Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show

[smoker]

I would say poor Tim Curry, His Highness The Darkness. Then I think about the good amount of sweaty money he got of that cartoon character and stop caring.

Girl's wig aside, she was an awful actor. And I couldn't stop laughing while I was watching the final duel scene, Mr. Curry was so vaudevillian. However, the worst thing, JJ's mommy speech, it made me puke a little bit in my mouth.

I don't like To Hell/and Back either, but at least I got the amazing final scene with Hotch/The reaper.

Edited August 23, 2016 by smoker

[ReidFan]

I just didn't care for the Our Darkest Hour episodes. Which was weird because Tim Curry is ten times the actor anyone else was in that episode. Maybe that's what I didn't like. Thought the other guest actors were pretty underwhelming, especially the girl, she was awful.

To Hell and Back I hate hate HATE because, as the spouse of a Canadian police officer, I'm really offended with the portrayal of the Ontario Provincial Police here. Besides all the other crappy 'research' they did (ie Sarnia is a good hour's drive from Detroit and one wouldn't bother going all the way down to Detroit to cross the flippin' border, there's a border crossing--and a faster one--right in flippin' Sarnia ferchrissakes), the thing that I absolutely despised was the over the top non-Canadian method of take down at the end of the episode. There is just no effin' way Canadian police would be shooting up an obviously distraught and mentally incapacitated unarmed man the way they were portrayed as doing. Canadian police are NOT trigger happy yahoos. It just bugged the hell out of me. My husband has been a cop for over twenty years and has only drawn his weapon twice in that entire time and has not yet had to fire it in the line of duty. It's just so wrong to show Canadian police in this light. Just not how it's done. And I'm sorry but I can't get over that. Especially since it was over the top gratuitous and could have been prevented. Just effin' awful.

[Droogie]

That's similar to the way I feel about "Blood Relations," RF. Incestuous West Virginia family -- such a tired, overdone trope. And it was clear that whoever is responsible for such things had never been to Wheeling or spoken to anyone there, because people don't sound that way there even a little bit; Wheeling is a pretty, cosmopolitan town. 

Ticked me right off. I completely get it. 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Droogie

[ForeverAlone]

That would be Breen who wrote Blood Relations, and I saw so many angry tweets about that episode after it aired. 

[Bookish Jen]

10 hours ago, smoker said:

I would say poor Tim Curry, His Highness The Darkness. Then I think about the good amount of sweaty money he got of that cartoon character and stop caring.

Girl's wig aside, she was an awful actor. And I couldn't stop laughing while I was watching the final duel scene, Mr. Curry was so vaudevillian. However, the worst thing, JJ's mommy speech, it made me puke a little bit in my mouth.

I don't like To Hell/and Back either, but at least I got the amazing final scene with Hotch/The reaper.

Egad, I like Tim Curry a lot but his performance in this two-parter was so cartoonish and silly. I half expected him to twirl a non-existent moustache while the thespian character John Lovitz played on SNL pops up to say, "Acting!"

And yes, the actress who played Ellie wasn't very good; and the writing and directing was just a load of meh. I often wonder what Matthew could have done with these two episodes. He couldn't have done any worse.

[Bookish Jen]

Rabid tends to stick in my craw.

First, I hate how the skinny dude, Spencer, and the fat chick, Penelope, are shown as two totally out-of-shape gym class losers. Granted, Spencer may not have the best eye hand coordination. But he seems healthy enough to run around a track, and he has the long limbs of a lot of good runners.

No, Penelope doesn't look like she's out of an athletic/fitness club ad, but that doesn't mean she can't be well-coordinated. Kirsten has a lush, curvy figure, perfect for belly dancing. Now only if Penelope would have taken up belly dancing instead of that detestable ukulele. Gideon probably would have risen from the dead to say, "Hot damn, Baby Girl!"

And though I think it's cool CM has a Milwaukee based case in Rabid, I really wasn't appreciative them naming the street I was mugged and beaten on-Lyon-in this episode. It really brought up a horrible memory for me. Granted, I doubt CM did this on purpose. And I should be glad they didn't have the Milwaukee LEOs walking around with cheeseheads on top of their heads even the Packers are religion in these parts.

