Season 13 Spoilers, Speculation and Anticipation

[Annber03]

Mmhm. And I think we'll probably get a season 14, if only to hit the 300th episode mark. 

So. Team members in peril type cliffhanger, eh? Not the route I would've preferred they go, especially considering they just had that last year, but I figured we'd get a cliffhanger, and one with something dramatic to lead into a 300th episode, so I'm not surprised. Unless CBS is dumb enough to abruptly let any cast members go again, like they did with Gupton last year and have done in the past with other cast members, I'm going to assume everyone who's in danger will survive.

*Knocks on wood anyway, just in case* 

Edited March 23, 2018 by Annber03

[BakerStreet]

I'm looking forward to the 2part cliffhangr AND the season 14. Bring on rpisode 300!!!!

[K42]

Does anyone know why Blake left CM? I wish they would bring her back.

[normasm]

According to the write-off in Demons, Blake was shocked when Reid was shot trying to get her out of the way of the shooter. She was trying to keep him conscious and to the hospital, and she called him Ethan. Twice. When he came out of the anesthesia, she was there to greet him. Later, when she took him home to his apartment, he asked her if she was OK. She said that seeing him get shot was really awful (paraphrasing). Then he asked her "Who's Ethan?" She explained that he was her son who died when he was 11. One of the things she said was that she could see what he would be at 20, but she knew he wouldn't make it. That told me that he would have been 20 if he had lived. Anyway, this was done so that Jeanne Tripplehorn could leave after 2 seasons. For whatever reason(s), but I feel she thought she wasn't appreciated. I miss her. too.

[K42]

43 minutes ago, normasm said:

According to the write-off in Demons, Blake was shocked when Reid was shot trying to get her out of the way of the shooter. She was trying to keep him conscious and to the hospital, and she called him Ethan. Twice. When he came out of the anesthesia, she was there to greet him. Later, when she took him home to his apartment, he asked her if she was OK. She said that seeing him get shot was really awful (paraphrasing). Then he asked her "Who's Ethan?" She explained that he was her son who died when he was 11. One of the things she said was that she could see what he would be at 20, but she knew he wouldn't make it. That told me that he would have been 20 if he had lived. Anyway, this was done so that Jeanne Tripplehorn could leave after 2 seasons. For whatever reason(s), but I feel she thought she wasn't appreciated. I miss her. too.

 

So there was no explanation for the actress's departure at all? It's really weird that she left. She was very genuine and great at playing her role. 

[normasm]

I've never seen that she said anything, good bad or otherwise about CM. She simply left.I think she was friendly with at least Matthew, but i do think the fanbase was rough on her. Not nearly as rough as it was on her replacement, but there you go.

[MMC]

I was originally in favor of  Jeanne Tripplehorn leaving because I had hoped they were finally going to quit trying to bring in these replacement. I feel differently today. Because I find myself wishing things had worked out with the actress. I loved the rapport  Blake and Reid had going. Not to mention I think she may have been the only person on that team to have ever considered that something she said was hurtful to him and apologized for it.

[Unkempt]

I think this fandom has been unnecessarily rough on anyone new to the show ever since Ashley Seaver.  The Seaver stuff was deserved (although it should NEVER have been aimed at the actress...she is just someone who accepted a job that was offered to her).  I admittedly was skeptical of JLH initially, but I ended up really liking her, and I wish she hadn't left.  I love Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez.  I was warming up to Damon before they killed him off, and I honestly have no problem with Henney.

I always feel bad for anyone who comes in new to the show nowadays because they always face harsh criticism and fans begrudging them any screen time (if they're featured in a couple of scenes, suddenly they're hogging the entire episode).  I've also seen new characters auto-hated because many fans feel the newbies are being featured over their favorite character.  I mostly see complaints about "fill in name here" (Lewis, Simmons, Alvez) getting tons of screen time while Reid has nothing to do....nevermind that Reid got an entire half a season last year and MGG has reduced his time on set.

This is a tough fandom that never quite moved on from the terrible, unfair cast shakeup in season 6.  The show is never going to be what it was, we'll never have our golden cast and their amazing chemistry back (especially now that Gibson isn't welcome back) so I'm trying to be happy with what we have.  My only wish is that they'd leave the cast the hell alone for JUST ONE SEASON.  We don't need so many cast changes. 

[Annber03]

Agreed on all of the above (though I don't mind Seaver as a character, simply because I do think Nichols brought something to her portrayal of her that made her rise above the setup for her character, which I do agree was rather flimsy). 

The thing that always gets me is how some people will hate on a new cast member/character before they've even appeared on the show. God forbid people actually, y'know, wait until the episode actually airs and they can see the character/cast member in action before making an official judgment on how good or bad they are. 

