S16.E10: Dead End

[jmonique]

Quote

Season Finale: Voit has Rossi in his grip and comes up against the limits of his technical knowledge and mental strength. The BAU is increasingly getting a grip on Voit as he shows how far he is willing to go with his deadly practices.

 

[Danielg342]

So S16...or Season One of "Evolution", take your pick...concludes like that.

With Elias Voit...or Lee Duval...at this stage, I just don't care.

Anyway, with Lee being led to a super-secret interrogation room where he is being interviewed by...someone. Someone we don't know. Someone we might speculate who it is.

Someone I just don't care about.

For all the questions and unknowns and speculations that I have about Criminal Minds, there is just one thing I do know about this show.

This show is just not built for long-term storytelling.

See, long-term storytelling requires a few things. Discipline. Patience. Planning. Foresight. A vision.

...and...

Focus.

None of which this show ever displays.

I could go into all the faults this episode had, but it would all ultimately lead up to the fact CM is just not good at this long-term stuff because they've never learned to focus.

On a better-written show, the conflicted life of Elias, the trials and tribulations of Prentiss, JJ, Luke, Tara, Rossi and Garcia, the ridiculous politics of the upper brass of the FBI...

...and the too-soon sacrifice of Deputy Director Douglas Bailey...

...would be interesting to watch.

On this show, they're all just lost in the morass of hubris these writers exhibit, coming up with all kinds of twists and turns and feints and directions and mis-directions, only to follow through haphazardly on all of them, if they follow through on them at all.

It's a shame, really.

This show has wasted excellent performances by Zach Gilford and his real life wife Kiele Sanchez, as well as by the actresses who played their children, Mia Coleman (the younger Harlow) and Alison Nordahl-Nunez (the older Holly), who happens to be a second-degree Black Belt.

Heck, I would say the most interesting part of Evolution was Voit and his family.

We could have had a wonderful story about Elias and his urges. How he stopped killing to raise his family. How he decided to handle his urges by hiring other people to do the killing for him.

...and how the whole thing would have (or could have) fallen apart because the larger your network of people grows, the harder it is to control everyone within it.

We got elements of that in this series. Heck, in this final episode, the family played their beats of finally demanding answers out of their dad very well, which was an indicator of what this series could have been.

I'll expand on that in the general thread about this season, since I have to stick to the episode.

...but to see the family's last stand and wonder what this season could have been is grating.

I'll give the episode this much. At least Elias didn't die in a hail of bullets like this show likes to do with its white male UnSubs.

...but, to know he's only surviving because the show wants to do...I don't know or care about what...with this "Gold Star" is pretty irritating.

"Gold Star" would be, what, the tenth attempt at serialized storytelling for CM under Erica Messer?

After the Maeve storyline, "victim catalogue" of S10, The Dirty Dozen of S11, Mr. Scratch and his Scratchies in S11-13, Reid in prison in S12, Linda Barnes, the serial killer cult of S13/S14, the Chamaeleon, Voit and now this?

She's failed nine times before, what makes me think the tenth will be the lucky charm?

I guess I should wait until I actually see the episodes...but I'm not holding my breath.

[Snazzy Daisy]

I can smell an F from @Danielg342 from far away.

😂😂😂

That cliffhanger? A f-king cliché.

I bet the show runner herself doesn’t even know yet who’s gonna be the person behind that door! It’s all under negotiation…🙄

Too much screen times wasted on Rossi and his flashbacks.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[Danielg342]

4 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

I can smell an F from @Danielg342 from far away.

Am I that obvious? Am I that much of a cliche? :P

5 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

I bet the show runner herself doesn’t even know yet who’s gonna be the person behind that door! It’s all under negotiation…🙄

You're probably right about that. They probably figured- like they usually do in Hollywood- that they'll figure out the cliffhanger at the right time, instead of knowing the resolution ahead of time so it would make sense.

You're also probably right it'll be Emily, but a dark horse would be Rossi. Or Tara, who I still don't understand why she would put up with Rebecca any longer.

7 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Too much screen times wasted on Rossi and his flashbacks.

Yes. Though I did enjoy Gail O'Grady.

[Snazzy Daisy]

46 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

Am I that obvious? Am I that much of a cliche? :P

You have quite a high standard. 😆

This is a compliment ok.
 

46 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

You're also probably right it'll be Emily, but a dark horse would be Rossi. Or Tara, who I still don't understand why she would put up with Rebecca any longer.

Spencer Reid’s fans are hoping it will be him. Professionally, no idea how and why.

Do you think that Bailey is really dead? We know this show has “power of resurrection”.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[Danielg342]

51 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

You have quite a high standard. 😆

This is a compliment ok.

