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S14.E15: Truth or Dare


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I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one thinking the judge should shoot the son of a bitch.  Although I thought it was going to be one of those test things, and she had been given an unloaded gun.  

I do not like this storyline.  Just toss Will aside, the family they've built?  At least Reid is not also married with children.  I cannot look at this as some great, romantic story.  I find it offensive.  Hey JJ, if you want play truth or dare, try truth with your husband.  

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Managed to watch this episode.  Call it some sort of morbid curiousity.

I'm really not sure what to say.  

Even without the Jeid mess, this was bad.

I mean, they've known this was going to be a season finale for quite a while. If they'd produced this mid season, it would have been bad.  As a series finale, it was just awful.  I'm still talking about the actual 'bad guy' story line here.  And that wedding....LOL

As for the Jeid mess, not at all suprised Messer (apt name) has gone this route.  She has been desparate to go this way since she took over.  She did not get her way with Hotch/Prentiss (thank you TG).  The only logical option in a totally ilogical tale, is JJ and Reid. 14 years in and a limited final season, and this is where they go....LMFAO.  As well as pandering to Messers idiotic whims, it tells me much about the depth of imagination of the writers.  

To those of you looking forward to the last season with high hopes.....ouch. 

This show should have lost the right to use the title Criminal Minds many seasons ago.  

You know, much as my comment probably comes across as mad, I'm not really.  I'm considerably more amused. Its like a really bad comedy show at this stage.  I simply don't care enough to be mad. 

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4 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

Oh, and I'm sorry, but if I were married, and my husband came to me after over a decade of marriage and two kids, and announced he'd been in love with his best friend for the entirety of our marriage, and explained it in terms of "You can love two people at the same time," after immersing her completely in our and our children's lives, I'd be devastated. 

I hope you don't think that I was actually suggesting that JJ should actually tell Will that (or Reid, if she decides to not pursue anything with him in the end), because yeah, no, that's certainly not what I meant with that post. My reason for bringing up the whole "possible to love two people at once" thing was as attempt to give an explanation for how JJ could possibly love both Reid and Will. A lot of people seem to think that by loving one, somehow it lessens or cheapens the feelings they have for the other. I don't agree with that. I think her feelings for both men are very sincere, genuine, and deep.

Also, there's the fact that her love for each of them would manifest itself in different ways as well. All of which could explain some of the decisions she has made thus far, or is going to make in the future. 

3 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

(Case in point- how many of the BAU members have mentioned they talked to any of the departed team members over the years? I could probably count such instances on one hand. I grant that maybe part of that is because the writers forgot that this stuff would happen but I still think it means something)

Speaking personally, I like to think they are still in touch with the other team members, we're just not seeing that on screen. I would like some more mention of that in the show itself, yes, especially since they have made a point of making references to former team members in the past (they've caught up with Morgan when he's come back to visit, they mentioned Emily a LOT during the seasons she wasn't on the show, and they have alluded to Hotch and Gideon a time or two). But I'm also willing to believe that there's plenty that happens with these people in their personal lives that we just don't see on screen, too, and that would include keeping in touch with each other. 

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If it's all just a swerve so that JJ admits that she just loved him platonically over all these years, then what's the point of making a big deal of her admission in the first place? It should have just been something they laughed off after dealing with the UnSub.

If it leads to a situation where Will gets terminal cancer and thus opens the door for JJ to truly pursue her love with Reid, then it's really nothing but an awkward contrivance. It's really nothing more than spouting that "true love" nonsense that has no basis in real world interactions (some people may have more than one "true love" while others may not find theirs- or even want to find theirs).

It's also a real glurgerific conclusion, in that it trades Will's happiness and his family's happiness for JJ's. Yeah, significant others die all the time, but the impact of those deaths shouldn't be glossed over nor should they be "hoped for" in order for the widower to go for the love they really wanted. How would Will's family feel to learn that JJ never did love her husband and secretly or subconsciously wished he'd die so that she could pursue Reid? There's just no way to present this kind of story without ugly, ugly implications.

  Reveal spoiler

It reminds me of the conclusion of How I Met Your Mother, where we learned The Mother actually had a terminal illness and the whole story was revealed to be a case of Ted trying to talk himself out of admitting that he loved Robin all along.

