Our cops are specifically taught a technique to get out of that scenario, and it does not involve redirecting the gun at your own stomach.

I would certainly hope so.

is that what she did? I couldn't tell WTF happened from that angle.

Yeah, she shot the guy holding her hostage through herself.

You cup the butt of the gun as you grab the barrel. You force the thing perpendicularly away from your body--jam it into the attackers hand to smash his grip, and then extend your body and pull it away from you in front of you where he can no longer reach.

Never ever let the line of fire return upon yourself.

I was watching the S5 CM dvd extras on YouTube last night. The most interesting thing I learned was that Thomas Gibson was the one who came up with having Hotch beat Foyet to death with his bare hands. For me, that was such a pivotal moment to his character, demonstrating the potential darkness that they've always hinted at beneath Hotch's buttoned-up exterior, that I was surprised the writers hadn't been itching to have him do that for years.

Speaking of pivotal character moments, I've been rewatching my S2 dvds this week, and was wondering if anyone can think of an episode from any other series in which the events from one ep were so life-changing for a major character as "Revelations" was for Reid.

So many tv shows try and keep their characters as consistent as possible with only little moments of character growth and development that I'm having problems thinking of other examples. Maybe a David Simon show (Homicide, The Wire, neither of which I've watched regularly), or possibly The West Wing (Josh getting shot comes to mind).

I remember Mark getting mugged on ER as a pretty pivotal character change (it changed him into an asshole, but it was pivotal)

Dean going to Hell changed both Sam and Dean quite a bit. Nate stopping drinking on Leverage changed his behaviour...but not so much his character. Peter on Fringe finding out about his father.

Off the top of my head.

Andy watching Sylvia get killed in front of him was a huge game changer. Actually, NYPD Blue was a show that did a lot of that for its major characters.

And honestly, as life altering as Revelations was for Reid, I think unraveling his past and confronting his father were almost bigger events for him.

I thought it was a Morgan and Reid show. (Maybe Morgan, Reid and Garcia.)

This sent me to a farcical sitcom space (a la Three's Company ). In my head they're high-larious. (And brilliant).

Good examples! It's restoring my faith in tv writers. I just get so disappointed by shows like NCIS when they regress Tony to an infantile state and refuse to let him retain whatever character growth they occasionally throw his way.

And honestly, as life altering as Revelations was for Reid, I think unraveling his past and confronting his father were almost bigger events for him.

Very true. Reid achieved an initial level of maturity after "Revelations" and the ensuing addiction recovery (compare him from early in S1 to, say, "Seven Seconds," and his growth is just huge), but that second level of growth after "Memoriam" gave him another boost. He's much more restrained now (I read a good quote online somewhere that he now has dignity, something I never would have imagined for him in Season 1), and that quiet confidence is making him even more impressive as a character.

(Speaking of Reid's dad, I love the throwaway line from a S5 ep when they're flying back home and discussing the unsub's crimes being a way to strike back at his father, and Reid pipes up with "I just keep getting more PhDs!" as his way of getting back at his own dad.)

I think one of the odd benefits of the dilaudid addiction for Reid is that it allowed him the freedom to lash out, for the first time in his life. Prior to that, I think the most emotion we'd ever seen him express was during Nathan's suicide attempt in "Sex, Birth, Death."

Post-"Revelations" however, he snapped emotionally-- lashing out at people, mostly Emily because she was the new girl and the only one who tended to confront him directly. And he found that he wasn't going to be pushed away or shunned because of his behavior. I think prior to that, because of his upbringing, because of essentially having to parent not only himself, but his mother, coupled with the burden of being a prodigy thrust into more adult situations, forced him to toe the line, emotionally. Don't make waves. Don't potentially alienate the few people who seem to like you.

I think he learned that he could disagree and even fight with people without a loss of respect or support or more importantly, love. They weren't going to leave him behind.

That's when you saw him start becoming a bit more forceful and less fearful of confrontation.

Don't make waves. Don't potentially alienate the few people who seem to like you.

His childhood also taught him not to trust others, as seen the first time we see him really yell at anyone, when he's revealed his nightmares to Morgan in "The Popular Kids." He finds out that Morgan told both Hotch and Gideon and shouts at him, "This is what happens when I trust someone, it gets thrown right back in my face!"

His abduction shows that he can trust his team to have his back (something that Elle forgot), and his addiction reinforces that fact, because he knows darn well that the team knows what he's going through (as Ethan points out in "Jones") and they never reveal his secret.

I think that this show of support gives him the strength to trust others beyond his team when he finds himself struggling again after "3rd Life" and he goes to NA. He never would have been able to do that in the immediate aftermath of "Revelations" because he hadn't learned he could trust his team, let alone complete strangers.