S13.E16: Last Gasp

[ReidFan]

written by Stephanie SenGupta, directorial debut (in CM anyway) for Adam Rodriguez...

Edited March 15, 2018 by ReidFan
spelling mistake

[normasm]

Wishing Adam Rodriguez well in his CM director debut. 

[ReidFan]

gotta love her... even though we all 'hate' the character, Kim Rhodes tweeted tonight that she was in tonight's episode, calls herself  "the ginormous douche canoe"

 

I think I love her :)

[normasm]

Hahahahaha! Love the actor

[Annber03]

That's awesome :D. I like it when actors can have a sense of humor about stuff like that. She does seem like a cool person. 

[Danielg342]

Press Release (via SpoilerTV):

Quote

Away from the watchful eye of the FBI’s assistant director of national security, Linda Barnes (Kim Rhodes), the BAU meets in secret to investigate an UnSub who appears to be kidnapping and photographing young women.

[CKTV123]

I hate Barnes. I hope she has a fitting exit.

Spoiler

Loved the Mulder and Scully reference?

[mythoughtis]

I hate it when shows make all the other FBI employees out to be uncaring idiots.  The BAU is not the only intelligent life form in the agency. Other than that, the episode was good. 

[Annber03]

I liked the episode, too. I liked that it went off formula in terms of how they worked the case and such. And I really loved seeing all the team members in their new jobs. Rossi's was my particular favorite :p. Garcia's co-worker was sweet, too. I bet those two keep in touch. 

11 minutes ago, CKTV123 said:

 

  Hide contents

Loved the Mulder and Scully reference?

That was awesome. Weird, but awesome. 

I do wonder if they won't come back to this whole story arc somehow at the end of the season, though-I feel like there should be some kind of fallout from the team deliberately disobeying Barnes' order somehow. And since Barnes wasn't actually let go, she could well still find some other way to get at them. Otherwise the wrap up, nice and wonderful as it is, seems a little anticlimactic in a way. 

(And speaking of Barnes, initially I'd wondered if she was going to be involved in something really shady in sealing that file on Tracy, and that would be what ultimately took her down. Kinda wished they'd gone that route, that could've been juicy.)

[JMO]

Is Barnes appearing in any more episodes?  It feels like she came out of nowhere, for unknown reasons, and is scuttling back to nowhere, her reasons still unknown. And that was it?  

[mefein]

Got to be realistic with this. I'm actually in pain watching the destruction of what was the most intelligent show on television. That was awful. What a total waste. 

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, JMO said:

Is Barnes appearing in any more episodes?  It feels like she came out of nowhere, for unknown reasons, and is scuttling back to nowhere, her reasons still unknown. And that was it?  

No, I believe tonight was her last episode. 

[JMO]

5 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

No, I believe tonight was her last episode. 

Thanks, Annber. Then I guess I don’t understand the point of the arc at all. 

[ReidFan]

this was the last of her four ep arc, but the way it ended leaves it entirely open to her returning. 

I loved this one, pretty much from start to finish. Kinda meanly stereotyped Garcia's replacement and Prentiss' partner, but Anita, especially was great and I liked Garcia's temporary new boss too. The Mulder/Scully sendup I can't really comment to because (gasp!) I never watched the XFiles. But I LOL'd at Reid's class. Every single one of those women had the same starry-eyed look (because of him) as I do :) (whoa, that grammar sucked.....)

Rossi on set of his book being made into a film LOL!  

Yeah, they were rogue but they prevented 27. And onward. Doing their job because THEY can. 

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, ReidFan said:

this was the last of her four ep arc, but the way it ended leaves it entirely open to her returning. 

Exactly. Like I said earlier, I could see them thinking they're in the clear only for something to happen in the finale. Even if she herself doesn't return, the effects of her actions could trickle down some other way. 

[Danielg342]

Leave it to CM to drop the ball on what could have been a really interesting storyline.

Check that...leave it to CM to drop the boulder on what could have been a really interesting storyline.

Talk about your missed opportunities.

First, this should have been stretched out a few episodes. Force the team to operate at minimal capacity, all forced to acclimate to their new jobs.

Then, you have a detective...say, an old friend of Rossi's or Prentiss or someone on the BAU who wants help on a case, and is willing to work around their circumstances because this friend really values their expertise and would only want their input.

Then we could have the BAU fly commercially, with maybe Reid complaining about the legroom and Rossi being annoyed that everyone steps on his shoes, landing to greet the detective in whatever town they work in.

