Knittzu

I just re-watched "Won't Get Fooled Again" (S1E3) and she flat-out sneers at Hotch when he tells her and Elle that he was a nerdy kid who collected coins. I'm starting to come around to the idea that she was always awful.

I definitely think so. For one thing, I don't remember any early cases involving international spies, terrorists, or airplanes being blown out of the sky with an Ipad... all stuff I find silly, uninteresting, and/or ridiculous for the BAU to be involved with. The early episodes also tended to be inspired by real life cases, which had a nice grounding effect on a show that could occasionally feel surreal. There used to be far more emphasis on profiling, getting into the unsub's head, trying to draw him out with information derived from their profile using the media, etc. Now the profile often consists of asking Garcia to find some obscure bit of information that leads them directly to the unsub's hidey-hole, where they arrive just in the nick of time. There's often large gaps of time filled with roundhouse kicks, guns firing, running around in the dark, etc. -- which again, is not stuff that the BAU needs to be involved with. Once they magically acquire the unsub's address, they should pass that info off to the local PD and a swat team should handle the actual take-downs. No matter how much the writers love the idea, I simply don't buy that super!JJ and her sidekick mega!Morgan are superior to a trained swat team. Maybe you're right and the "family" has always treated Reid badly. From my now-uncertain memories of the first seasons I recall them treating him like a kid (which he basically was) but also with respect for his abilities, kindness, and concern. I never paid much attention to JJ during the early seasons -- she was just a supporting character, albeit one who performed an important function for the team. It wasn't until the writers made her the main character that I realized how snotty, superior, and unlikable she really is.

We're only a few episodes into this season so I'm not willing to give them credit on toning down JJ's nonsense yet. We'll see. I watch each episode bracing myself for the stupid to ramp up again... but I'm hopeful that the writers got a clue at some point. And yeah, Reid was hardly there last season -- but if his scenes are mainly going to involve fact-rattling while JJ and Morgan roll their eyes at him, I'd prefer it that way. Oh, me too. Her being gone would make the show infinitely better. My dislike of her pushy/needy/whiny personality aside, no longer having her "genius" at their disposal would force the writers to resolve their plots without magic. Maybe by using... what's the word... profiling? :)

"Well, Gorgeous, you've reached the office of too frickin' bad!" That might be my all-time favorite Garcia line. If only we could have kept Original Garcia, I might have loved her forever. An oddball but competent adult who wasn't whiny or needy, and whose computer skills were grounded in reality. Why did they destroy her? *sigh* I love that exchange you posted!! God, how long has it been since we saw Reid treated with that sort of respect -- or even indirect respect? Now it's all sneering and silencing and eye-rolling jerkitude. I occasionally try to rope my husband into watching with me, but he can't stand the way Reid is treated. "What'e enjoyable about watching this pack of assholes bully the sweet geeky kid?" was his question, and I sure don't have an answer for what the writers/showunner are thinking.

LOL missmycat! I love it! Thank you so much.

I’m sure that this is a TINY minority opinion, but I’d prefer that none of them were running around with guns. Or at least not in every single episode. I’d prefer that their job be to profile the unsub, then turn the matter over to the local LE. I know this is television and people expect running/ninja kicking/guns firing all over the place, but wouldn't it be refreshing to watch them just profile every once in a while? LOL! That was a good scene. I’m going to have to watch it again. I liked Hotch in the beginning, but at this point he’s barely on the show. There was a time when he felt like a real leader — strong, certain, able to keep on top of both the cases and his manage his team, all without any speechifying or over-acting. Now, if you just watch a random episode from season six on, you’d never guess he was actually the team's leader. We’re reached the point where freaking JJ is the one who declares “it’s time to give the profile.” What annoys me about Hotch is his willingness to let Garcia break the law just about every single week with her magical hacking. Just because she can somehow dig into private things doesn’t mean she should be allowed to do so. He should have shut that nonesense down that a long time ago. Remember how angry he was at JJ’s temporary replacement for telling a lie about her background to a victim’s family? Remember that whole shaming speech he gave her about her behavior reflecting badly on the department, which had to uphold the highest standards, and so on? And yet he looks the other way every week while Garcia breaks god-only-knows how many laws. Honestly she should be in prison by now for her various shenanigans. Does the FBI have no oversight at all?