Then there's the coup d'grace, Reid's "ultimate story" that's been hinted at on these boards and even on the show itself- the idea that his life is a tragedy, and that it's not supposed to end happily. It's on this end where we would see Reid develop early dementia or Alzheimer's or get another terminal disease, or Reid dies at the hands of the Chameleon or some other UnSub, as this would force a "what if" kind of introspection. You'd have JJ- at the very least- upset at her loss and now never being able to know if she could have "made it" with Reid, but then you'd have Reid realizing that, again, the woman that he loves he'll never actually be with.

It'd be the easiest way to maintain "the status quo" while providing some actual drama, but it wouldn't be the interesting, engaging kind of drama- it'd be a continuation of the cheap, exploitative, "kick him again", mean kind of drama that the writers have pounded Reid with for too long. There are a lot of people- myself included- who are tired of Reid suffering all the time and just want him to be happy. The show has never understood that good tragedies are the type that provide the audience with a seemingly happy story only for the rug to be pulled from under them at the last minute- those who got through Romeo & Juliet know this feeling first hand.

If the writers wanted tragedy, Hotch's life was built for it and they ran with it, which is why "100" worked. Seeing Foyet take apart Hotch's happy life- all while leaving Hotch helpless to stop him- was what made the tragedy work.

Reid? All he's done is suffer. There's never any moments of real joy that we can point to in his life, even in his backstory with Alexa Lisbon. It would almost feel like his death would be a relief to him, because then his suffering would end, but then it would feel cheap because it makes me wonder why I invested in the character in the first place.

That leaves his death as the culmination of "a very sad story". I already explained in the previous paragraph why that kind of ending would be very unsatisfying, since it makes Reid perpetually weak and makes the audience wonder why they should invest in this character in the first place.

When it comes to JJ...it's meant to be the message that Reid will think, "I had a true love, but I'll never get to experience it". You could say it's "the ultimate tragedy", akin to an "opposite Maeve" where Reid is losing his love because he's losing himself, but it's still a cheap ending. Not just because it's another example of "pathetic Reid" that we wondered why we cared but because it's another example of the glurgerific narrative with Will.

Yes, I would grant that in a scenario where Reid is dying he'd be the sympathetic character and the show wouldn't gloss over his suffering, but it would likely ignore- or gloss over- the feelings Will would have. Will would probably be within his rights to question JJ's commitment to their marriage after witnessing her mourn Reid like she lost a lover, and he'd definitely feel cheated and violated that Reid had been in their lives for all this time simply because JJ had a thing for him (or wanted to placate Reid's feelings for her).

Truth is, Reid's story only works if you're building something about hope- real hope- because that's what Reid is all about. It can't be the kind of "fake hope" where he "dies with dignity" or suffers one last time but still slaps a smile on his face- that just makes his character a pushover. No, you want to see the weakened eventually triumph over those who hold them down, and those who suffer experience the real joy that eluded them their entire lives.

Otherwise, why watch all this suffering in the first place? I guess it's more "real" when that elusive happiness doesn't happen, but it's not satisfying at all. You can't end a series like that, especially one with one of TV's most popular characters.

I feel like this is a really dramatic possibility regarding Reid? No argument, of course, that his life has been hell in so many ways on this show, and of course, anything can happen going forward with this show...but I dunno, I just feel like they are going to try and see to it that everybody, Reid included, has some sort of happy ending as the show wraps up. I certainly don't see the show killing him, or any other team members, off. Even if he doesn't wind up with JJ, perhaps his sorting out his feelings regarding her could help make things a lot clearer for him in terms of potentially pursuing another relationship. Lots of people get their hearts broken a few times throughout their lives before they finally find that person they're looking for, after all, so maybe that's what will happen with Reid here. And of course, if he does wind up with JJ, then he has indeed found a happy ending, and so be it, then.

I do agree, though, and have said elsewhere in this thread, that killing Will off would be a cheap and easy way to push him aside to better focus on Reid and JJ, and I do hope they don't do that. As for JJ possibly claiming she loves him platonically, if she doesn't wind up with him, I don't think it'll be because she changed her mind, or took back her words, or whatever. I think no matter what happens she will acknowledge that her feelings for him are sincere and genuine. 

