Top 10 Worst Things to Happen to Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds

Various

In “Criminal Minds,” SSA Spencer Reid often sees parts of himself in young victims and unsubs, which is why some cases really stick with him. In Season 2, a teen named Nathan Harris approached him for help understanding his violent urges and later attempted to take his own life. Reid especially related to Season 3’s Owen Savage, a spree killer seeking vengeance after years of being tormented at school and home. Season 4’s serial killer, Adam Jackson, developed dissociative identity disorder as a kid to cope with his stepfather’s abuse. In the end, Adam’s alter Amanda takes over his life. Reid is an empathetic profiler who does all he can, often breaking the rules, to save lives. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always turn out as planned.

“The Instincts” & “Memoriam”

While the BAU works on a missing child’s case in Spencer Reid’s hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, he’s plagued by a recurring nightmare about a boy. He learns that the boy was a real victim named Riley Jenkins and connects the murder to his estranged father, William, who left him and his mother, Diana, when he was young. Fueled by resentment for abandoning them, Reid pursues him as the number one suspect. But in solving the case, he discovers something else entirely. Diana sensed a man, Gary Brendan Michaels, was preying on her son and told Riley’s father, Lou, who murdered Michaels. Between the trauma of his parents’ divorce and their involvement in covering up a crime, this was a lot for Reid to handle.

“Lauren”

The BAU is a tight-knit group of colleagues who are more like family, so it’s painful when one of them leaves. Spencer Reid took it especially hard when Jason Gideon and Derek Morgan eventually moved on from the team. And in Season 6, he mourns another close friend, SSA Emily Prentiss. Her past work as a spy for Interpol comes back to haunt her in the form of Ian Doyle. The international arms dealer threatens the BAU, leading Prentiss to face him alone. When she’s taken to the hospital, Hotch and JJ lie, saying she didn’t survive her injuries. Prentiss was alive and in hiding for nearly a year, during which time Reid was consoled by JJ and struggled with his sobriety. Thankfully, she returns.

“Angels” & “Demons”

Unfortunately for Spencer Reid, he’s injured on the job a lot, like getting shot in the leg in Season 5. However, Season 9’s two-part finale puts him in an even scarier situation that had fans on edge. While investigating a string of murders in Texas, the BAU and local law enforcement get into a shootout with Justin Mills, a trafficker thought to be a serial killer. Caught in the crossfire, Reid tries to protect Dr. Alex Blake, but takes a bullet in the neck. He’s rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Luckily, he pulls through and wakes up to Penelope Garcia by his side, who ends up saving him from another attempt on his life.

Various

Before he was born, Spencer’s mother Diana Reid, a former literature professor, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Having been abandoned by his father years before, an 18-year-old Spencer had to make the agonizing decision to send her to a facility for proper care. In Season 6, he starts to experience severe migraines and fears that he could have symptoms of schizophrenia, which can be genetically passed. Although that turns out to not be the case, things get worse in Season 11, when Diana is diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Spencer’s pain and helplessness while trying to calm her during a schizophrenic episode is heart-wrenching to watch. Mother and son go through many ups and downs related to her illness but still have a touching relationship.

“300”

Reid has found himself held captive many times, often with one of his teammates. On two occasions, Season one’s situation with Hotch and the Season 14 situation with JJ, he had to take out the unsub himself. In Season 4, Reid and Prentiss go undercover as child services to infiltrate a Colorado compound inhabited by the Separatarian Sect. When a raid gone wrong leads to a standoff, cult leader Benjamin Cyrus holds them hostage. While they both survive that harrowing incident, former members of the Sect, now a part of “The Believers,” appear 10 seasons later, blaming the BAU for Cyrus’ death and the subsequent disbandment. Reid is taken by leader Benjamin David Merva and almost sacrificed but is saved by his heroic team.

“Amplification”

One of Reid’s most heroic moments comes in Season 4 when the BAU faces the possibility of a widespread deadly strain of bacteria. Reid and Morgan search the home lab of their prime suspect, scientist Dr. Lawrence Nichols. However, Reid enters the lab alone and finds a broken tube of Anthrax spores. He locks Morgan out to keep him from exposure. With his life on the line, Reid continues to work the case and manages to find the real unsub, Ph.D. student Chad Brown, along with a cure for the strain. We’re used to seeing him in peril, but hearing his heartfelt message to his mom and watching his symptoms worsen was painful. However, the ever-resilient Dr. Reid miraculously survived to fight another day.

“Zugzwang”

Unlike other characters, Dr. Spencer Reid wasn’t one to cycle through love interests. That changed in Season 8 when we learned he had a long-distance love, Maeve Donovan, a geneticist who helped with his severe migraines. Sadly, the nerdy couple was doomed from the start. With Maeve hiding from a stalker, the two only speak over the phone. When she goes missing, Reid is uncharacteristically unfocused and asks the BAU for help. He doesn’t meet Maeve face-to-face until her stalker, Diane Turner, has her at gunpoint and forces Reid to watch as she takes her own life along with Maeve’s. Their short-lived romance was crushing for him, as well as the audience.

Various

The latter half of Season 12 saw one of the most shocking storylines in “Criminal Minds” history, with Spencer Reid at the center of it. He travels to Mexico to obtain experimental medicine for his mother. However, he ends up being arrested by local authorities for possession of illegal substances. Later, it’s discovered that Reid’s contact Dr. Ramos is murdered with evidence pointing to him. Although he’s extradited to the U.S., it’s far from the end of this nightmare. In prison, he’s attacked, sees a friend killed, and fights to survive. In the end, it’s revealed Cat Adams and Lindsey Vaughn framed him, and as if they didn’t put him through enough, they also kidnap his mom and threaten her life.

Tormented in School, “Elephant’s Memory”
Young Reid Had His Fair Share of Trauma, Too
Gideon’s Murder, “Nelson’s Sparrow”
Reid Loses a Close Friend & Mentor…Twice

The Hitwoman Makes It Her Mission to Ruin Reid’s Life More Than Once

Of Course It’s Reid Who Almost Dies in the (Initial) Series Finale

“The Big Game” & “Revelations”

Throughout the 15 seasons of “Criminal Minds,” Spencer Reid really goes through it. But perhaps the most memorable and devastating incident he endured was being captured by an unsub with dissociative identity disorder (DID) in season two. The BAU travels to Atlanta, Georgia, to investigate multiple murders committed by a killer reporting his own crimes. Reid and JJ go to question a potential witness named Tobias Hankel, who’s revealed to be the unsub. He takes Reid to a remote location where his alternate personalities — his late father and the archangel Raphael — punish him for “his sins.” Tobias, however, dosed him with Dilaudid[a] to ease the pain. This hellish experience left a lasting impact on Reid physically, mentally, and emotionally, including a substance use disorder.



What do you think is the worst thing to happen to Reid? Let us know in the comments below.




[a]Dye-law-did