S11.E20: Inner Beauty

[Aethera]

The BAU searches for an UnSub who is purposely disfiguring victims. Also, Rossi has an awkward reunion with his ex-wife, Hayden Montgomery, who kept his daughter, Joy, a secret from him for nearly 30 years.

[ForeverAlone]

This episode was all right. I will grade on a curve a bit, because it was better than many of the previous seasons' first scripts. I just think it would have been better with more team, less unsub, and less melodrama behind the unsub's motivation. I am not sure if we are supposed to sympathize with him, but if we are, booooooo! And meh on Rossi's rekindled love (likely) with his second ex wife. And weird that Hotch was basically gone this episode. This was largely a Rossi and JJ episode, a distinctly odd pairing in my opinion.

[ReidFan]

Meh

Edited April 14, 2016 by ReidFan

[JMO]

I've read that a major stumbling block for renewal is that CBS and ABC can't come together over the high production costs associated with the show.

So I can't help but wonder: why would the show spend so much on production , when it (apparently) spends so little on scripts?

[secnarf]

Well, I fully intended to watch this episode tonight, until my only toilet broke down on me. Functioning toilet >>>> TV. It seems I didn't miss much, then?

[MMC]

I've read that a major stumbling block for renewal is that CBS and ABC can't come together over the high production costs associated with the show.

So I can't help but wonder: why would the show spend so much on production , when it (apparently) spends so little on scripts?

Well here is a novel idea maybe they should stop relying so much this so called guess stars.And go back to using the cast that is already on the pay roll.And I mean the entire cast not just MESSer's favorites.

[Old Dog]

Wow! That was a bad one! Bad all round - writing, directing, editing, use of cast (what happened to Hotch?) and enough with the awful personal bookends! As others have said so many times, they should use the cast and stop making it the unsub show.

[33kaitykaity]

There are times when the violence porn is so loving on this show that I can't watch the show without FFing,  This was one of them.  

[smoker]

I knew it, Hotch free and Rossi's soap >(

Its not only bad writing, that is the most important problem, but the free time for actors and their requirements, pointing Mantega here, because of the long long army story and his crappy directing and for bringing in his friend's daughter through a silly and soapy plot, being that woman a plain actress as a bonus, this season has been pathetic. but hey, who cares?....well, I do!!! This show got a gangrene and getting Rossi a jubilation could be a solution. Let him sitting in a San Francisco tree.

Plus, more good writers and less action movie scenes. And less unsub, of course.

The thing is Gibson and Mantega could tell them they want more quality in the writing room so they didnt have to gag on the script, but obviously they dont give a shit while they can squeeze 'the show'.

There is a saying in my country about this, about "don't give a damn about something when it is going to be finished soon".

It makes you love actors who actually respected their shows and loved their characters like Simon Baker and Robin Tuney.

Edited April 14, 2016 by smoker

[Droogie]

Ugh. I just got home from night shift and was going to tune in, but these comments have me re-thinking that plan. I watch on OnDemand, so I can't FF, which sounds like it could be problematic.

JMO? What say you on the Reid-meter? Could I be sated just going to Tumblr and Instagram or do I need to watch? I still need to do my taxes, so time is precious.

[MMC]

Ugh. I just got home from night shift and was going to tune in, but these comments have me re-thinking that plan. I watch on OnDemand, so I can't FF, which sounds like it could be problematic.

JMO? What say you on the Reid-meter? Could I be sated just going to Tumblr and Instagram or do I need to watch? I still need to do my taxes, so time is precious.

Droogie, I opted not to watch it myself even though I certainly had the time.I was hoping against all hope that the feedback I was getting from everyone would tell me that it would have been worth checking out after all. Sadly instead it has confirmed to me that once again I made the right decision in sitting it out.But at least the promo has me looking forward to the episode Storm,something that hasn't happened since the episode Entropy.

