JJ’s husband, Will, just died on Criminal Minds — but did her reunion with Reid hint at their future romance?
During the Thursday, May 22, episode of the Paramount+ show, Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) appeared at Will’s (Josh Stewart) funeral to show support to JJ (A. J. Cook) and her sons. The group shared a hug before Reid joined the rest of his former team: Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez), David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler).
The church service moved to the cemetery, which showed everyone trickling away after Will’s body was buried. The only people left at his grave were JJ and Reid, who embraced before walking away together as Bruce Springsteen‘s “If I Should Fall Behind” played in the background.
“I’ll wait for you, and should I fall behind, wait for me,” Springsteen sang as JJ held onto Reid’s arm. The emotional moment serves as a reminder of JJ and Reid’s relationship, which could be explored further in future episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution.
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Criminal Minds debuted on CBS in 2005 with JJ introduced as the communications liaison for the Behavioral Analysis Unit while Reid was an agent. Reid’s crush was known by most of the people on their team — and they even went on a date — but the pair ultimately remained friends.
Throughout the seasons, Reid’s feelings for JJ were mentioned at some points but it wasn’t until season 15 that JJ professed her love for Reid. They admitted that they were in love with each other — except JJ was married to Will by that point and Reid was the godfather to their sons.
Showrunner Erica Messer explained at the time that JJ and Reid would remain “best friends.”
“It will never be discussed the way it was discussed in [the premiere], but there will still be sort of ‘knowing looks’ and moments through the end,” Messer teased to TVLine in 2020. “[We are introducing a new love interest for Reid]. This was our version of giving Reid a shot at some kind of romance, which has always been a big sticking point with the show.”
Messer defended exploring Reid’s love life — outside of JJ.
“I think that creatively, people wanted to go down that path with him, but realistically introducing a new love interest for anyone can become difficult because you have to give it this ‘energy’ that takes away from the crime solving of the week,” she continued. “But again, it was one of those things on the wish list of, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we saw Reid meet somebody who’s worthy of him?’”
Following Will’s death, JJ will need time to process but fans have already questioned if Reid’s return — however brief — was a set-up for something bigger down the line. It remains to be seen since Gubler is focused on filming his CBS series Einstein.
Criminal Minds is currently streaming on Paramount+.
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