I rewatched the first couple episodes from season one and wow -- this show really has changed. Even more than I'd realized. Mainlining the entire series from start to finish is like being in a pot that's slowly starting to boil. At some point the water turns from "comfortably warm" to "hellishly hot" but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when, when you're fully immersed. As the seasons progressed I kept telling myself that it couldn't have changed as much as it seemed to, but peeking back at the start is like watching a completely different show. The most shocking thing to me (aside from how YOUNG Hotch looked ten years ago) was the original version of Garcia. She was normal! There was no baby-talk, there was no breathy-little-girl voice talking a million miles an hour, and she dressed like an adult. AND! When Morgan asks her to look up some obscure piece of info, she tells him it isn't possible and he's out of luck. Can you even imagine that happening in the past few seasons? Reid and Hotch used a have a lot of interesting, quality interactions. I miss those. And Reid used to be able to talk without people smirking, rolling their eyes, etc. How it is even possible that he's grown so much from the geeky kid we meet in S1E1, only to be treated worse by his colleagues?

Good point. For example, I read a quote in a thread here a few days ago that upset me — and then I stumbled on the original source and what the cast member actually said was completely different than what was quoted. In my experience, people only change things when they’re motivated to do so. With the kids on Tumblr/Twitter praising the Morgan/JJ/Garcia show to the heavens and their continued high ratings, I have my doubts that the CM writers are interested in minority opinions. And, if they are, I’m not really interested in stripping away my discontent in order to sanitize them. They’re adults, right? I think they can handle reading some emotional reactions to things people don’t enjoy. Honestly, 90 percent of my suggestions would boil down to one simple thing: Stop being so lazy. Stop using Garcia’s computer skillz to magically solve every case. Start keeping (or reading) bibles of previously established canon so you don’t contract yourselves with episodes like The Black Queen. Stop resolving every character’s problems within a single episode by means of a Hallmark moment at the end. Etc. This reminds me of another show I used to watch, Supernatural. Granted I stopped watching several seasons ago so I can’t talk about recent episodes, but I know that at certain points in the show’s run, the writers & showrunner got together and agreed that some story elements were simply making the cases too easy for the main characters to solve. There was a lodge filled with know-all experts that they could call upon for help — the writers decided to blow the place sky-high so they would stop relying on such easy solutions. Then they had a character called Bobby who was the show’s Garcia for many seasons, and they eventually decided that he also needed to go because they were again falling into the trap of lazy writing. Although I was pretty much done with the show by the time they took Bobby out of the equation, I still admired them for their ability to take a hard look at what they were doing and for their willingness to work harder.

Hello fellow Farscape fan! I was recently thinking about the “family” on this show compared to the one on Farscape, but I suppose that discussion would take me too far off-topic. Anyhow, you are right -- unlike JJ, Aeryn was an alien, AND she had been raised to be a soldier since birth. I had no problem at all with her unique physical abilities. JJ’s ninja skills just suddenly appeared out of absolute nowhere. I liked the actress too and holy cow, I had no idea she learned that she'd lost her job over freaking Twitter. That’s awful, not to mention completely unprofessional. But you’ve summed it up perfectly. I had no problem with her being blonde and pretty; that’s hardly unique among North American actresses. What infuriated me was that canonically, the BAU is an elite team. Hotch didn’t even think Emily was qualified at first! But a raw cadet could just waltz in and nobody (not even question-everything Morgan) had the slightest objection. That didn't just stretch my suspension of disbelief, it shattered it entirely. The scenes where she was standing up and giving parts of the profile were positively surreal. …and don’t even get my started on how they decided to show that she was really “one of the team” by bullying Reid. That "sorry I asked" scene still makes my blood boil. At this point I have read enough fan comments to know this is absolutely 100 percent BS. Most people seem to be in agreement that it was by far the worst episode of the entire series. I know I’ll never watch it again — just once was almost enough to make me stroke out over the stupidity.

Definitely. They seem to think they can just lampshade this nonsense and the audience is automatically going to be fine with it week after week after week. Well, clearly a lot of their audience IS okay with it, but for me it just makes Garcia even more annoying. If something in your writing is so ludicrous that you have to lampshade it every single week, then that's a clear sign there's problem that needs to be fixed! ...but what do I know? They're the ones making big bucks as professionals.