[Clemgo3165]

Little on the Reid-meter I thought. JJ was showing off her magical profiling powers tonight, Reid was just along for the ride for the most part except for making one important discovery. He looked good though. 

[Old Dog]

Little on the Reid-meter I thought. JJ was showing off her magical profiling powers tonight, Reid was just along for the ride for the most part except for making one important discovery. He looked good though. 

Reid did look great though he wasn't in it enough. I was kind of obsessed with the shirts he was wearing in this!

JJ was soooo irritating in this - both with the profiling and the heart to heart with Rossi about why his ex kept her pregnancy secret where JJ talked a lot of BS in my view.

[Sparger Springs]

Rossi's grandson has 2 biracial parents and is apparently 100% black.  If the grandchild had been a girl she would've looked like Zoe Kravitz. 

[smoker]

Ok, genetic is soooo particular. However the chances of a black kid, with a father like that are really slim. I wouldnt want to say it myself, but I do agree with you Sparger.

Is the child an actor or is he one of Mantega's friends? ;D

Edited April 14, 2016 by smoker

[JMO]

It was 'acceptable' on the  Reid-meter in terms of screen time and appearance.  But I would definitely recommend only paying attention when you hear his voice.

[ReidFan]

pretty much JMO hit the nail on the head.....

 

I dloaded it for screencapping purposes (it won't rival the 250+ I took off Entropy) but there were a couple of GeezuzMGGLooksEspeciallyGood here moments...  

the 'important discovery' scene wow well....back in the good old days of seasons 1-4 writing and directing, they would've gone with one of those step-outside-the-scene sequences where Reid connects the dots in his mind and have him explain that neurofibrowhateverthehellitwas really eloquently, perhaps touching on the Elephant Man etc. Instead they kinda did it, --but not as well as it was in, say, Fisher King,--  with a close up of Matthew cut in with  a couple shots of the photos on their clearboard and if it weren't for his fantastic acting, I wouldn't have made the connection that he's adding up all the pieces in his mind. I'll forgive them this oversight though ---they probably needed to save screentime for that uberprecious JJ and Rossi moment /sarcasm -- because there will be  a helluva lovely screencap of the Reid moment when I get around to it later. 

 

and of course, they gave away the unsub before the opening credits. grrrrrr (it can be done, in shadows/hoods/misdirected shots like just feet or hands or whatever without giving away the face) but NO. Nope, gotta give the guy away before it even says Starring Joe Mantegna. (and now, Matthew Gray Gubler is second! woo!)

[Bookish Jen]

If I had a dollar for every time I rolled my eyes during the bookends when Rossi was mushing it up with his grandson and later reconnecting with his ex-wife, I could retire to the south of France. And a pox on JJ for her once again, being the profiling expert (and Reid just looking pretty for the most part) and counseling Rossi on why his ex kept Joy a secret for nearly 30 years. I kept saying to myself, "Bitch, you never even met Rossi's ex-wife, now hush little Miss Breck Girl!"

 

And where was Hotch? Maybe he was busy helping Secnarf fix her broken toilet. And when I think of it, watching Secnarf fix her toilet would have been more fascinating than watching "Inner Beauty (Outer Dooty)." Speaking of Hotch, I'm looking forward to Storm but will we actually get to see Hotch? I should hope so, but I'm having my doubts. We'll probably get more scenes of Mary Sue JJ, Garcia's kitty ears and the untalented off-spring of one of Joe's celebrity besties.

 

While watching this hot mess, I couldn't help but wonder how this premise would have been handled during CM's glory years, and I imagined a million times better. We would have seen less of the unsub and more profiling. There wouldn't be this mishegoss with Rossi's grandkid and ex-wife. In fact, Rossi might have not been around, and Gideon would be working his profiling magic. And every character would have more well-rounded and bringing their unique skills and talents that made them so compelling and interesting to us in the first place and made CM appointment television.