We'd then have to see the BAU actually work with limited resources and seeing just how poorly staffed and funded these "Everytown, America" police departments are, perhaps gaining a new appreciation for the hard work these officers "in the trenches" do.

We then also find out that Barnes' politicizing is one reason why this particular police department is so poorly funded, and it's this information that the BAU brings to the Director that gets her terminated.

Anyway, in the end, the BAU catches the UnSub, but with the message that if they were at full capacity- and not having to deal with Barnes' meddling- they could have caught the guy sooner. Much sooner.

Instead we got...this.

I don't even know what it was.

JJ tried to make the point that since Barnes came in and wanted "good looking cases" she's let 26 people die but the show really didn't make much of it. Senator Mayhew only seemed to care that the BAU rescued his daughter and restored the team solely on that- those 26 other victims didn't matter.

(Kind of like how CM's storywriting in general has gone lately with their "final victim having a personal connection to the UnSub" formula, because all the murders that happened before meant absolutely nothing in those stories)

Worse still was that the BAU pretty much acted like nothing changed.

Rossi went into a prison to interrogate a prisoner even though he doesn't have the clearance to do so.

Prentiss kicked down the door of a case she's not officially assigned to. Oh, and without a warrant too.

Garcia used work computers to hack case files she wasn't authorized to view.

Then there was JJ and Alvez confronting the concierge. Sure, Luke, your badge trumps privacy...but you're asking for sensitive information without having the authorization to look for that information.

Last time I checked, the police can't wave their badges at people and ask them whatever they want. There's a reason we have subpoenas and warrants and all that jazz...because, you know, people have rights.

Rights this show routinely ignores.

The way this entire case went, there's not a judge out there who wouldn't throw out the conviction against Luke Peek, because everything the BAU did was, well, illegal. None of that evidence can be used in court, and Peek walks out a free man.

Not feeling so good now about the BAU, are you Senator Mayhew?

...but hey, you got your daughter back, so it's all good now, right?

Blech.

So much for thinking this show still had hope.

[mefein]

3 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

Leave it to CM to drop the ball on what could have been a really interesting storyline.

Check that...leave it to CM to drop the boulder on what could have been a really interesting storyline.

Talk about your missed opportunities.

First, this should have been stretched out a few episodes. Force the team to operate at minimal capacity, all forced to acclimate to their new jobs.

Then, you have a detective...say, an old friend of Rossi's or Prentiss or someone on the BAU who wants help on a case, and is willing to work around their circumstances because this friend really values their expertise and would only want their input.

Then we could have the BAU fly commercially, with maybe Reid complaining about the legroom and Rossi being annoyed that everyone steps on his shoes, landing to greet the detective in whatever town they work in.

We'd then have to see the BAU actually work with limited resources and seeing just how poorly staffed and funded these "Everytown, America" police departments are, perhaps gaining a new appreciation for the hard work these officers "in the trenches" do.

We then also find out that Barnes' politicizing is one reason why this particular police department is so poorly funded, and it's this information that the BAU brings to the Director that gets her terminated.

Anyway, in the end, the BAU catches the UnSub, but with the message that if they were at full capacity- and not having to deal with Barnes' meddling- they could have caught the guy sooner. Much sooner.

Instead we got...this.

I don't even know what it was.

JJ tried to make the point that since Barnes came in and wanted "good looking cases" she's let 26 people die but the show really didn't make much of it. Senator Mayhew only seemed to care that the BAU rescued his daughter and restored the team solely on that- those 26 other victims didn't matter.

(Kind of like how CM's storywriting in general has gone lately with their "final victim having a personal connection to the UnSub" formula, because all the murders that happened before meant absolutely nothing in those stories)

Worse still was that the BAU pretty much acted like nothing changed.

Rossi went into a prison to interrogate a prisoner even though he doesn't have the clearance to do so.

Prentiss kicked down the door of a case she's not officially assigned to. Oh, and without a warrant too.

Garcia used work computers to hack case files she wasn't authorized to view.

Then there was JJ and Alvez confronting the concierge. Sure, Luke, your badge trumps privacy...but you're asking for sensitive information without having the authorization to look for that information.

Last time I checked, the police can't wave their badges at people and ask them whatever they want. There's a reason we have subpoenas and warrants and all that jazz...because, you know, people have rights.

Rights this show routinely ignores.

The way this entire case went, there's not a judge out there who wouldn't throw out the conviction against Luke Peek, because everything the BAU did was, well, illegal. None of that evidence can be used in court, and Peek walks out a free man.

Not feeling so good now about the BAU, are you Senator Mayhew?

