Season 13 Spoilers, Speculation and Anticipation

[ReidFan]

On 7/18/2017 at 6:33 PM, Danielg342 said:

 

I also believe the acting really stunk. This has been an issue for most of the later years, but S12 didn't have the quality of star performers that other years had and it showed. When you don't have actors that can elevate material, you writing is really exposed.

 

I do hope you're not referring to the regular cast here. I thought Matthew was phenomenal in the prison arc. I thought Adam Rodriguez was really, really good in several episodes, most particularly Green Light/Red Light. Absolutely loved the scene where he dished up karma to Calvin Shaw. I thought Aisha Tyler was superb in the Mirror Image episode, and the prison scenes where she did the cognitive. Loved how Paget Brewster brought sensitivity and understanding to Prentiss, throughout the season but most especially in "A Good Husband" and "Surface Tension".  I even liked AJ Cook and Kirsten Vangsness in "Green Light" and "Red Light." 

I would also extend kudos to Aubrey Plaza, her 'Red Light' performance was spectacular too.  Also thought highly of Alimi Ballard and Terrence Terrell who played the imposter, and the actual brother of Aisha Tyler's Tara Lewis in "Mirror Image".

Didn't think much of the 'stunt casting' this season. Sherilyn Fenn and Tatum O'Neal did nothing for me, but it might have been the material they had to work with too. Wasn't fond of either of their episodes.

But I do think the regular cast put in good performances this season.

[Danielg342]

Mileage will vary, I grant, but I didn't think- aside from Reid vs. Cat as well as Prentiss in "Red Light", most of the performances in "Mirror Image", and a few other instances- that the acting performances, overall, really blew me away. I don't think we necessarily had a lot of bad performances, just nothing memorable- and it showed.

[Willowy]

I disagree, regarding the core cast especially, and I'm including Aisha in that group. While during the back half of the season I was focused entirely on Reid, upon rewatch there were amazing moments to be had from the team, including those that Reidfan mentioned above.

[ReidFan]

Yay!! Josh Stewart confirmed on twitter, answering someone's question that he will be back on CM this season.  Hope it's not just a cameo doing glorified babysitting.... er.... parenting. 

[Danielg342]

I would so love a story where the team is in peril and Will and Joy- who both are trained investigators- need to step in to save them. Maybe Prentiss' husband too...and Roxy. Gotta have Roxy.

[Willowy]

Unless I missed something, Prentiss isn't married. Agreed on Roxy!

[ReidFan]

we aren't even sure she's still 'seeing' I think his name was Mark?

 

But yeah, Roxy needs to be elevated to 'series regular' :D

[Willowy]

I'd like to see Emily with Fiona, something I made happen in my latest fic. Doubtful CBS would go there, though.

[Hotchgirl18]

I'm team Roxy. We should just make her a team member. 

[Danielg342]

I haven't heard anything to suggest that Prentiss and her Beau are no longer...but, it also seems like Mark was seen once and that was it.

...but yeah, Roxy: Dog Profiler would be awesome.

[ForeverAlone]

This is an interesting interview Paget did at  Comic Con, with a fair amount of talk of season 13.

http://tvline.com/2017/07/25/criminal-minds-paget-brewster-season-13-cast-changes/

[Annber03]

I love how friendly and chatty Paget Brewster is in this interview :D. She seems like a really fun person to talk to. 

I wish they could write it so Stephen could survive the crash and find another way to let him go. Sure, he can't be in the season premiere, obviously, but they could still explain him deciding to resign or take time off to recover off screen or something. But I get that a quick death would be easier to write and explain away than trying to explain him up and leaving with no goodbyes or anything like that, so...

I just feel bad for Gupton with the way he was let go. And I like the way Paget Brewster addressed the constant cast changes, and how the cast has learned to handle and deal with that. I do appreciate that they've embraced the new cast members who've come on over the years-considering the way some fans tend to react to any new people who join, it's nice to know they're getting some support from somebody. Hopefully the setup they have for this coming season will actually hold for a while (or to the end of the series' run, depending on how much longer the show plans to go), though. It'd be nice to keep things a little more settled for a while on that front. 

As for the talk of season 13 storylines and such, since Walker was brought on to help the team catch Mr. Scratch, I wonder if his exit means the end of Mr. Scratch as well? 

On a lighter note, I'm looking forward to Reid being back with the team again. I'd be especially interested to see how they show him adjusting back to normal life and if and how the events of last season impact him when he's working a case or something. 

[normasm]

liked the article, thanks FA. She seems humble and happy, which to me is appropriate. Not giving a lot away about Reid's return, which is good. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by normasm

[Danielg342]

Paget Brewster praises the writers. Wish I could share her same appreciation.

Though maybe the pickle episode could work. *shrugs*

Sucks that Stephen Walker seems destined to bite it...Damon Gupton deserved better. That said, a storyline where the team mourns Walker and learns to adjust to a death within the BAU could be interesting if they play it right- we've never seen the BAU deal with a death, so it's a unique scenario.