Granted, that's an issue that's common on the internet in general, so...:p. But still. It bugs me anyway. 

[Mariana]

It's not hate to the character or the actor is just, with Daniel/Simmons is what he represents, the Beyond Borders spin off, the lack of time screen the others get like Aysha who I think was great in season 11. It isn't about Gubler having less time screen it's about how the writers leave unfinished stories.

Anyway I would like 1 less team member. You have to admit Adam and Daniel characters are pretty much the same.

And I really never care about Rachel, I did like her.

[normasm]

2 hours ago, Mariana said:

It's not hate to the character or the actor is just, with Daniel/Simmons is what he represents, the Beyond Borders spin off, the lack of time screen the others get like Aysha who I think was great in season 11. It isn't about Gubler having less time screen it's about how the writers leave unfinished stories.

Anyway I would like 1 less team member. You have to admit Adam and Daniel characters are pretty much the same.

And I really never care about Rachel, I did like her.

This is all I'm about, and was the reason I did not want Gupton, although, yes, he did kinda eventually grow on me.

There are simply too many team members. 

Yes, I rolled my eyes back so far I almost lost them when JLH came on (didn't like her resume or her first few appearances), but she eventually was OK, and when she left, it was natural they should replace her, and Aisha's fine. Same with Adam, when Morgan left, they needed an Alvez. But when Hotch had to leave, they brought Prentiss back. They did not need an additional team member, even to tag in when Reid would be absent. Heck, they already had Aisha/Lewis on halftime to kinda relieve the potential clown car feel of 7 team members, then they added an 8th anyway! Stupid. Unnecessary. But absolutely no animus toward Henney or anyone, from me anyway (he seems like a great guy).

Edited March 26, 2018 by normasm

[Danielg342]

I'm going to respond in "Unpopular Opinions" since this discussion is way off topic.

[Mislav]

On Monday, March 26, 2018 at 5:09 AM, MMC said:

I was originally in favor of  Jeanne Tripplehorn leaving because I had hoped they were finally going to quit trying to bring in these replacement. I feel differently today. Because I find myself wishing things had worked out with the actress. I loved the rapport  Blake and Reid had going. Not to mention I think she may have been the only person on that team to have ever considered that something she said was hurtful to him and apologized for it.

I really liked Alex Blake too. She had her own specific set of skills (forensic linguistics) and she'd actually get to use that during the investigation from time to time. Her bond with Reid was pretty good too; both intellectual and emotional. They shared similar interests and skills, as well as understood each other well, and cared for each other as friends. Her banter with Rossi was also fun; witty and amusing. But she didn't seem really close to every member of the team, and she didn't seem to simply fit in right away.

 

 

Kate Callahan had a good potential, but the writing was just bad. She was said to have her own particular set of skills (undercover work), but she never really got to use it in the field, except for one scene at the beginning of 10x1 "X" when she wasn't even a part of the BAU yet. She seemed to fit in right away, without any awkwardness nor conflict or even development, but we never witnessed her actally bonding with anyone, save one conversation with Reid, a scene or two with JJ, and cringy gushing over animal pics with Garcia. The parts that were supposed to make her come off as strong and witty were just bad and, frankly, made her pretty unlikeable. For example, her bragging about beating up a perp in 10x1 "X", or lying to a suspect in order to extract information in 10x6 "If the Shoe Fits". [Though, to be fair, Reid did something similar in season nine "Persuasion", twice, but the first time the guy was delusional and Spencer played by his "logic", and in the final act they knew who the unsub was and needed a confession but had no evidence.] Not to mention Kate's borderline derogatory comments about the victims in the same episode. ("Killer and I have the same type. Dark haired handsome guys in their twenties."-God... SHUT UP!).

 

 

Still, I probably don't judge her as harshly (anymore), because I like Jennifer Love Hewitt, and later seasons are much worse. (Not that that necessarily effects a quality of a particular character, but it affects the overall experience.) Plus, at least her character was supposed to serve a purpose (a replacement for Alex Blake, who was a replacement for Emily Prentiss), unlike some new characters that come off as completely unnecessary (such as Stephen Walker and, now, Matt Simmons).

[normasm]

I had the same ick factor with the way they wrote Kate, making it seem OK to joke about beating up suspects and lying in interrogations. They ended up toning it down, but then they focused on her niece/daughter for that arc, and it was awful. As you say, she might have been really good with better writing.

[JMO]

To my mind, the best recent introduction of a new character has been with the one they've told us the least about---Luke Alvez.  There's been some bookending, and a little sharing while he drove or walked with a team member, but only enough to make me want more.  He seems more complex than 'the muscle man'.  He's shown his intellect a number of times (kind of like Morgan, before he became a caricature of himself), but we've also seen him be ruthless (with Shaw, and with Scratch).  We know he was in Iraq, and that he brought his canine partner home with him. Surely there's a backstory for Luke and Roxy that is deserving of a little more focus.  

