Ganya

I love all this info. Just to add a bit of snark, Reid's screentime should be broken out into silent, model-y posing and then everything else. That is a category that takes up more and more of his time, leaving even less time for contributions to the story. Yeah, I enjoy that and appreciate the GIF wizards in the fandom, but it has to be said that it seems to be the main way the show values him these days. We always get beautifully styled, posed and dressed Reid, even when his big insight is to fondle the unsub's foot as Prince Charming. I also am noticing that he often asks dumb questions now as a set up for others to have the insight, and I agree that we cannot get into attempts to measure that. I will take some consolation, however, if Matthew continues to get support for his maturing and outstanding talents as a director. Mr Scratch was a breakthrough, I hope. Maybe it is all good with him as long as he can continue to develop artistically as director on CM dime.

I objected to the Grand Canyon scene for another big reason. Many fans love the Diana/Reid episodes and Messer has been trying to placate us by saying that she waas trying to get Lynch, over and over. Maybe she was just too embarrassed to say that Jane Lynch had grown into quite a big star since the early days of CM and just didn't want to do it again. My take on the canyon scene is that Messer had to get rid of the pressure/expectation to have any more Diana/Reid stories so she made Diana healthier, more independent, not much for Reid to worry/emote about. In getting rid of hope for Jane Lynch, she also got rid of a complex thread for Reid, his constant worry about her, his traumatic past with her....etc. I am not saying she got rid of those stories in canon, but she got rid of any reason to revisit it. The rest is all details to me, whether they got the facts right of wrong is not relevant to what Messer was really doing.

The reason I wondered is because it seems that we are getting more of what we want...still some awfulness, but more goodness than I thought a year ago. And the good stuff fits with what we are writing. Or maybe it is just the cast rebelling against the crap, when they have a time to direct/write. About teenies wanting JJ death scene....I think that there would have been unnecessary distraction from the main point to kill the JJ/baby after all the diva drama re: JJ miscarriage. I am glad we were spared. The main point was that Hotch hallucinated that multiple team were killed with shots to the neck, a fear rooted in most recent near death, Reid in Demons.

What forums do u think Messer, writers, CBS actually look at? This is open for all to read, and we all give really thoughtful opinion and discussion. CBS own sites, probably, but no room to say much and no discourse and many teens. Round Table? Others?

I really want to appreciate everyone involved when they give us what we (many adult fans) have been asking for. Wow. Exquisite and cinematic direction, and Matthew got A game performances out of everyone. With this on his resume, he will be taken even more seriously for outside projects. He got the story he needed, finally, and he held the weirdiness in a bit of restraint which was his weakness sometimes before. He seems to have purposely restrained himself a bit, based on one interview, and it shows to good effect. TG...speechless. Everything you all said. Dude can really act. Why don't they let him do so more often? Here is another big contrast....with JJ and Garcia written and acted as adults, as professionals, without cartoonish distortion in this episode, it makes so many other episodes even more painful by comparison. If they can all do this, can we have it more often??? Fanatastic. Hope CBS/ABC are seeing that doing all this is a pump for ratings and they can do it more often. I have also noticed that when MGG, TG, JM direct they let the cast give better performances...more adult, more intelligent, no buffonery. Even when KV co-wrote with Erica, KV seems to have added back some dignity and intelligence and removed some ridiculousness. AJ was perfect too, give her credit when she and the writing deserve it. She was not written snotty, and showed compassion as well as good profile skills that were not super human. Garcia...upstream people said it best. Again, such a refreshing contrast from the magic computer, and they let Reid solve the data issue by using some abilities that he can routinely contribute if allowed. So the best trend this season is that the cast has broken themselves out, shown a lot of top talent, they understand what it needs to be, so CBS please let others support them the same way. But to end on a high note, this was fantastic...all around. I will watch it over and over. I was literally on the edge of seat, just where Matthew said he was going to put us.

She is is so far over her head. Sitting in the same room with Warren Leight....she should not breathe the same air. He wrote some of the most magnificent episodes of Law and Order, Criminal Intent, that were ever done on that series.

