7 Best ‘Criminal Minds’ Episodes That Could Foreshadow a JJ & Reid Relationship (PHOTOS)

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Criminal Minds - Truth or Dare - Reid and JJ - Matthew Gray Gubler and AJ Cook
Cliff Lipson/CBS
Criminal Minds 104 Reid JJ
CBS

“Plain Sight” (Season 1, Episode 4)

Back in Season 1, Reid had a crush on JJ and everyone knew it. Gideon even tried to nudge things along, offering him football tickets for her favorite team.

Criminal Minds 215 Reid JJ
CBS

“Revelations” (Season 2, Episode 15)

JJ and Reid were the ones to go question Tobias Hankel in the episode preceding this one, “The Big Game,” and as Reid was tortured, JJ was wracked with guilt that he had been kidnapped.

Agent Jareau (A.J. Cook) shows Dr. Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) her new baby on Criminal Minds - 'Memoriam'
Richard Cartwright/ABC Studios

“Memoriam” (Season 4, Episode 7)

Even though JJ was in labor, her first thought was helping Reid as he investigated a murder from his childhood. Plus, the episode ended with Reid, not Will, by her side in the hospital room with her newborn.

Criminal Minds - AJ Cook as JJ Reid
CBS

“Proof” (Season 7, Episode 2)

This episode featured perhaps the harshest words Reid has ever spoken to JJ, as he struggled in the aftermath of learning JJ had known Prentiss (Paget Brewster) was alive.

“The only reason you were able to manage my perceptions is because I trusted you,” he told her. “I came to your house for 10 weeks in a row crying over losing a friend, and not once did you have the decency to tell me the truth.” They do say the ones closest to you have the ability to hurt you the most.

Criminal Minds - Matthew Gray Gubler
CBS

“The Forever People” (Season 10, Episode 11)

This episode featured perhaps JJ’s most serious conversation dealing with the very real issue of PTSD on the anniversary of her torture — and she had it with Reid. And in the end, he was the one to offer help in the form of background intel on her torturer, Askari.

Assistance is Futile
CBS

“Assistance is Futile” (Season 12, Episode 16)

Here we saw JJ visiting Reid in prison and learned she was the one checking on his mother. And when he worried about the other inmates looking at her, she told him, “If that’s the price I have to pay to see you, I’m okay with that.”

Criminal Minds - Truth or Dare - Reid and JJ - Matthew Gray Gubler and AJ Cook
Cliff Lipson/CBS

“Truth or Dare” (Season 14, Episode 15)

This was the episode that could very well change everything for the teammates and friends, featuring both JJ’s confession and the moment after, at Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) wedding, when she didn’t exactly take it back.

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Criminal Minds surprised fans when it ended its 14th season with JJ’s (AJ Cook) love confession, and now everyone’s waiting to see how the CBS drama’s final season will address that big moment.

In “Truth or Dare,” while being held at gunpoint and with lives on the line, JJ told Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), “I’ve always loved you. I was just too scared to say it before.” Unfortunately, things had just become too complicated for the two. (After all, she is married with children — and Reid is their godfather.)

But while the confession may have seemingly come out of nowhere, given that the last time the series truly considered JJ and Reid a potential match was way back in Season 1, there have been hints over the years since.

Click through the gallery above to see the key episodes that might have foreshadowed that finale moment.

Criminal Minds, 15th and Final Season, Coming Soon, CBS