Criminal Minds Analysis: Profile The Show

[Katenotplus8]

I have to hand it to Skyler Brigmann who plays Sammy in the episode Coda (season 6.)    He is fantastic in this role, I'd even say compelling.  I love the interaction between him and Reid.  

[normasm]

I really don't know if this is the right place to put this, but, please, enjoy.

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/tv-show-under-fire-for-depicting-murder,37206/

[alexvillage]

I think this belongs here but it can be deleted if not.

I am getting tired of bad writing. I know some people have already talked about that, it is TV, sometimes we need to let some things pass, pretend it is not there, some things are not such a big deal. I agree to a point. But then, it gets too much.

What attracted me to CM was the theme. The psychology behind crimes, I was even prepared to disagree (debunk?) some assumptions based on what I have learned from people who are said to be "unstable". And I paid attention. I also felt attracted by some  shallowness, and it was fun to watch. FUN!

But now, this is getting ridiculous, for reasons I already posted somewhere. 

I find it frustrating that writers for tV sows do get paid for their work, from time to time we see the bing names on TV standing by writers that are on strike for better pay and then that's what we get? Why should we have to sympathize with their struggles as writers when they mostly suck at it? 

And I do know how the studios and networks make money and don't share it, how some "stars" make much more while most actors make almost nothing (but most actors also suck at it, that's that) but that is a discussion for another post.

I am a sucker for writing. I usually don't really care about actors (even if Paget made me stay longer with this show - I was probably on denial or hoping for improvement). If the writing is that bad, I lose interest.

And then I hear actors like Kevin Spacey saying that the best writing is on TV these days. Sorry Mr. Spacey, it is not. Or it this is true, all the good writing are in shows that I really dislike and could never watch passed the first 20 minutes of one episode (Mad Man - yikes! Braking Bad - good acting, not even the disabled character actually being a disabled actor could attract me, vampires are not my thing, kings and thrones aren't either)

So, the writing is killing the show, proving my theory: every show should have a maximum run of 5 seasons. After that they all jump the shark, get too complacent, start patting themselves on the back and don't produce much of quality.

End of rant

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I am pretty sure my list goes against the grain. I haven't liked Reid in a long time but I do like JJ. With Garcia it depends on the episode. I never really liked Morgan.

Prentiss

Hotch

JJ

Rossi

Reid

Garcia

Morgan

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I am pretty sure my list goes against the grain. I haven't liked Reid in a long time but I do like JJ. With Garcia it depends on the episode. I never really liked Morgan.

Prentiss

Hotch

JJ

Rossi

Reid

Garcia

Morgan

 

Damn, Blake doesn't even get honorable mention? :-)

 

Without disputing your right to like him or not like him, can I ask why you dislike Reid?

[Guest Accused Dingo]

Damn, Blake doesn't even get honorable mention? :-)

Without disputing your right to like him or not like him, can I ask why you dislike Reid?

I have gotten bored of the genious/quirky characters. I liked Reid during seasons 1 and 2 but i have gotten bored with him since then. Every time the show starts to do something interesting with him they back away. The drug abuse storyline was interesting, the fear of mental illness, even the girlfriend that got murdered. Honestly i didn't hate him, his character type just bores me. But in the shows defense this isn't really a character arc show but that is a detriment for me. It draws me to arc types i like like Prentiss and away from those i don't like Morgan and lately Reid.

As for Blake, she wan't on long enough to make an impression good or bad.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[normasm]

Dingo, you bring up an interesting point. The Reid character grew pretty steadily into an attractive maturity right up until after Uncanny Valley in season 5, and then, magically, the writers didn't know him! He became this trick pony who would jump through some hoop or other (geographic profile, statistics on genetic probabilities, etc.) early to midway through the episode and then disappear.

 

His character has come to be so inconsistently written, i wonder how MGG does it sometimes. Does he ask the writer of the episode who Reid is this time?

Edited October 21, 2014 by normasm

[alexvillage]

Inconsistency

Mayhem: Hotch's ears are messed up because he was close to the SUV when it exploded

Later Morgan is very close to a very big explosion, supposedly a bigger one, but he has no problems walking or hearing

[zannej]

Cue the song "Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions".

 

Yeah, they rarely even seem to give thought to what just firing guns can do to the eardrums. My father had to do a lot of shooting in 'nam and before feds were given protective earwear when qualifying or practicing at gun ranges. So he had some hearing loss as a result.

