds nothing physically wrong with him, suggesting it may be a psychosomatic disorder. Terrified of having inherited his mother's schizophrenia, he vehemently denies this and storms out of the office.

He appears to be well in the following episodes, though in Coda, he is seen carrying a book about migraines. In With Friends Like These..., Reid tells about his problems to Morgan, remarking that he only read five books the previous week. In 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 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."

Season Seven
When Hotch and JJ told the team they'd faked Prentiss' death, Reid became very upset with JJ. He told 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." Reid also angrily referred to JJ as Jennifer, something he had never done before. He later made amends with both Emily and JJ.

In Painless, Morgan plays a practical joke on Reid by giving his phone number to the press after Reid hustled him. The non-stop calls irritated Reid to the point he yelled into his phone, but from Morgan's reactions to the calls, Reid realized what he'd done and declared revenge. On the plane, Morgan's music is interrupted by a recording from Reid, which warned him against pranking MIT graduates, followed by Reid screaming. Reid smiles as Morgan's phone rings, apparently a call from Garcia. Morgan answers but is interrupted by more of Reid's screaming. Morgan then declared "it's on".

For the second time since the start of the series, he celebrates his birthday during an episode, this time his 30th during True Genius, with the team.