‘Criminal Minds’ season 12, episode 14 review: Did Spencer take a deal and go to jail?

When we last saw Spencer Reid on “Criminal Minds” he was back in the United States after being charged with a murder he didn’t commit in Mexico (he can thank Mr. Scratch for that), but we’ve learned that he’s not out of the woods yet. The team wants to help him have the best defense possible for his trial, but because was sneaking around to Mexico without the bureau knowing he is ineligible for bureau legal assistance and is on his own. Luckily the team isn’t going to hang him out to dry and they are going to keep digging to find ways to get him him cleared of all charges. Spencer always said he would go to the depths of hell to help his mom and now that’s being put to the test as he sits in a jail cell waiting to face trial.

While our poor sweet Spencer is in jail, the team is trying to get their ducks in a row to give him back his freedom. They may not be able to pin this murder on Mr. Scratch (even though he’s totally culpable), they are hoping to at least prove that Spencer isn’t responsible. First and foremost they are focusing on getting Spencer bail and Rossi has said no matter how high bail is, he will pay it – if it helps we will throw a couple of bucks in too not to see him behind bars anymore.

So how is Spencer holding up? While the rest of the team is working on a new case, Prentiss is putting all her time into Spencer and freeing him – which is exactly what he needs because he seems to be losing hope. She reassures him that his mother is fine and that even though the FBI has abandoned him, she wants to reach out to her lawyer friend (Fiona) to represent him. Even though he’s worried it will ruin Prentiss’ reputation to help him, he agrees.

After speaking to Fiona, she agrees to meet with Spencer, but warns her that the evidence against him is compelling. Fiona meets with Spencer and he tells her everything that he can remember about what happened, but he’s still foggy on a lot of the details. She pushes him for details and after this exchange we can see just how much of a hardass she is. We are happy that he has someone like this in his corner, because if anyone’s going to be able to get Spencer out of this mess, we believe it’s going to be Fiona. She tells him that while there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence against him, the one good thing they have going for them is that there is no murder weapon.

Fiona is able to get Spencer a deal, but he will have to plead guilty, will be charged with involuntary manslaughter and will get 2 to 5 years. He doesn’t know what to do, but feels weird about pleading guilty to something he knows he didn’t do. He doesn’t think about it for long before saying that he wants to battle it out in court, thinking that since the deal is so good the other side might not have the case that they think they have and want to bury this quickly.

Unfortunately for Spencer, they have found the murder weapon and it has his blood and finger prints on it. Not only that, but the blade of the murder weapon is consistent with the cut on his hand. The deal from before is gone and the new deal is 5 to 10 years, but he’s hesitant to take that offer either. He knows that if he goes to jail when he comes out he won’t be able to be an FBI agent again. So did Spencer take the deal? He pleaded not guilty, and was denied bail… meaning that he could be in jail as long as 3 months before his case is even heard.

While we did still had a case of the week, we were happy to see that Spencer’s story wasn’t left to the wind. More so, we really liked seeing Prentiss being the person that is putting her all into freeing him. Mr. Scratch has really put our team through the ringer, but for us, we are having the hardest time watching him destroy Spencer. He has so much going on in his life right now with his mother that it’s extra cruel of Scratch to target him right now when his mother is getting worse. Locking Spencer in jail, away from his mother is the worst part of this whole situation. Episode grade: A-

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