 

I sort of think it would be funny if they did an episode where they made a collage of every single unsub the team shot and played it in one episode.

[amensisterfriend]

We've done this before, but since minds change and new fans join us, it's fun to do again: What are your 10-15 personal favorite episodes that you never tire of watching? And if you could save just one or two seasons, which would they be?!

[Old Dog]

It's still Season 4 all the way! Favourite episodes - so many from the early years. Tabula Rasa, The Instincts/Memoriam, Compulsion, Minimal Loss, LDSK, Derailed, Elephants Memory, Moseley Lane, Lo-Fi/Mayhem, 100, Lucky, Limelight, The Uncanny Valley, The Big Game/Revelations, the Last Word - these are the ones off the top of my head that I have watched so many times I know the dialogue. Except perhaps 100 which was a brilliant episode but always reduces me to a sobbing wreck so I haven't watched it as often as the others.

[amensisterfriend]

It's still Season 4 all the way!

 

Same here! It's got so many high points and so few low points. Even most of the comparatively mediocre episodes are rewatchable for me. So you won't be surprised by how heavily represented Season 4 is in my top 10-15:

 

Compulsion, Won't Get Fooled Again, Broken Mirror, Derailed, Blood Hungry, Sex Birth and Death, Damaged, The Angel Maker, The Instincts/Memoriam (can we cheat and count this as one?!), Masterpiece, Zoe's Reprise, Pleasure is My Business, Demonology, A Shade of Grey, Uncanny Valley, True Genius, Unknown Subject...let's make it top 20 instead :) 

[Old Dog]

Oh goodness! How could I leave out The Angel Maker, A Shade of Grey, True Genius, Sex, Birth and Death and Masterpiece! I have tried to put in a more recent one but they just do not stand up like Season 1 - 5. I do have a fondness for Magnum Opus and Alchemy but that's more due to my love for Reid than the brilliance of the episodes.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Derailed alert. It's on A & E right now!

[SSAHotchner]

Dingo, you bring up an interesting point. The Reid character grew pretty steadily into an attractive maturity right up until after Uncanny Valley in season 5, and then, magically, the writers didn't know him! He became this trick pony who would jump through some hoop or other (geographic profile, statistics on genetic probabilities, etc.) early to midway through the episode and then disappear.

 

His character has come to be so inconsistently written, i wonder how MGG does it sometimes. Does he ask the writer of the episode who Reid is this time?

Normasm, I think MGG is actually tiring of the show. He doesn't seem to be as invested and sometimes he seems to be just rattling off his lines. As much as I love the character of Reid, for MGG's sake, I wish he'd get a big film role and say sayonara to CBS.

Derailed alert. It's on A & E right now!

I'm watching, Cobalt.

[Knittzu]

I rewatched the first couple episodes from season one and wow -- this show really has changed. Even more than I'd realized. Mainlining the entire series from start to finish is like being in a pot that's slowly starting to boil. At some point the water turns from "comfortably warm" to "hellishly hot" but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when, when you're fully immersed. As the seasons progressed I kept telling myself that it couldn't have changed as much as it seemed to, but peeking back at the start is like watching a completely different show. 

 

The most shocking thing to me (aside from how YOUNG Hotch looked ten years ago) was the original version of Garcia. She was normal! There was no baby-talk, there was no breathy-little-girl voice talking a million miles an hour, and she dressed like an adult. AND! When Morgan asks her to look up some obscure piece of info, she tells him it isn't possible and he's out of luck. Can you even imagine that happening in the past few seasons? 

 

Reid and Hotch used a have a lot of interesting, quality interactions. I miss those. And Reid used to be able to talk without people smirking, rolling their eyes, etc. How it is even possible that he's grown so much from the geeky kid we meet in S1E1, only to be treated worse by his colleagues? 

[SSAHotchner]

You're so right! That small exchange between Morgan and Garcia in the first episode is one of my favorites. "Well, Gorgeous, you've reached the office of too frickin' bad!" Love it! For me, it's like a slap in the face when you watch the first couple of seasons. One of the best things was that you didn't often see the real gory stuff, but you still could feel how evil the unsubs were. As much as I grew tired of Mandy/Gideon, some of his profiling was profound. And there were so many incidences of humor that weren't just making fun of Reid. They fit so well into the scenes and allowed the action to continue. They were just little gems, like the one in Broken Mirror that is one of my favorites:

 

Dr. Spencer Reid: I'm just saying it's possible. I don't know everything. I mean, despite the fact that you think that I do.