...but hey, you got your daughter back, so it's all good now, right?

Blech.

So much for thinking this show still had hope.

All of this ^^^ and another thing. Did I totally miss something or was this Senator just a random Senator?  How in the name of all that is sane are we expected to believe that some random Senator had so much authority over the FBI?  I mean I know its just a show and poetic licence and all that, but come on, this is just ridiculous and like a bad soap opera.  Frankly if I had anyone associated with the FBI or LE in general, I'd be offended at how they are often represented on screen in general but most definitely how they were represented on tonights CM. 

They'll probably get another season, but man I honestly cannot see how this can be dragged out through another season with these writers.  I'm actually quite sad right now.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Even though I'm a few episodes behind that I need to catch up on, I felt the need to comment on the "writers' missed opportunity with this storyline" comments...

You all saw what we got with the mishandling of the whole splintered arc & then final resolution to the Mr. Scratch storyline - and that was stretched out A LOT longer than this just finished one;  did anyone really truly expect anything different than what was given?

"Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me" and all that.

Hope for more, but expect less.  That's my motto with the CM writers & show-runners.

[Racbec]

This was an utterly ridiculous episode.  Part of a poorly thought-out arc.   I felt sorry for the actors.  And the viewers.  It insulted our intelligence and our loyalty to these characters.

[threebluestars]

I really don't get what the point of this arc was. Did someone owe someone an acting job? It felt like I was watching something they had to do because they lost a bet or were required to by contract or something. It was so weird.

This used to be such a smart show. I miss that.

[Danielg342]

22 minutes ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

You all saw what we got with the mishandling of the whole splintered arc & then final resolution to the Mr. Scratch storyline - and that was stretched out A LOT longer than this just finished one;  did anyone really truly expect anything different than what was given?

In fairness, the Mr. Scratch storyline was botched the second Thomas Gibson was shown the door- so I don't hold the writers to too much fault for dropping the ball on that one, since Gibson's exit required a lot of re-planning. Same thing with Reid's prison arc- no doubt that required some revision too.

Not to say that either storyline would have been great if Hotch was still around...but I make some concessions due to his exit.

This Barnes storyline has no excuse. CM entered the summer and then the season with no unplanned cast overhauls and thus had no reason to properly plot the Barnes plot out- and they whiffed. Badly. There's just no excuse for that.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

16 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

In fairness, the Mr. Scratch storyline was botched the second Thomas Gibson was shown the door- so I don't hold the writers to too much fault for dropping the ball on that one, since Gibson's exit required a lot of re-planning. Same thing with Reid's prison arc- no doubt that required some revision too.

Not to say that either storyline would have been great if Hotch was still around...but I make some concessions due to his exit.

This Barnes storyline has no excuse. CM entered the summer and then the season with no unplanned cast overhauls and thus had no reason to properly plot the Barnes plot out- and they whiffed. Badly. There's just no excuse for that.

I'll grant you that, re: TG's exit needing to change or re-calculate some of the Mr. Sratch through-line.

But, look at the Reid-in-prison arc and how that was mishandled & "a missed opportunity".  Not so much Reid, but it made the rest of the team look bad.  All that time to figure out they had outside connections to use in exonerating him and if not for Cat dropping all the hints and clues in their lap in the penultimate episode, they never would have figured out who was behind the frame job.

[CrimeFan12]

I'm still at the minority table.  I enjoyed that.  It was fun seeing the team out of their comfort zones and into jobs they detest: Emily with her bland partner, Dave dealing with an actor who can't follow the script, Tara counseling two agents way too much into each other (I like the X-Files inside joke), Penelope playing whack a case and Spencer teaching a class that was filled with girls simply auditing the class to make goo goo eyes at him...lol.

Barnes did get her comeuppance and she's out of the team's hair for good.  But I do admit it wrapped up really quick and had me wondering after all of the stuff that happened over the arc and it ends like that?  I hoping there is more to it, that there may be other reasons she went after the BAU and that they will be revealed later on.  I don't think it is the end of it, that the writers have more in store for us and the team possibly in the final episode.  

I like that the producers are taking risks and trying new things.  After being on the air for so long, they are entitled to change things up.  I'm looking forward to see what is the next thing they have up their sleeves.  

Edited March 15, 2018 by CrimeFan12
Bad wording

[All That Jazz]

Gag me.  So the FBI is full of fat stinky slobs, horny misfit partners, young women who drool over the professor and behave like adolescents, and careerists who only value power and care nothing for saving lives. Yup, that's our FBI. Not exactly an episode to use for recruitment.