 

Though I put a great deal of blame on MESSer and her collection of typing half-wits, I put most of the blame on the suits, bean counters, and spreadsheeters at CBS who employ these folks.

 

I can only imagine what the cast is thinking when they go through a table read, spouting lines from such substandard scripts.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Bookish Jen

[normasm]

the 'important discovery' scene wow well....back in the good old days of seasons 1-4 writing and directing, they would've gone with one of those step-outside-the-scene sequences where Reid connects the dots in his mind and have him explain that neurofibrowhateverthehellitwas really eloquently, perhaps touching on the Elephant Man etc. 

 

I'm glad they didn't mention the Elephant Man, although I was expecting they would. Joseph Merrick *probably* had Proteus Syndrome rather than neurofibromatosis, or maybe Proteus + NFM. I guess they've made worse medical mistakes come out of that beautiful mouth, but i'm just glad they didn't have him state a certainty, yet again.

[ReidFan]

I'm glad they didn't mention the Elephant Man, although I was expecting they would. Joseph Merrick *probably* had Proteus Syndrome rather than neurofibromatosis, or maybe Proteus + NFM. I guess they've made worse medical mistakes come out of that beautiful mouth, but i'm just glad they didn't have him state a certainty, yet again.

well then I stand corrected! :) I just assumed it was the Elephant man thing because several other people on the Internet mentioned it. I suppose that means the writer really DID do some research. And yes, in this case, I'm glad they didn't make Reid say something so patently wrong although I wouldn't've known it until you mentioned it. And of course, I would pay money to listen to Matthew Gray Gubler read the Beijing phone book, so it's all good.

[MMC]

Regarding JJ's so called attitude and her siding with Rossi's ex I can't say it surprises me.After all this is a woman whom as far as we know has never even told her own husband Will about the miscarriage she suffered.

[Clemgo3165]

I couldn't believe what was coming out of JJ's mouth. This is the woman who came back to BAU and is off on the jet pretty frequently to do her job, leaving her kids behind. And trying to make keeping a child away from her father OK because he was so involved with work is total BS. At the very least let him know and let him make his own decision about how much he wants/can be involved. So maybe Rossi would have been the Dad who showed up every couple of weeks with a new toy, or he may have been the guy who only called on birthdays and Xmas. Too bad his daughter will never know.

[Bookish Jen]

Regarding JJ's so called attitude and her siding with Rossi's ex I can't say it surprises me.After all this is a woman whom as far as we know has never even told her own husband Will about the miscarriage she suffered.

You're right! I totally forgot this part of JJ's storyline. Wow, some marriage she and Will must have if she couldn't even tell him she suffered a miscarriage, which from what I've heard can be hugely devastating to a lot of women.

[MMC]

You're right! I totally forgot this part of JJ's storyline. Wow, some marriage she and Will must have if she couldn't even tell him she suffered a miscarriage, which from what I've heard can be hugely devastating to a lot of women.

Well it does sort of give fodder to the Will haters.They can fanwank that he is such a horrible husband that poor JJ was probably too afraid to tell him about the miscarriage. Which is of course why she had to burden poor Reid with it. It is beyond me how she even stayed married to this monster let alone have another child with him.

[JMO]

It will surprise no one that I'm not about to jump on the 'bash JJ' bandwagon.  Maybe that's because I actually listened to what she said to Rossi.  

 

She did not say that his ex was right to withhold the news of the child from him.  She challenged him to be honest with himself, as to whether he would have been fully present to parenting.  She pointed out that his own prior comments about his past behavior were not consistent with someone who might have put taking care of a child ahead of the job.  She specifically said that it didn't mean the ex was right to do what she did.  

 

What she didn't say, but could have, was that, in the CM universe, family members of BAU members aren't, in fact, safe. In that universe, it would have made a lot of sense to keep the child secret, for the child's own sake. 

 

 

[ReidFan]

LOL MMC....

