There is no Criminal Minds without Reid, Garcia, and Morgan. Like, the other members are extremely important, and I love them. JJ has my whole heart, Elle was peak, and she got even better in her final episodes, absolutely love Prentiss, Hotch is great, his departure definitely impacted the show heavily, anyone who's seen my last few posts knows I'm a proud Gideon stan, Rossi is hilarious, I love all of them.
But Reid, Garcia, and Morgan are truly, in my eyes, the heart of the show. They are such emotionally compelling characters, with such fun energy, and unique roles on the team.
Reid is a genius, but he was also the youngest and most naive of the team at the start of the series, as well as the most empathetic. He's an amazing asset with his eidetic memory, and his extensive knowledge on the symbolism, and literature that resonates with unsubs enough for them to incorporate them into their murders. His passionate info-dumping is so enjoyable to watch, and the best thing about him is that he may be socially awkward, and introverted, and very autistic coded, he still has such a deep understanding towards unsubs with tragic backgrounds. He grew up taking care of his paranoid schizophrenic mom. His dad walked out on them, he was bullied in his adolescence, these cases feel personal for him, and while he doesn't try to save them from appropriate consequence, he sees humanity in them, and reaches out to offer help when he can, even towards the man who tortured him. Tobias beat him, drugged him to the point of killing him before he resuscitated him, forced him to pick one out of a batch of people to die, else they would all die, then was forced to dig his own grave. Even then, he still wanted to help Tobias. He didn't just see a murderer, he saw the kid who was physically and emotionally abused by his religious fanatic father, who turned to drugs to cope with the trauma, and is haunted by his dad after his death. Reid is not just "quirky", he's such a complex character, played so uniquely by Matthew Gray Gubler, i don't think anyone can fill his role, and bring the same vulnerability to an otherwise dorky and eccentric goober.
Garcia is MY FUCKING QUEEN BRO. She's such an amazing take on the "guy in the chair" character. She's colorful, she's silly, she wears her heart on her sleeve, and she's such a great contrast to the work that she does. She has to see absolutely horrific shit everyday, and while the others see it firsthand, she has to sit in this dark, isolated room, dig around the darkest depths of the Internet, watch footage of horrible things being done to people, and she still holds this team together in a way no one else does. Her wit, her sense of humor, and God, I love me a woman who plays nerdy ass mmo RPGs and thirsts over poorly animated 3D knights (The Fisher King arc). In The Fisher King, she's partially the reason for them getting hacked, and her burning regret through the episode is so heartbreaking, cause she so clearly felt like an idiot for playing that game through their room. Yes, it was stupid (even though in my eyes personally, Garcia can never do anything wrong ever) , but to see her so messed up about it through the rest of the arc, skipping the banter with Morgan, freaking out about Elle getting shot, and the praise from Gideon visually taking weight off her shoulders, AEUGHH. WHEN GARCIA IS SAD, I'M SAD TOO. If Criminal Minds isn't the same without Reid, then a Criminal Minds without Garcia is fucking decimated. She's the emotional core of this team. While other characters who fill her role can be snarky, and eccentric, none of them can ever live up to Garcia. She's so openly loving and affectionate, she brings so much optimism despite how horrible it is to work in this field, she's never afraid to show how she really feels, and I love everything about her.
now TRIGGER WARNING, MASSIVE ONE FOR CSA
Morgan leaving Criminal Minds genuinely fucking sucks. I know why he left, he was going to be a leading character in S.W.A.T, but past that episode, I refuse to watch, unless it's an episode where he shows up again. He's probably the most charismatic character on this show, and insanely attractive at that. Not just attractive in the "oh he's so fine" kinda way, but in his mannerisms, how he treats his team, how openly protective he is of the people he loves, and most of all, how he grew from his past. His childhood was absolutely horrible. He grew up in Chicago, living in poverty, and acted out after the death of his father. The only way he was able to get out was through the neighborhood youth center, where he was groomed and sexually abused by its sponsor, who continued his behavior with other young boys after Morgan left to pursue his career. The episode in which we see the neighborhood he grew up in, and meet the struggling kids who are the prime targets for a murderer who's been around since Morgan's childhood, and his confrontation with both a kid who saw him as a borderline legend, and the youth center sponsor who abused the both of them, is soul crushing. The thing I want to elaborate on though is his confrontation with the kid. He's a teenager, and he sees this sponsor as the only way to get out of this neighborhood, and actually have a future, after all, he's the one who cleared Morgan's record so he could join the FBI. Before Morgan confronts the perpetrator, knowing fully that he was their murderer, he goes out of his way to find this kid first, and give him the hope that he needs, and an understanding that no one else showed him. Morgan is such a strong character, and seeing him in tears by the end, standing face to face with this disgusting person who hurt him so badly as a child, and denying him any credit he claimed for how successful he is now was like seeing your older brother cry for the first time. He's someone so reliable, and playful, and so damn charming, but there's a lot more beneath the surface. I love the way he plays off of other characters too, like his dynamic with Garcia being so flirtatious while also purely platonic hilarious. They match each other's freak so hard. He treats Reid like a younger brother, and refers to him as such in his last episode. It's stated by Hotch that there are very few people in the world he trusts, and you can tell that his team are part of those people, he means so much to me, chat.
Again, this isn't to say that the other characters aren't important, but these three have the most unique storylines and roles on this team, that taking them out of the story takes out the majority of its best aspects. Genuinely I will not watch the show when I get to Morgan's last episode, that is the end of the series for me. The rest are bonus episodes
dailybridgerton
theartofmadeline
amandla
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
gummygunk