[ForeverAlone]

As a case, I found it all interesting. This was more in line with the type of serial killer stories I prefer on this show. Though it was just so convenient that the unsub was the one who brought that super rare, expensive bottle of wine. And a MySpace page from 2010 is still active? Yeah, okay. I guess it was also "lucky" that the final victim was a Senator's daughter and was able to put right all of Barnes' shenanigans (though a Senator wouldn't have had the authority to restore Emily like that). 

I liked professional Penelope, because that is the way she should be acting at a federal government job. Of course they were playing her professionalism for laughs, because heaven forbid that Penelope be in her early 40s, and yet is incapable of acting like a professional adult in the work place. And I don't necessarily buy that someone who worked in cyber crime would be so dismissive like her boss was, but of course he had to be, because this entire episode was a pretext for the BAU to go rogue yet again.

I thought Tara was a forensic psychologist, so why in the hell would she be counseling dysfunctional FBI partners, instead of evaluating killers? Yes, I get that the entire point was to set up a Mulder/Scully joke, but it's just not the psychologist job she would have been reassigned to. 

Barnes would be more interesting if there was even a hint of nuance to her character, competence, or even a shred of compassion or professional curiosity. 

I honestly supported Barnes' requirement that Rossi retire. He is LONG, LONG, LONG past the age of mandatory retirement. His continued presence on the team just beggars reality. Yes, I know this show is fiction, but I wish it would still adhere to some sort of realism. The man is in his mid 60s at his youngest. 

So it seems like all of Reid's female students wanted to have sex with him. Since it looked like he cut his hair a bit shorter (though I still pray in vain that he will return to the glory days of season six hair), I can understand that reaction. Though considering the show has basically portrayed him as a mid 30s virgin up to this point, it seemed oddly out of place that women AT LEAST 10 years younger than him were jonesing for him. Yes, I realize that women young enough to be Matthew's daughter desire him in real life, but Reid is rarely if ever portrayed as sexually desirable to women (who aren't prostitutes or shot in the head in front of him). 

This entire split up the team arc would have been more interesting if it was the season finale, so as a mid season episode where we know everything would be status quo at the end, it just seemed like a waste of story time.

[Mysteyman]

CM will air a two hour season premiere on April 18.

CBS moved up the Code Black premiere by one  week  to April 25.

CM"s lucky break I guess.

[Mislav]

4 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

Even though I'm a few episodes behind that I need to catch up on, I felt the need to comment on the "writers' missed opportunity with this storyline" comments...

You all saw what we got with the mishandling of the whole splintered arc & then final resolution to the Mr. Scratch storyline - and that was stretched out A LOT longer than this just finished one;  did anyone really truly expect anything different than what was given?

"Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me" and all that.

Hope for more, but expect less.  That's my motto with the CM writers & show-runners.

Well, I'd argue that most of us have low expectations by now... but the writers keep hitting a new low LOL

 

Besides, once or twice every season they still manage to write a fairly good, even great episode, some of them even on par with episodes from earlier seasons ("Nelson's Sparrow" and "Mr. Scratch" in season ten, "Entropy" and "Devil's Backbone" in season eleven, "Green Light" in season twelve), and even fairly bad writers can write a good episode once in a while (Erik Stiller, probably my "new worst current Criminal Minds writer" [since Virgil Williams left], also wrote "Pariahville", which I kinda liked), so it is frustrating because you know that they can do better when they try; and you often find yourself wondering "Will this the episode where they finally get things right, for a change?"

 

Plus, it is just hard to give up hope on the show that you used to enjoy so much. Well, at least I still have "Elementary", I guess...

Edited March 15, 2018 by Mislav

[CKTV123]

Quote

young women who drool over the professor and behave like adolescents

In their defense, I too drool over MGG and I'm not exactly young but I get you. 

The only saving grace about this arc is that a lot of us in the workplace have seen this kind of thing happen at some point. "Management" brings in a new person to shake things up and see who can play ball with the team and who can't. A lot of times all they end up doing is driving the good employees out and are left with the dregs, suck-ups and a$$-kissers to run the place into the ground. I've seen it happen a few times. 

The only thing I could think of regarding the Senator was that he could, I suppose, make life miserable for Barnes from his position in the Senate or hold a press conference or something and point to her directly stating that she did not want to pursue the case blah blah blah, his daughter could have died, blah blah blah, your daughter could be next, blah blah blah, this kind of ineffective leadership, blah blah blah...

