When a spree killing begins in a small Texas town, Reid's identification with the killer may endanger the girl with him, and cause Reid to put his own life in jeopardy.When a spree killing begins in a small Texas town, Reid's identification with the killer may endanger the girl with him, and cause Reid to put his own life in jeopardy.When a spree killing begins in a small Texas town, Reid's identification with the killer may endanger the girl with him, and cause Reid to put his own life in jeopardy.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt the end, Reid says "cross bridges and burn them".
Lindsey Haun starred in Burning Bridges.
- GoofsReid theorizes that Owen Savage has trouble with things like writing, geometry and sports because he has a spatial-relations handicap, which causes him to have poor hand-eye coordination, making things like filling in a bubble or catching a ball difficult. Someone with a spatial-relations handicap would have difficulty using firearms accurately; yet Owen is an expert marksman with handguns and automatic rifles.
- Quotes
Derek Morgan: You said I was a high school jock. I was, but not at first. My freshman year, I was five foot three. I weighed a buck twenty soaking wet, so trust me when I tell you I got my ass kicked every day. So the following summer, I hit the weights. And I got lucky, I grew six inches. But it was never about vanity, Reid. It was about survival.
Dr. Spencer Reid: I was in the library and, um... Harper Hillman comes up to me, and she tells me that, uh... Alexa Lisbon wants to meet me behind the field house. Alexa Lisbon's like, easily, the prettiest girl in school.
Derek Morgan: So what happened? Alexa wasn't there?
Dr. Spencer Reid: No, she was there. So was the entire football team. They... stripped me naked and tied me to a goalpost. So many kids were there, you know, just watching.
Derek Morgan: Nobody tried to stop it?
Dr. Spencer Reid: I begged... I begged them to, but they just... just watched. And... finally, they got bored and they left. It was like midnight when I finally got home. And my mom had... mom was having one of her episodes, so she didn't even realize I was late.
Derek Morgan: You never told her what happened?
Dr. Spencer Reid: I never told anybody. I thought... it was one of those things that I thought if I didn't talk about it, I'd just forget. But I remember it like it was yesterday.
Derek Morgan: [sighs] Oh, Reid, you don't need an eidetic memory for that. You know, we forget half of what they teach us in school, but when it comes to the torment and the people who inflicted it, we've all got an elephant's memory.
- ConnectionsReferences 60 Minutes (1968)
What immediately stands out is the brilliant character development of Reid. He always was one of the show's best characters, both in development and personality, and "Elephant's Memory" sees one truly relating to him here.
Being mercilessly bullied in school (still think about it every day, and people really do under-estimate how bullying badly dents confidence and damages you, leaving me with severe anxiety and self-doubt which has contributed towards health problems), for being different from the rest- in a school where anybody with layered/wavy hair, a posh Southern accent, was autistic (Aspegers Syndrome, with learning difficulties and awkward social interaction) and who performed and listened to classical music and opera was not considered normal-, the character development of Reid and his situation and feelings genuinely resonated with me.
Also loved his very touching chemistry with Morgan, Morgan's more empathetic, sympathetic and protective big brother attitude being a very welcome change from his tough guy personality. Particularly strong is a scene where Reid opens up, which must have been incredibly hard for him but took immense courage on his part, ended up admiring him even more and reminded me of my opening up of my health problems and feelings on prejudice directed towards me earlier this year.
The scene at the end with Hotch was similarly great, Hotch showing both his serious boss side but also a caring friend side. The unsub is one that one actually feels genuinely sorry for, after seeing unsubs who are irredeemably evil or frightening or in later seasons poorly developed or ones that you're meant to be sympathetic towards but their crimes are just too cruel to make that happen.
On top of that, "Elephant's Memory" is beautifully made and shot with atmosphere, style and class, while the music is a perfect fit, the script is taut, tense and poignant and the story has great suspense and is genuinely emotional. The acting is very good from all involved, with Matthew Gray Gubler being absolutely outstanding here and giving one of his best performances on the show (and he has always been a high point). Great to see Michael Ironside too, though his role is small.
All in all, wonderful, emotional and remarkably relatable episode and shows Season 3 and 'Criminal Minds' in general at its best. 10/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Aug 24, 2016
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD