No, they've never made any previous reference to him having an above-average recall of the spoken word. But it was too perfect in this episode, and it seemed apparent in his delivery that he wasn't hearing it to repeat it.

In fact, they have made the point that he remembers what he reads, not everything he hears.

it seemed apparent in his delivery that he wasn't hearing it to repeat it.

During the conversation, they cut to a reaction shot of Reid, and he's obviously concentrating, with his eyes moving back and forth like he's reading the words while they're bein spoken. A very cool way for a visually-oriented person to remember the spoken word, I thought!

not everything he hears

"What's the new tech's name?
"Gomez, I think."

It's possible, even likely, that there was a transcript made of the conversation that he read. That was my hand wave.

Last night's Ion rerun was "P911," the child-being-put-up-for-sale ep from S2. The throwaway line Reid has when he asks Elle which soap opera she was going to watch made me remember this fic, which is hilarious (and was prompted by that ep).

A Real Rain is the CM on A & E right now and it features one of my favorite team scenes from the Gideon eps. It's the extended meal in a Chinese restaurant, where we learn that Reid has no idea how to eat with chop sticks and compares it to foraging for food with #2 pencils, and he marvels that millions of Chinese people stay alive that way.

Oh and it also has Hotch smiling on the phone with Garcia.

I've just started watching CM from the start. (I've only ever seen one other ep, "Uncanny Valley".) Caught the first eight eps so far. I think my favourite ep so far is "LDSK", where Hotch gains the UnSub's trust by kicking the crap out of Reid. (And where Reid assures him it was ok, because "You kick like a nine-year-old girl.")

What is it people dislike about Gideon?

I think that he is played by Mandy Patinkin, or that could just be me.

Me, it was Gideon I found irritating, not Mandy P. Once I found out how he left the show, I was annoyed at him, but that didn't affect my perspective on the character, only the character's sudden departure.

I don't know. Maybe, it just seemed like Gideon was written as being awesome, someone that even other good profilers held their breath around, and Patinkin played him without a shred of humility. Even when he was angsting about his mistakes and people who died, he always seemed self-involved to me. Like, "This was a terrible tragedy! See how badly it's affected me?!" He was so sensitive and emotionally fragile, but at the same time came off like a total narcissist. Just found him a very unlikeable character.