Special Agent Derek Morgan: I never said that. When have I ever said that?

Dr. Spencer Reid: Every day since I met you!

Elle Greenway: This morning at breakfast...

Agent Aaron Hotch: Yesterday when he beat you at cards. Um... we've got one minute.

Special Agent Derek Morgan: Anybody ever heard of sarcasm?

Dr. Spencer Reid, Elle Greenway: Mm-hmm.

 

And you had a sense of the value of the team members and what they each contributed to solving the case. Now it seems like they're not really any more intuitive than the local law enforcement and also that they're pretty much interchangeable.

[Knittzu]

"Well, Gorgeous, you've reached the office of too frickin' bad!" That might be my all-time favorite Garcia line. If only we could have kept Original Garcia, I might have loved her forever. An oddball but competent adult who wasn't whiny or needy, and whose computer skills were grounded in reality. Why did they destroy her? *sigh*

 

I love that exchange you posted!! God, how long has it been since we saw Reid treated with that sort of respect -- or even indirect respect? Now it's all sneering and silencing and eye-rolling jerkitude. I occasionally try to rope my husband into watching with me, but he can't stand the way Reid is treated. "What'e enjoyable about watching this pack of assholes bully the sweet geeky kid?" was his question, and I sure don't have an answer for what the writers/showunner are thinking.

[normasm]

Knittzu, I do think, like they have toned down JJ's awesome sauce a bit this season, they have also dialed back the Reid dismissal for the last season or so. Unfortunately, last season he was still mostly absent… So far this season, although it's only 3 epi's in, they seem to have found where Dr. Reid and Agent Hotch went 3 years ago. Here's to (hopefully) forward progress!!

[idiotwaltz]

We've done this before, but since minds change and new fans join us, it's fun to do again: What are your 10-15 personal favorite episodes that you never tire of watching? And if you could save just one or two seasons, which would they be?!

 

Seasons 3 and 4 if we are allowed to save two seasons only. Season 2 as well if we're allowed to save three. I'm not just going to pick just one. Don't go there. DON'T GO THERE. 

 

My fifteen episodes for when I am on a desert island/in solitary confinement: Demonology, Honor Among Thieves, Lauren, Lucky, Minimal Loss, Retaliation, Zoe's Reprise, It Takes a Village, Limelight, Tabula Rasa, Damaged, Children of the Dark, In Name and In Blood, Valhalla, Soul Mates. 

[alexvillage]

Since this is now and then...

Season one Reid was a very young agent, with a brilliant mind and special interests and attributes that helped with the profiling. He could not shoot well (redeemed himself when he shot the guy in the hospital), did to like to shake hands, carried his gun in a awkward way, talked too much about details of the case, sometimes annoying people, but this was his signature, it was his personality.

Then they started messing up when they had him state in one episode that he could only remember things perfectly if he read them, and later telling him to "remember everything he says", or "repeat what he said".

I see glimpses of old Reid, but it seems like the character is in a roller coaster, growth wise

 

This is not my complaint though. What I can't stand is that, 10 years later, he is not a "kid". He is a man, a profiler and they still call him a "kid". It is like the writers's timeline is each episode one day, each season one month.

 

And yes, Garcia is worse, but to me she could be just sucked into her magic computer and disappear. How I wish she had died on the episode she was shot!

[amensisterfriend]

Seasons 3 and 4 if we are allowed to save two seasons only. Season 2 as well if we're allowed to save three. I'm not just going to pick just one. Don't go there. DON'T GO THERE.

 

Ha! :) 

 

I'm definitely saving S4, but the other season I'd save depends on my mood. If I'm in a phase where I find Gideon exhausting and am even more in love with Rossi than usual (and I'm often in that phase!), I'd definitely join you in saving Season 3 as my second choice. Otherwise, I'd probably go with Season 1 as my second choice and rank Season 3 third. Then Season 2. Then Season 7. I probably wouldn't bother saving the rest at all :) 

[Knittzu]

Knittzu, I do think, like they have toned down JJ's awesome sauce a bit this season, they have also dialed back the Reid dismissal for the last season or so.