[normasm]

Booky, I'm always a little torn with Rabid. There's the stupid mocking of Reid and Garcia's lack of athleticism and ignorance of the fact they don't need to qualify. Dumb. There's the highly disturbing barking of the dog and torment of the victims. Worst of all is the mouth-foaming victim (the actress really did the best she could with an awful role).

But, I love the male victim, he's just right, engaging with a nice measure of cringe-inducing. And i love that his mother's ringtone is the Ride of the Valkyries (but he obviously loves her)! I love that Reid, however clumsily, rescues Morgan and takes down the Unsub.

So, yeah, I watch the episode and mute at times, and, if it's recorded, fast forward at times. Uneven writing.

Edited August 23, 2016 by normasm

[ReidFan]

24 minutes ago, normasm said:

Booky, I'm always a little torn with Rabid. There's the stupid mocking of Reid and Garcia's lack of athleticism and ignorance of the fact they don't need to qualify. Dumb. There's the highly disturbing barking of the dog and torment of the victims. Worst of all is the mouth-foaming victim (the actress really did the best she could with an awful role).

But, I love the male victim, he's just right, engaging with a nice measure of cringe-inducing. And i love that his mother's ringtone is the Ride of the Valkyries (but he obviously loves her)! I love that Reid, however clumsily, rescues Morgan and takes down the Unsub.

So, yeah, I watch the episode and mute at times, and, if it's recorded, fast forward at times. Uneven writing.

this! I adored him too. For a few minutes, I thought he was Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) all grown up, I really adored him. Loved him from start to finish-the bus scene where he wanted to give the woman back the item she'd left behind; the phone call with mom; the generosity with what turned out to be his kidnapper, his strength through his captivity and then the scene in the hospital at the end, just really well done (despite the writing) 

I think the fitness thing was just (horrible writing) a 'gee, we need to do a parallel story about friendship....throw some Reid and Morgan/Morgan and Garcia' into this' (OMG, I just checked...written by Virgil Williams ) . While I loved the visual treat of Matthew in shorts, I find it next to impossible to believe that Reid would not have researched this whole fitness test BS and known he didn't HAVE to do it.

[ForeverAlone]

My biggest issue with the whole fitness angle is the suggestion that Reid is so hideously out of shape that even Penelope could outrun him. Sorry, I don't buy it. He would have needed to maintain some semblance of physical fitness to get into the FBI and to stay in. That entire subplot seemed to be played for laughs by setting Reid up for ridicule, and it was completely unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story or the characterization of the characters. 

[ReidFan]

yeah, this is one of several episodes where the character is so assassinated by the writer it's appalling. Part of me wanted to be mad at Matthew for not kicking up a stink about it, but perhaps he just liked the idea of some comedy (even as badly written as it was) for a change from all the dark stuff....

[Willowy]

Matthew's legs, doe...

[ReidFan]

and his feet.

Man, I feel so guilty.....every time I'm watching Revelations (which, sue me, is probably at least once a week) I'm bawling over him being beaten and tortured and drugged and dying temporarily.....but there's this part of me that just oooooooooohs every time that sock comes off that foot. *melt*

*oops* <adjusts decorum>

[Bookish Jen]

7 hours ago, ReidFan said:

and his feet.

Man, I feel so guilty.....every time I'm watching Revelations (which, sue me, is probably at least once a week) I'm bawling over him being beaten and tortured and drugged and dying temporarily.....but there's this part of me that just oooooooooohs every time that sock comes off that foot. *melt*

*oops* <adjusts decorum>

I'm partial to Matthew's hands and those long, tapered fingers. I especially like to see him, when he's emoting as Spencer, using those hands when he's scrolling through a book or some pertinent files, or when he's holding a writing utensil.\

Back to Rabid: Yes, I liked the male victim, too and how Spencer took down the unsub.

[Bookish Jen]

18 hours ago, ReidFan said:

this! I adored him too. For a few minutes, I thought he was Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) all grown up, I really adored him. Loved him from start to finish-the bus scene where he wanted to give the woman back the item she'd left behind; the phone call with mom; the generosity with what turned out to be his kidnapper, his strength through his captivity and then the scene in the hospital at the end, just really well done (despite the writing) 

I think the fitness thing was just (horrible writing) a 'gee, we need to do a parallel story about friendship....throw some Reid and Morgan/Morgan and Garcia' into this' (OMG, I just checked...written by Virgil Williams ) . While I loved the visual treat of Matthew in shorts, I find it next to impossible to believe that Reid would not have researched this whole fitness test BS and known he didn't HAVE to do it.