Watching Barnes eat dirt and hang her head in shame was nice but I was really hoping for more, especially after her "no one cares about a bunch of Mexican grandmothers" line. I wanted that press conference and a complete, public shaming and humiliation. 

I cracked up at the partner the put Prentiss with - mostly because I love Gary Basaraba as an actor. The character was unprofessional & crude but he'd be good for a laugh now and then. And yes, I bet the guys wife probably will want to beat the crap out of him now. 

[Danielg342]

7 hours ago, All That Jazz said:

Gag me.  So the FBI is full of fat stinky slobs, horny misfit partners, young women who drool over the professor and behave like adolescents, and careerists who only value power and care nothing for saving lives. Yup, that's our FBI. Not exactly an episode to use for recruitment.

That part really bugs me. It would have been nice if we saw more than a few agents who were sympathetic to the BAU's plight, with maybe the hint that there isn't a soul in the bureau that likes Barnes.

It can't just be the BAU (and the IRT) that Barnes screwed over, is there?

I worked with a Barnes once...twice actually. It wasn't fun. Both times they got on the nerves of everyone else in the factory and eventually we ran them out of town. I hope they've since learned from their mistakes and are better for it.

Point is, someone like Barnes would generate a lot of enemies and it would have been fun if we saw the entire Bureau working with the ex-BAU to get rid of her. She might be able to destroy the BAU but she can't take down the entire Bureau.

Which leads me to another point about Barnes- there was the potential to really explore her narcissism and feelings of entitlement, pointing, possibly, to them being a front for insecurity. Really, I thought Barnes was more rounded than the show displayed. The potential was there to really play into that and get the BAU to gain some kind of leverage against her (isn't that what they're good at?), but no, the team simply got lucky.

I'm reminded of my favourite episode of Gotham, Episode 01.18 "Everyone's Got A Cobblepot", that dealt with that show's Barnes, Commissioner Loeb. That episode had the Gotham City Police Department's two detectives- James Gordon and Harvey Bullock- reveal that Loeb keeps the GCPD under his thumb by hanging each officer's crimes over their head like the Sword of Damocles, only doing so to prevent the GCPD into looking into him and finding out his crimes.

Lo and behold, Bullock and Gordon find out about his crimes and they get to hang it over his head. Loeb offered to retire but Gordon told him no- because he now has leverage over Loeb.

Of course, predictably Gotham dropped the ball on that storyline too but that should have been the storyline the BAU should have pursued with Barnes- finding some way to gain leverage over her and force her to restore the team.

[normasm]

I'm trying to find something positive to say.

Adam Rodriguez did fine with his direction. 

I found Rossi's "retirement" as a consultant for a police procedural based on his books to be amusing.

Garcia's mate in the cube canyon was cute.

Um.... the rest was awful. To begin, there is no way in hell the team would simply accept Barnes' assignments. They would go in protest to the Director, where they may (or may not) have found out that he wasn't "directing" this dismantling, Barnes was. But even granting that they did that, found out it was true, and then accepted the new reality, the new assignments don't make sense. As someone pointed out, Lewis is a forensic psychologist, not a "marriage" counselor. Reid would not be teaching Criminology 101. And, most importantly, Garcia would not be a profiler! She doesn't have the Magic Computer; she doesn't have access or clearance to look at the stuff she was looking at; and finally, if she were caught by her Cyber Crimes boss actually committing cyber crimes, her next job would be in the penitentiary laundry. And I'd love to see her accessorize prison blues.

All this was so distracting, I couldn't even pay attention to the case. I have no idea if it made sense, but allowing for the fact that everything else didn't make sense, I'm guessing I didn't miss anything. Found it amusing how closely Reid studied that one girl as she, scantily clad and obviously in agony, slumped to the floor. Go to your room, Spencer!

But the thing that really bothers me is the denouement. The Senator, whom Barnes knew (and was trying to please? Play? Serve?) having the authority to bestow restoration on the BAU? Really? And Barnes glowering at him as she is dressed down, she didn't even begin to fight. That tells me she is coming back in some form, because her whole purpose is ongoing and not yet accomplished. 

Unless the writers didn't understand that's what they were implying by building all this subtext around her. The questions we had prior to this ep still remain: What agenda did Barnes have? Whom did she serve? Is she the mole? Why is this show trying so hard to jump the shark?

[ReidFan]

well I liked it..

