Criminal Minds 1x9 - Tumblr Posts

I think the language the man Ted is hallucinating ("Leo") uses to refer to Ted throughout the episode is really interesting (he calls him "sport" a few times, I think) especially coupled with the role he takes.

This just occurred to me while watching the episode, but I wonder if he's maybe hallucinating his father? Not as he currently is, the age gap wouldn't make sense (there's only a thirteen year age gap between the actors) but maybe his father passed and this is what he looked like at the time of his death, or this is what he looked like at some other important moment.

(I don't think this was the intention. I just like to overthink things)

she looks so scared !!! my babygirl :( (she is nine years older than me)

jj's hair looks incredible this episode. actually all of jj looks incredible this episode. mwah

derailed is a really interesting episode to watch with the knowledge that reid's mother has schizophrenia, and it makes me wonder how much of the information he offers is because of his general knowledge, and how much is personal experience.

i lean towards the second, largely because "reid knows that tardive dyskinesia is a condition that can develop from prolonged use of antipsychotic medication because his mother takes antipsychotic medication and has for a long time" is a more interesting explanation that "reid knows that tardive dyskinesia is a condition that can develop from prolonged use of antipsychotic medication because he knows a lot about a lot."

i could go either way on whether he knows because diana at one point developed it (it's not always permanent), or because he researched the side-effects of antipsychotics and came across it.

and thus begins the pattern

I see a lot of people making jokes about how this line from Reid is him being sarcastic/funny/sassy insert adjective here but I just...cannot see that, for a number of reasons. I may just be autistic and shit at reading expressions/tone of voice, but to me he seems very sincere. (Well, projecting the image of sincerity. I doubt Reid can somehow actually see somebody else's hallucination.)

First: At this moment, "Ted, you're hallucinating. There's nobody sitting there. Leo is not real," will not only not help, but could even cause the deaths of Reid or any of the other hostages. Instead, Reid reasons out where Ted is seeing Leo based on where in the air he addresses him, and then addresses Leo as if he really is sitting there.

(Normally, I don't believe this is how you're supposed to handle someone in a psychotic break. The general advice I see is to not confirm their delusion, but don't deny it either. Instead, confirm the feelings. So the response to someone who believes they have a government tracking device wouldn't be "there isn't a government tracking device in your arm, you're in psychosis" or "yes, there is a government tracking device in your arm" but "that must be really upsetting. I'd be scared if the government was tracking me, too." However, I usually see that advice being addressed to healthcare workers and family members, not people being held hostage in a train, so I assume there's some leeway. Also—if you get nothing else from this post, get this: this is not advice. I am not a medical professional. I am talking about the real-world advice I see in comparison with the actions of a fictional character, not dispensing advice.)

Second, related to the first: If Reid was trying to be funny here like some people seem to think, that would be...incredibly reckless? Like How to Get a Bunch of People Killed and/or Get Fired 101. Why would he do that. This is not the time for bits.

Third: I don't think Reid, who has a loved one with schizophrenia, would make fun of someone in psychosis.

(It's entirely possible that people are joking when they say/imply that Reid is trying to be funny here, or that they think this is a funny line. I still disagree with the second—this moment actually really jumped out at me when I first watched this episode because of the strategy behind it—but, you know. Disclaimer that I might just, again, be autistic and misunderstanding people.)

I've always been a little thrown off by the way the characters (the team and the passengers) react to Reid trying to talk down Ted, and I've never liked that the episode ends with Ted being shot (although I appreciate that he survives).

I'm not saying this to be critical of the characters: the team doesn't have audio, and the passengers (save for Elle and the incapacitated psychologist) don't have the knowledge to see Reid getting through to him, but:

I don't know. Look at Ted's face. I'm bad at reading expressions, but at the very least, this doesn't seem like the expression of someone unaffected by what's being said to him, or the face of a man who's about to start shooting people. During the conversation, Ted stops aiming the gun at Reid, and yells at Leo to shut up when he tells him to shoot Reid.

I really think that Reid was on his way to talking Ted down, and I wish he'd gotten to do it. I don't think Elle hitting Ted while Reid is talking him down makes a lot of sense*. She's one of the few passengers who can understand that Ted is calming down, and I think she's at the right angle to see his changing expression. I wish Reid had gotten the chance to keep talking, because I do think he was close to ending it without anyone else getting shot.

One other thing I noticed while watching this episode—throughout the episode, Leo has always been onscreen while he speaks, either in the same frame as Ted, or the camera cuts to him while he speaks. However, if you rewatch the scene, notice that whenever Leo speaks during it, not only is he always offscreen, but his voice has an echo to it that wasn't there before. I don't think most of the analysis I post is reflective of the writer's intent, but that seems very intentional to me, symbolizing that Leo is becoming less real to Ted and therefore losing his grip on him.

*this is a criticism of the writing, not the character. yes, elle is impulsive, but the choice to hit ted while he's being talked down and is no longer aiming the gun at anyone seems like a strange and risky choice.