Yes, Reid has this genius IQ, but when it came to the fitness test, he has the same IQ as Ryan Lochte, and couldn't figure out that he and Garcia didn't have to do it. It was a poor attempt at humor, a really piss poor attempt.

[Bookish Jen]

18 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

My biggest issue with the whole fitness angle is the suggestion that Reid is so hideously out of shape that even Penelope could outrun him. Sorry, I don't buy it. He would have needed to maintain some semblance of physical fitness to get into the FBI and to stay in. That entire subplot seemed to be played for laughs by setting Reid up for ridicule, and it was completely unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story or the characterization of the characters. 

Other than his drug addiction, which he got help for, and his problems with his headaches and insomnia, for the most part Reid is a pretty healthy specimen. Other than his love of caffeine, he doesn't smoke, drink heavily, eat a load of junk food, and with him taking the subway to work, gets at least some exercise. Plus, just being in the field and running after unsubs is a workout.

And sure, Garcia isn't perfectly toned and a size 2, but I can't recall a scene where she's drinking an extra large sugary soft drink or eating a bunch of junk food at her desk. Plus, she's a vegetarian.

Nope, Reid and Garcia may never have the athletic prowess to compete in the Olympics, but they're not exactly lazy sloths, either.

[Willowy]

I love that he went from this adorable fetus...

 

To this hellacious hunk...

and he's not even done yet. Just keeps getting better. 

[ReidFan]

^ *squirms in chair*

[ReidFan]

LOL...... all this talk about episodes we hate and love. And I check my local listings. Guess what two are airing today, just to punish me?  "Rabid" and "Proof" 

 

WHY! :(

[senin]

I think I got a little bit luckier!!

Today some episodes of season 7 were airing, from "self-fulfilling prophecy" to "snake eyes". As I was recording them, I was watching the final episodes of season 2 on DVD. Last one finishes, I turn off the dvd-player and I get to see the final half of "True Genius"!!! 

Now, is that being lucky or not??

[Mysteyman]

Has anybody ever counted the number of female and male victims on the show?

On August 30, 2016 at 7:03 AM, ReidFan said:

LOL...... all this talk about episodes we hate and love. And I check my local listings. Guess what two are airing today, just to punish me?  "Rabid" and "Proof" 

 

WHY! :(

I skipped Rabid the other day and I will never watch Proof again.

[Danielg342]

13 hours ago, Mysteyman said:

Has anybody ever counted the number of female and male victims on the show?

Don't have a running total, but there have been way more female victims than male ones, and vice versa for the UnSubs. Some of that may well be lazy conceptualizing, but it is in line with FBI statistics on serial killers, most of whom are men who target women.

[smoker]

I finished Extreme Aggressor just 1 minute ago. I feel reassured right now :D

[ReidFan]

22 minutes ago, smoker said:

I finished Extreme Aggressor just 1 minute ago. I feel reassured right now :D

I hope you loved Andrew Jackson's performance in it. He's awesome.

[smoker]

7 minutes ago, ReidFan said:

I hope you loved Andrew Jackson's performance in it. He's awesome.

Everybody is so awesome in the premiere!

I feel ashamed now ReidFan, I had to check Andrew Jackson's picture, I thought you're talking about the other unsub :S

I didn't remember his jail scenes, only the last scenes, so the rewatch was refreshing. Anyway everything was perfect. Even Morgan's complains made me smile and his first scene!! Catting around in a 'Brad the real FBI agent' style xD

Edited September 1, 2016 by smoker

[ReidFan]

I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Andrew Jackson. I didn't know who he was at the time, but he pretty much saved my sanity aboard a flight home once. I'm not a good flyer to begin with, there was a lot of turbulence, and he calmed me and distracted me and was the epitome of compassionate and empathetic. The total opposite of his CM character LOL!