10 hours ago, JMO said:

What's really fascinating is the amount of discussion the episode has created, and how revealing our responses are about our own personal attitudes toward love, romance, commitment and responsibility.  

Heh, in my case, I'm just going based off what I've observed from both people around me and in general over the years :p. I'm not even saying that any of the behaviors or attitudes I'm attributing to JJ and Reid are automatically right or wrong, or that I would necessarily say or do some of the things they might say or do if I were in their shoes. I'm just trying to point out how messy and complicated this stuff can be, more than anything, and trying to understand and figure out Reid and JJ's mindsets, in the past, right now, and in terms of what they might do going forward. 

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What happened to Criminal Minds?! Hard to believe that was the season finale. Seems like they let a bunch of 12 year olds write that. The bad guy playing truth or dare with JJ? Seriously? What's next, getting out the Ouija board or playing spin the bottle? Yes, why didn't the judge shoot him? When JJ stepped up and said she would do it, why didn't the guy just tell her to shoot the judge or Reid? Why would he care about her deep dark secrets? Was he planning on going back to prison and saying "hey guys, you'll never believe the juicy gossip I discovered!". Ridiculous. So juvenile. The bad guy knows nothing about JJ so how would he know the truth anyway. So disappointed in this episode.

As for JJ and Reid, there is no way JJ has romantic feelings for Reid. She loves him in a non romantic way. If something happens to her husband she would find a new romantic interest, it wouldn't be Reid. His true love is his mother anyway. He is totally devoted to her. 

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Me again...! I tried adding this to my first post but something would not work...probably me.

Anyhu, just to add a few points to my original comment.

I have seen some posters comment that there was a touch of fanfiction about this particular episode - indeed there was, and of the fanfiction gone wrong sort.  Now don't get me wrong. I spent almost 4 months in hospital a few years ago. Fanfiction helped wile away many long hours of incapacitation. I only ever read CM related FF and some of my favorite stories were of the 'shippy' variety. The difference was, those ships were only in FF AND they were well written and believable.  This was not.  Its not the first time I've had a feeling some of the CM readers have been sniffing about FF.

I'd be slightly cautious of Messers suggestion that AJ and MGG were totally on board with this turn of events.

Was this really the most stressful situation that either JJ or Reid have been in? I mean, are we to believe that JJ really thought that this was it, this was her last hurrah and it was now or never? I don't buy it one little bit, not with all that has gone on with each of them in previous seasons. 

The fact that its Simmons wife that is pregnant, suggests to me that he will feature quite alot next season. I saw someone share a pic on twitter from the little boy who plays his son.  He is on set for the episode theyre filming right now.  I'm gonna take a crazy guess and say this will be babies arrival episode. Something that struck me was the comment he made saying it was his 7th appearance on CM.  WOW. Thats alot of Simmons.  Beautiful child and Daniel Henney is VERY easy on the eye, but Erica, please, you're so transparent.

What about the bad guy chasing Rossi.  I totally missed all those episodes, so going just on what you folks have talked about on here.  But I was expecting some mention of it in this episode, or some hint that next season was going to be ...interesting. 

Finally, most ridculous part of all.  The fact that 99% (okay so maybe not exactly that, but you get where I'm at), of commentary on here, from what I've heard is ongoing on other social media and interviews with Messer post episode, are about a fricking love declaration, is such baloney. Sad to see a once great and UNIQUE show brought to this level of soap opera.   Grrrrrr

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Are they kidding me with this?  Ugh.  Look, JJ and Reid had a date already - clearly it went nowhere and wasn't mentioned or really hinted at for over a decade and now I'm supposed to believe JJ had the hots for him but just let it drop after the date because...  they were both single at the time?  (Yes, yes, I know, JJ had commitment issues, blah.  But I didn't see any struggle with commitment issues.  I saw mention of a date and then absolutely nothing but friendship for years.)  I admit that the JJ/Will relationship has always seemed forced to me.  But it isn't like the JJ/Reid one feels less forced to me.  Okay, enough, I'm tired of this already. 