Oh man, I clearly remember being irritated by both of those scenes. The first because I didn't buy for a second that Reid wouldn't immediately realize that the unsub had cut the victim's hair. It's insulting to both the character and the audience to pretend that he would in order to prop up their Mary Sue. JJ stepping in and showing us that she's actually a better geographic profiler than Reid was enough to make me shut off that episode for the night. Espeically when she found a heart. A heart! Of course Mary Sue solves the case by finding A HEART. Imagine if other characters were doing that: "Before I kick down this door, let me first tell you all that this is actually really HARD. I make it look easy because I spend six hours a night at the gym! Working out! With weights! Not just anyone could do this, kids. I am very special and ultra-super-strong! Watch the way my muscles ripple!" "Yes, I read the note and analyzed the unsub's handwriting... which, by the way, I could only do because I am a GENIUS with six degrees and a mind that puts a computer to shame! I make it look simple, but that's only because I am super-supper smart! And educated! Tee-hee, aren't I cute?" Their co-workers and random bystanders would murder them all.

antikking -- Your entire post is part of the reason I watch this show with the assumption that it takes place in an alternate universe. There is NO WAY that Garcia tippity-tippity-taps onto a computer and unseals court records, slips past HIPAA, accesses databases that don't exist etc. No amount of her crowing about being a genius makes that level of access even possible, and certainly not at the same speed you or I might look up a restaurant on Google. That's what this show is supposed to be about, right? Criminal Minds, not Garcia's Magical Computer. But it's much, much easier for the writers to have every case solved by magic than it is to weave a story where the profilers use unique skills to piece together disparate clues to solve a mystery.

It's funny, because in their attempt to make her more integral to the team, they actually made her LESS so -- at least iMO. They went to so much trouble in the early seasons to tell us how important the role of Media Liaison was to the team and how excellent she was at her job. I had no trouble at at buying that she was excellent at dealing with the media, presenting cases, etc. When they promoted her to profiler, she was just another in an already over-crowded room. Worse, she doesn't even have a nominal specialty, not even something as weak as "obsessional crimes." So I guess in order to compensate for that, they had to make her the best at absolutely everything... which makes her utterly ridiculous, the biggest Mary Sue I've ever seen in any television show.

Hey amensisterfriend, I was looking at that thread earlier but didn’t post to it because I’m just not familiar enough with the episodes yet. I’ve only watched them each once, and many blur together in my mind. I’ll post a better answer there as I re-watch, but I can say for certain that I enjoyed seasons one through five far more than the later seasons, and that my favorite episodes are the ones that feature Reid. Not even necessarily the Reid-centric ones; just the ones where he interacts with various people and MGG gets a chance to demonstrate what a fantastic actor he is. An example that springs to mind is “The Uncanny Valley.” I loved watching him relate to different people on different levels while remaining completely IC. I also really enjoy all the multi-part episodes and appreciated the show’s attempt at a season-long villain in S8. Since season one I've wished for longer storylines, for the writers to slow down and take their time to develop their ideas, their characters, and the aftermath of traumatic events. Oh, same here! I also loved that she was a mature, professional adult who had her act together. I loved her scenes with Reid and that she treated him with the respect he's earned. I’m really going to miss that. I so agree. I know that Reid’s main specialty is geographic profiling and that’s been pretty consistently portrayed, but what are the other characters areas of expertise? I honestly have no idea. And at no point was the “random exposition about the case” more painfully obvious than when they had Ashley "Could the ten-year-old autistic child be the unsub?” Seaver stand up and deliver lines during the profiles. I also agree about cutting this team down. There’s too many of them, especially considering how little profiling is done these days. I never much enjoyed the Garcia/Morgan banter, either. Granted it wasn't always as insufferable as it’s been during the most recent seasons, but I never bought that adults in the FBI would behave like that. I especially hate it during episodes where we’re getting cut-scenes of an innocent victim being tortured somewhere… and then cut back to the two of them wasting precious time with their shtick or Garcia’s endless phone-greetings. When someone is suffering, the very last thing I'm going to find charming is nonsense like "Helllllloooo my wonderful darlings whom I love with all my special heart, this is Garcia the amazing genius, queen of my kingdom and master of all that I survey! Oh, ooops, did I say MASTER? Gigggle-giggle-twitter! I'm so naughty, my chocolate love-doughnut!" etc.