 

I think it's another one of those things that happened offscreen, actually. I dunno, really? Not tell him? Especially since they'd apparently been trying. I find that difficult to believe.

 

Part of me thinks that had it not been for JLH and her serendipitous pregnancy (and leaving the show), they may have made a bit of a 'PoorPoor JJ, working mom, trying to conceive again storyline' for JJ but the timing just wasn't there. And except that it would probably be difficult to work into the series now, I would have loved to have seen an infertility/difficulty getting pregnant storyline for one of them, although my preference woulda been someone other than JJ. Like Savannah, before they obviously went a different way there, or hey, how about giving Reid a love interest....and then since it seems to be the show's modus operandi to eff up his life as much as possible, give the happy-for-an-episode-and-a-half couple the infertility to deal with. (thought before Entropy came along, and now that could be twisted to a 'I don't want to pass on the schizophrenia and/or dementia gene' issue between Reid and wife) I can dream..... (or perhaps fanfic it myself, having been there)

[secnarf]

Rossi's grandson has 2 biracial parents and is apparently 100% black.  If the grandchild had been a girl she would've looked like Zoe Kravitz. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/02/biracial-twins-lucy-maria-aylmer_n_6787294.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123050/Look-The-black-white-twins-turn-seven.html

There are many cases like this.

 

What is that saying? The difference between real life and fiction is that fiction has to make sense?

[MMC]

. I remember years ago reading this interview with this woman who was living in the UK. She was black and her husband was white. She conceived and gave birth to twins.One of them was black like she was. The other was white like her husband. Every time she'd take her babies out in a stroller people would automatically assume the white baby belonged to someone else and that she was probably just babysitting him.That is until she'd set them straight letting them know that he was indeed hers and that the babies were in fact twins.

[normasm]

I honestly had more trouble with Kai's haircut than with his darker-than-his-mom skintone (I've seen instances where this has happened). Is the hi-top fade coming back in?

[Racbec]

What I heard JJ say in that scene with Rossi was, in effect, "Your ex-wife wasn't right to keep your daughter from you, but, come on, you would have made a lousy dad since you clearly would have put your career ahead of your child. So anyone can understand why she did it."  Who says things like that?

[smoker]

Genetic is that awesome, but this show has fulfilled the inconsistencies coffin. And the chances are slim.
I didn't like the haircut either, but I didn't like the ambassador granny or the husband, the whole family lacks chemistry.
The ambassador needs a spine donor. Anyone in her place would have ripped Rossi's heart out his body. And the daughter...changing her father's name! I would have sent her a howler just like Longbottom's grandmother.

Edited April 14, 2016 by smoker

[Droogie]

. I remember years ago reading this interview with this woman who was living in the UK. She was black and her husband was white. She conceived and gave birth to twins.One of them was black like she was. The other was white like her husband. Every time she'd take her babies out in a stroller people would automatically assume the white baby belonged to someone else and that she was probably just babysitting him.That is until she'd set them straight letting them know that he was indeed hers and that the babies were in fact twins.

I used to know how to make graphs with dominant and recessive genes and how to plot which percentage of offspring would have which characteristic, but I don't anymore. All I know now is my son is color blind and so was my dad and it's handed down through the mother. There is a lovely actress named Victoria-Something who was on one of the late 80s-early 90s nighttime soaps, whom I think is biracial and who married a 100% Caucasian man. Subsequently, their daughter had blonde curly hair and a beautiful olive complexion, and everywhere Victoria went, she was asked if she were the babysitter. I imagine that would get old fast.

Is this even relevant? No idea.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Droogie

[smoker]

JJ's married a doormat who is so grateful she lets him breath in the same room she thinks she knows something about balance a marriage.

The secret of extreme situations in a couple is, one is in command and the other obeys, one gets what they want to and the other, well, the other has to swallow their pride. And If you choose your own dignity you got a divorce just like Haley and Hotch and Gideon and his family, maybe even Rossi and his first wife.

