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Theodore "Ted" Bryar is a major antagonist in the crime-drama TV series Criminal Minds. He is a schizophrenic hijacker and the main antagonist of the Season 1 episode "Derailed".
He was portrayed by Chris Bauer, who also portrayed Machine in 8mm, Tom Cole in Law & Order: Special Victims, and Lloyd Gettys in The Devil's Advocate, while his imaginary alter ego Leo is portrayed by Jeff Kober, who also portrayed Joe in The Walking Dead and Eugene Hoff in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and provided the voice for Casanova in earlier airings of Kiss the Girls.
Biography[]
A lifelong sufferer of schizophrenia, Ted heard voices, which manifested as a guy named Leo. Little is known about his early life, but he became a physicist and worked for the government. In 1996, his schizophrenia worsened and the voices in his head convinced him that the government had put a microchip in his arm, even hearing the hums of the chip. He tried many times to dig it out, scarring his arm, but could never get rid of it. For this, he was institutionalized and treated by a psychiatrist named Linda Deaton.
Derailed[]
In the present, Dr. Deaton decided to take Ted to speak at a conference in Dallas, Texas, to show the progress she's made at treating him. While on the train, Ted's delusions start to hit a breaking point after seeing FBI Agent Elle Greenaway holding a bunch of folders. His inner voice, Leo, convinces Ted that the conference is a ploy by the government to take him away. Believing everyone on the train is an agent, Ted steals the gun from a security guard and shoots him. He holds everyone hostage demanding to speak to the Higher Authority. The rest of Elle's team try to reason with him, but can't get passed his paranoia. When a phone is put in the train so Ted can communicate, Ted demands that they remove the chip in his arm.
Realizing his delusion, the FBI send Agent Spencer Reid to trick Ted into believing he removed the chip. Using sleight of hand with a cell phone chip, Reid manages to make Ted think he removed it, but Ted asks him to turn the chip on. In a tough spot, Reid and Elle come up with a lie that the chip needs to be implanted to turn on. Due to not being sure, Ted holds Reid hostage as well. Knowing what it's like to deal with a paranoid schizophrenic, Reid distracts him through a long speech about the M-Theory, something that Ted specialized in. While he is distracted, Elle manages to escape her cuffs and kicks Ted, where another passenger pulls out a gun and shoots him, incapacitating him. As he is wheeled off to the hospital, Ted repeatedly apologizes for what he's done and is likely institutionalized again.
Trivia[]
- Ted is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Ralph Tortorici, a college student diagnosed with schizophrenia who feared the government was experimenting on him, took hostages at SUNY where he took classes, and shot a student to near-death before other students disarmed him until police arrived. Tortorici was institutionalized and hanged himself when in his 30s.
- Ted also resembles Dr. John Nash, the protagonist of the biographical film A Beautiful Mind, a Nobel-prize winning celebrated scientist institutionalized and treated for his own paranoid schizophrenia.
External Links[]
- Ted Bryar on the Criminal Minds Wiki
