I’ve seen a lot of hate towards JJ in the criminal minds tag. So let me start my discourse with you are right. Her marriage to Will has been a gorgeous gift over the years. I’m not gonna argue with the fact that that’s true.
What’s not true is this shouldnt diminish anything. It doesnt diminish her friendship with Reid. It doesnt diminish what her relationship has grown into.
Love is complicated. Especially when you spend the time together that they do. Go through the shit they go through. It was a high tension moment. Something she wouldn’t have otherwise admitted. But a truth. You can love someone. I mean love them, always keep them on your radar, want to be as close to them as possible even if there are other things holding you back. And you can do that while you love someone else without that diminishing your love for either of them.
The actors, the writers this isnt something they threw from left field. This is something that they realized was sitting in the background and if they played it right it could be good. It could build JJ and Reid stronger.
I feel for JJ. She is living my actual fear. Reid wasnt ready for her to confess in season 1 and she saw that. She had no way to know how he would grow. So she took a chance on Will and shes been with him ever since. She loves him. But she still loves Reid. Doomed to know there is no way for her to Express that without ruining what she has and what she has built. That’s a hard role to live in.
She was asked point blank to say something she’d never say, not even to Reid. And she delivered. Because there is nothing in JJs life that Reid doesnt know other than that.
This isnt some stain upon Criminal Minds. This is just another layer to show they understand how complex people and love truly can be
“I want to go to the mountains, I want to go to the sea, I want to go to a place where no one knows me, I want to be lost among people who speak a language I don’t understand at all.”
— Takuboku Ishikawa, from “Romaji Diary & Sad Toys,” published c. 1985