I know...thanks. :) 'Twas a poor attempt at self-depreciation on my part.

I'd say I hate being predictable, but...when it comes to things like Erica Messer's Criminal Minds, it's hard not to be.

53 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Spencer Reid’s fans are hoping it will be him. Professionally, no idea how and why.

I'd have no idea why Reid would know- or even care- about Gold Star. It should be the Attorney General because the BAU shouldn't be involved in it...but it wouldn't be CM if that were the case.

Maybe CM can do that long talked about crossover with NCIS. At least here it would make sense.

55 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Do you think that Bailey is really dead? We know this show has “power of resurrection”.

It was a "Boom! Headshot" with Bailey's forehead clearly bleeding. So, I'd say he's dead-dead-dead with a further exclamation point (dead!) to boot.

Now, if this was Nicholas D'Agosto's old show, Gotham, Bailey could come back, because Gotham had a weird place (Indian Hill) where the dead could be revived. One such guy who was revived was someone who had a gunshot wound to the head (Theo Galavan), so Bailey had a chance there.

[Retired at last]

5 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Now, if this was Nicholas D'Agosto's old show, Gotham, Bailey could come back, because Gotham had a weird place (Indian Hill) where the dead could be revived.

Or Days of our Lives, where no one ever dies dies. Mad scientist Dr. Rolf can bring them back, regardless of the fact that all of their organs have been donated or they have been buried for years. Which is why no one ever buys into the emotional death scenes that they send in for Emmy nods.

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful comments and critiques. As excited as I was to hear about this new season, is as disappointed as I have been with the very few episodes I have watched. I WILL watch if Spencer comes back. I WON'T watch if it continues to be the Life and Loves of Garcia.

[callie lee 29]

Finally finished the season. Overall it was fine, not great, not horrible. Way, way, way too much focus on Garcia (bailey was annoying but I would have traded job for her in a second) but I've never been a fan so I'm not that objective. 

As to who is behind the door? Anyone on the current team doesn't make sense, even in this fucked up CM universe; AG seems to obvious; Reid is too fanfic-y. If it's someone we've seen already, my money is on Rebecca. If they really want to go out there (and throw people into a trail soon) go with Hotch. 100% crazy idea, but WitSec has got to be boring after all this time and Jack is grown by now. (I also miss a Thomas Gibson so there's that...😊)

[Attatude]

I saved the last episodes to watch at once.  A satisfactory ending would be the end of Zach. His acting was superb but the drawn out storyline wasn’t. I lost interest in him and his problems around episode 5.  I was glad to see Bailey go but a conspiracy that drags out into next season doesn’t interest me. The Gold Star thrown in at the end as an afterthought is cheesy and cheap.  Only Bailey and Elias know about it.  Oh yeah, and Rachel and her boss, and now the team.  I didn’t watch the season because I love CM. I watched it because I ran out of bingeable programming.  I was glad to see Garcia have an outside life and a story and tired of Rossi’s.  

Edited February 12, 2023 by Attatude

[Annber03]

I agree that I don't think it's any of the team members, current or past, behind that door. Given all those guys in SWAT gear towards the end, I have to imagine the person who came to visit him is even more secretive/a big deal of some kind than that. 

I'm sad to see Bailey go. I was hoping he'd stick around. But I am curious as to what this Gold Star thing is about, and why and how he knew about it. As for Rebecca, so long as she keeps putting her career and moving up ahead of everything else, sadly, for Tara, I think the chances of them reconnecting are pretty much slim to nil. 

Glad Garcia ultimately decided to end things with Tyler. Would've been nice to see her do that before he got shot, but eh. I wonder if that ending with her and Luke is hinting at anything. I liked him quoting Dickenson :).

Will and JJ definitely need to have a talk about being in the field together going forward, 'cause, yeah, their sons could've become orphans that day. 

On to the next season, then!

[Chaos Theory]

I have not been on this board mainly because I really don’t want to know what people think of this season which has been hit and miss for me but I really can’t help myself with this 

The one thing this new season of Criminal Minds  reiterates is that the only thing worse the a prolific serial killer is a politician.  
 

No I will go away again and kinda enjoy the season in peace.   (I still kinda like JJ because I like AJ Cooke and still like Garcia who actually has been toned down alot)

[Danielg342]

On 2/12/2023 at 10:37 AM, Attatude said:

A satisfactory ending would be the end of Zach. His acting was superb but the drawn out storyline wasn’t.