Other things:  I do appreciate that they occasionally bring back bit players from previous episodes.  Only in California as far as I recall, but still.

I guess I'm happy Reid now scores much better on shooting tests / qualifications / whatever even without being under intense terror but I'm sad that he gave up skill at cards to do it. 

The idiot judge - he had your daughter, yes, but he gave you no reason to believe he had an accomplice so to harm her he has to go to her.  If you shoot him, then you, your daughter, and the nice FBI agents will be fine oh my goodness common sense!  If you move to do it fast enough before the nice FBI agents put their guns down the chances of success go up about a million percent.

  • The wedding venue - large enough for 3 times as many people as came. 
  • The cake - large enough for about 20 times as many people. 
  • Garcia is the bartender and then she isn't? 
  • The guess list is small enough that everyone gets to give a toast?  Because Emily wasn't in the wedding party and isn't related so...? 
  • "We'll put the altar over here" except... no altar ever showed up (right?  I have taken to half-watching the show while doing other things but they were just standing in front of a stained glass window, did I miss something?) 
  • I suppose we will go with Rossi not getting any previous marriages declared invalid / annulled to explain the lack of a church or priest (the officiant was not wearing a clerical so I'm assuming he wasn't a priest)?  Since otherwise he has at least one priest who is a personal acquaintance.   I guess that could have been Krystal's choice too. 
  • Random nitpick - you could clearly see Rossi's finger had an indentation from regularly wearing a ring already. 
  • Even though he promised Garcia he would, Reid did not dance, right?  I understand that as TPTB might not trust MGG with such an activity.

Okay, I lied, back to the JJ/Reid thing.  I, for one, would be perfectly fine if they dropped this now and never discussed it.  Things were said, a somewhat graceful out was given.  If we must have gone down this path, I can be happy with a slightly bittersweet "what if" with the ultimate answer being "but I already made a commitment to Will and that is the way things are" and "picking at this scab does no one any favors so we're going to let this go to protect our current friendship."

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I refrained from reading the comments so I can watch the episode first. Then I saw a photo on CM's FB page with Reid and JJ and got sucked into reading the comments.

All I'm gonna say is, I'm sick of CM's show-runners. They can shove their atrocious writing, crappy storylines and their joke of a team up their heinie. I'm done with "Criminal Minds".

I'm beyond furious. I'm going to pretend that I never watched this show. It's for the best.

Edited by K42
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I'm not even going to get into the JJ/Reid stuff. That's just a world of no.

But what was up with that pathetic wedding? They could afford Johnny Mathis but not a few dozen extras to make it seem like two grown ass, mature people had friends and family outside of the groom's coworkers? That wasn't a wedding. It was the office Christmas party. They had this beautiful location and showed Rossi and Krystal meeting with an event planner all for an event for 25 people tops.

I'll be honest: I'm happy this show is ending. It's gone on way too long.

Edited by marceline
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It's been a few years since I watched CM regularly; it wasn't a conscious decision to stop watching it but more that it just slowly became less and less of appointment TV for me. And then because of on-demand services, it was easy to rationalize that even though I was missing some episodes, I could catch up later. But I still had fond memories of most seasons, especially 1-3, and grew to appreciate most of the new profilers who came on board. Up until now, I had always held on to the idea that at least the show hadn't fallen into the trap of having romantic entanglements between team members, aside from the horrible flirting that Garcia did with Morgan. 

I had planned on watching the final season live, precisely because it would be the final season. But now, I just don't know it I can stomach it. Having JJ declare that she's been in love with Reid for years and years seems like such an obviously bad choice that it's hard to believe the showrunners would do that. But then I think back to other shows where the showrunners made equally stupid decisions (How I Met Your Mother, for example, spending multiple seasons showing why the main characters Ted and Robin were toxic for each other in romantic relationships, only to introduce the mother in the last season, kill her off in the series finale, and then reunite Ted and Robin). 