 

 

We're only a few episodes into this season so I'm not willing to give them credit on toning down JJ's nonsense yet. We'll see. I watch each episode bracing myself for the stupid to ramp up again... but I'm hopeful that the writers got a clue at some point. And yeah, Reid was hardly there last season -- but if his scenes are mainly going to involve fact-rattling while JJ and Morgan roll their eyes at him, I'd prefer it that way.

 

And yes, Garcia is worse, but to me she could be just sucked into her magic computer and disappear. How I wish she had died on the episode she was shot!

 

 

 

Oh, me too. Her being gone would make the show infinitely better. My dislike of her pushy/needy/whiny personality aside, no longer having her "genius" at their disposal would force the writers to resolve their plots without magic. Maybe by using... what's the word... profiling? :)

 

 

[amensisterfriend]

And yeah, Reid was hardly there last season -- but if his scenes are mainly going to involve fact-rattling while JJ and Morgan roll their eyes at him, I'd prefer it that way.

 

Weirdly enough, this isn't among the things that I think have changed all that much between then and now :) I think JJ seems dismissive and self-superior around Reid even in the earlier seasons. Check out the constant eye rolls and the comments such as how she'd NEVER go to a ComicCon with him. She always gives me the impression of a high school "cool" girl who hopes no one notices her having to interact with a "nerd." And Morgan seemed to condescend to Reid from the beginning...even more so than Morgan condescends to everyone, that is :) It was a little more tolerable when Morgan also seemed to have more genuine respect for Reid's abilities and when Reid really was a young, raw agent in need of a little more mentoring. Now, though, Morgan seems more like a smug jerk around him than the loving, protective 'older brother' they were going for in earlier seasons. 

 

All just my opinions, of course! 

 

Do you guys feel that the actual cases and profiling have changed a lot from then to now? 

Edited October 22, 2014 by amensisterfriend

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Weirdly enough, this isn't among the things that I think have changed all that much between then and now :) I think JJ seems dismissive and self-superior around Reid even in the earlier seasons. Check out the constant eye rolls and the comments such as how she'd NEVER go to a ComicCon with him. She always gives me the impression of a high school "cool" girl who hopes no one notices her having to interact with a "nerd."

 

This is not only your opinion, amensisterfriend, especially since at the time of the remark about ComicCon Reid was just telling JJ something random about comic books in general and didn't even mentions cons at all. It was as if he'd been talking to her about cheese and she said she didn't want to go to Paris with him, it was that out of context. And to a point, being the "Cordelia" of the group might have been worked, except that the actual Cordelia was in high school and not a grown woman in a professional job.

[amensisterfriend]

especially since at the time of the remark about ComicCon Reid was just telling JJ something random about comic books in general and didn't even mentions cons at all. It was as if he'd been talking to her about cheese and she said she didn't want to go to Paris with him, it was that out of context. And to a point, being the "Cordelia" of the group might have been worked, except that the actual Cordelia was in high school and not a grown woman in a professional job.

 

I wish I could like this post 100 times. I think the actress who plays JJ, with her eye rolls and line deliveries and natural detachment, would have been ideally cast as a Cordelia-like, amusingly shallow Mean Girl who eventually matures a bit and reveals a little surprising depth.  Instead, JJ was presented as the supposedly warm and compassionate one and generally flawless, which never worked for me. 

[Knittzu]

Do you guys feel that the actual cases and profiling have changed a lot from then to now?

 

 

I definitely think so. For one thing, I don't remember any early cases involving international spies, terrorists, or airplanes being blown out of the sky with an Ipad... all stuff I find silly, uninteresting, and/or ridiculous for the BAU to be involved with. The early episodes also tended to be inspired by real life cases, which had a nice grounding effect on a show that could occasionally feel surreal. 

 

There used to be far more emphasis on profiling, getting into the unsub's head, trying to draw him out with information derived from their profile using the media, etc. Now the profile often consists of asking Garcia to find some obscure bit of information that leads them directly to the unsub's hidey-hole, where they arrive just in the nick of time. There's often large gaps of time filled with roundhouse kicks, guns firing, running around in the dark, etc. -- which again, is not stuff that the BAU needs to be involved with. Once they magically acquire the unsub's address, they should pass that info off to the local PD and a swat team should handle the actual take-downs. No matter how much the writers love the idea, I simply don't buy that super!JJ and her sidekick mega!Morgan are superior to a trained swat team.

