Tel us why you ship Jencer/Jeid! I do too even though I feel like they've never given JJ a very clear personality
Hmm, first considering JJ, I actually really like how she has been characterized over the seasons. In the early seasons, especially 1-3, she can be perceived as superfluous to the team. But I always thought her job as press liaison was very instrumental while also showcasing some of her essential personality traits: kind, caring, strong, intensely humanistic. JJ quite literally humanized the team to the rest of the world. Whereas they get tunnel vision about cases and unsubs, JJ was responsible for interacting with victims’ families. This aspect of the job could arguably be considered the most difficult, and by performing it, JJ showcased her own strength. This strength only increased over the seasons, growing when she became a mother and seeming to come full circle after her return in season 7 as a fully-fledged profiler (and as explained in the 200th episode).
Now as for shipping JJ and Spence, I definitely was originally intrigued because of Reid’s crush in 1x03. Dangling this romantic possibility so so early into the show made me think that if any couple had a chance of being this crime drama’s slow burn “it” couple, it was them. As I got to know the characters, this belief only increased. I liked how the two characters complimented one another. Reid so easily takes in the world’s information while JJ is supremely adept at interpreting it. Early-Reid also appears more relaxed around JJ then other characters. He often increases his speed in talking and explaining obscure facts if he feels uncomfortable in social situations (different from when he talks super fast when he gets excited about a break in the case), but with JJ, he often stays on point, explaining obscure facts at an understandable rate while JJ is one of the few characters who consistently listens to these tangents without interrupting or telling him that no one is interested.
Additionally, the development of their friendship over the course of the series is pretty awesome. Both characters consistently support one another and notice when things are wrong. Combine that with AJ and Matthew’s chemistry and I can’t help but ship it. I’m pretty weak for slow burn friends to lovers tropes, and these two are pretty much the epitome of that.
I know a lot of the response from people who don’t ship Jeid after the season 14 finale has been that the writers shouldn’t bother with this storyline when they had 14 seasons before now but never pursued it. While I agree that it probably could have been more consistently built up, I disagree that jeid could have been believably pursued much earlier than season 3 (at which point AJ Cook was pregnant in real life and so they wrote in her relationship with Will). This is especially true for Reid, who changes so much over the course of the series. He gains a confidence and sense of worth that I don’t think he had at the beginning. That strength is quite literally forged in a fire (fearing a diagnosis of schizophrenia, becoming a recovering drug addict, losing Gideon, losing Maeve) and on the other side of it all he becomes the Spencer Reid of the season 14 finale. I already mentioned how I think JJ also grew and changed over the course of the series, but i don’t think either of them grew separately. At a certain point, they began to grow together, leaving us with two people who have long been in love with one another by the time we arrive at 14x15.
So I guess that’s why I ship it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(my apologies for this essay, but thank you for asking!)