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I binge watched this recently (cat/house sitting for people who pay for streaming stuff FTW!) and... meh. I've seen better continuations of shows that were cancelled and then moved elsewhere. Bosch comes to mind. It was also really, really obvious that they were working with the actors they could get. And, honestly, I am fine with that as a concept but obviously the loss of Reid is major in this case. I liked that Paget/Prentiss is letting her hair go grey mainly because I am as well. I hear it's "in" these days but also I am just over dealing with henna. Maybe it's because I didn't binge previous seasons but the whole torture-porn aspect seemed pretty strong and off-putting in this season. Also? Matt Saracen - how did you fall so far???? (Zach did a great job but it's still jarring to see him in this role.) This episode in particular... meh squared. The whole "gold star" thing felt shoehorned in and I'm just really not here for the show continuing to focus so much on one serial killer. Remember when the focus was on victims and families? Rossi in the bunker was also meh which it shouldn't have been. I mean obviously he was going to save himself(ish) but there was excessive use of ghost Krystall. Also, while this has no bearing whatsoever on actual people who suffer from depression who deserve all of the help that they can get, it's just really not entertaining to watch on a tv show. It *might* have been entertaining had Rossi been using it to trick Voit into not seeing a sneaky escape attempt or whatever. But as a 'this character is really on the verge of giving up' it didn't actually make me sit on the edge of my seat. It made me annoyed with Rossi. Maybe I am just a heartless terrible person. I am also fascinated that the bunker he was trapped in was somehow both airtight so oxygen levels kept falling and had water getting in from the rain. But recaps suggest that it was just the sound of thunder that made Rossi talk about dying in a flash flood so I probably imagined it dripping on him and the possibility of him being drowned because he couldn't get out of a buried container.

I was bored. I said, out loud, a few times "oh, enough with the schmaltz." I don't understand why the prospect of Rossi retiring was such a world-altering idea. It isn't like he hasn't done it before. TPTB seem to be trying to position Garcia leaving that note as some big thing for viewers to wonder about and I just don't care what it said. At all. Also, I suspect it fell through the crack to the floor and will be swept up and thrown away rather than discovered by whoever holds that position next. Also, these people need to get a grip. These are adult co-workers. People changing jobs? Happens every day. This long, drawn out, tear-filled, bequest-leaving extravaganza was not merited. Also, if this is so much like family: it does not matter what job they have so, again, no need to literally cry. Or make speeches about how you are going to keep in touch. The emotionalism was not earned by the events in the episode. I love Jane Lynch but Diana Reid's character felt all over the place here. Eh, mildly annoyed. (See, bored, having trouble working up *any* emotion for a show that I watched every episode of. And kept spreadsheets for the first several years. I should care that it is ending...) I'm annoyed that they would have moved JJ to unit chief. Again. It didn't make sense last time (unless you go with: she was given the position because her inexperience would make her easier to manipulate) and it doesn't make sense this time. Way too much of the last few episodes was spent setting up potential exits for various characters. And then basically none of them panned out; even Garcia took a local job not the CA one she initially mentioned. I feel both jerked around and tired and bored of it all.

I'm finding the episodes... not fictional enough? Not sure if that is the way to phrase it but they are bringing in current real-life issues that don't necessarily fit into the narrative of the show. I mean - in the last episode they had a 'man on the street' say "I don't like the way our current president talks about immigrants" (going from my very-imperfect memory) - within the show the current president is Kirkman and that comment makes NO SENSE. I don't have anything against their use of real interviews, but use them more carefully! I want my TV dramas to be internally consistent and also to provide something of an escape from normal life.

and When my nephew joined there was a sizable lag between when he signed up with the recruiter and when he went off to boot camp. Also, the date he would be leaving changed at least once that I can recall. I can see someone being not-pregnant when signing papers at a recruiting office but pregnant shortly thereafter before heading to boot camp. Not sure if someone would have to delay and start much later in that case or if they would be kicked out entirely. Assuming they did not knowingly lie when being recruited - fairly certain that would be disqualifying.

