Penelope Garcia is a fictional character on the CBS crime dramas Criminal Minds
and its short-lived spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, portrayed by
Kirsten Vangsness. She is the technical analyst of the Behavioral Analysis Unit
that is the center of both shows. Life before the BAU
Garcia is from San Francisco. A drunk driver killed her parents in a car
accident when she was eighteen, and she now helps counsel the families of murder
victims in her spare time. Garcia has stated that after her parents died, she
dropped out of Caltech and went "underground" but continued to teach
herself computer coding. She had been placed on one of the FBI's hacker lists,
and they recruited her from there.E309 It has also been mentioned, when she was
not allowed to travel with the team to Langley, that she was on the CIA's
"lists" as well.E121 JJ joked that Garcia belonged to that list when she
tried to hack the CIA for information and information on Diana, Princess of
Wales' death and other government conspiracies.
Penelope is into online games, specifically MMOGs, as she was once seen
playing a game about Camelot on the BAU network, constantly virtually meeting
with "Sir Kneighf", an online alter ego who turns out to be Randall Garner, who
is keeping a young woman prisoner while sending the team several clues that,
with tremendous help from Reid, they use to catch him and save the woman.E122
Garner hacked into Garcia's computer and accessed files about the BAU, then used
the personal information to find out their whereabouts so he could send the
clues there. Hotch states at one point that when Garcia applied for her
position, she submitted her resume on "pink, homemade stationery."
Personality She is flamboyant, fun-loving, and
provides the rest of the team with comic relief. She is very confident in her
ability to find answers, and often answers her office phone with a
know-it-all, yet joking, attitude. This self-confidence is fed by Morgan, who
often initiates flirtatious banter, which Garcia seems to enjoy. However,
this banter has placed her in some awkward situations, such as when she
opens up a phone conversation with a funny inappropriate comment, thinking
it's Morgan, and it turns out to be a superior on speakerphone. Although they
haven't pursued a romantic relationship, Garcia has shown mild jealousy, e.g. at
Morgan dancing with other women. She has cried twice when she thought Morgan was
dead, and he has in turn had strong reactions when Garcia is in harm's way.
= Criminal Minds= Garcia is unabashedly emotional, which
sometimes makes her job with the BAU more difficult. She has broken down,
crying several times while listening to and watching terrifying things in her
office as she analyzes them for the team. However, according to Agent
Hotchner, she "fills her office with figurines and color to remind herself to
smile as the horror fills her screens." Garcia is, on the whole, an optimist.
She has managed to remain so, even though the job occasionally requires her
to dig into people's secret lives, to "find the god-awful thing that happened
to them that made them do the god-awful thing to someone else."E419 Many team
members have commented in various ways, that her optimism is an aid to them,
that they would never want her to change. He once commented to Reid and
JJ, after contacting Garcia during a case, "Remind me to have her drug
tested," indicating her optimism could even be too much at times. Garcia was
once shot by a man with whom she had just gone on a date, but survived when
the bullet missed her heart and ricocheted into her abdomen. The
attacker was later killed.E308 After this incident, Morgan insisted she keep
a gun; however, it is never shown whether she took this advice. She was
romantically involved with fellow FBI Technical Analyst Kevin Lynch.
Garcia seems to have been the one most hurt by JJ transferring out of the
Behavioral Analysis Unit, and in "Compromising Positions", Garcia opted
to replace JJ as their new Media Liaison.
She was also emotional in the episode "Lauren" when Prentiss is stabbed by her
nemesis, Ian Doyle. JJ joins the team waiting in the hospital lounge for
results to inform them that Prentiss "never made it off the table." We see
that Garcia can tell the news is not good by the look on JJ's face. In
"Hanley Waters", she is interviewed by Hotch about Prentiss' "apparent death"
and says she wants to talk about the times when Prentiss made her happy
instead of about her being gone. Garcia is extremely and emotionally
excited when she learns that Prentiss is alive and shocked when she returns.
She's also quick to forgive her, JJ, and Hotch for the deception. It is also
revealed that she has been taking care of Emily's cat, Sergio, and when Emily
inquires about him, Garcia promptly demands visitation rights.
Garcia is afraid of losing a partner, as she risked her career by taking down a
federal website to stop her boyfriend, Kevin Lynch, from being transferred out
of country for a job, though after she accidentally let a detail slip while
talking to him, he was annoyed slightly, but happy for the action on her part.
= Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior= The character of Garcia also appeared in
the spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior as a series regular.
References External links
Penelope Garcia at the Internet Movie Database