 

Maybe you're right and the "family" has always treated Reid badly. From my now-uncertain memories of the first seasons I recall them treating him like a kid (which he basically was) but also with respect for his abilities, kindness, and concern. I never paid much attention to JJ during the early seasons -- she was just a supporting character, albeit one who performed an important function for the team. It wasn't until the writers made her the main character that I realized how snotty, superior, and unlikable she really is.

[alexvillage]

Now and Then: JJ

Then - JJ is detached, seemingly good at what she does, deferring to the team of (real) profilers to solve the cases, compassionate towards families, media liaison.

Now - Super ninja X-man kick ass bitch! She lost the little bit that could make me sympathetic to her and continues to be detached and the perfect example of a Mean girl.

 

I blame the actress who is one of the worst ones I have seen in a main cast, and whoever in the production team who is "in love" with her. I can totally see AJ Cook tool her eyes at everything and everyone. Her story is so absurd, even Emily's super spy arc was easier to sell - maybe because it didn't drag for 10 seasons, with an access that has no chemistry with ANYONE going from supporting role, barely there, to main character with superpowers.  

[idiotwaltz]

 

Do you guys feel that the actual cases and profiling have changed a lot from then to now?

 

There's minimal profiling at this point, and the cases are just randomly made up for shock value. Case in point: the bugfest tomorrow, the human puppet show, whatever the hell that was with Camryn Manheim and her evil twins who were obsessed with praying mantises and eating ex-girlfriend's heads. With the earlier seasons, the cases and UNSUBS really could seem like they would exist in real life, such as what happened in Season 4's A Shade of Gray (baby sociopath older brother kills younger brother, parents and local cop cover it up). The sadistic abductors in Season 3's Identity were based on David Parker Ray plus a smidge of Lake and Ng thrown in, but it didn't take too much of a stretch to believe that there really could be these twisted guys who would kidnap innocent women, torture them, film them, then kill them. Same with Seven Seconds - missing child, abducted by someone she knew --- the team used profiling to figure out who was behind the kidnapping and how to interrogate her in a way that would get her to confess the location of the girl. That episode did not require anyone running around, holding guns (except for the police searching the mall). It was purely cerebral and the BAU figured everything out just from talking to the victim's family and observing their behavior. 

 

Of course, the writers did get creative with their UNSUBS from time to time but in the earlier days, they did a good job of it. I'm sure poor Samatha's murderous doll-making in The Uncanny Valley is very much removed from reality but the story worked and there was enough profiling to keep the episode engaging. 

 

Unfortunately, it seems like the writers of now have decided to dial down on the realism and try to come up with the wackiest, zaniest murders they can think of. The whole episode with the maggots and the reincarnation. The UNSUB who got off on giving people rabies and watching them die. The brothers using the students to play out a live-action version of their video game. I can't even.

 

To be fair, in the last two seasons, there have been a couple of low-key episodes that are grounded in reality: The Edge of Winter, and Gabby come to mind. 

 

But on the whole, the show at the present is almost a completely different show than the one it was when it first started. We might have some familiar faces, but that's about it. Oh, and the jet. Don't forget the jet. 

Edited October 22, 2014 by idiotwaltz

[Knittzu]

I think JJ seems dismissive and self-superior around Reid even in the earlier seasons. Check out the constant eye rolls and the comments such as how she'd NEVER go to a ComicCon with him.

 

 

I just re-watched "Won't Get Fooled Again" (S1E3) and she flat-out sneers at Hotch when he tells her and Elle that he was a nerdy kid who collected coins. I'm starting to come around to the idea that she was always awful.

[SSAHotchner]

I definitely think so. For one thing, I don't remember any early cases involving international spies, terrorists, or airplanes being blown out of the sky with an Ipad... all stuff I find silly, uninteresting, and/or ridiculous for the BAU to be involved with. The early episodes also tended to be inspired by real life cases, which had a nice grounding effect on a show that could occasionally feel surreal. 