[SSAHotchner]

On 8/23/2016 at 6:59 AM, smoker said:

I would say poor Tim Curry, His Highness The Darkness. Then I think about the good amount of sweaty money he got of that cartoon character and stop caring.

Girl's wig aside, she was an awful actor. And I couldn't stop laughing while I was watching the final duel scene, Mr. Curry was so vaudevillian. However, the worst thing, JJ's mommy speech, it made me puke a little bit in my mouth.

I don't like To Hell/and Back either, but at least I got the amazing final scene with Hotch/The reaper.

The best thing about To Hell/and Back was Hotch's final soliloquy. 

[SSAHotchner]

On 8/24/2016 at 1:23 PM, Bookish Jen said:

I'm partial to Matthew's hands and those long, tapered fingers. I especially like to see him, when he's emoting as Spencer, using those hands when he's scrolling through a book or some pertinent files, or when he's holding a writing utensil.\

Back to Rabid: Yes, I liked the male victim, too and how Spencer took down the unsub.

Yes, he has beautiful hands. But, for me, Rabid was a silly, unbelievable plot, like many of the episodes from the past 5 or 6 seasons.

On 8/24/2016 at 3:10 PM, Franky said:

I love that he went from this adorable fetus...

 

To this hellacious hunk...

and he's not even done yet. Just keeps getting better. 

Ooh, that first scene is one of my all-time favorite Criminal Minds scenes. Great humor from Reid, Elle and Hotch. 

[Willowy]

SSAHotchner, I have to confess that I liked Rabid. I know I'm in the minority and that nobody here agrees with me, but I thought the writing was sort of winkingly funny, and actually really good with the dialogue. I seriously loved the first victim dude, I liked the crazy rabid lady, I liked (hated) the unsub (who was actually kind of a badass fighter), and I loved the cheesy workout scenes (Oh yeah, Reid is gonna be the world's biggest weakling with THOSE thighs? Ok, riiight). I was grinning the whole episode. 

[ReidFan]

it's just after 5 am, I'm supposed to be getting ready for work, Franky!!!!!  THOSE thighs.

like I can think about work now!

*whimper*

[Mislav]

As you all probably know, like many, I agree that the first five seasons of Criminal Minds were the best, especially seasons one and three. But I still really liked the show, and thought that it was pretty decent, up until season ten. It's all downhill from there. For me, it is only then that the show really reached the low, and more or less staid there, with some flaws that had been present before, being increased and more or less rooted since season ten. 

 

 

As of lately, I decided to put my feelings into words, explain why I feel that way, what bad habits have become rooted in season ten and more or less have continued up until now. It's been hard, but I think I've managed to do it!

 

 

Basically, from seasons six to nine, the show was more of a standard police procedural than a TV show about profilers (when compared to the early seasons at least), hence the complaints... but it was a fairly decent police procedural. Season six might have been the worst (in that group), due to Ashley, and Emily's spy story, but still...

 

 

After season nine, we have:

 

 

-episodes filled with unsubs and torture porn

 

-the team moving from one lead to another in an annoyingly quick pace, apparently without much profiling or just an effort at all

 

-Spencer having almost no major role in the investigations, except maybe an episode or two per season

 

-new team members who are bland, cliche and fit in irritatingly easily (though Tara is better than Kate, in my opinion)

 

 

Say what you want, but seasons 6 to 9, albeit not as good as previous ones, weren't like that, at least not to an extent that most of the episodes are now. Though season nine had "200", the worst episode ever, and a horrible season premiere, how many season nine episodes can be considered as good or even excellent? I think most of the fans (on this forum at least) would name "Final Shot", "To Bear A Witness", "In The Blood", "The Return", "The Caller", "Gabby", "The Edge of Winter" and, maybe (this are the season nine episodes that the fans seem to be more divided on) "Gatekeeper",  "Bully" and a two-part season finale. I also really liked "Strange Fruit", though, apparently, not many other fans do. From what I've read, the only episodes from season ten, that most of the fans genuinely liked, are "Nelson's Sparrow", "Rock Creek Park" and "Mr. Scratch", and some also liked "Lockdown" and "A place at the Table". Let's take 9x21 "What Happens in Mecklinburg" for a comparison. Not the best episode, but if it were made in season ten or eleven, do you think the scene would cut (no pun intended) before the unsub slits the victim's throat?