Instead, we're getting the 'spouse in danger' episode with Simmons' wife.  Too bad they didn't think to do that with Haley, or Sarah, or Savannah, or Will, or Maeve.  Oh, wait.

[normasm]

Hahahahahaha, JMO, yassssss

[normasm]

I agree, I really liked the understated Alvez dating bookends. He was interesting, decent, attractive...

[Racbec]

Please help me understand--what's wrong with lying to a suspect during an interrogation?  It's perfectly legal and even constitutional.  Hotch was against lying to a victim's family/witness to get access, but that is an entirely different thing.  Why do you object to lying to a suspect?

[normasm]

Well, my objection is that it's morally wrong, to my way of thinking, the end does not justify the means. Not to say police don't do this frequently, and sometimes, i'm sure that's the only way to stop a clever criminal. But it's not "best practices" in the eyes of the law, and less-than-clever and/or innocent people can be deceived into false confessions. Happens all the time.

BTW, could you to point me to the place in the Constitution where it says law enforcement may lie to a suspect? Asking for a friend.

Edited April 1, 2018 by normasm

[Blackbird999999lol]

They should've brought Aisha into the show in s10. Too bad jlh felt the need to take this opportunity away from her. Everyone was so happy when Aisha joined the show, the cast seemed like a family again in S11.

But I really wish Jeanne never left. Joe said they all miss(ed) Jeanne. Kirsten said countless amounts of times during S10 that she missed Paget. She missed the real CM Family.  It's very clear that they didn't want to lose them, these changes were forced on them. Their family has fallen apart in 2014 when a terrible, terrible actress joined the cast and the show never fully recovered from that.

I know Jeanne faced unimaginable harassment during her time in the show and it must've been incredibly hard for her... but maybe there's more to the story & the bullying is not the actual reason behind her leaving.

Don’t know what happened, but sounds like Jeanne didn't want to leave:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/08/19/jeanne-tripplehorn-tells-off-mandy-patinkin-after-slammed-criminal-minds-for.html
“They (producers) are very good at being able to transition actors in and out,” Tripplehorn says.
I can only imagine how CM producers feel if it's true that Jeanne got fired. S10 was the worst season ever. No one seemed truly happy unlike in S1-9 & S11. The show lost millions of viewers. Like @Mislav said everything went downhill from S10. 

...wondering how S13 would look like if she never left. I hope Jeanne knows what an impact she has made on the show. We should let her know that the show hasn't been the same since someone attempted to replace her (& failed at it) Her instagram: @jeannetripplehorn. Hoping to see her in 300. Paget came back for 200 :) 

[Unkempt]

From what I understand, Jeanne left because her contract wasn't renewed.  I've never seen anything revealed whose choice that was...but she has spoken very highly about CM since she left, so I'm guessing it was mutual. 

That article is about Mandy leaving, and Jeanne was commenting on it, saying his past comments about the show being "the biggest mistake of his career" deserve zero attention.  She's also calling him a hypocrite since he went on to join Homeland, which is just as, if not more, violent than CM.

[K42]

I liked all the new characters except for Seaver and JLH. I found Seaver kinda bland and boring. I also find AJ Cook bland and boring but I think that my issue with Aj Cook've goes back to Tru Calling.

As for hating this fanbase hating the new characters, I think it's simply because the show has had waaaay too many firings and replacements. They started with Emily then JJ then TG. Not to mention the way Mandy Patnkin? left. I think if they wanted certain people from the original team to be fired, they should have tried to do what the creators of House M.D did. The new team were on House was just as likable as the old team.

Anyway, I think CM has a bigger problem in general. First of all, their episodes are a hit or miss (especially lately). They tend to favor certain characters like JJ over others who are clearly better.  Also, there are a lot of inconsistencies and 'forgetfulness about their stories. Like what happened to Reid's headaches? His mother? His Ptsd? etc.. And those are just some of the reasons why people have been getting irritated with the show.

One final thing, I know TG has had anger issues before but from what I can see, Virgil Williams comes from a Martial arts background and is super intimidating and vulgar. I think it's disgusting that TG got fired while Virgil Williams got away with it. TG told his side of the story and yet everyone still blames him without taking into consideration that maybe Virgil really did go after him. The firing of the TG cost the show a lot. Whether you love him or hate him, he really is a good actor and has always held his own in theatre and on television. The fact that the show started tanking after his departure speaks volumes about how important he was to the show. Years later, his fans are still tweeting #NoHotchNoWatch. If that's not dedication then I don't know what is. 

[Guest]

This thread is for spoilers apeculation.  It is not used to discuss CM overall; that goes here.