#the unrealistic part of CM is that more people aren’t interested in Reid’s knowledge

[youbutstupid]

My favourite thing about Luke and Elle’s love for Reid’s infodumping is that they don’t love what he’s saying. They don’t necessarily find what he is saying interesting, they find the fact that knows it interesting, and this is something Reid barely gets.

Quite often when Reid shows his knowledge, he is faced with some form of negative reaction: ‘I’m sorry for asking’ ‘sorry I asked’ ‘where did you find this kid?’ ‘What kind of doctor are you?’ ‘You guessed. Is this guy actually a genius.’ This is not me hating on the characters who say these things at all, but I feel like it’s rare that the writers give us characters who love the fact that Reid just knows things.

Luke and Elle are a breath of fresh air because they (along with Hotch in 1x04) actually stop to think ‘wow, isn’t it amazing that this guy knows this stuff?’ They don’t see it as some weird or annoying personality trait of Reid’s, they genuinely smile when he talks and they compliment him and they are happy to be in his presence because of it, not in spite of it.

Reid spent his entire life being told that he was weird and nerdy and being bullied and outcasted because of it and Luke and Elle are the only characters who see this trait of his as something positive.