 

 

Also, even though the unsubs prior to season ten (and especially post season seven) did have some "wacky" motives/M.O.s, the writers would at least make some effort into explaining how those crazy things work and why the unsub does such things, and the agents wouldn't just get the answers out of the blue, without investigating much (or concentraiting on that specific problem) beforehand. Take the lobotomy unsub from "To Bear a Witness" and the unsub obsessed with witch trails from "In the Blood" as an example.

 

 

As of season ten, almost every episode has a gross/bizarre unsub, with his/her motives always being traced to one bizarre paraphilia/childhood trauma, and the team locates him/her because Garcia used her magic computer to trace the purchases of those specific items the unsub would need in order to, uhm, pull off "satisfying" murders. Again, this is a pattern that has really become "rooted" into the show since season ten, it wasn't really present before.

 

 

Though Alex Blake, present throughout the seasons eight and nine, could have been developed better, she did have her unique set of skills (forensic linguistic), that she would display often, and she only seemed really close with one fellow team member, Spencer (and, to a lesser extent, David). It was also an interesting and good change of dynamic, since Spencer actually had a fellow intellectual to interact with.

 

 

Kate, on the other hand, was apparently an expert in undercover operations, but she never displayed that. She seemed to be close with everyone right away, without any really meaningful bond between her and any other team members being developed or established. Her moment of bonding with Rossi was her bragging about beating up a suspect. She flat out lied to a suspect in order to obtain information, and Derek was fine with that. And her sister and brother in law had died in 9/11 attack, she had adopted her niece Meg, she later got pregnant, causing Meg to grow jealous, and Meg and her friend were abducted by some Internet maniac in season finale. One cliche after another. Despite her flaws, Tara is a bit better because the show really isn't hitting us over the head with her personal life storylines and she is experienced in interviewing serial killers (though that doesn't often help in a case of a week, does it?).

 

 

The plot issues aren't separated from that aspect. Not even well written characters and/or subplots can function well (or, at least, live up to the full potential) when combined with a poorly written case. That just taints the whole experience.

 

 

As for long-term season arcs, from seasons six to nine, "main" villain(s) were just one unsub (John Curtis from season eight finale, though he did have an accomplice) or a group of just several people, with one member usually standing out (a human trafficking ring from season six finale, with Lucy as a leader; Izzy Rogers and her two accomplices in season seven finale; a group of dirty cops in season nine finale). Those storylines still had their flaws, of course, but...

 

 

In season ten, the main story arc, resolved in the finale (after barely being developed at all beforehand) dealt with a human trafficking ring specialized in selling people to bunch of serial killers (on the Internet, of course), season eleven dealt with a group of hitmen (operating online, of course), then in season finale several criminals conspired to frame Hotch, which was a ploy for over a dozen of serial killers to escape from prison... there are multiple problems with that:

 

 

a) it isn't realistic that the BAU team would just bring such organisations down within a year, mostly by using Garcia's magic computer

 

b) that way, none of the villains can really get a chance to develop, to be presented as creepy and intriguing (the only exception is Cat Adams)

 

c) it isn't realistiic that the BAU would just now uncover those organisations that had been operating for years, and uncover them mostly thanks to a dumb luck or one of the perpetraitors slipping suddenly

 

 

Also, despite some of it's subplots being flawed, seasons six, seven, eight and nine at least had a sense of continuity. As much as some of you probably dislike Maeve storyline (and I had some problems with it too), I think that they dealt with Spencer's grief in a convincing and touching way, exploring it throughout the rest of season eight and even referencing to it a few times in season nine. They sort of brushed aside the whole "JJ being abducted and tortured" thing, but I think that most of us just wanted to forget about that episode anyway.