Thanks for the response and info, SSAHotchner. I appreciate it. I don't mind that people hate Beth! I definitely don't have anything invested in the character. It was just a big surprise to me when I started reading opinions on various boards last week. I had no doubt that Ashley would be widely hated and hoped that others would join me in my utter annoyance with JJ, but the first and most passionate rants I found were from people who hate, hate, hate Beth. I actually had to look up the character on IMDB to remember what she looked like! But that's largely a function mainlining the show in just a few months. I never had a week to sit around thinking things through -- if i didn't like an episode/character/etc, it was just straight on to the next. Cobalt, It's harder for me to let it slide because I'm married to someone with multiple degrees in computer security. And somehow, he always manages to walk into the room when Garcia is doing something utterly ridiculous on her magical computer and then I get a Reid-style lecture on how hacking doesn't work like that, NOTHING works like that, etc. Heh. But compared to JJ suddenly morphing into the invincible ninja superwoman capable of taking down bin Laden... yeah, anything is more believable!

I loved Blake, too, and thought it was crazy how little they used her. Shoving such an excellent actress aside to focus more time on JJ and Garcia seemed like a terrible decision to me. I also loved her with Reid, aside from the Aspergers comment — although I appreciated that she later apologized for that. How rare is it that a member of this “family” is rude to Reid and then apologizes?? (Not that there is anything wrong with having ASD, and it’s possible that Reid does land somewhere on the spectrum, but that’s another discussion.) I agree. I’m sympathetic to the challenges of writing a character who is smarter than the writer, but if they can’t manage it, why not hire a specialist for his lines/scenes? I’m willing to bet there’s a great number of fic writers who would do the job for free. Will he really? Good. I won’t miss him at all. I don’t know if it’s the fault of the writing or the acting, but I never warmed up to his character and deeply resent the way he’s taken over the show. And Garcia is ridiculous. The older she gets, the worse and more embarrassing her entire schtick becomes. I’ll never understand that. It’s just incomprehensible to me. I’ve never watched a series before where the main character is cast aside the way he has been. At first I was thinking that the writers were just turning the show into more of an ensemble, but the more I watched, the clearer it was that it's NOT an ensemble at all. It's just that Hotch/Rossi/Reid have been pushed aside to make more time for JJ/Morgan/Garcia. How depressing! I had no idea that showrunners put so much stock in tweets. That strikes me as a very poor way to gauge the quality of your show, but I suppose they’re the pros, huh? Just what are people tweeting about Garcia and her computer, anyhow? I'm amazed that people are impressed by that or think it's good writing -- especially in 2014, when most people should know that even a master!super!genius!hacker can't just go tippity-tippity-tap on her computer and bring up confidential, personal information about anyone on the planet.