Edited April 14, 2016 by smoker

[MMC]

So then can we now concur that by JJ's own standards, based on what she said to Rossi, she must be a lousy mother. Because it sure as heck looks to me like she is putting her career/job before her 2 small children.One of whom is still a baby. I haven't seen her cutting back on her hours at the BAU.And she seems just as available to hop on a plane and take off at a moments notice as any of them.

 

ETA: And what about the fact that she lost her unborn child because she had put her job first. This is a woman who allowed herself to be sent to a war zone knowing full well she was pregnant. And to make matters worse she actually allowed herself to be sent out on that convey where her vehicle hit an explosive devise injuring her and causing her to lose her unborn child. I'm sorry I don't mean to sound callas and heartless,but I feel this is a valid point. So again I ask where does she get off talking to Rossi like that.

Edited April 14, 2016 by MMC

[Danielg342]

I like how Joe Mantegna has a special level of energy and warmth that he brings to his character. He can make complete schlock be so riveting, I don't know how he does it.

 

I also liked how this episode was a bit of a twist on the old sadist storyline- he's not disfiguring them to hurt them, he's disfiguring them to help them. Novel concept.

 

Oh, and Garcia asking to spell the medical condition Reid brought up. I laughed out loud when I heard that.

 

That's about it for the positives.

 

I felt like this episode was two different episodes on two different shows, with the writer unable to commit to either of them. I have no problem with CM wanting to write more "personal" stories, but they ought to mix them in with cases more. Otherwise, they're rather pointless and distract from the episode.

 

Not to mention I'm here to watch Criminal Minds, not The Young and the Restless.

 

(Yes I still miss Morgan. Sue me)

 

Besides, Rossi really didn't need to leave his family- Sacramento is only a few hours from San Francisco, and I'm sure he could have done a lot of work via his phone. They had more than enough people to go around and observe things. You'd think Rossi might find the arrival of his second wife reason enough to tell Hotch, "you know, I got to take this one off. You won't believe who just showed up at my grandkid's house".

 

Surely Hotch would understand how important family is, and surely Rossi would know that too, especially since he had that realization before departing on the case.

 

Sometimes, this show...they just don't think things through, do they?

 

All this space and I still haven't got to the case yet. I do actually think it was well-plotted, because I didn't see the "he's helping them" angle coming, but it still felt like a rote exercise in exposition. Lots of talking, lots of gore...lots and lots of gore...and no action. I felt like maybe this would have worked a lot better as a Season 1 episode, when the whole idea was new. At least in S1 we were wowed when we finally learned, "that's what a sadist is like", and, even though quite a bit of the early seasons were "instructional" like this one, the fact that we were learning, as an audience, about profiling for the first time made it entertaining.

 

This? Well, I've seen more than a dozen sadists already on this show...I need a bit more than talking heads telling me what was happening to keep me interested.

 

Speaking of S1, I miss the quips, I miss the visual trips inside of the UnSub's mind...heck, I miss the uncertainty about who the UnSub is. Really don't think we gained anything seeing the UnSub early in this one.

 

Heck, I miss the energy...everyone acted like this was the fifth rehearsal of the day. You know, I'm not even sure this is the final cut, because I'm sure the acting had to have improved as the day wore on...right?

 

I guess there's no other way to say this other than I was bored. There certainly didn't feel like there was any urgency at all in the case- sure, a guy killing multiple women within the span of a week is a pretty high priority, but the team acted like the victims were "write offs" and they just had to live with the bodies piling up until they found the guy.

 

Perhaps, here, it would have been better if the writer followed Edward Allen Bernero's lead and used the "middle victim" formula, where we actually see the transformation attempt and then the failure, prompting the guy to perhaps get frustrated and approach his endgame, which would be abducting another woman and actually taking her to his old girlfriend's house, which would be in another city forcing the team to figure out where the UnSub was headed. At least then the episode would have had some urgency.