 

 

In season ten, they revisited JJ's experience from awful "200" and started her PTSD storyline... that led nowhere. A few episodes later, Spencer's grief over Gideon's death was explored in the very episode when it happened, and in the episode that followed... and never again. (Great acting, but still...) They would barely even mention Gideon past that episode, not even in 11x19 "Tribute", where Emily was back. Heck, they would barely mention Emily or Alex either. A potential love interest for Spencer was introduced in 10x18 "Rock Creek Park"... and nothing. Hotch's experience from 10x21 "Mr. Scratch" (that was intriguing and disturbing and had a lot of potential) was just pushed aside until season eleven finale, and even then it was barely anything more than a plot device. It isn't just about big storylines either. After what, three years of a relationship, Aaron breaks up with Beth off screen, displays barely anything more than a petty annoyance, and "gets back in the game" with David's help. The storyline involving Aaron's father in law still hasn't been revisited (though it wasn't a big storyline and that episode provided some closure). The only subplot (as of season ten) that mantains some continuity and development is Rossi's daughter and, later, ex-wife storyline, and boy are those dreadful in every other aspect. Continuity wise, maybe Derek/Savannah, but also really underdeveloped, and it's over now.

 

 

Anyway, now with Hotch gone also, I can only hope that the writers will focus on Reid more, and that Emily will bring some of the old magic back. Otherwise, the show will get even worse.

[SSAHotchner]

You've really put a lot of thought into this, Mislav, but I would say that seasons 8 & 9 were awful as well and contained torture porn and really bizarre plots/murderers.

Season 8: The Silencer (sewing their mouths shut), The God Complex (amputating their legs and sewing them on another person), The Lesson (the live marionettes). There was barely an episode that season that I liked. 

Season 9: The season of bizarre plots: the praying mantis nonsense in the first two episodes, Rabid (come on, rabies?), To Bear Witness, The Black Queen (totally contradicts almost everything we  knew about Garcia), Route 66 (could have been a great followup on Hotch's loss of Haley at the hands of The Reaper, but Virgil turned it into a Beth love fest), 200 (do we even need to state all that is wrong with this episode?) Even so, there were more episodes that I thought were good or okay this season than in season 8.

I agree with what you said about season 6. In season 7, I was so glad to have the rightful team back again until I realized where they were going with the characters. But there were a handful of episodes that season that I really enjoyed. 

As for season 10, there's barely an episode from that season I remember except for Mr. Scratch. To me, that was the only good episode. 

Season 11, the only episode I liked was Entropy. 

[Droogie]

The Black Queen.  The mere mention of that episode makes me wanna roll around on the ground and snatch myself bald-headed.

[Willowy]

Til Death Do Us Part. 

Repugnant, pathetic Unsub with zero redeeming qualities, gross mismanagement and ridiculous over indulgence on the part of the team, and truly inane writing. This one is worse than Proof in my opinion, because at least Proof had semi-decent profiling and Reid in tight slacks. Please don't get me started on the horrible, amateurish acting here. I can't say enough smack about this awful episode.

And it's depressing me now so I'm going to go watch a good one.

[ReidFan]

3 minutes ago, Franky said:

Til Death Do Us Part. 

Repugnant, pathetic Unsub with zero redeeming qualities, gross mismanagement and ridiculous over indulgence on the part of the team, and truly inane writing. This one is worse than Proof in my opinion, because at least Proof had semi-decent profiling and Reid in tight slacks. Please don't get me started on the horrible, amateurish acting here. I can't say enough smack about this awful episode.

And it's depressing me now so I'm going to go watch a good one.

*whimper*

[normasm]

Just to put some positive out there (cause I can't hang forever in the neg) I re-watched the Devil's backbone, and thought how well written, well cast, well acted and suspenseful it was without having too far out a plot line and not having any gross torture porn. I can watch it again and again.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Speaking as someone who always watches the first season when it shows up on ION's rotation, even though I have those DVDs, I've been enjoying the nostalgia. Even Gideon, who was never/is still never my favorite, interests me because I don't think his post-Bale recovery was actually fully complete, since by the time the season is over he's made a similar mistake to the one with Bale, the one that nearly costs Elle her life, and he falls right back into that semi-depressive state he must have been in when he went on "sabbatical".

[normasm]

Exactly, CoStar. I always think they constructed his character to show us exactly that, that Gideon was ground into a corner by the job, which then turned the hoses on him. By the time, in Extreme Aggressor, that they have the shifting lineup come into view, Gideon in the closeup foreground, then Hotch farther back, Morgan still farther, then Spencer in the rear - and Spencer says, "Looks like medical leave's over, Boss," - Gideon gets this dyspeptic look on his face which we came to know and love and says, "Then we better get started." You know he's not well ("medical leave's over" is not the same as "you're all better"), but he gathers himself to his feet and starts walking in the direction of the job.