Thank you for the insights about Erica Messer, missmycat. That clears a lot of confusion for me. I just knew that at some point there was a shift and my favorite characters faded into the background. I was suddenly watching the Morgan/JJ/Garcia show, but couldn’t pinpoint when that happened — much less why. That’s sad news, because I’m assuming Messer isn’t going anywhere, and she’s far from the first showrunner to ruin a once-beloved series for me. I noticed that Reid didn’t get a centric episode last season, which made me sad. Really, aside from “Persuasion” and “Rabid,” he was largely absent during the Season of JJ. There were many scenes where he was inexplicably missing without so much as a tossed-off line about where he might be! Just… gone. So we could watch more of the action-adventure twins, I suppose. I don’t know whether to be relieved or sad to hear that other fans of Reid want to see him get a new job and be done with this mess. Even though he’s a fictional character, I want better for him than what he has now. Old Dog — Thank you, and no fan could be newer than me! I’m not on Tumblr or Twitter (*shudder*) and didn’t think to check there to see what people are saying. I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in this. At this point, it feels like the writers/showruiner have decided that JJ, Morgan, and Garcia are the only characters the BAU really needs. We have JJ and Morgan chasing down unsubs and firing off their guns and shouting cliched lines here and there; meanwhile, every single crime lately has been solved by Garcia’s magical computer. Why bother with a genius like Reid when the computer sees all and knows all? Why bother including experienced, seasoned professional profilers when all the team needs to do in the end is kick in a door and shoot the unsub? Thanks for the info about Reid’s headaches. I was puzzled by that storyline — one minute he was absolutely debilitated with pain; the next everything was fine. It was mentioned maybe once or twice, and then *poof*, gone, the problem apparently solved by a few phone conversations with his love interest and her magical healing voice. I wondered if maybe the writers lost their notes on where they were going with that plot. I’m not crazy about the romances either. I don’t think the writers integrate them well with the larger BAU story or create believable relationships. And, frankly, with only 42 minutes per show, they don’t have enough time for them. Even skilled writers would struggle with those sorts of constraints. THANK YOU! I was going to talk about that in my original post, too, but it was already too long. Reid has a slew of degrees, twelve years of experience in the FBI, a unique skill-set and a genius IQ but he’s still stuck out in the bullpen. I know that from a story standpoint they want to have the characters grouped together as much as possible, but it still irks me that he’s never even been offered his own office. Has there ever even been a mention of other departments wanting him, possible promotions, anything? It bugs me to no end that both JJ and Morgan are seen as prime candidates for other, better jobs but Reid? Nothing. I guess he needs to start randomly shooting off his gun in the dark or kicking in doors before he’s noticed. Amensisterfriend — I was never a big fan of original-flavor JJ fan either, but the show made a huge effort to sell me on the importance of her job as media liaison you know what? I was convinced! I thought she was an absolute essential part of the team, screening potential cases, making big decisions, presenting material to the BAU and then working with the local media. Her early reactions rang true to me, like her distress over Reid’s kidnapping and being forced to shoot a dog. Now nothing effects her. Being kidnapped and tortured? Just material for yuks fellow tough-dude Morgan. Worse, it now seems that the role of media liaison never mattered at all, because no one is doing that job any more. What happened to that office overflowing with cases that needed reviews and presentations? That's a canon-breaking issue, IMO. I like her too. She actually seems to have a personality, which is a step up from JJ, and doesn’t act like a pre-teen, which is a step up from Garcia. She hasn't decided that the best way to fit in with this team is to roll her eyes at Reid or treat him like an annoying child, so she gets points there, too. Your ideal team is also mine (although I’d swap Elle for Kate or Blake.) And hell, I wouldn’t even mind JJ1.0 being around… as the media liaison, not the bionic ninja superwoman, but that ship has sailed and there’s clearly no going back.