 

There used to be far more emphasis on profiling, getting into the unsub's head, trying to draw him out with information derived from their profile using the media, etc. Now the profile often consists of asking Garcia to find some obscure bit of information that leads them directly to the unsub's hidey-hole, where they arrive just in the nick of time. There's often large gaps of time filled with roundhouse kicks, guns firing, running around in the dark, etc. -- which again, is not stuff that the BAU needs to be involved with. Once they magically acquire the unsub's address, they should pass that info off to the local PD and a swat team should handle the actual take-downs. No matter how much the writers love the idea, I simply don't buy that super!JJ and her sidekick mega!Morgan are superior to a trained swat team.

 

Maybe you're right and the "family" has always treated Reid badly. From my now-uncertain memories of the first seasons I recall them treating him like a kid (which he basically was) but also with respect for his abilities, kindness, and concern. I never paid much attention to JJ during the early seasons -- she was just a supporting character, albeit one who performed an important function for the team. It wasn't until the writers made her the main character that I realized how snotty, superior, and unlikable she really is.

There definitely has been a change in the cases, but it's been going to more bizarre killers with outlandish reasons for killing rather than typical killers or abductors. But there were some terrorist cases. In season 1 we had Secrets and Lies which was about the CIA and an informant. Season 2 had Lessons Learned with terror attacks and the Muslim guy at Gitmo. And season 3 & 4 had Lo-Fi and Mayhem that were killings made by a terrorist cell, although nobody realized at first that it was more than a serial killer.

[SSAHotchner]

There's minimal profiling at this point, and the cases are just randomly made up for shock value. Case in point: the bugfest tomorrow, the human puppet show, whatever the hell that was with Camryn Manheim and her evil twins who were obsessed with praying mantises and eating ex-girlfriend's heads. With the earlier seasons, the cases and UNSUBS really could seem like they would exist in real life, such as what happened in Season 4's A Shade of Gray (baby sociopath older brother kills younger brother, parents and local cop cover it up). The sadistic abductors in Season 3's Identity were based on David Parker Ray plus a smidge of Lake and Ng thrown in, but it didn't take too much of a stretch to believe that there really could be these twisted guys who would kidnap innocent women, torture them, film them, then kill them. Same with Seven Seconds - missing child, abducted by someone she knew --- the team used profiling to figure out who was behind the kidnapping and how to interrogate her in a way that would get her to confess the location of the girl. That episode did not require anyone running around, holding guns (except for the police searching the mall). It was purely cerebral and the BAU figured everything out just from talking to the victim's family and observing their behavior. 

 

Of course, the writers did get creative with their UNSUBS from time to time but in the earlier days, they did a good job of it. I'm sure poor Samatha's murderous doll-making in The Uncanny Valley is very much removed from reality but the story worked and there was enough profiling to keep the episode engaging. 

 

Unfortunately, it seems like the writers of now have decided to dial down on the realism and try to come up with the wackiest, zaniest murders they can think of. The whole episode with the maggots and the reincarnation. The UNSUB who got off on giving people rabies and watching them die. The brothers using the students to play out a live-action version of their video game. I can't even.

 

To be fair, in the last two seasons, there have been a couple of low-key episodes that are grounded in reality: The Edge of Winter, and Gabby come to mind. 

 

But on the whole, the show at the present is almost a completely different show than the one it was when it first started. We might have some familiar faces, but that's about it. Oh, and the jet. Don't forget the jet. 

Yes, yes, YES!!! And my husband who will not watch CM because he hates how obsessed I am with it, and also he's a bit jealous of Hotch and Reid :), actually watched an episode all the way through last week. He was too tired to get out of his chair when CM started and he watched about half with me and then went into our bedroom. He turned the news on, but a bit later I could hear the music and I could tell he was watching the same thing I was watching in our bedroom. He said, "That's the first time I've watched an entire episode of Criminal Minds." And I said, "But it was a crappy episode." (the one with the plane crash) And he said, "No, it was a good episode because they weren't turning people into puppets or anything like that." He knows about the show because I watch all the time and talk about it. So even someone who is not a fan and does not watch the show knows that that puppet episode was weird.

[SSAHotchner]

Seasons 3 and 4 if we are allowed to save two seasons only. Season 2 as well if we're allowed to save three. I'm not just going to pick just one. Don't go there. DON'T GO THERE. 

 

My fifteen episodes for when I am on a desert island/in solitary confinement: Demonology, Honor Among Thieves, Lauren, Lucky, Minimal Loss, Retaliation, Zoe's Reprise, It Takes a Village, Limelight, Tabula Rasa, Damaged, Children of the Dark, In Name and In Blood, Valhalla, Soul Mates. 