Are they kidding me with this? Ugh. Look, JJ and Reid had a date already - clearly it went nowhere and wasn't mentioned or really hinted at for over a decade and now I'm supposed to believe JJ had the hots for him but just let it drop after the date because... they were both single at the time? (Yes, yes, I know, JJ had commitment issues, blah. But I didn't see any struggle with commitment issues. I saw mention of a date and then absolutely nothing but friendship for years.) I admit that the JJ/Will relationship has always seemed forced to me. But it isn't like the JJ/Reid one feels less forced to me. Okay, enough, I'm tired of this already. Other things: I do appreciate that they occasionally bring back bit players from previous episodes. Only in California as far as I recall, but still. I guess I'm happy Reid now scores much better on shooting tests / qualifications / whatever even without being under intense terror but I'm sad that he gave up skill at cards to do it. The idiot judge - he had your daughter, yes, but he gave you no reason to believe he had an accomplice so to harm her he has to go to her. If you shoot him, then you, your daughter, and the nice FBI agents will be fine oh my goodness common sense! If you move to do it fast enough before the nice FBI agents put their guns down the chances of success go up about a million percent. The wedding venue - large enough for 3 times as many people as came. The cake - large enough for about 20 times as many people. Garcia is the bartender and then she isn't? The guess list is small enough that everyone gets to give a toast? Because Emily wasn't in the wedding party and isn't related so...? "We'll put the altar over here" except... no altar ever showed up (right? I have taken to half-watching the show while doing other things but they were just standing in front of a stained glass window, did I miss something?) I suppose we will go with Rossi not getting any previous marriages declared invalid / annulled to explain the lack of a church or priest (the officiant was not wearing a clerical so I'm assuming he wasn't a priest)? Since otherwise he has at least one priest who is a personal acquaintance. I guess that could have been Krystal's choice too. Random nitpick - you could clearly see Rossi's finger had an indentation from regularly wearing a ring already. Even though he promised Garcia he would, Reid did not dance, right? I understand that as TPTB might not trust MGG with such an activity. Okay, I lied, back to the JJ/Reid thing. I, for one, would be perfectly fine if they dropped this now and never discussed it. Things were said, a somewhat graceful out was given. If we must have gone down this path, I can be happy with a slightly bittersweet "what if" with the ultimate answer being "but I already made a commitment to Will and that is the way things are" and "picking at this scab does no one any favors so we're going to let this go to protect our current friendship."

I am laughing so hard on the inside because the Kentucky Fried Unsub is now Colonel Sanders. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/08/06/kfc-taps-former-seinfeld-star-jason-alexander-new-colonel-sanders/913726002/

For a minute I will pretend that I am Thumper: It is encouraging that TPTB have allowed Reid to grow and develop as a character to be an engaging and comfortable public speaker (contra-Masterpiece). Yay for allowing characters to grow beyond their initial presentation and recognizing that normal humans change and grow over the decades. Now I am completely disregarding that very good advice because: That was awful. The reasons have already been enumerated. The ones I found most annoying: The entire rest of the FBI being inept or so rule-bound they are incapable of basic human decency. (Hey - idea - Fornell is at loose ends these days.) Any random Senator being able to make staffing decisions at the FBI (gosh it must be chaos there with 100 people sticking their oar in). Reid teaching criminology 101 at... a local college? rather than short courses at the FBI academy, or seminars/courses for law enforcement to learn new skills, or something related to one of his advanced degrees. (Side note: no university gives out Ph.Ds in "engineering" - this has bothered me for ages. What *kind* of engineering? Chemical? Mechanical? Civil? Biological? MatSci? Aero-astro? Decision analysis?) The lobotomies that the team must have undergone so that their only/best way of fighting back against gross mismanagement was to have a handily timed case where they saved someone of a high enough profile because there was just no way they could imagine to use, oh, I don't know, "no one cares about a bunch of Mexican grandmothers" said to a subordinate who has at least some Hispanic background going by his surname and the glances he made at that line or, say, doing no apparent work whatsoever for two weeks, in order to get some changes made. I get that they were making Barnes as unsympathetic as humanly possible. They succeeded. She was so egregiously unsympathetic that it is mind blowing that her casual racism and blatant self-aggrandizement didn't get her fired long before now. And there was no reason for it. Why did she want the flashy public cases that have clear good guys and bad guys? What does she get out of that? Alternately, what benefit is it to her if the BAU is broken up among field offices? THAT is something they could have profiled. I know I said this last week, sort of, but that would have been interesting at least. A confusing and annoying arc that accomplished... who knows what. You know who was good at leaving little clues in episode 2 of a story arc that all of a sudden made sense in episode 6? (At least for a couple of seasons.) Rob Thomas / Phil Klemmer / John Enbom / Dayna Lynne North, etc. Of course, that requires mapping things out at the start but - hey - maybe that is a skill the CM writers could cultivate.