HI all! I started watching this show when it began steaming on Netflix, and watched all nine seasons over the summer/fall — so, my experience with this show is very different from those of you who watched it week by week, year after year. I was careful not to read anything about the show while watching so I’m probably not the best judge of what is or isn’t an unpopular opinion. And I have to admit, some of things I’ve read in the past week (once I finished S9) have really surprised me. While watching, I assumed that Hotch and Rossi were the main characters and Reid the most popular. But as the seasons progressed and Hotch/Rossi/Reid all but vanished into the background, it became clear that the writers’ favorites are JJ, Morgan, and Garcia — which is utterly puzzling to me. I can only assume it’s because I’ve done a critical misread and they are actually the fandom’s favorites? Having so completely missed the fandom’s hierarchy of preferred characters, the rest of my Unpopular Opinions might be similarly way, way off. But regardless, here goes! 1) Beth. I was kind of shocked by how much people seem to hate her. I think she’s had maybe 15 minutes of screen time? I don't think I could pick her out of a lineup if my life depended on it. I see people saying things like “Hotch would NEVER choose someone like her,” which frankly puzzles me. How could we know what Hotch would or wouldn’t do? He’s barely on this show anymore. I don’t feel like I know him any better now that I did in S1, which makes me sad because the actor is fantastic and I feel like there’s a lot of unexplored depth to Hotch. I have no idea why he’s been pushed to the background in favor of Morgan/JJ/Garcia. 2) I don’t enjoy the episodes where the writers are twisting themselves into knots trying to make the unsub sympathetic. It rarely works with me anyhow, because as soon as he or she starts killing, I don’t give half a shit about their Tragic Past. I’m really not interested in the unsub — I watch this show for the team and wish the writers would have devoted more time and care to writing their main characters consistently and following through on the aftermaths of their various traumas. 3) I liked Gideon a lot, but wasn't the least surprised by the stunt MP pulled. That’s classic MP. When you start watching a show he’s in, you know there’s a damn good chance he’s going to bail. I WAS surprised by him returning many years later to badmouth the show and accuse it of being misogynistic, violent, etc. That’s utterly laughable to me considering his role on Homeland — a show that’s not only violent and misogynistic, but also deeply racist. I think he’s just bitter about the fact that CM didn’t fall into ruins once he departed. He's very talented, but his enormous ego is a huge turn-off to me. 4) I don’t buy Morgan as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I don’t know if it’s the writing, or the acting, or maybe the fact that I’ve never warmed up to Morgan as a character, but his backstory never rang true to me. I don’t enjoy the Morgan-centric episodes at all. 5) As a long-time fic writer, I’m endlessly amazed by the JJ creation. If she were written by some random unpaid fic writer, said writer would be mocked and ridiculed for creating the ultimate Mary Sue. She’s flawlessly beautiful! Her skills are desired by every level of the FBI and beyond!! She was selected to personally take down Bin Laden! She comes with the standard-issue tragic Mary Sue background, but she’s risen above it to be the most awesome profiler, who has the best shot, and can take down bad guys single-handedly after hours of torture. She's just.that.good. Mind, I’m not looking for a fight with JJ’s fans. If people love her character, I’m happy for them. For me, she’s a show-ruiner. I’ve disliked JJ 2.0 so much that I can barely stand to watch any scene with her in it — but at the same time, I have to admit a certain level of fascination with this train-wreck. As I said, if it were an unpaid fic writer shoving this sort of character at their audience, they’d be met with universal derision. Why is it okay coming from highly paid professionals? 6) I don’t know anything about any of the actors and don’t want to. I learned my lesson with other shows with characters that I’ve adored… and then found that the actors are arrogant jerks, snobs, racists, etc. All the actors on CM might \be amazing people, but I’d rather only know them as the characters they play. I don’t even like seeing OOC photos of them. 7) The kids. I know, they’re just kids, but they are also both terrible actors. I don’t find it even remotely adorable that AJ’s kid plays JJ’s son — to me, it’s just another sickeningly ingredient in her Mary-Sue soup. 8) I’m so, so tired of the “sexy” Garcia/Morgan talk and especially hate him calling her “baby girl” but for some reason, Morgan calling Reid “pretty boy” doesn't bother me at all. Maybe because Reid often seems so alone and it’s nice when we get a rare glimpse of a “family member” showing him a touch of warmth. 9) I don’t think this show is remotely realistic. In fact, while watching seasons 1-9, I decided it was all taking place in an alternative universe. In real life, most murders are the culmination of domestic violence or drug/gang related. Yes, there are serial killers out there, but they aren't caught easily and often remain at large for years if not decades because they target society's least-valued and most vulnerable members. The idea that there are dozens and dozens of interesting, creative killers wandering around this country is strictly AU material for me… so I’ve been surprised to read here, there, and everywhere that many fans find this show “realistic.” And don’t even get me started on the fact that so many unsubs turn out to be female (when in real life, female spree/serial killers are incredibly rare.) 10) This is probably the most unpopular of my opinions, but: I want my favorite character, Reid, to get a new job. Of course that would mean Reid leaving the show (and me no longer watching it) but still. I hate what this job has done to him, how many losses he’s endured and with so little support. A job where you are regularly shot, tortured, poisoned, and lose the people you love is a shitty job, and the “family” of this team doesn't even come close to making up for his various heartbreaks. Also, what sort of “family” thinks it’s okay to mock, lie to, and roll their eyes at their most vulnerable member? I want Reid to have a job where he is valued and respected. I want him in a place where his life isn’t in danger and he isn’t constantly losing the people he loves. I don’t think the BAU is a good place for him — mentally, physically, or emotionally. I think he deserves better. (For the matter, I think they ALL deserve better. Except JJ. Super!Ninja!JJ can stay right where she is, because clearly she’s a cyborg who was specifically programmed for this gig.) 11) I’ve grown to absolutely hate Garcia’s computer “skills.” Maybe a decade ago I could have bought that some “computer genius” could go tippity-tippity-tap on a keyboard and uncover all sorts of obscure, confidential information about random citizens, but in 2014 it seems absolutely absurd. Couple the silliness of her skill set with her 40-going-on-fourteen personality and I can barely stand to watch her scenes anymore. 12) While I thought the earlier seasons/episodes were better in terms of character consistency, I found them incredibly predictable. I could usually pick out the unsub ten minutes into the show. Plus, I don’t care about the unsub. I’d rather watch the team dynamics and get to know our main characters. The less unsub, the better. I feel like the writers of this show have wasted so much potential, especially with Reid and Hotch.