[JMO]

I sure hope those who think Barnes will be back to try to inject some sense into this arc are right, because right now, I can't figure out why we were put through it. An evil entity appears from out of nowhere, 'does evil' for a while, and then slinks back...and we're done? Nothing about why? Nothing about who put her up to it, or why the director gave her free rein, or to whom she was texting? So much untold story, and hardly an arc worth investing in, without that untold story.

The positives: If we were to see Reid teaching, I wanted to see swooning, and there it was. And thank you, Reidfan, for that screen capture of him with Henry's picture, just the tiniest nod to what happened last year. By itself, the case could have made for an interesting regular episode.

That's pretty much it. 

Random thoughts: I couldn't understand how the team members managed to get time away from their new jobs so that they could still do their old ones during work hours. While the senator might have had some (unspecified) oversight standing re: the FBI, it's odd to think that would have extended to him knowing a)Emily Prentiss and b) that she'd been removed from her command. The humor was okay, but I think they could have gotten the same effect by having the characters posit what they might have been doing if they weren't in the BAU, without the whole Linda Barnes thing. I was an X-Files viewer back in the day, and have seen some of the recent episodes. They did a much better send-up of themselves earlier this year.

Wrote this before I saw Norm's post.  Amen to everything in it, especially the notion that there is no way the BAU didn't try to fight the reassignments, or at least vet if they were really approved by the director.  If I'd been writing this, I would have begun this episode immediately after the last, where the BAU is in fighting spirit and making plans. Instead, we have the implication that they've simply acquiesced and been at their new jobs for two weeks, and sort of accidentally came together around a case.  So odd.  In 'reality', Emily would have gone back to Interpol, as had been her plan before Reid stopped her.  He could have taught anywhere, or done virtually anything he wanted.  Garcia could have started her own tech company, Tara moved to an academic or other law enforcement position.  The only thing I could see as remotely plausible was Rossi, consulting on the filming of one of his books.  

I wasn't particularly into this Barnes arc, because the character's behavior was so cartoonish---someone on this site used the 'Snidely Whiplash' comparison, which is perfect.  But I tried to get into a 'BAU-in-peril' mode, to enjoy the denouement.  Nope.

 

[normasm]

16 minutes ago, JMO said:

I sure hope those who think Barnes will be back to try to inject some sense into this arc are right, because right now, I can't figure out why we were put through it. An evil entity appears from out of nowhere, 'does evil' for a while, and then slinks back...and we're done? Nothing about why? Nothing about who put her up to it, or why the director gave her free rein, or to whom she was texting? So much untold story, and hardly an arc worth investing in, without that untold story.

The positives: If we were to see Reid teaching, I wanted to see swooning, and there it was. And thank you, Reidfan, for that screen capture of him with Henry's picture, just the tiniest nod to what happened last year. By itself, the case could have made for an interesting regular episode.

That's pretty much it. 

Random thoughts: I couldn't understand how the team members managed to get time away from their new jobs so that they could still do their old ones during work hours. While the senator might have had some (unspecified) oversight standing re: the FBI, it's odd to think that would have extended to him knowing a)Emily Prentiss and b) that she'd been removed from her command. The humor was okay, but I think they could have gotten the same effect by having the characters posit what they might have been doing if they weren't in the BAU, without the whole Linda Barnes thing. I was an X-Files viewer back in the day, and have seen some of the recent episodes. They did a much better send-up of themselves earlier this year.

Wrote this before I saw Norm's post.  Amen to everything in it, especially the notion that there is no way the BAU didn't try to fight the reassignments, or at least vet if they were really approved by the director.  If I'd been writing this, I would have begun this episode immediately after the last, where the BAU is in fighting spirit and making plans. Instead, we have the implication that they've simply acquiesced and been at their new jobs for two weeks, and sort of accidentally came together around a case.  So odd.  In 'reality', Emily would have gone back to Interpol, as had been her plan before Reid stopped her.  He could have taught anywhere, or done virtually anything he wanted.  Garcia could have started her own tech company, Tara moved to an academic or other law enforcement position.  The only thing I could see as remotely plausible was Rossi, consulting on the filming of one of his books.  

I wasn't particularly into this Barnes arc, because the character's behavior was so cartoonish---someone on this site used the 'Snidely Whiplash' comparison, which is perfect.  But I tried to get into a 'BAU-in-peril' mode, to enjoy the denouement.  Nope.

 

I said she was an Oilcan Harry, but Snidely Whiplash works too. Cartoonish, yes. 

[Annber03]

I totally didn't even catch the shot of Reid holding Henry's picture! Awwwww :). 