I would agree. Zach Gilford was great but there was nothing about the Elias Voit character that screamed "we need to bring him back". Voit just didn't capture the imagination like The Reaper did or Mr. Scratch or even Cat Adams. Voit's characterization is a dime a dozen on CM.

On 2/12/2023 at 6:51 PM, Annber03 said:

I'm sad to see Bailey go. I was hoping he'd stick around. But I am curious as to what this Gold Star thing is about, and why and how he knew about it.

I was thinking of you when I saw Douglas Bailey get killed. I feel sorry for you.

As for Gold Star, despite my reservations that CM will actually do a good job with it, I think what will be key to that mystery will be answering how only two people- the Deputy Director of the FBI and some random techie who presumably Bailey has never met before- know about it, and why it now matters to the FBI. CM has sold that Gold Star is a pretty big deal- big enough that the interrogation of Voit must take place in an insanely secure location- which tells me that more than just Voit and Bailey knew about whatever Gold Star is.

Otherwise, why the theatrics? For all we know, Gold Star could be just a picture of an actual gold star. Or some old GoldStar electronics. There's no reason to suggest, at this stage, that Gold Star really means anything until Voit pipes up about it. If Voit had died, presumably whatever Gold Star is would disappear into the ether and no one would know about what it is, so its provenance isn't high at this stage.

Unless someone else also knows about it- and I need to know who that is.

On 2/12/2023 at 6:51 PM, Annber03 said:

Will and JJ definitely need to have a talk about being in the field together going forward, 'cause, yeah, their sons could've become orphans that day. 

Yes...but I will also say Will looked pretty badass in all that tactical gear and the assault rifle.

[Annber03]

14 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I was thinking of you when I saw Douglas Bailey get killed. I feel sorry for you

LOL, aw, thanks, I appreciate it :). Eh, it's TV, stuff happens...

[millennium]

How come it's only people on TV who dance with dead people and can easily recite obscure quotes offhand?

 

On 2/14/2023 at 9:03 AM, Danielg342 said:

Yes...but I will also say Will looked pretty badass in all that tactical gear and the assault rifle.

But every time he opens his mouth he sounds like an old man asking his wife to get him another glass of lemonade.

 

[Danielg342]

2 hours ago, millennium said:

How come it's only people on TV who dance with dead people and can easily recite obscure quotes offhand?

We don't have the benefit of a writer looking up a quote and placing it right in our mouths. Could be useful, now that I think of it.

2 hours ago, millennium said:

But every time he opens his mouth he sounds like an old man asking his wife to get him another glass of lemonade.

Brock Lesnar kind of has the same problem...so, maybe it's not so bad...

[millennium]

10 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

We don't have the benefit of a writer looking up a quote and placing it right in our mouths. Could be useful, now that I think of it

I was an English major and have the useless degree to prove it, yet I can't spew quotes, let alone quotes tailored to any set of circumstances.   In the years since college, I don't think I have ever known or met anyone who casually quoted John Donne, William Wordsworth or Truman Capote in conversation.    But the BAU is a veritable Bartlett's Book of Familiar Quotations.   Maybe BAU stands for Bartlett's Analysis Unit. 

[roamyn]

I don't think we're gonna watch next year.  

With all the other crime shows out there, do we really need another CM revival?

[Retired at last]

If they do it right, I need this one. I still look for daily marathons and enjoy most of them. I can find one almost every day - maybe not Tuesday. But I still like the earlier seasons with the original group the best. No subs like Blake or whoever Jennifer Love Hewitt's character was. And the ones after Derek and Hitch left were not that good to me, so not a fan of Tara or Luke.

[Bookish Jen]

15 hours ago, roamyn said:

I don't think we're gonna watch next year.  

With all the other crime shows out there, do we really need another CM revival?

I don't have Paramount+ so I'm not watching the revival. And it looks like I'm not missing a whole lot. I don't even watch the reruns that much on ION, especially the latter years when CM skidded off the rails.

I don't know exactly what it is, maybe it's all the horrific things we've gone through in the past several years, but I can no longer watch people being horrible to other people. I need shows that are more positive and uplifting.

[mythoughtis]

Like some other shows that have moved to streaming, the quality seems to have gone down.  I don’t see added entertainment value  in a character saying the f word at work just because the show is on streaming, or showing a guy urinating on the side of the road.  
I don’t want another 10 episodes tied up in one  suspect or some Gold Star conspiracy. Plus I’m tired of the repetitive  ‘ the BAU is in danger of being disbanded’ plot.   

[monakane]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:15 AM, Chaos Theory said:

The one thing this new season of Criminal Minds  reiterates is that the only thing worse the a prolific serial killer is a politician.

There is some truth to that. :)

[QASteph]

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.