That's a good explanation, normasm. Maybe on re-watch I will see it differently, but on my first viewing it stuck me as surprisingly, uncharacteristically cold -- especially from Morgan, talking to his precious baby-girl. From my point of view, it seemed like she was seriously unraveling, and at the very least he should have given her the number for the FBI's mental health line (they have one, don't they? God knows they need one). It felt like a sudden and jarring character shift for him (although I suppose I should be used to those by now.) Thanks for the welcome! I just finished watching the entire series on Netflix, so my experience of the show is admittedly very different from that of long-time fans.

That was just WAY too much Garcia for me, and my least favorite incarnation of the character -- childish, overwrought, and needy Garcia, who visits a prison wearing a dress my six-year-old would call babyish. Oh noes, a killer is being put to death for his crimes!! How can Garcia bear such a thing? Except that the BAU itself executes criminals on the regular. Has there been any weeping hysteria from her over those cases? You'd think someone so strongly opposed to the death penalty would have objections to being part of a team with the impressive body count the BAU has accumulated over the years. Sure, most of those executions were justified in that it was either kill the unsub or be murdered... but that was the exact choice she made with Reid's would-be killer. I fully agree. For the first time in a long time, watching scenes with the technical analyst felt comfortable to me because I wasn't bracing myself for the next round of Garcia’s tired shtick. Or maybe I’m the one that’s tired. After watching all nine previous seasons, I have serious Garcia-fatigue. I really wouldn't mind an extended break from her while she gets some much-needed therapy, especially with Kevin willing to step in at a moment’s notice. That said, I was irked by Morgan's treatment of her. I might not be crazy about Garcia myself, but damn... he's supposed to be her loving and devoted friend. I don't have a problem with him telling her that she was wrong, but what sort of person talks to their distressed, emotionally unstable friend so harshly and then ignores all of her distraught phone calls? I enjoyed Reid's scenes and was happy to see more of him this week, but that scene with him figuring out the mouth-markings was silly. Really, he looks at ONE victim, sees three slashes, and immediately realizes that they're roman numerals? Even for Reid, that's quite a stretch. Couldn't they have had him look at both victims before making that leap? Hell, even having him see a roman numeral five would have made more sense. Three vertical lines could indicate any number of things, and if I were Reid I could probably rattle off a dozen of them.

At this point I will happily take the JLH Show over the JJ&Morgan Action Adventure we were served for most of last season -- well, assuming that the JLH Show includes Reid and is about profiling, not the action adventure twins running around in the dark, shooting wildly at stuff, and/or being deployed to the middle east.

Sadly, I think last night WAS Ryan Murphy's version of subtle. I swore I wasn't going to watch this again after the mess that was last season, but at the least minute I decided to give it another try. There's just too many good actors in it to pass without giving it at least a few weeks. If nothing else, I doubt this season could be as deathly boring as last season was. It's good to see Evan Peters having a real character again.

1) I want Larry gone. I can't stand the character or the actor. The story has moved past Piper/Larry and I resent him taking screen time from characters who actually matter. 2) More Piper/Alex. That's what I signed up to watch, so. 3) Please, no more season-long Vee-style villains. I didn't enjoy that story nearly enough to justify all the time it sucked up or all the damage it did to characters I loved. 4) I wouldn't mind the end of Daya/Bennet, either. I'm nearly as creeped out by them as I was with the student/teacher in Pretty Little Liars. 5) I missed the humor of season one and would like more of that, please. I thought this season got too dark and not in especially interesting ways. 6) More Poussey. She was the bright spot in a lot of "eh" episodes this season. 7) A storyline for Sophia, please. It seemed like she was hardly there in season two.

I got that, but I didn't like that her humiliation had a sexual component. Would a male version of Fig be humiliated in that specific manner? I really, really doubt it.

I don't think adoptions can be completed without involving social services, and an inmate requesting that her baby be adopted by a male prison guard in direct control of her life would sure as hell trigger an investigation. At least I sure hope it would, because that's about as sketchy as you can get. The guards keep the originals on file, the prisoners get copies that are often edited of anything the guards think is suspicious, coded, etc. Probably because there wasn't a human underneath. Some people are just bad all the way though and there isn't some sad story in their background to explain it away. I didn't much enjoy the Vee story (especially considering what it did to the characters of Taystee and Crazy Eyes) but I like that they included at least one through-and-through sociopath in their prison. Me, too. It seemed like the audience was supposed to cheer that or consider it a just part of her punishment. Otherwise, what was the point of it?