Criminal Minds (TV Series)

Alchemy (2013)

Matthew Gray Gubler: Dr. Spencer Reid

Photos 

Quotes 

• David Rossi : How many small-town newspapers do you subscribe to?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Thirty-eight. It used to be more, but a lot of them disappeared.

  David Rossi : You mean gone digital.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Same thing.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : [closing, voiceover]  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil."

• David Rossi : Did I ever tell you about my Uncle Sal? He liked to fix up old cars. When my Aunt Rosie died, he bought a 1947 Buick. Well, it was a piece of junk, really, but he was obsessed with it. He'd work on it day and night, forgetting to eat, until it was a thing of beauty. Then one day, it got stolen. When the cops found it, it had been completely vandalized. Uncle Sal was devastated. Never recovered. He died about a year later.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I'm sorry about your uncle.

  David Rossi : I'm sorry about Maeve. So, how long has it been now? Four months?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Three months and 15 days.

  David Rossi : That's why you're not sleeping. This can't go on.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I realize that the socially acceptable amount of time to wallow in grief is coming to an end, and...

  David Rossi : That's not what I mean. You wallow as long as you need, but talk to someone.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I feel like there are two types of people in this world, Rossi. The ones that get over their grief and move on, and the ones that descend into some sort of endless misery.

  David Rossi : I know how you feel. Give it time.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : How much time? I thought by coming to work every day and helping other people, the pain would lessen, but it hasn't.

  David Rossi : Compartmentalization works only so long. Don't be like Uncle Sal.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : You know that I remember every single word we ever said to each other?

  David Rossi : Finally, the downside to an eidetic memory. Listen, Spencer. If you want to feel better, you can't control the process. You have to let yourself grieve.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I'm not sleeping because when I do, I dream of Maeve. And when I see her, I feel the sweetest relief imaginable. She always asks me to dance, but I can't because I don't know how to dance, and because I never even got to touch her when she was alive. I know if I give into that fantasy, I'll be lost forever, so I force myself to wake up. Is that part of normal healing?

• Waiter : May I take your order, sir?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Um, I'll have a double espresso.

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : And I'll have a non-fat latte. Fancy meeting you here.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Hi.

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : Hi. Did you know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle probably sat right here drinking his coffee about 130 years ago?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I think he probably drank tea. You know, given his comment that the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is the lion at Waterloo.

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : Spencer...

  Dr. Spencer Reid : And this is Oxford. Didn't Sir Arthur Conan Doyle go to school at the University of Edinburgh?

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : Are you gonna argue with everything I say?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : No, of course not.

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : You know, there is such a thing as too much logic.

  [music starts] 

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : Dance with me.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Why?

  Dr. Maeve Donovan : I want to hold you once before I'm a ghost of a memory.

• David Rossi : You haven't been sleeping, have you?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I can't. There's too much work to do.

• Dr. Spencer Reid : Solanine is a potent toxin and hallucinogen that comes from a black nightshade plant. The unripe berries were used in the Middle Ages for torture. The effect it has is like a bad acid trip.

  David Rossi : That's not fun. Trust me.

  [chuckles] 

  Dr. Spencer Reid : More recently it's been used in small doses for asthma.

• David Rossi : It's alchemy. Alchemy turns common metals into precious ones. Dreams work the same way. Turning something awful into... something better.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I don't know. I'd like to believe that, but...

  David Rossi : Just think about it. No. Better yet, don't think. Just let it happen, Spencer. I'm gonna get some shuteye. You should, too.

• David Rossi : Reid, you okay?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Yeah. There's no shortage of enemies to the logging industry, from climate change environmentalists to animal rights activists. Native Americans with longstanding territory disputes.

• Derek Morgan : We believe that the unsub that we're looking for is a woman who's trying to get pregnant. She's experiencing what we call black widow maternal desire. She has a desperate need for a child, which most likely stems from the recent loss of one.

  Alex Blake : That child may have died or been taken away in a custody situation.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : She's drugging her male victims in order to keep them under her control for forty-eight hours, and we believe she's using them as breeding partners to help replace the child that she lost.

  David Rossi : Her victims are surrogates for a male figure in her life. One she may have already killed. He could be a boyfriend or husband who most likely fathered the child she lost.

  Aaron Hotchner : And the signs of torture indicate that she may blame the child's father for this loss and is exacting her revenge on these victims.

  Alex Blake : After they're dead, she dismembers them for easier disposal.

  Derek Morgan : The strength required to do this, and transport body parts, it's likely that she's working with a submissive partner she dominates with her agenda.

  David Rossi : Based on the sophistication and patience required for these crimes, we believe this unsub is probably in her thirties and no older than her early forties, if pregnancy is her goal.

  Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau : And she works at night, luring victims from parties or bars. She may even have an illness, or feign one to gain their sympathy.

  Aaron Hotchner : Chad Dumont's been missing for almost thirty hours, and if the unsub keeps to her schedule, he may still be alive. But time is of the essence.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Even though the first two victims are dead, we can certainly step up our game so we can give the victims' families some answers

  Aaron Hotchner : Thank you.

• Penelope Garcia : [Presenting at the team briefing]  ... but he's not the first victim. The first victim...

  [pressing a button on the remote, nothing happens] 

  Penelope Garcia : Oh, squeeze it! It gets stuck... sometimes. Do you want me to take over?

  Dr. Spencer Reid : I got it

  [presses hard, pictures get distorted] 

  Dr. Spencer Reid : Yeah, maybe you're better

  Penelope Garcia : [Takes over the remote from Reid]  I have to memorize it, so I don't have to look at the gross!