The Most Unrealistic Thing In Criminal Minds According To Fans
Despite their genuine efforts to present grounded, realistic stories, television series often dip a toe or two into the unrealistic. Such missteps are especially prevalent in long-running series, which often need to ignore reality in order to make compelling TV season after season. For instance, the many hookups, affairs, and marriages on "Grey's Anatomy" — which prides itself on its medical realism — would certainly trigger a massive human resources crisis. In "The X-Files," Mulder and Scully's repeated and extensive hospital bills would surely raise flags within the FBI. On "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Det. Elliot Stabler's frequent use of excessive force would likely result in a desk assignment, or termination.
Recently, a Redditor took to the platform to call attention to a very unrealistic occurrence that happens in nearly every episode of "Criminal Minds." While the repeated oddity doesn't have a negative impact on the show's storylines, it does cause a few chuckles, especially among viewers who struggle with spelling.
Penelope Garcia is a super sleuth with a special skill
While most members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the heart of the long-running series are profilers and field agents, Kirsten Vangsness' Penelope "Baby Girl" Garcia serves as the team's tech guru. With the bank of computers atop her toy-decorated desk, Garcia sleuths and hacks her way through the Internet, finding the smallest details that could potentially break a case wide open. The speed with which Gacia unearths long-buried information makes her an invaluable member of the team. But, as the Redditor points out, Garcia's most impressive, and most unrealistic, talent is her spelling skills.
In nearly every episode, a member of the BAU will call Garcia to ask for information about various individuals. Remarkably, no matter how challenging the name, Garcia always seems to know the exact spelling. The Redditor joked that Garcia could get a call asking for info on "Kaileigh Yuimahaeoloysia," and within seconds she'd be rattling off date of birth, last known address, and current occupation.
Garcia should enter an adult spelling bee
Some of the replies in the Reddit thread suggest that Garcia may be doing partial searches when she types in a name. However, a few keen-eyed viewers cited examples in which Garcia didn't perform partial searches. They also noted instances when she randomly, but accurately, used a rare spelling without prompting, like Lauryn versus Lauren. Another commenter suggested Garcia was searching for "all known spellings." While that would explain a Lauren/Lauryn situation, the theory doesn't hold water when it comes to the rarer, more complex names found in America's diverse culture. Other commenters stated that Garcia's superior spelling skills were more realistic than her frequent hacking of government agencies (also known as a felony).
Of course, the most logical explanation for Garcia's uncanny ability has little to do with the character and more to do with the episodes' time constraints. If the script had Garcia asking for the spelling of every name thrown her away, "Criminal Minds" would have been a spelling drama instead of a crime procedural.