 

Alas, it was boring...and again, Tara Lewis had four lines. Does she add anything to the show except be the token black person now that Morgan is gone?

 

Sheesh.

 

Episode Grade: F. Not one of the worst ever, but clearly this is very near the bottom of the very deep barrel CM has cast recently.

[smoker]

So then can we now concur that by JJ's own standards, based on what she said to Rossi, she must be a lousy mother. Because it sure as heck looks to me like she is putting her career/job before her 2 small children.One of whom is still a baby. I haven't seen her cutting back on her hours at the BAU.And she seems just as available to hop on a plane and take off at a moments notice as any of them.

Yes. In my opinion, it's a mean situation for people who love their careers or who need the money, and they want to have and raise a family. Nobody can be in two places at the same time. You have to choose and, in this case, JJ doesnt need the money to eat or pay her rent, so she isn't allowed to whim because she is doing what's better for her.

Edited April 14, 2016 by smoker

[Danielg342]

JJ's married a doormat who is so grateful she lets him breath in the same room she thinks she knows something about balance a marriage.

 

Doormat, eh? Great way to describe William LaMontagne, whom we haven't seen since Season 9. Who knows if he's even still alive. Must be a great life staying at home and taking care of the kid while the wife comes in occasionally to have sex with you. Or at least that's what I hope he's getting out of it. Because it'd be a pretty bum deal for him if he's doing all this work for the kids and JJ doesn't give him some reward for it.

[ForeverAlone]

Doormat, eh? Great way to describe William LaMontagne, whom we haven't seen since Season 9. Who knows if he's even still alive. Must be a great life staying at home and taking care of the kid while the wife comes in occasionally to have sex with you. Or at least that's what I hope he's getting out of it. Because it'd be a pretty bum deal for him if he's doing all this work for the kids and JJ doesn't give him some reward for it.

Since Will will be in the season finale, I think it is safe to say that he is still alive and presumably married to JJ. :) :) :) 

[Danielg342]

Since Will will be in the season finale, I think it is safe to say that he is still alive and presumably married to JJ. :) :) :) 

 

The sex must be great.

[zannej]

I completely forgot that a new episode was on and I spent quality time with my mother instead. So I watched the episode online later.

I did like the opening where it sort of looked like the repair guy was carrying a body wrapped up (at least to my eyes) and the woman was afraid of him. I kept waiting for him to kick her door in or for an unsub to appear behind her. Interesting twist to have the repair guy find the bodies in the basement.

 

I felt like for a moment they were making fun of JJ's "because I'm a mother" shtick. I actually laughed out loud when Rossi said "Because you're a mother?" and she said "No, because I know you!" That actually made more sense.

 

I don't think JJ thinks she is a lousy mother because she somehow seems to find more time to spend with her kid and I think Rossi was just so engrossed and caught up in work that he ignored everything else. Plus, there is some stereotype about men not being able to multitask-- particularly when kids are involved. It wasn't just that he was away a lot, I think the gist I got was that Rossi's mindset at that age was more self-centered and he may have been just as inconsiderate (if not more) than Hotch was with Haley. Well, I don't know if "inconsiderate" is quite the right word. Hotch was more oblivious in some regards, but I'm sure Haley viewed him as inconsiderate.

 

I thought that the makeup job for the victims was absolutely terrible and it really distracted me.

 

I felt like this plot had been done before in other episodes.

 

I didn't like seeing the unsub so early in. I actually felt sorry for the unsub's girlfriend and how she killed herself.

 

Not sure what to think of the Rossi family drama. I didn't hate it, but there was something off with how he interacted with the ex-wife. I just didn't see the chemistry and her accent seemed a bit odd at times. The Casting Call said they wanted a woman with a British accent for the role.