22 minutes ago, JMO said:

I sure hope those who think Barnes will be back to try to inject some sense into this arc are right, because right now, I can't figure out why we were put through it. An evil entity appears from out of nowhere, 'does evil' for a while, and then slinks back...and we're done? Nothing about why? Nothing about who put her up to it, or why the director gave her free rein, or to whom she was texting? So much untold story, and hardly an arc worth investing in, without that untold story.

Provided this storyline picks up again at some point down the line, I would assume that the lack of explanation for Barnes' behavior was intentional as a result. That they want us to be as in the dark regarding her motives as the team is, so that we can be just as surprised/shocked as the team is when we do find out why she put them through all of this, or who she was working with or on behalf of, if somebody else is involved. 

Even if that is the case, though, I do grant that there could've been better ways to show that over these last few episodes, so we wouldn't think she was just on their case for the hell of it. And those of you saying the team would've fought their new assignments right away is a good point, too. I think a big issue is that the show's not really been revealing a whole lot about the types of stories they're telling this season, the way they have in the past-maybe if somebody came out and indicated one way or another whether this story would for certain be continuing, that would help a little. 

I went back and looked at a recent TVLine interview with Vangsness, though, and she did say this at one point:

Quote

Erica Messer, our showrunner, said something off-handily to me and I was like, “What?” She was like, “Oh, yeah, leading up to the end of the season we’re doing this arc….”

http://tvline.com/2018/03/06/criminal-minds-season-13-preview-kirsten-vangsness-barnes-prentiss-suspension/

Now granted, "leading up to the end of the season" could mean anything, but that does seem to indicate this story may not be entirely done to some degree or another. I'm fully willing to agree I could be way off on this assumption, too, though, and the show may well prove me wrong. We'll see how it goes, I suppose.

53 minutes ago, normasm said:

Reid would not be teaching Criminology 101. 

Out of curiosity, what sort of class would he most likely be teaching instead?

Edited March 15, 2018 by Annber03

[UncleChuck]

Quote

CM will air a two hour season premiere on April 18.

Season "premier"??????

[K42]

Remember when I said I liked this storyline?

I lied. 


What in God's fucking hell was that?  

Edited March 15, 2018 by KatsDivision

[CKTV123]

Quote

Provided this storyline picks up again at some point down the line, I would assume that the lack of explanation for Barnes' behavior was intentional as a result. That they want us to be as in the dark regarding her motives as the team is, so that we can be just as surprised/shocked as the team is when we do find out why she put them through all of this, or who she was working with or on behalf of, if somebody else is involved. 

Yeah. It would help if there were some actual reason for her being there and doing what she did. Or tried to do.

It might have been because they had a contractual obligation with the actor who portrayed her and had to fulfill it somehow.

[Mysteyman]

1 hour ago, UncleChuck said:

Season "premier"??????

Oops, make that  a two hour season finale on April 18.

Sorry about that guys.

[MrWhyt]

11 hours ago, All That Jazz said:

Gag me.  So the FBI is full of fat stinky slobs, horny misfit partners, young women who drool over the professor and behave like adolescents, and careerists who only value power and care nothing for saving lives. Yup, that's our FBI. Not exactly an episode to use for recruitment.

it's not a documentary

[HighMaintenance]

I'll preface my comments by saying:  As a CM watcher, I'm just a filthy casual.

What in Lifetime Movie Hell was that???
I'm looking at the clock and the show is 10 minutes from the end of the epi and there is no comeuppance for the evul mustache twirling she-beast, Barnes.  She's been acting like a "douche canoe" for this 4 epi arc, and her smackdown was the most anti-climactic event ever.

The minimal explorations of the BAU family's "new" jobs was too shallow and too unbelievable.  Even for this show which depends on the viewers suspending belief of all real world crime procedural standards.  Most contrived, was the scene with the horny co-eds ogling Matthew Gray Gubler's character.  It left me perplexed and feeling slightly perturbed.  Maybe because he reminds me too much of Frank Dillane from Fear the Walking Dead.

Edited March 15, 2018 by HighMaintenance

[normasm]

2 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Out of curiosity, what sort of class would he most likely be teaching instead?

The possibilities are endless: Any of several disciplines related to mathematics, physics or engineering; linguistics, psychology, even profiling. But I fanwank that Spencer has other PhDs we don't know about, and he would, if he stayed with the FBI, go into cold cases or completely go academic and teach philosophy at university. What do you see?

[Mariana]

God that was awful.

I kind of understand when other shows like NCIS or SVU make the FBI look like idiots... But come on the BAU IS THE FBI!

