[Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show]

Alright, I was kidding, guys. Although, not about the Walker vibe. Ew.

[Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show]

Actually, I had that Scratch-minion vibe from Walker from the get-go. Maybe it's just sub-par acting or writing, but the couple of times early on when he was talking to someone, I guess his old boss(?) but i was never really satisfied he was on the up-and-up.

I wouldn't want luke to be a bad guy, but, hey, as long as Reid comes out of this as a hero, they can make Garcia a minion!!!! XD

[Small Talk: Behavioral Gabbing Unit]

I know, Senin, I did the same (watched a few of the s.12 episodes) and when it came to that scene, even though I've seen it several times, I jumped this time, and the end where Reid ties the scarf to his mom's wrist just made me weep.

[Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show]

Darlin, grief and space got no place in a money-making enterprise. Sorry to say, but it's true.

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

Even some federal prisons are privately owned and run. Money is king there.

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

Reid has never needed "saving" before now. In nearly every instance I can think of over the canon, Reid has gotten himself out of danger, out of weird predicaments, has survived apocalyptic situations, and tricked or persuaded unsubs into giving themselves up peacefully, all the while defending weaker people such as Luis. If he needs saving now, it's because the prison system is against every inmate, and for the corporate interest of money. I agree it could be written better with the BAU finding ways to help exonerate him, but his trying to survive inside is not weakness (and not feminine), it's survival.

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

3 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Heck, if they had to do "A/B stories", why couldn't we see the team investigate the prisoners' innocence? Maybe we'd find out a few of them were put in by Scratch giving the team fuel to the fire that Reid was himself put in there by Scratch.

...but no, this has to be about Reid getting pummeled. Poor, weak Reid...poor weak feminine Reid.

The FBI is not in the Department of Justice, so they can't look into cases where people might be innocent. 

People who get pummeled aren't weak because they get pummeled. And weakness certainly is not feminine. 

[Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show]

5 minutes ago, JMO said:

Newbies can serve a different function, however, and I think the writers miss the mark on this.  In a show as old as CM, which still appears to draw new viewers, there is a need for ongoing exposition.  Long term viewers don't need to be educated on what a profile is, or the various psychopathologies that lead serial killers to kill, because we've had them explained to us before---usually through Gideon or Hotch quizzing or teaching Reid.  But the newbies, and the new viewers, do need that exposition.  

They missed a great opportunity to show someone learning on the job when they had JJ rejoin the team as a profiler.  Now they have a similar opportunity with Alvez, but they don't seem to be taking it.  Should they decide to do so, Luke's learning from the more experienced team members would help the character build chemistry with them.  But he, and they, probably won't be around long enough for that to happen.

So, so much this. I am so tired of new people coming from other places and just jumping right into the BAU profiling style. Hell, even Rossi had more of a learning curve when he came back to a system he invented, but had changed while he had been gone. 

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

7 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I agree the team is written to be pretty stupid. They dropped everything to find Garcia's shooter, to help Reid with Hankel, to rescue Prentiss, to rescue Calahan's kids, to rescue JJ, to deal with Doyle...the list goes on.

Yet, this time...inexplicably...they don't lift a finger for Reid.

It would have been so easy for the show to have Mateo Cruz (remember him?) come in and tell Prentiss, "unless you find evidence that connects Reid to Scratch, you're not investigating" or even a line where Prentiss says that's Cruz's order to her...then at least the team can argue their hands are tied.

I do think this arc lacks a focus. If we aren't going to see the team investigate Reid's case then we should at least get a sense of the point of showing Reid's escapades. Is Reid's prison experiences supposed to lead him to a point where he loses belief in the justice system or humanity or his own teammates? Is Reid going to gain new insights on just how depraved people can actually be, now that he's been a part of that? Is prison supposed to show him the futility of the human experience, or at least show him that humanity truly can't be saved? Does prison become an indicator that he's sacrificed too much in his life and received so little back that he now needs to re-evaluate his future?

This first half of your post is very well put, an interesting POV. I was behind showing Reid going through the extreme circumstance of prison if we saw somewhat clearly what he was fighting against or for, and I agree, the show is not giving us that, nor is it giving us the team focusing on fighting for Reid or even against Scratch. It does begin to feel like they are just recasting the Perils of Pauline.

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

Well, Scratch dosed him pretty heavily with his lovely cocktail, and Hotch hallucinated Reid, Rossi, JJ and Morgan coming to the rescue, only to have all the males killed.... by Scratch's hand, or his? 

He also was beaten in the head pretty badly, so there may have been concussion involved. Someone help me out here: what did they say to each other that made Hotch start laughing that creepy laugh?

[Criminal Minds Fanfiction]

Somebody hire this girl! As my daddy would say, you done done it again!

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

Maybe I'm just a Pollyanna, but I don't like the psychopaths and sociopaths. I like the chivalrous knights like Spencer. I agree villains are often more interesting, but my criterion in this case (the fantasy world) is whom would I want to be with, whom would I want to love me? Not some killer/rapist/reaper dude. 