I can tell by your episode picks that you are a huge Prentiss fan. :) My favorite episodes are the ones with good Hotch scenes.

[Knittzu]

In season 1 we had Secrets and Lies which was about the CIA and an informant. Season 2 had Lessons Learned with terror attacks and the Muslim guy at Gitmo.

 

 

True! I probably spent most of those episodes playing on my phone and forgot about them immediately because IMO, the BAU should not be needed to untangle anything related to terrorists. Still, I seem to recall there were logical, story-explained reasons for the BAU's involvement in those early cases. Reasons that I even found plausible... unlike the silliness of last week. Having Reid pipe up that the would-be plane-crashing terrorist was actually a serial killer was just plain stupid, IMO. 

[idiotwaltz]

I can tell by your episode picks that you are a huge Prentiss fan. :) My favorite episodes are the ones with good Hotch scenes.

 

Right on! I'll readily admit that my episode picks are not at all based on actual quality but rather how much screentime Emily gets. If I'm going to be trapped alone on a desert island with a solar-powered DVD player, I'm going to need a lot of pretty to get me through my days. 

 

Which ones would be your desert island episodes? Ashes and Dust? Pleasure is My Business? The Foyet episodes? 

[zannej]

What's kind of sad is that the cases on the dinky little Criminal Minds video game were actually better than most of the cases in current seasons. More profiling was involved. LOL.

[alexvillage]

I am sorry to interrupt your listing. There is one WORST thing that I am sure you will all agree ;)

Garcia became the one who presents the cases but she CANNOT look at the pictures because her purity might be affected. 

Let's forget for a minute that JJ was the one doing it before and believe that Garcia never had to look at the pictures

But how on earth can she put together a presentation, and know the order of it without even looking at the monitor, know what happened to the victims without ever looking a the pictures, and say that she cannot ever look at the pictures?

Even if she has someone working as a "picture descriptor" (this is something that I do for a friend and some people who can't see well or have trouble identifying colors patters, etc use), she would still be able to "picture" in her head how the victims look.

So much bullshit, and the writers just throw it there as if it is logical and a defining characteristic of the character.

Ugh!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I am sorry to interrupt your listing. There is one WORST thing that I am sure you will all agree ;)

Garcia became the one who presents the cases but she CANNOT look at the pictures because her purity might be affected. 

Let's forget for a minute that JJ was the one doing it before and believe that Garcia never had to look at the pictures

 

To be fair, or is that facetious, JJ was still growing into her cast-iron stomach phase where nothing bothers her, but the seed of it was always there. ;-)

 

Also, Natural Born Killer is on A & E right now, and I always snort at the scene where Garcia dumps Elle's coffee in the trash because of it being too close to the computer, and when Elle says "I was still drinking that" Garcia replies, without apology, "Not only is this equipment expensive, it's also very sensitive." Then I get a little sad, because I wonder where that Garcia went.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This is kind of a Then and Now question, because The Popular Kids just ended, and Reid told Gideon that in his nightmares there was a baby in a circle, and that he was trying to get to the kid before something happened. Or something similar to that, anyway. Weird foreshadowing of his later nightmares about Riley Jenkins, or yet another example of inconsistent writing?

[dusang]

This is kind of a Then and Now question, because The Popular Kids just ended, and Reid told Gideon that in his nightmares there was a baby in a circle, and that he was trying to get to the kid before something happened. Or something similar to that, anyway. Weird foreshadowing of his later nightmares about Riley Jenkins, or yet another example of inconsistent writing?

 

I want to be able to say the former but... the latter.

[Danielg342]

I want to be able to say the former but... the latter.

 

Given Reid's admission that he suffered from PTSD after killing Philip Dowd- who was definitely not a baby- it's the latter.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Given Reid's admission that he suffered from PTSD after killing Philip Dowd- who was definitely not a baby- it's the latter.

 

To be fair, because L.D.S.K. was just on the day before yesterday, Reid told Hotch that he was aiming for Dowd's leg and that the head shot was an accident.He also told Gideon in the immediate aftermath that "I know I should feel guilty. I mean, I killed somebody. But I don't feel guilty." When did he say he suffered from PTSD, 'cause I'm blanking on that.