 

As for the grandson's skin tone, I once met a black woman who told me that both of her parents appeared to be white but one or more of her grandparents had been black. Her siblings looked white, but she didn't. And she said that even though she married a white man, one of her kids turned out darker than her.

 

Another anecdotal account was a hispanic friend who has a hispanic wife and most of their kids looked hispanic except for the one that has pale skin and red hair. There had been a redhead in the father's family tree a few generations back. Genetics is a funny thing.

 

As for Will, he was probably happy to get out a crap place like New Orleans-- which, btw, is where Matthew is right now (or at least last I heard). It has a very high violent crime rate. It has one of the highest murder rates per capita to boot.

Edited April 15, 2016 by zannej

[secnarf]

Yes. In my opinion, it's a mean situation for people who love their careers or who need the money, and they want to have and raise a family. Nobody can be in two places at the same time. You have to choose and, in this case, JJ doesnt need the money to eat or pay her rent, so she isn't allowed to whim because she is doing what's better for her.

How do we know JJ doesn't need the money? If Will says home and looks after the kids, where is the money coming from, if not from JJ's job?

[ForeverAlone]

The problem with the unsub's psychology is that he can't be a sadist who is trying to help these victims AND trying to remake the victims in the image of his dead girlfriend. That puts him squarely into the delusional category. At least when serial killers kill people as a surrogate for their true target, they presumably aren't delusional and thinking they are remaking their victims. I mean, the unsub clearly wanted these women to live, at least based on how he treated them, by calling them by his dead girlfriend's name. In that regard, this episode reminded me of a torture porn version of Cold Comfort, but at least that unsub's psychology made sense, since he was a necrophile. But this guy just seemed upset that his girlfriend was dead and was disfiguring and killing women, because he wanted his girlfriend back. 

How do we know JJ doesn't need the money? If Will says home and looks after the kids, where is the money coming from, if not from JJ's job?

As near as I can remember, Will is a cop with the DC police force. So I don't think he is a stay at home dad, and they are a two working parent family. 

Edited April 15, 2016 by ForeverAlone

[secnarf]

As near as I can remember, Will is a cop with the DC police force. So I don't think he is a stay at home dad, and they are a two working parent family. 

Hmm, I was under the impression he either left entirely or seriously cut back his hours, but that might just be in my head.

[ForeverAlone]

Hmm, I was under the impression he either left entirely or seriously cut back his hours, but that might just be in my head.

I know he was working as a DC cop in season seven, and I don't remember hearing anything since then that would change that. 

[smoker]

How do we know JJ doesn't need the money? If Will says home and looks after the kids, where is the money coming from, if not from JJ's job?

 

as ForeverAlone has said, Will was working in season 7, I think there was an episode in the middle of that season where it looked like Will had been a stay-home-dad while Henry was younger, and he started to work again later, being JJ who makes bigger money, it seems logical Will staying at home for awhile.

 

I guess they didn't want to copy Haley's storyline. Will was complaining about JJ's job and how the Department of defense job was better hours for their family. So I didn't mean she didn't need working to live (or at least, to live a confortable life), but she doesn't need to work in the BAU. There are people who only have a job, and they can't lose it, but she could have a "better" job for their family and still a good salary, the same Hotch could have had a 9 am - 5 pm job and a good salary and his family. By the way, Haley didn't have a job, on the contrary of Will and JJ, Hotch's salary was necessary to pay their bills.

Edited April 15, 2016 by smoker

[Watermelon]

The problem with the unsub's psychology is that he can't be a sadist who is trying to help these victims AND trying to remake the victims in the image of his dead girlfriend. That puts him squarely into the delusional category. At least when serial killers kill people as a surrogate for their true target, they presumably aren't delusional and thinking they are remaking their victims. I mean, the unsub clearly wanted these women to live, at least based on how he treated them, by calling them by his dead girlfriend's name. In that regard, this episode reminded me of a torture porn version of Cold Comfort, but at least that unsub's psychology made sense, since he was a necrophile. But this guy just seemed upset that his girlfriend was dead and was disfiguring and killing women, because he wanted his girlfriend back. 