[CrimeFan12]

6 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I love how friendly and chatty Paget Brewster is in this interview :D. She seems like a really fun person to talk to. 

She is.  I've met her.  I was so nervous my legs were shaking when we chatted and then took a picture with her...lol

[Annber03]

Aw, that's so cool that you got to meet her :D! I'm glad you had such a fun experience. 

(And ha, I don't blame you for feeling that way. I would, too, if I met any of my favorite celebs :p.)

[Mom x 3]

On 7/25/2017 at 9:25 PM, Danielg342 said:

we've never seen the BAU deal with a death, so it's a unique scenario.

Would Erin Strauss not count for that?

[Danielg342]

27 minutes ago, Mom x 3 said:

Would Erin Strauss not count for that?

I think that's different, since Strauss was not part of the day-to-day operations of the BAU, whereas Walker was.

[normasm]

We saw them deal with Emily's death, and later with Gideon's. Both count, in my book.

[Danielg342]

3 hours ago, normasm said:

We saw them deal with Emily's death, and later with Gideon's. Both count, in my book.

Emily's death- or, erm, "death"- I can grant, since she was "killed" in active duty. Gideon had left the team by then, although he always "felt" like he was part of the team still.

My guess is that the writers wanted an opportunity where the audience might get to feel the same grief that the team does when they lose a member, and I suppose this is an opportunity where the "whole" team would grieve over the death instead of a few characters in the case of Gideon (Reid/Rossi, mostly). The only question will be if it will work- is there enough attachment to Walker as a character that the audience will actually grieve with the team when he's gone?

I mean, I like Walker and thought Damon Gupton had a lot of potential...but I'm not sure we've seen enough of Walker to really get attached to him and miss him when he's gone. I get the feeling that fans are more attached to Gideon than they ever were of Walker, even though Mandy Patinkin left the show ten years ago (the anniversary was actually eleven days ago) and Gideon's death resonated- and will resonate- far more than Walker's.

If you ask me, if a BAU member had to die, it should be Rossi. He's expended as a character, he's the right age for it and we as an audience actually know him and have fond memories of him. Chances are, we'd miss him when he's gone (I know I will). Walker? Kind of hard to get too worked up about a character that was only on the show for 15 episodes.

[normasm]

Nah, the writers, and TPTB just want to make episodes that people will consume, it doesn't really matter if we get indigestion later. They made a strategic decision, that Walker wasn't exciting enough to keep. What they should have seen is an 8th member wasn't needed, that they should spread the profiling among the team of 7.

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, normasm said:

Nah, the writers, and TPTB just want to make episodes that people will consume, it doesn't really matter if we get indigestion later. They made a strategic decision, that Walker wasn't exciting enough to keep. What they should have seen is an 8th member wasn't needed, that they should spread the profiling among the team of 7.

Won't dispute any of that. However, I do find it interesting they're killing Walker when they never did it as someone's "exit". I'm sure that thought cropped up when the writers needed to figure out what to do with him.

[Mislav]

On Friday, July 28, 2017 at 2:44 AM, normasm said:

Nah, the writers, and TPTB just want to make episodes that people will consume, it doesn't really matter if we get indigestion later. They made a strategic decision, that Walker wasn't exciting enough to keep. What they should have seen is an 8th member wasn't needed, that they should spread the profiling among the team of 7.

So, "Criminal Minds" has become McDonalds of TV shows? LOL

[Old Dog]

This is interesting.

 

http://tvline.com/2017/08/01/criminal-minds-jamie-kennedy-season-13-floyd-feylinn-ferell/

[Annber03]

Wow, that's an unexpected choice. Second notable person from season 3 popping up, too. Is this going to become a thing or something :p? I do like season 3, so if they're going to have callbacks to any season...

But yeah. Curious to see what they'll do with him. Are they going to need to interview him to help with a current case, a la Karl Arnold? Has he escaped and continued his disturbing crimes? 

I like the idea of revisiting Garcia's feelings about her shooting all those years ago, though. This year does mark ten years since that happened, so it's fitting they'd acknowledge that, the way they acknowledged Reid's ordeal with Hankel in "Spencer". Be interested to see how they handle that. 

[Old Dog]

He was an interesting unsub for sure. Not sure if I can take an episode with too much of Garcia's wibbling though so I hope it is more about the unsub than Garcia!

[senin]

I like Lucky, so I really hope they do something interesting with the character. I don't think it is easy, the topic of cannibalism is so disturbing... 

And it is also an episode with a lot of other things in it: Garcia meeting and flirting with the man who will later shoot her, Morgan's reaction to this, Morgan's conflict with his faith, Rossi forcing Morgan to interview the priest... 

Thanks for the link, Old Dog!!

[Danielg342]

"God is in us all."

"So is Tammy Charles."

I'll wait and see on how the Garcia thing plays out...her emotions can be a bit hit or miss based on the writing.