If the final season opens with JJ and Reid laughing about this as just a ploy to distract the unsub (despite their conversation toward the end of this episode in which JJ tried to make this claim and Reid was totally not buying it), it would make this episode be nothing more than throwing a bone to the various JJ/Reid shippers and then yanking it back. If JJ and Reid have a serious discussion during which JJ acknowledges that she's had these feelings but she made her choices long ago and doesn't want to break up her family, and Reid responds that there was a time he had romantic feelings for JJ, but that's well in the past, it would still be cringeworthy but not completely outside the realms of possibility. That is, I think most of us have either experienced it ourselves or known someone who has experienced the "what if" scenario. I don't think it's a betrayal of anyone or anything if JJ admits that if she hadn't gotten pregnant, she and Will would never have ended up together. Or for Reid to say that if he hadn't watched Maeve die in front of him, he'd be more receptive to a romantic relationship with someone else. 

I don't object to the idea of JJ and Will splitting up in and of itself, because from everything I've read, that's pretty common among profilers and people with similar jobs; it's a highly stressful job that can easily kill relationships. But if they split, it should be for those reasons, not this bad fanfic storyline of JJ having been secretly in love with someone else for a decade. And Messer seems allergic to the idea of giving Reid any sense of happiness without pulling the rug out from under him five seconds later; in a mindset where Reid having one disaster after another fall on him serving as character "growth," there's little encouragement to think that JJ's feelings are going to be anything but yet another clusterfuck for Reid. 

So overall, this episode did nothing except make me nervous that it's setting up a storyline for next season that's going to make me despise it. As for the central plot of this episode, seriously, you're doing what you know is the season finale before the last season of the show starts, and the best you can think of is to have an unsub threaten two profilers to have one of them spill her deepest, darkest secret? That would have worked well only if JJ had admitted to something either completely dark or completely funny. For example, if she'd admitted to shooting an unsub not in self-defense or to protect a victim but purely out of rage, that might have set up an interesting arc where Reid had to struggle with the decision of whether to report it. Or if JJ had said that back when she was selecting cases for the team, her method of choosing which case for the team to pursue was just throwing darts at the case folders to randomly pick a case, that would have been at least marginally funny. 

ETA: In rewatching the episode, I noticed the proliferation of awkward glances between JJ and Reid afterwards, all of which served to reinforce that JJ was telling the truth. That is, if it had been something she made up just to distract the unsub, then there would have been no need for those awkward glances because she would have immediately cleared things up with Reid once the unsub was down, in much the same way that Hotch did in LDSK. So, I can only conclude that yes, the writers are going to pursue this storyline in the final season. 

Edited by BookWoman56
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14 hours ago, Lalaland said:

Something that struck me was the comment he made saying it was his 7th appearance on CM.  WOW. Thats alot of Simmons.  Beautiful child and Daniel Henney is VERY easy on the eye, but Erica, please, you're so transparent.

I think the 7 appearances also applies to Beyond Borders. I believe this will be the third time Declan appears on CM. The other Simmons kids I think have only appeared on CM once so far, with Declan twice and a third coming up. I imagine we'll probably see the other kids as well this season in the same episode?

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Spoiler
Spoiler

==When JJ stepped up and said she would do it, why didn't the guy just tell her to shoot the judge or Reid? Why would he care about her deep dark secrets? Was he planning on going back to prison and saying "hey guys, you'll never believe the juicy gossip I discovered!". Ridiculous. So juvenile. The bad guy knows nothing about JJ so how would he know the truth anyway.==

Ignore the spoiler boxes, and I am sorry about the poor quoting technique too. 

What the previous poster said is another plot twist that got on my nerves.  There was no reason for the suspect to suddenly change his signature.  He was  having third parties kill the people who sent him to prison.  What did JJs secrets have to do with that?  She didn’t send him to prison.  He had no real prior beef with her.  His signature would have been to have her kill the judge to save Reid.   Make the whole confession even more ridiculous.   

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Yeah, I really doubt this particular unsub would get all that jazzed about JJ confessing to being in love with her friend and co-worker, because his crimes and motive had absolutely nothing to do with that issue. It would've made much more sense if the unsub was keeping some deep, dark secrets of his own that he felt he couldn't reveal, or couldn't deal with being in love with somebody he couldn't have, or feeling like he missed his chance with somebody he loved, or something of that sort. That would've given JJ a logical level on which to try connecting with and relating to him, and it would've better explained his reaction to her confession, as well as why he was so insistent she share her own secrets. 