Anyway Normasm and JMO wrote everything I hated of this episode and arc.

But I liked Anita.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, normasm said:

The possibilities are endless: Any of several disciplines related to mathematics, physics or engineering; linguistics, psychology, even profiling. But I fanwank that Spencer has other PhDs we don't know about, and he would, if he stayed with the FBI, go into cold cases or completely go academic and teach philosophy at university. What do you see?

Ah, okay. I wasn't sure if there was one specific type of course he was supposed to be teaching instead or something. But that makes perfect sense.

I definitely agree he would go into teaching, whether in the FBI or not, though, yes. I really like your idea of him working cold cases-he and his students could provide a real public service with that, which seems very fitting for him. Teaching philosophy would be good, too. I could also see him following in his mom's footsteps and teaching a literature class :). 

(Now he's been in prison, I also wonder if he would get into something that could help prisoners who are working on being rehabilitated, or who may have been wrongly convicted, or things of that sort. I know there's groups and classes out there that try and work on those particular issues as well.)

[Mariana]

I think Reid was talking about stressors so I guess it was something about criminology. 

[normasm]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

(Now he's been in prison, I also wonder if he would get into something that could help prisoners who are working on being rehabilitated, or who may have been wrongly convicted, or things of that sort. I know there's groups and classes out there that try and work on those particular issues as well.)

Annber, in aMUSEment345's fiction Broken, Reid helps out at the Innocence Project, which i think is totally plausible, too, but want to give JMO credit for thinking it up!

[mefein]

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I totally didn't even catch the shot of Reid holding Henry's picture! Awwwww :). 

Provided this storyline picks up again at some point down the line, I would assume that the lack of explanation for Barnes' behavior was intentional as a result. That they want us to be as in the dark regarding her motives as the team is, so that we can be just as surprised/shocked as the team is when we do find out why she put them through all of this, or who she was working with or on behalf of, if somebody else is involved. 

Even if that is the case, though, I do grant that there could've been better ways to show that over these last few episodes, so we wouldn't think she was just on their case for the hell of it. And those of you saying the team would've fought their new assignments right away is a good point, too. I think a big issue is that the show's not really been revealing a whole lot about the types of stories they're telling this season, the way they have in the past-maybe if somebody came out and indicated one way or another whether this story would for certain be continuing, that would help a little. 

I went back and looked at a recent TVLine interview with Vangsness, though, and she did say this at one point:

http://tvline.com/2018/03/06/criminal-minds-season-13-preview-kirsten-vangsness-barnes-prentiss-suspension/

Now granted, "leading up to the end of the season" could mean anything, but that does seem to indicate this story may not be entirely done to some degree or another. I'm fully willing to agree I could be way off on this assumption, too, though, and the show may well prove me wrong. We'll see how it goes, I suppose.

Out of curiosity, what sort of class would he most likely be teaching instead?

Not sure how to select portions of a comment.  My comment is in reply to the bit about Vangsness interview.  I think past history of both Messer's 'promises' and 'vision' and the fact that CM has always been pretty awful at actually following up on any sort of storyline.  Thats been very evident over the last few seasons.  I mean we've had basically nothing which could merit being called a follow up to a most traumatic event suffered by one of our core team, despite assertions by Miss Messer. We had a mole last season.  I'd be confident we are never going to hear about that mole ever again. And on and on.  I dont know if they forget about what they write or think we will or both.  Basically, I would not be so confident that there will be any further follow up on Barnes.

[secnarf]

59 minutes ago, mefein said:

Not sure how to select portions of a comment. 

Just delete the portions you don't want/need.

 

I hated this arc from start to finish. Even the ending was bad because how in the world can some random senator grant Emily hiring authority? (He didn't technically hire Emily back, just told Barnes to make it happen). The only half-decent part was Emily not-so-innocently telling the senator about JJ's firing.

[Calamity Jane]

Just echoing most of you - did not like every other FBI unit being depicted as lazy, unprofessional, unintelligent, etc., and was totally baffled as to why a senator would have staffing say-so in the Bureau.  All that made it hard to take the rest of it seriously.  I've felt for several years now that CM needs to wrap it up and wave goodbye to us all, and nothing here did anything to change that opinion.  

[mefein]

2 hours ago, secnarf said:

Just delete the portions you don't want/need.

Yeahhh. Thank you!

[Racbec]

I like AR, but I was not impressed with his direction here.  Granted, the script was awful, so he wasn't given a lot to work with.  

How much time passed between Barnes' big announcement about their futures and when we saw each of the team members in their new assignments?