Criminal Minds: Why On Earth Are People Confused About Garcia's Past?

In Season 9, Episode 12 of Criminal Minds, Garcia and Hotch are in the middle of a tense phone call with an unsub threatening to kill people. Garcia tells him that she can trace the call and come from inside the building. 'You're not tracing this call,' he says.

The unsub then asks her where she came from; Garcia says she was adopted. He then asks her if she knows who her birth parents are, to which she replies no. He then gives her a clue — what does she see when she looks in the mirror? She looks directly into the camera as she says, 'A single mother.'

I'm sure it's just meant to be a momentary distraction for Garcia, but viewers were quick to notice that there was one major problem with this scene: The show never actually addressed where Penelope came from before then.

As far as we know, Garcia is entirely unrelated to the BAU — aside from occasionally flirting with Morgan and joking around with Reid, there is no reason why she would be on the show at all. However, viewers can't help but wonder how they could have possibly developed such an integral character without ever giving us some insight into her past.

The weird connection between Garcia and Morgan

Garcia and Morgan have been teased as a possible yet unlikely romantic pairing, but this Reddit thread brings up another possibility: maybe Garcia isn't who we think she is. She may have just been an agent that Morgan recruited to join the team, but they might have had a past before that.

One Reddit user makes a pretty good point — Derek Morgan can't remember who Penelope Garcia is during one of the flashbacks from earlier in Season 9.

So how could Derek Morgan have flirted with Garcia in 'The Black Queen'?

We know that Garcia is a tech-savvy genius and that she has a soft spot for Derek Morgan, so it's not entirely out of character for her to flirt with him. This scene is one of the most memorable moments in Criminal Minds history. But if Garcia's origin story and recruitment are seen differently than what was shown in 'The Black Queen,' then what other secrets are still hidden?