[senin]

13 hours ago, normasm said:

Just to put some positive out there (cause I can't hang forever in the neg) I re-watched the Devil's backbone, and thought how well written, well cast, well acted and suspenseful it was without having too far out a plot line and not having any gross torture porn. I can watch it again and again.

I rewatched it yesterday!! I like this one a lot, I have watched it a few times, and I always find something new to enjoy!!

There's just one scene that makes me cringe every time, when Antonia Slade spits on Reid's hand. AGGHHH!! I just cn't watch it, I always look away, or cover my eyes.

[ReidFan]

yeah, it's funny. I remember the first time I saw it I could not believe the restraint and bravery Reid showed by *not* reacting, knowing how he is about germs etc. I really thought he'd be grossed right out, what a great job of acting, Matthew managed to convey Reid's disgust with it but not so much that he was put off the job he was supposed to do. Now, when I know it's coming, same as you, I have to look away....  as below :)

[Mislav]

17 hours ago, SSAHotchner said:

You've really put a lot of thought into this, Mislav, but I would say that seasons 8 & 9 were awful as well and contained torture porn and really bizarre plots/murderers.

Season 8: The Silencer (sewing their mouths shut), The God Complex (amputating their legs and sewing them on another person), The Lesson (the live marionettes). There was barely an episode that season that I liked. 

Season 9: The season of bizarre plots: the praying mantis nonsense in the first two episodes, Rabid (come on, rabies?), To Bear Witness, The Black Queen (totally contradicts almost everything we  knew about Garcia), Route 66 (could have been a great followup on Hotch's loss of Haley at the hands of The Reaper, but Virgil turned it into a Beth love fest), 200 (do we even need to state all that is wrong with this episode?) Even so, there were more episodes that I thought were good or okay this season than in season 8.

I agree with what you said about season 6. In season 7, I was so glad to have the rightful team back again until I realized where they were going with the characters. But there were a handful of episodes that season that I really enjoyed. 

As for season 10, there's barely an episode from that season I remember except for Mr. Scratch. To me, that was the only good episode. 

Season 11, the only episode I liked was Entropy. 

Well, I agree, I just think that those flaws weren't as severe and rooted back then, that there was a "better" number of good episodes overall, and that Spencer wasn't so underused. You said it yourself, you only liked one episode from season ten and one from season eleven.

 

 

As for me, from season eight, I liked "Through the Looking Glass", "All That Remains", "The Gathering", "Pay It Forward", "Alchemy", "Nanny Dearest", "#6", and "Brothers Hotchner".

 

 

"Alchemy" actually contains two of my favorite lines from the entire show:

 

 

"You live in blissful ignorance, like all happy-go-lucky people who have no idea that darkness is a whisper away."

 

 

"I want to hold you once before I'm a ghost of a memory."

16 hours ago, Franky said:

Til Death Do Us Part. 

Repugnant, pathetic Unsub with zero redeeming qualities, gross mismanagement and ridiculous over indulgence on the part of the team, and truly inane writing. This one is worse than Proof in my opinion, because at least Proof had semi-decent profiling and Reid in tight slacks. Please don't get me started on the horrible, amateurish acting here. I can't say enough smack about this awful episode.

And it's depressing me now so I'm going to go watch a good one.

Ah, I learned of the episode title before the plot details were released, and it inspired me enough to write a fanfic, my version of that episode:

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure did it turn out better than an actual episode (though that isn't hard), but the actual episode had a lot of potential based on the title alone. Of course, they went for the most simple and the most cliche route. Brides being murdered on their wedding day, hence "Til Death Do Us Part". And the unsub was a mentally unstable overweight woman hopelessly in love with a hot young man. *Shudders*

Edit: nah, the whole other part of my reply has become a link! But you can still find the story.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Mislav

[smoker]

I just saw this picture, making me feel nostalgic, the best team

 

 

[Bookish Jen]

1 minute ago, smoker said:

I just saw this picture, making me feel nostalgic, the best team

 

 

Awww, Baby Spencer.