So let me get this straight. The team is dealing with someone who has already broken apart another team and they *know* she has support "all the way to the top." She is transparently dismissive of their expertise, rude as all get out to everyone she runs into, and was willing to say - out loud - that the types of cases she wants to select are the ones that have "good optics" meaning she isn't even trying to hide her complete lack of morals. So this crack team of profilers, upon hearing one short argument (which took nowhere near 20 minutes) that, frankly, seemed more like a draw at best rather than a win for JJ, decides "whew, dodged a bullet on that one, let's go celebrate." Really? About 2 minutes into meeting this woman they should have been documenting things like crazy. Things she said, things she did, recording their meetings with her, etc. It's not paranoia if she's really out to get you. THEN. She throws her weight around reassigning people hither and yon. I have news for her. The FBI? Not the military. People don't have to just go wherever you send them and take on any old job you assign. Reid is a genius and could walk out into a better job within minutes. They ALL have options which are about 1000% more appealing than going along with her plans and meekly accepting the new roles she has assigned them. Maybe the mass resignations would play into her hands but life is too short to put up with that when you have other options for putting food on the table. Furthermore, did the continuity fairy kidnap Reid's sponsor or whatever from Beltway Clean Cops? It was strongly implied that John was much higher in the FBI. Does he have no influence? I am also still annoyed that TPTB decided that JJ was the person to take over for Emily. She wasn't even a profiler until 5 years ago or so. Or perhaps her lack of seniority was the point? Ugh.

The part that bugged me about giving the profile is that they wasted a ton of time describing what the unsub was not. "Normally a family annihilator..." Why? They don't care what normal is. They care about THIS CASE. If you must, you may have a phrase or two at the start mentioning it's an unusual variation on a family annihilator but then get on with the relevant info. Not what you would expect to see in other cases. The lesson on profiling can wait. As has been pointed out - this was eerily similar to Reid's experience. As in "get some new material" similar. I feel like bullying these days is more around social media than physically tying someone to a flag pole. All that aside, I don't even necessarily need Reid to be the one to talk the kid down even though he's shown an affinity for and a talent at that before. But there was no nod given that the situation was close to home for him. I'd love to chalk up his newfound abilities to keep emotionally in check to "the writers have allowed Reid to grow and mature over the years" except without even a hint that this is a topic that he has an interest in it just comes across as "the writers not only ignored the continuity fairy but they kidnapped, gagged, and locked her in a closet."

The new character introduction seems exhausting this season, but I think that is because they are trying to add two at once. Gibbs has always stretched his agents by asking them to work outside of their comfort zone (though he never ever explained that is what he was doing because that would be good management - setting goals with your subordinates and making a plan of how to help them achieve them... bah, who needs that?). These two certainly whine about it a lot more than previous agents did though. Quinn with her "issues" was... look. You are a federal agent. Suck it up and do your job. If it rises to the level of legitimate flashbacks that would prevent you from doing your job? Then go on disability and deal with it. Otherwise, get on with the work. I get that it was traumatic, but you are a LEO on a TV show. That means you are guaranteed to lose many a work colleague. So you have to be able to handle it some way other than breaking down into an emotional mess when faced by the entire city in which it happened years after the fact. Torres seems to have no concept of having to put in the time doing tasks not of his choosing. The myopia involved in "but I wanna do the shiny exciting thing why are you making me do the stuff I'm not good at waaaahhh" comes across as incredibly immature. I know toddlers who have grasped delayed gratification better than he displayed in this episode. Now that I have gotten my whining out of the way... I do like some of the things they bring. Having characters who dare to disagree with Gibbs (the others do on occasion, but somehow in a more mmm, ingratiating maybe?, way) has a lot of possibility. But it also could easily tip over into disrespect.

