#ldsk

[aurora-sadprose]

LDSK is such an insane ep for spencer, from derek leashing and blowing him to whatever homosexual thing hotchreid got going on. big day for spencer reid

[luthqrs]

"You should know, the FBI considers these shootings an act of terrorism. Under the Patriot Act, we can detain you as long as we need to." JENNIFER JAREAU in CRIMINAL MINDS 1x06 | 'L.D.S.K'

[frankiebirds]

I'm surprised by the amount of people who think Reid is being serious here:

given the expressions immediately after:

where reid very clearly smiles and looks to see hotch's reaction (because he has daddy issues). and hotch almost looks like he's trying not to smile. or that he thinks the joke is bad. hard to tell

also, dowd says it himself:

you could maybe argue that reid didn't hear him say that because at the time he was laying in the hallway after getting hit in the head with the gun, but that doesn't really matter. it's not like this is a revelation.

also:

I doubt Hotch would have Reid hang on to his gun if he genuinely thought Reid had shot a man in the head while aiming for his leg, especially because aiming for his leg would have been a terrible idea in the first place.

[neve-gallus-girl-detective]

when the drugs hit

[loveu2themoonandtosaturn]

“i was a 12-year-old child prodigy in a las vegas public high school. you kick like a 9-year-old girl”

- dr. spencer reid, full-time fbi agent for the behavioral analysis unit, part-time comedian, speaking to his supervisor, ssa aaron hotchner

[criminaldoenjangjjigae]

Elle Greenaway as in s01e06 "L.D.S.K"

[cmdeepdive]

[youbutstupid]

Spencer Reid, of course, suffered a lot of blows to his mental health throughout the show, and a lot of people take this to mean that he put himself in harms way because he was depressed. Whilst I think this can be true to an extent, I think it’s more complicated than that.

The best way to look at how Reid views his own safety and his own determination to keep living his by looking at his body language when he is put in danger.

Above is a photo from the first time we see Reid’s life put in danger which is 1x06. In this scene Reid is timid, he scrambles to put his hands up before kneeling on the floor as he is told to do. He only lifts his head to look at Hotch or when the unsub is directly addressing him and he avoids eye contact when he can. He stays looking at the floor in the hopes that he will get out of this alive.

Then above we have 2x15, Revelations. Here, whilst Reid puts up more of a verbal fight, he is of course still begging for his life. He is begging for Tobias to front again and to not be given the drugs, he is crying which are all standard reactions to being in his situation.

Then we will fast forward to 4x03, when Prentiss and Reid are held hostage together. At this point, Reid has already been through a lot, but his self preservation is still very much there. He has more confidence now because he knows best how to navigate and manipulate these situations, but there are still moments where he shows timidness towards his captor because he is unsure what he will do next. He stumbles over his words at times and is hesitant.

This is a big time jump but to me it shows the most contrast and that is; Reid’s prison era in season 12! At the beginning he is weary and he begs for help where he can, but this is where he truly breaks and we see that in this photo. Here, he is no longer submissive to the people endangering him and in this photo he has just stabbed himself in order to get his biggest threat taken away. He is looking up with a smile on his face, he is no longer cowering or reacting to the pain, this man just stabbed himself and all he can do is look in the eyes of his biggest threat and grin.

Then we have 14x01. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t necessarily want to die, but he knows what the two outcomes are by now; die or be saved, and he has been through it enough to accept both. His head is high, he is looking at his captors with no fear, just contempt that this is happening yet again. He’s not scared anymore, he’s not wanting to die either, he’s just tired.