[smoker]

Just now, Bookish Jen said:

Awww, Baby Spencer.

LOL

they all were babies, well... more or less xP

[SSAHotchner]

Just saw Elle's last episodes on ION TV today. Funny how I still will tune in to see the early episodes even when I have seasons 1-7 on DVD, but I rarely watch any episode beyond season 5 on DVD or when they air on the various cable channels. 

[senin]

Just rewatched Omnivore. 

It's such a powerful episode when you watch it for the first time. But I think it becomes even more powerful when you have watched the seasons that come after it and you know what is going to happen afterwards. (I don't know if I'm explaining myself clearly, I'm really struggling with words here!!)

Hotch is so good in this!! We always say that Reid/Matthew grieves very well,but the image of Hotch with his eyes full of tears... it really got me this time, I'm going to miss him soooo muuuuch. 

And one of the best Rossi/Hotch scenes, right after the bus killings. 

Good old  CM this one!!

[Bookish Jen]

22 hours ago, smoker said:

LOL

they all were babies, well... more or less xP

Weren't we all?

15 hours ago, SSAHotchner said:

Just saw Elle's last episodes on ION TV today. Funny how I still will tune in to see the early episodes even when I have seasons 1-7 on DVD, but I rarely watch any episode beyond season 5 on DVD or when they air on the various cable channels. 

Got home from work just in time to see Elle's departure and a got a case of the sadz.

Then, later yesterday evening, I saw "Birth, Sex, Death" and got a bigger case of the sadz.

[smoker]

On 17 de septiembre de 2016 at 7:44 PM, senin said:

Just rewatched Omnivore. 

It's such a powerful episode when you watch it for the first time. But I think it becomes even more powerful when you have watched the seasons that come after it and you know what is going to happen afterwards. (I don't know if I'm explaining myself clearly, I'm really struggling with words here!!)

Hotch is so good in this!! We always say that Reid/Matthew grieves very well,but the image of Hotch with his eyes full of tears... it really got me this time, I'm going to miss him soooo muuuuch. 

And one of the best Rossi/Hotch scenes, right after the bus killings. 

Good old  CM this one!!

I love Omnivore. 

Agree about the scene between Rossi and Hotch, it's one their best. Rossi putting Hotch in his place, pointing the parallelism between his attitude towards the job and Gideon's. Have I already said I love this episode? 

However, I think his best grieving scenes are in Ashes and dust (awesome scene for PB too), The slave of duty, Hanley Waters and A Place at the Table. Haley's eulogy is one of the best fictional speeches I've ever heard. Beautifully written. Every word intonation, the tempo, everything is perfect.

It's interesting you say that about MGG, I think he is a good actor, his performance as Reid is amazing since day 1. But I wouldn't say grieving is his stregth. I'm thinking about his reaction and behaviour after departures and deaths and I don't see it. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by smoker

[autumnmountains]

So, I think this would be the appropriate thread for this. If not, sorry, admin.

 

I have been given permission to allow my teenage niece to watch the less of the violent episodes of Criminal Minds with me. By my sister. This came about as she was taking a college math class over the summer (she's a home schooled high school senior currently) and they were about to discuss Fibonacci Sequences, a concept my sister was blank on. Anyways, I mentioned the Masterpiece CM episode to them, she was allowed to watch it and other less gory episodes of CM. My niece loves the show now despite having only having seen a small handful of them. 

My question is: what are, in your opinion, the BEST less gory episodes of CM?

She has seen: Masterpiece, Derailed, LDSK, Entropy. I plan to show her Amplification, and if I can figure out a way for her to only see bits and pieces of Big Game, Revelations. Revelations, despite the violence to Reid is less gory than BG. 

[ForeverAlone]

Hmmm...less gory recommendations, but still good (in my opinion)

 

Minimal Loss

Zoe's Reprise

Broken Mirror

Seven Seconds

Scared to Death

True Genius

Heathridge Manor

The Fox

North Mammon

Shade of Grey

 

Episodes I think are good and aren't gory, but the themes may be a bit too disturbing for someone underage (all dependent on the individual):

Aftermath

Cold Comfort

The Boogeyman

Edited September 20, 2016 by ForeverAlone

[autumnmountains]

Thank you so much!