Double grrr to the blatant misuse of "begging the question" (for the second time on my TV this week - can't remember now what the other show was). I have *serious* problems with their job applicant selection process. Basically, you just happen to be in the right place at the right time and you get the job? Based on a skill that, sure, came in handy in this one case but probably doesn't come up as needed all that often? Ridiculous. I'm sure the character can contribute in other ways, etc. but mimicry is not enough to be hired into this supposedly elite unit. The only way it makes any sense is if Hotch was leaning that way anyway. It is patently unfair to the other applicants as well. I suspect it violated federal hiring guidelines and in real life someone would sue. Morgan is an IDIOT. I mean, he basically went and dared the unsub to come after him. Morgan - you do not bait psychopaths. Did you learn nothing from Foyet? "Please mister contract killer, focus all of your energy on me because I do not have enough self control to avoid tracking you down hours after you tried to kill me so I can froth at the mouth at you." In that scene Morgan came across as more deranged than the killer even. Had it been in the moment I could chalk it up to adrenaline. But the guy had gotten to the hospital and been treated so that excuse won't fly.

So many things to pick on this episode for. 1. From the first second Mike Franks showed up it was clear that Gibbs was the team member who would be in danger. There was a ridiculous amount of foreshadowing that took any teeny bit of potential shock value out of the ending. By the time Gibbs got shot all I was thinking was "finally." 2. (Last eppy) Now all of a sudden McGee, who apparently regularly hacks into the Pentagon or whatever, needs Dornaget to handle computer stuff? And he defers to Ned w/o blinking? Sure, whatever, they needed some way to bring Dornie back so they could kill him off, but that was just a really stupid way to do it. I'm still annoyed. 3. The set up at the market was COMPLETELY obvious. About two seconds in I was all "Oh, it's a trap." And yet Gibbs and DiNozzo, who were both apparently hit with the stupid stick on the way there, just blithely continue walking through the street. Even after the weird conversation with the preternaturally composed teenaged girl Gibbs is just standing there, waiting around. If that is the kind of instincts and investigative prowess he plans to bring to the table, perhaps it is better if that was the end for the character. 4. I do not believe for one hot minute that they actually killed off Gibbs. Puhlease. 5. What was with the secrecy around the video of who killed Luke's parents? In the ep they said it was Sadiq. (I'm pretty sure that was actually said in so many words but I was a little bored and my roommate sometimes talks during the show so I could be wrong about that.) But the way Abby was reacting I expected it to be much more shocking.

I quadruple rec Madlori's series. And there is a cameo or two in there. I do find it easier to read on AO3 (HTFL) than fanfiction.net because of the display options. Her "Marked" is also just lovely (not related to HTFL series but still Reid/Prentiss). This show has been around long enough that the fanfic community is sort of petering out; there hasn't been an annual award for a couple years, and no holiday exchange for even longer. But! That means there is a lot of back-log to catch up on. Those two links are a good starting point. I enjoy fics where relationships are developed, romantic or not - though it is easier to find fanfic w/ romantic relationships, more than PWP or straight case-fic with vaguely friendly co-workers. Some personal faves: Fathers are not born series - http://geekystudmuffin.livejournal.com/4841.html (Hotch/Reid with lots of Jack) Myrna1-2-3's Reid/Rossi series - http://myrna1-2-3.livejournal.com/tag/rossi%2Freid (I normally wouldn't enjoy this pairing because of the age difference but the author really makes it work. Also I *love* the OC that is paired with Hotch. ) Landlocked Blues - http://cm-exchange.livejournal.com/37012.html (Also Rossi/Reid and hilarious. Seriously writers, why must you keep writing this pairing so well? Rossi's old enough to be Reid's father. He's older than Reid's father.) Miles to Go Before We Sleep - http://cm-slash.livejournal.com/68865.html (Morgan/Reid and this always messes with my rememberance of how Lo-Fi was resolved because it was integrated so well into the storyline)

This is totally 100% unfair, but I'm still holding a grudge against JLH because of Ghost Whisperer kicking JoA off the air. And I am sure the cast is nowhere near as petty as me, but she basically benefitted from Joe Mantegna losing that job. So... awkward. I'll give the character a chance. It's nice that they have given her a past in the FBI that is somewhat defined already. And does that mean undercover work for cases this year? I wonder if they even tried for Mary Page Keller/"Katie Cole." And if the name similarity is on purpose?