Yes, I love it. It makes it sound so much more respectable too, which I deeply appreciate. There are many country songs that could be for Matthew or Reid. I don't know the genre very well, but I bet others can think of many that apply.

Yes, it does come with the disk of LAB. The video we can see here only goes to 780 resolution. But imagine how it might be on Blu-Ray. I am going to get off my butt and purchase it. I am a serious creeper, good at my job. But really, only a creep for Matthew. Otherwise, I lead a normal life!

I am not good at linking with a video or embedding, sorry. Perhaps someone with better skills can give it a try. For the good of us all. But if you go to her tumblr, go to the archives, look in the several outtakes she posted on Oct 28 of Life After Beth, you can easily find it. Still a little contained by the tighty whities. On looking at she video again, I would add that it looks like he is at the "let's get this party started" stage, and not at the dimensions that occur later when another person is partying along. So there is probably even more to this delightful story than we can see. You know what? I am not even ashamed!

Regarding the open mink discussion....if you look at one of the deleted scenes from Life After Beth, I think it is clear that he is doing very well for himself. There is an outtake in which he is in the character's bedroom, in his underwear and t shirt. All of a sudden he gets up and well hello there, Matthew has himself all "activated". He is lying on the bed, in full salute. It looked more than better than the average bear to me. And I have met quite a few bears. You can still find the scene on Oct 28, 2014, in the archives of Gublernews (thank you olaurao).

Most of the things we have not liked (collectively us, on this forum) were NOT in this episode. Most of the things we have been asking for, as upstream people have already described, were here. I want to give CBS, even Messer, credit for the times they give us what we ask for. This was a really good episode, all around. Thank you, to all responsible.

I also find it ridiculous that they write Reid as someone so unattractive that team/frienemies make jokes and mock him about it. A genius= geek and must be unattractive, it is long established in low intelligence low maturity sitcoms and movies...har de har har. However, they also hypocritically style and dress Reid as the elite fashion model that MGG is. They take lingering shots and beautiful poses of his face and movements. No other character except Reid is characterized as the opposite of actual physical portrayal.

The writers had so many choices about how to have JJ express defensiveness when Reid was trying to talk in Forever People, but instead they chose this "whole person" rejection. And AJ delivered it with snottiness that she has a hard time avoiding. So my POV is that the writers and the actress made these choices when others could have been made to do what needed to be done, without slashing Reid. It came across nasty, no matter what they might have intended. They all chose the way it was done, so I still object to it.

For me, all of this allows and encourages the bullying of "the smart kid" "the geek". It is mocking, ridiculing, emasculating a very smart adult who makes amazing contributions (in the old days, mostly). This is high school level characterization, and shows an immaturity in the writers. They think that this is entertaining, to bully another person for their innate differences. It would stand out more if they were bullying a character for being gay, for being non-white, for any other innate characteristic. Then all would see how egregious it is. Bully smart kids and nerds is the last bastion of 'acceptable' ridicule and harm to another person. It bothers me because I have two kids in high school, and I am aware of all the anti-bullying programs and education we have had in their schools since they were young. Criminal minds has a large audience of middle school and high school kids, and a lot of these kids are Reid/MGG fans. So here is a favorite show, a favorite charcter who is bullied and mocked in a way the kids are taught is unacceptable. But on the show, it is the adults, the "frienemies", doing it to a colleague, without any consequences. For all these reasons, I do not see the mocking and degradation of Reid, by friends, as a minor issue at all. I know the difference between teasing and sibling stuff that is funny. This goes far beyond that most times, with all the specifics so many of you have mentioned. I do think that Paget is a good actress and a funny person, and she was able to land the rude lines in a way that did not seem brutal in the way JJ does. Think of how utterly cruel it was in recent episode when Reid is trying to help with her PTSD (yuck on the whole episode) and she brutally cuts him down with a ugly mean vocal tone and facial expression and says "Stop being....you". How cruel to slash Reid's very essence. Compare that to the scene in which Reid invites Emily to Solaris (can't remember the episode name) when Emily thanks Reid for being himself. These writers have barely crawled out of high school, emotionally and in terms of characterization. Messer too.