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

Would you want him to be a bad guy who's not all bad, or something of that sort?

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

He has said he wants to do comedy. I guess i'd like to see him get some meaty 5-year project like Bryan Cranston did in Breaking Bad. Bryan got to be comedic (all I had ever seen him do up to that point), or at least comic-tinged, and as the show went on, his character became darker and darker. I know TG could do all of that, if the writers were good, as they were in Breaking Bad.

[Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show]

You can do it in Aaron Hotchner High and Tight. You can talk about Thomas there.

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

I'm just OK with the newbies, and, if they had been introduced one-to-a-season, because someone had rotated off the show, like Morgan, I'd probably eventually accept them all, like I have all the replacements except Seaver. Can't hack that one, ever (it's no reflection on the actress, BTW).

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

I do think, in Hayley's defense, she needed other things from him. She "got" him from high school, so she knew him over a loooooooong time, and people change and mature, and grow, and sometimes retard (please hear that in the true, non-rude, meaning of that word).

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

Oh, Droogs, everything you just said!

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

41 minutes ago, JMO said:

That's the stuff that is most annoying.  They played down the JJ/Reid friendship for years, resurrected it in little bits over the past couple of seasons, and then highlighted it in the last few episodes.  It certainly seemed like they were using it as an emotional anchor for the arc.  And then, last night, poof!, it was gone. So now, i don't want to invest emotionally in pretty much anything to do with the rest of the arc, because I don't trust that whatever I latch on to won't disappear just as suddenly, and mysteriously, as this, and all of the rest of the friendships have.  

It's not like the case was so compelling that they didn't have time. 

Yes, it seems like, not only did they bring 27 newbies in who have no investment in the veteran team, now most of the veteran team seems to have no connections or ties or loyalties with each other either! Reid, who's that?

[Aaron Hotchner: High and Tight]

Strength, of course, but he's gentle, too. And, as you would expect from a top-notch profiler, he knows what people's best qualities are, like Reid. Unlike Gideon, Hotch never seemed/seems to use that brain without appreciating the person who owns it. He didn't expect less from the women members of the team just because they were women. Plus, he was/is very sexy. 

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

This one was weird. Just weird. The A case was over-the-top ridiculous, even for recent writing (I realize the writer was the non-writer for this year, and I didn't expect much). It also took up way too much time for the balance of the episode, but, really, maybe it being a little Reid-lite is a good thing in this circumstance. Thank the gods that we didn't see the scene between Reid and Garcia! Dumb enough in her re-telling. But, for crying out loud, she comes back to the BAU and is boohooing, totally undisturbed by anyone (with the incongruous possible exception of Luke) concerned to know how Reid is? All so we can see them get cozy and whatever. Garcia should have called Emily from the road, saying Reid had been beaten up and he was in genpop and get him outta there! But, no, it'll have to wait because "we have a case!" Excuse me, if Luke hadn't volunteered to inform Emily, ask about the lawyer, and go see/threaten Shaw, Reid would have been sitting around waiting for the next attack...

And the weird scene with Shaw and Luke, what the hell was that even about? If we weren't sure about Calvin's machinations before, the show went and muddied the waters even more, uh, so we would have a reason to breathe a sigh of relief for Reid's sake? Oh, and they threw in that line about Reid not having to perform sexual favors after what was certainly a brutal attack "last week" so we know he wasn't raped? Again, what is the purpose of this arc if we have no discernible reason for Reid to suffer, if we have no focus by a mini-team (at least 2) on his case, and if his lawyer is negligent in finding evidence and building a case (getting his trial moved up is foolhardy if you haven't got a case built on evidence to help exonerate him!).

[I have to say, perhaps this writer has potential, because this "case" could have been so torture-porny and wasn't. But it was as if a Martian came down from Outer Space and tried to blend in with humans by being a serial killer who kills when awake for good reasons and then falls asleep and kills twice as much for bad reasons! I mean, whuh?!]

Truly, if it weren't for MGG bringing another good performance (despite bad bruise makeup), the ludicrosity (that's a real word, I just invented it) of this episode would have collapsed it entirely. I can see them embellishing this slightly, adding music and costumes, and having CM: The Musical Episode.   

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

The peek with Garcia boohooing to Luke about Reid is concerning, I don't know how much Reid interaction we'll actually see. I'm hoping he has some scenes, not just shots of him with Garcia in voiceover, and then she says, "Oh, we have a case"

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

2 hours ago, autumnmountains said:

How about setting Roxy loose on Scratch??? I can see her dealing out karma.

Love this idea, 'tum!

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

Hmmmmm. Thanks, autumn. Intriguing.

[S12.E17: In The Dark]

They are really holding the Reid part of this ep close to the vest. Not even a pic of him, except the one of him looking beaten and in shock on his bed we saw weeks ago, which may or may not come from this episode. I hope this holds through to tonight. They give too much away in the sneak peeks. And, yes, I know I can always not "peek."