[normasm]

They must be talking about two different episodes. Garcia getting shot had zero to do with the Floyd Feylinn episode, it just happened at the end of it. No cross-pollination unless they're grasping at straws to get something for Garcia to sob about.

[Willowy]

Daniel, I like that line too, but he says "So is Tracy Lambert." Who's Tammy Charles?

[ReidFan]

I find this a bit of an odd choice since Morgan was the BAU member most central to this ep.  

[Danielg342]

I just got the name wrong. Been a while since I saw it.

[Willowy]

I think its fine if the writers (I've heard Jim's writing it) want to use FFF to trigger Garcia. I mean, she was shot at the same time all this was going down ten years ago, and that was probably the most physically traumatic experience of her life. We never can predict just what's going to set us off.

Maybe Erica doesn't mean 'faith' as just religion, but also as just faith in humanity, the team, what they do on the job, etc... We saw Garcia struggle with Reid's issue last year so it could be an extension of that. Existential angst. 

[Hotchgirl18]

Hmmmm. Could he be an  escaped prisoner? 

[ForeverAlone]

Fun little tidbit for season 13.

http://www.tvguide.com/news/criminal-minds-simmons-daniel-henney-season-13/

[Danielg342]

A scandal, eh?

As much fun that would be, there's part of me that thinks it's a bit too much for the show to take on and that a simpler transfer would have been better.

Also, if Scratch is part of the scandal, the BAU loses all credibility of they don't drop everything and pursue him right now. He took down Hotch, got to Tara, took down Walker and now he's taken down an entire team?

Yeah...no more putting it off, guys.

[Fashionista7]

YAYYY!!!!!  MGG'S DIRECTING AN EPISODE FOR SEASON 13!!!!

http://tvline.com/2017/08/02/elementary-season-6-natalie-dormer-moriarty-returns-spoilers/

[Annber03]

Very happy to hear that news. He just keeps on racking them up, doesn't he? 

And ha, clowns. Oh, yeah. I can totally see him having a blast directing a creepy episode about that :D. I'm thinking a lot of viewers will be covering their eyes that night :p. 

[ForeverAlone]

I wish the clown episode was their Halloween episode, but Matthew never directs that early in the season. 

[ReidFan]

I think this is the one Karen Maser is writing. Harry tweeted a picture of a clown and Karen replied 'thanks Harry, that gives me an idea for a CM story'

oh my gawd, I HATE clowns!!

 

:(

[Fashionista7]

I think I'm getting a Stephen King's It tingling feeling. Maybe a tribute episode.

[ReidFan]

I tweeted Harry about two/three weeks ago, asking if Matthew (and Joe) were going to be directing this season, and he said 'yes, both of them'..... did I not post that info here? I thought I had.

[Danielg342]

I believe the It remake comes out later this year or early next year...so that could be why the clown episode is being planned so it can be released alongside of it.

[ForeverAlone]

The IT movie comes out in early September 2017, and CM 13.17 won't likely air until some time in March/April 2018. 

[Danielg342]

If It does well, it'll still be topical by early 2018.

I wonder if there will be any discussion of the real life clowns, like the Northampton Clown or the strange clown sightings in the Carolinas.

[Kara101]

56 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

If It does well, it'll still be topical by early 2018.

I wonder if there will be any discussion of the real life clowns, like the Northampton Clown or the strange clown sightings in the Carolinas.

Oh goodness around Halloween of last year there was a " Clown Epidemic" where I'm from. I'm not sure if it was going on in the whole of the US or just in certain places. I'm in southeastern Pennsylvania. People were meeting up at McDonalds to have "Clown Killing" meetings and would go " Clown Hunting" on the Schuykill river. Apparently people dressed up as  clowns would pop out of cemeteries and chase people around at night...

I was pretty convinced everybody had gone crazy. Utterly bizarre. 

[Hotchgirl18]

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

If It does well, it'll still be topical by early 2018.

I wonder if there will be any discussion of the real life clowns, like the Northampton Clown or the strange clown sightings in the Carolinas.

2016. The year the clowns came out.

[ReidFan]

that Clown Motel in Nevada (Matthew visited there and posted photos a year or so ago I believe) is up for sale. location site for episode? lol..

[Willowy]

I do wish they'd stop with the "Hey whatever's popular right now, let's make an episode sorta like it!"

I mean they did it with the 50 Shades thing, the Stranger Things vibe, now the IT remake is coming out, so a scary clown? Getting a bit tired of it. 

I like it when they reference pop culture, or even real-world people and things (like Barack Obama, and Putin), but not when they just flat-out copy whatever's popular at the given moment and put a serial killer spin on it. 

Lazy.

[Annber03]

Eh, to be fair, this might not have any connection to the 'It' remake or the weird clown sightings last year (though I could see the latter being mentioned in passing as a reference for the case, like the examples you gave). It could just be its own weird thing, too. 

If it is a nod to that, though, I can understand that gripe, yeah.