Let’s talk about the Reid x JJ drama at the beginning of season 7
This might be controversial because a lot of people sided against Reid there but tbh I think he had a point. Because sorry, there was really no reason to keep Emily being alive a secret from the team.
What exactly was the purpose? To make Emily’s death more believable in case Doyle was watching them? Bullshit. It’s not like the team was publicly putting on huge displays of grief, and people grieve differently regardless. And on top of that, most of them are literally trained profilers with experience manipulating emotions and reactions around unsubs, they absolutely could’ve faked it if they needed to (tho I would be a bit worried about Penelope maybe). Like Doyle clearly wasn’t obsessively microanalysing the BAU’s grief responses anyway. Seeing Emily impaled by a massive piece of wood was quite enough + he was busy keeping a low profile while looking for his son.
And they work for the FBI, for god’s sake. They’re not strangers to dangerous classified situations. Plus Morgan and Penelope were investigating Doyle anyway (which Hotch knew about) so the team getting pulled back into the case was obviously inevitable, and keeping it secret from them might actually be a bit counterproductive.
So yeah, I think Reid had every right to be upset. Especially considering he was apparently going to JJ regularly, grieving Emily and breaking down over it. Realistically, anyone would feel hurt and a little humiliated too after finding out the friend comforting them already knew the person was alive the whole time. It’s not just lying, it’s lying in a pretty emotionally intimate situation.
And I don’t think Reid bringing up almost relapsing on dilaudid was him trying to dump responsibility for his actions onto JJ. I think he was trying to put into perspective how badly the situation affected him and what the consequences could’ve been for him. He wasn’t saying it just to hurt her, he was saying it because it was true and she (and Hotch) should know.
The whole thing was just unnecessary to me. Just an excessive amount of emotional distress to put them through for very little actual payoff.
Also, why the hell was Morgan suddenly so chill about everything, like he wasn’t the one most pressed about Emily being involved with a terrorist before?
Anyway. End of rant. Thanks.