[normasm]

There's a lot of stuff they haven't showed us over the years, and to their credit. I did not want to see Reid shooting up. I did not want to see Elle in her hotel room in the aftermath of the Aftermath. Reid has always suffered mostly in silence, because when he shares, as in the Popular Kids, it gets broadcast. In the aftermath of Revelations, he didn't even want Morgan asking out loud, "are you OK?"

 

To me, it makes sense that we would never really see Reid's trauma, except in the case of Maeve's murder.

[Danielg342]

 

To be fair, because L.D.S.K. was just on the day before yesterday, Reid told Hotch that he was aiming for Dowd's leg and that the head shot was an accident.He also told Gideon in the immediate aftermath that "I know I should feel guilty. I mean, I killed somebody. But I don't feel guilty." When did he say he suffered from PTSD, 'cause I'm blanking on that.

 

I've always interpreted his comment about aiming for his leg as a joke, because I'd find it hard to believe that a killshot right between the eyes was merely an accident. Possible, but not likely.

 

He said in "Burn"- or the "Garcia goes to Texas episode"- that the Dowd shooting affected him, and that he felt really bad about it, like Garcia was in that episode. I'm not sure if he mentioned PTSD by name but I don't think there's another way to describe what he says happened in the aftermath.

[Knittzu]

I've always interpreted his comment about aiming for his leg as a joke, because I'd find it hard to believe that a killshot right between the eyes was merely an accident.

 

 

I also thought that was a joke -- in fact, I remember laughing after he said it.

 

I never got the impression that Reid suffered from PTSD after killing Dowd. He had no reason to feel guilty and I don't see Reid as the sort of person who would convince himself otherwise. OTOH I did think he experienced severe PTSD after being kidnapped and tortured. Illegal use of drugs is a very common coping mechanism for PTSD and is far more true-to-life than visiting a killer on death row. 

[dusang]

I also thought the leg comment was a joke, feeding off his earlier trouble qualifying with firearms.

Also, he may have had a huge number of feelings regarding shooting someone in the head without it being PTSD. PTSD a is a serious and specific mental illness.

[normasm]

PTSD can be anything from mild anxiety and depression that takes some work to get through, to full-blown dissociative flashbacks and blackouts. They've mentioned PTSD Complex a few times on the show, which is the chronic, debilitating form of the disorder, and they've talked about it correctly for the most part (see? they can have Reid speak intelligently, at least they could in the past). 

 

When Reid was talking to Gideon on the plane after the shooting, he said he didn't feel anything, which I always took to mean he was in shock. PTSD can come and go, and can also take some time to really manifest, hence I never had a problem with JJ not really feeling the stress until months later. 

 

I just hope hers will magically go away after 10/11, and that she won't be romancing the Hotch after that...

[Old Dog]

I have no problem with PTSD manifesting a long while after events. I recall how brilliantly they showed PTSD being triggered years ago in Distress and how I really felt sorry for the guy who was as much of a victim as the people he killed. But I just do not want to be reminded of 200 again and I have no confidence that they can write anything for JJ that rings remotely true and that I will accept. And yes, I fear I am pre-judging this before they even start shooting!! Does anyone know who is down to write 10.11? Is it Erica Messer or Rick Dunkle?

[FormerMod-a1]

When Reid was talking to Gideon on the plane after the shooting, he said he didn't feel anything, which I always took to mean he was in shock. 

 

I don't know.  Gideon replied that "just because you don't know what you're feeling doesn't mean you're not feeling something" (paraphrase) so I took it mean he was feeling something, but didn't know how to quantify or express it.

[normasm]

I agree, aquarian, that Gideon was telling him that, but what Reid was saying was different. "I know i should feel something….I mean, I just killed a man. But i feel nothing." Then Gideon said (as you correctly say), "Just because you don't know what you're feeling, doesn't mean you're not feeling…" The difference between "I feel nothing" and "I don't know what I'm feeling" is pretty stark, IMO. Gideon did say it was going to hit him eventually, and it did. So, chalk it up to possible clumsy writing of dialogue, or chalk it up to Gideon's weird way of hearing things in his own context… 

 

I just think it sounds like shock that, when it wears off, leaves the stage open for post-traumatic stress and depression, be it profound or mild.

Edited October 24, 2014 by normasm