As near as I can remember, Will is a cop with the DC police force. So I don't think he is a stay at home dad, and they are a two working parent family. 

He also felt guilt.  Remember, before she killed herself she had had an anxiety attack because he left her alone in public. He was remaking the girlfriend to do right by the girlfriend(which was also why he told Danielle she couldn't go outside).

[JMO]

So then can we now concur that by JJ's own standards, based on what she said to Rossi, she must be a lousy mother. Because it sure as heck looks to me like she is putting her career/job before her 2 small children.One of whom is still a baby. I haven't seen her cutting back on her hours at the BAU.And she seems just as available to hop on a plane and take off at a moments notice as any of them.

 

ETA: And what about the fact that she lost her unborn child because she had put her job first. This is a woman who allowed herself to be sent to a war zone knowing full well she was pregnant. And to make matters worse she actually allowed herself to be sent out on that convey where her vehicle hit an explosive devise injuring her and causing her to lose her unborn child. I'm sorry I don't mean to sound callas and heartless,but I feel this is a valid point. So again I ask where does she get off talking to Rossi like that.

 

No, we cannot agree, because that isn't what she said.  She didn't disagree that the ex was in the wrong.  And she didn't even say it was wrong to work while raising kids.  She just pointed out to Rossi that his 'I would have's' were inconsistent with what he'd said in the past.  

 

We can also not agree that she went to Afghanistan knowing she was pregnant.  She found out while she was there.  The explosion happened right afterward.  Could she have skipped the interrogation, even if she couldn't have arranged to return stateside that quickly?  Maybe.  Could the base camp have been bombed, if she had?  Maybe. (Basing this on a real situation.)

 

I don't think it's all that unusual for one friend to help another work through both sides of a situation, to help them find their way through it.  In my world, that's considered supportive.  I think another writer would have put that conversation into Hotch's hands, but this writer chose JJ.  She brought to it what she could, once she realized how overtly distracted Rossi was.  I guess I don't know what else could have come of it.  Should she have incited his anger toward his ex? What possible good could have come of that?  Frankly, if I wanted to see that kind of behavior, I would watch Jerry Springer.  Which I don't.

[ForeverAlone]

He also felt guilt.  Remember, before she killed herself she had had an anxiety attack because he left her alone in public. He was remaking the girlfriend to do right by the girlfriend(which was also why he told Danielle she couldn't go outside).

Yeah, and that is where the story loses me even more. I mean, he is abducting, torturing, disfiguring and ultimately, killing women, because he is trying to bring back his dead girlfriend. It is that sort of backstory that makes me think we are supposed to feel sorry for the unsub, and that is bullshit.

[MMC]

Sorry but in my view since JJ and Will were supposedly trying to conceive that means unless she informed her superiors of this fact which probably would have altered their decision to send her over there than yes JJ allowed herself to be sent over there.At the very least she was certainly aware of the dangers of going out with that convey but chose to do it anyway.

 

I guess in a way I am being too hard on her, after all the choices JJ made were dictated by MESSer and her pitiful excuses for writers.All I can say is when it came to her real life pregnancy thank goodness it was the actress herself who was in control and not MESSer and CO.

[ForeverAlone]

I have to completely ignore the whole "JJ had a miscarriage on a combat mission", because if I dwell on it too much, it just pisses me off. There are times the writers stretch reality, and then there are times when they dismantle it completely. Because there is NO WAY JJ would have been on that mission, not when she knew she was pregnant and her boss knew she was pregnant. There is no way to reconcile what happened, so in my mind, no way to blame JJ, because there is no way she would have been even allowed to make that choice in the first place. Since that was just a complete whiff by the writers (one of many in that episode). it doesn't reflect JJ's character or decision making choices in any way, because the writers completely cocked that whole thing up.