Matthew Gray Gubler steps behind the camera on the latest episode of CBS' Criminal Minds.
For the series star, who plays Dr. Reid on the long-running procedural, each opportunity he gets to direct his co-stars has been memorable -- for their own distinct reasons.
"Each one has been its own gem to me, but this one stands out a little bit in the sense that we got a tiny bit more liberty to be strange," Gubler told The Hollywood Reporter. "The ones I've done prior have been somewhat unique to our show and they've been well-received so the network allowed us to go further on the odd limb."
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For the actor, who likened directing television to "guerilla filmmaking," "every moment of every single scene" was held to its utmost importance. "I have a weird obsessive, compulsive -- some might say disorder, others might say superpower," Gubler said, half-jokingly.
There was one big moment from Wednesday's episode Gubler circled. "The one that I knew was going to be the most memorable moment is a very unique dance of sorts which I could not be more happy how it turned out. It's unlike anything you've probably ever seen on TV. There's a good two-minute lullaby dance scene which hopefully will be something people never forget," he recalled.
For the scene, Gubler and the producers used a song that plays an integral part in the dance sequence. "We got the rights to a lullaby version of a Pixies track played on the glockenspiel," he revealed. "It's the moment you realize exactly what this unsub is doing and it's quite a special moment. It's as beautiful as it is horrifying."
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The episode, titled "The Lesson," finds Reid -- who's fallen in love with a "brilliant kineticist he's never met and with whom he has a pen-pal love affair" -- at a crossroads. The mysterious woman, in hiding from a dangerous man, "is finally expressing the desire to meet in person, which terrifies Reid since he's not the most confident of people."
Though Reid and his mystery gal won't meet until episode 12, how they come face to face will be atypical, to say the least.
"When they do finally meet, it's under a very, very, very unique circumstance," Gubler said with a laugh. "I dare say no human being has ever met under this [circumstance]." He was coy but revealed that the setting and "everything about it" is out of the norm.
Criminal Minds airs 9 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS.
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