Criminal Minds (TV Series)

Plain Sight (2005)

Matthew Gray Gubler: Dr. Spencer Reid

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Spencer Reid : Do you think it's weird that I knew that ballad?

  Elle Greenaway : Reid, I don't know how you know half the stuff you know, but I'm glad you do.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Do you think that's why I can't get a date?

  Elle Greenaway : Have you ever asked anyone?

  [Reid shifts his eyes] 

  Elle Greenaway : That's why you can't get a date.

• Derek Morgan : I hate not having a plan. We're looking for a needle in a haystack.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Actually, it's more like we're looking for a needle in a pile of needles.

  Derek Morgan : What?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : A needle would stand out in a haystack.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : You should see what comes up when you type "death" into a search engine.

  Derek Morgan : [laughs]  Reid, no wonder you can't get a date.

• Jason Gideon : There's someone else on the plane that's a huge Skins fan.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Who?

  Jason Gideon : The only person in the world who calls you 'Spence.'

• Derek Morgan : Why the Tommy Killer?

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : You know the rock opera? Well, this unsub glues his victim's eyes wide open.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : He wants them to see him.

  Jason Gideon : And feel him.

• Jason Gideon : You havin' fun?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : [dully]  Yes. Definitely. I'm definitely having fun.

  Jason Gideon : Make a wish?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Can I take this hat off?

  Jason Gideon : I wouldn't.

  Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : Hey, Spence. First piece for the birthday boy.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : [to Gideon]  Do you know she's the only person in the whole world who calls me 'Spence.'

• Dr. Spencer Reid : [Reading poems the unsub left behind]  "My name is Death! Have you not heard of me? You may as well be..."

  [mumbles] 

  Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : Creepy, huh?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : A... Actually conversations between Death and his victims was a... a fairly popular literary and artistic theme throughout the Renaissance.

  [Seeing JJ frowning] 

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Yeah, creepy!

• Jason Gideon : The unsub brought his weapons with him. Tape, glue, wire. He did not leave them at the scene. Took them when he left. He has a kind of killing kit that he carries.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : Organized killers usually have a skilled job, likely technology related, which may involve the use of the hands. The crime scenes are far enough apart that he needs a vehicle. This will be well-kept, obsessively clean, as will be his home. He's diurnal, the attacks occurred during the day, so the vehicle may be related to his work, possibly a company car or truck.

  Derek Morgan : We believe he watches the victims for a time, learns the rhythms of the home, knows his time frame.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : You're not gonna catch him accidentally.

  Jason Gideon : He destroys symbols of wealth in the victims' homes. He harbors envy of and hatred toward people of a higher social class. He feels invisible around them.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Uh, class is the theme of the poem which he left at the various crime scenes. At one point in the poem, the woman attempts to bribe Death, but he doesn't accept it. He says this is the one moment when riches mean nothing. When Death comes, poor and the rich are exactly alike.

  Captain Griffith : So, he's poor.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : Probably middle-class. A decidedly lower-class person would stick out in a highly patrolled neighborhood. This guy appears to, uh, belong there. He blends in.

  Detective Cornelius Martin : Why does he glue the eyes open?

  Elle Greenaway : The unsub is an exploitative rapist. Most rape victims close their eyes during the attack, turn their heads. For some rapists, this ruins the fantasy. For this type of rapist, the goal is more related to the victim watching him than the act itself.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : The verses, the staging, the aggressive language, "I am death", this is a guy who, while being in control of the crime scene, almost certainly feels inadequate in the rest of his life.

  Jason Gideon : That's why he couldn't wait for you to figure out what he'd done. Why he needed to make sure all his crimes were counted. His victims, they represent whatever it is that's controlling him, and he wants that control back. He is under the thumb of a powerful woman who frightens him. And a final point: He is white.

  Captain Griffith : We have witnesses that identify him as a black male.

  Jason Gideon : The attacker was black. He is not the Tommy Killer.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : Mrs. Gordon's husband came home at the same time that he always does. The Tommy Killer would've known that.

  Elle Greenaway : And Mrs. Gordon's attacker wore a ski mask. The unsub knows when he walks into a house, he's going to kill the woman who lives there. If you're not leaving any witnesses, why wear a ski mask?

  Derek Morgan : And he wants the victims to see him anyway.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : Your attempted rapist is a garden-variety, disorganized young man.

  Elle Greenaway : As the victim's age goes up, generally the attacker's age goes down. Mrs. Gordon is about 60, which puts her rapist at about 20.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : The verses.

  Jason Gideon : Found something?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Uh, not an answer. A question. I... I found the full text; he's pretty much following it to a "T", at least the... the Death side of the conversation.

  Jason Gideon : But?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Why didn't he leave them at the first three murders? I mean, this ballad is ten verses long, just on the Death side. He's got plenty to work with. But if it's not part of his signature, if it isn't something that he has to do for an emotional reason, then, I mean, why start?

  Jason Gideon : JJ. Find out when the press ran the first story on this unsub.

  Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : When?

  Jason Gideon : After which victim.

  Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : Yeah, you got it.

  Derek Morgan : What are you thinking?

  Jason Gideon : He wasn't getting enough attention.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Police departments sometimes don't even realize they're looking at a pattern.

  Derek Morgan : Yeah, until somebody tells them.

• Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : We're going to San Diego.

  Derek Morgan : Not for the surfing, huh?

  Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : They're calling him the Tommy Killer.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : Six women raped and murdered in their homes in the last three weeks.

  Elle Greenaway : Six in three weeks?

  Jason Gideon : That's a short fuse.

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : And getting shorter. First two were eight days apart, then the next four in two weeks.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Rapid escalation. You think he's regressing to a psychopathic frenzy?

  Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner : No, he's too controlled for that. See you on the plane.