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3 hours ago, jls1792 said:

I think the 7 appearances also applies to Beyond Borders. I believe this will be the third time Declan appears on CM. The other Simmons kids I think have only appeared on CM once so far, with Declan twice and a third coming up. I imagine we'll probably see the other kids as well this season in the same episode?

Ah you might be right. I never watched BB beyond...the introduction via the mothership.  Still though, Simmons and his homelife have had alot of time, for a newbie.

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18 hours ago, Lalaland said:

e slightly cautious of Messers suggestion that AJ and MGG were totally on board with this turn of events.

Was this really the most stressful situation that either JJ or Reid have been in? I mean, are we to believe that JJ really thought that this was it, this was her last hurrah and it was now or never? I don't buy it one little bit, not with all that has gone on with each of them in previous seasons. 

Begging forgiveness for quoting out of context.  I've been wondering where all the vitriol toward JJ has come from, and I think you've touched on it here. 

Some watched the scene and saw JJ  using a shocking revelation to distract the unsub so she, Reid and the hostages could escape. I can see where that could be viewed as callous, gratuitous, unnecessary, hurtful to Reid and potentially disastrous to her marriage.  Others, like me, saw JJ as someone wanting to tell someone she loved that she loved him, in the moments before they both died, when there was no risk of hurting anyone.  We're back to the observer, and the observed.

Just re: EM.  While I don't agree with all of the choices she's made along the way, I have no reason to doubt her word when she says she ran this by both MGG and AJC.  It was pretty radical, and I think, had she not run it by them beforehand, they would most certainly have expressed their opinions at the time of shooting the episode.  I think we can safely believe that they agreed to go for it, without assuming the degree of buy-in by each of them.

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19 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Speaking personally, I like to think they are still in touch with the other team members, we're just not seeing that on screen.

I'd like to think that too- but I won't infer something I don't see, If CM wanted me to believe that every team member- past and present- are the "best of besties", then they have to show that.

The only relationships that I can think of where the show actually sold it were JJ/Reid (especially in the past few seasons), Morgan/Reid (better in the first few seasons), Morgan/Garcia (again, better in the first few seasons) and Hotch/Rossi. Can't really think of any others that got to that point.

I compare it to The Orville where I could actually believe the team members are the "best of besties". Part of that is just perfect casting (a rarity in Hollywood), but the writing also sells that the team are close. I mean, it's not sterling writing (Seth McFarlane never really writes stories that go beyond a very basic level), but the writers made the conscious choice to develop the characters and develop their interactions, unlike the CM members who just largely go through the motions.

18 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

The main reason I never got into Seinfeld and some other shows, the way other people did, is that I take no joy in watching people lose EVERY TIME. I need to see people win occasionally. Have them learn a lesson and become a better person, and in the process, achieve something they want.

Watching Reid consistently get shafted over and over, to never find his happiness, and have the culmination of his struggles be that he either breaks up a marriage, Will dies, he lives for the rest of his life with an unrequited love or perhaps develops some kind of dementia, so that he forgets the whole thing, doesn't fill me with Joy.

I know I praised Seth McFarlane earlier in this post, but how you view Seinfeld is how I view Family Guy- it's just so mean that I just can't get into it. It must be because McFarlane made the conscious choice that comedy should be mean, forgetting that "mean comedy" really only works when you've got a point to make and you're sending up someone's ignorance (South Park is routinely mean too, but the show often makes political and social commentary, and SP doesn't write all of its characters to be mean- they have the adults be stupid and aimless with the children being (generally) the smarter, more aware ones). When all you're doing is using people as punching bags and those punching bags never get a credible comeback, you just turn things into a spectacle where you're bullying the weak. Maybe that's fun for some people, but it's not fun for me.

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The elevation of JJ is pretty old news by now.  I'm referencing the diatribes out in social media about her declaration of love to Reid.  I think it's hard to be angry about it unless you believe she was truly using it as a manipulation, and not simply telling him, before they both died, that he'd been loved.

I think we underestimate Reid when we think that JJ's revelation will consign him to a life of misery.   What's to say it wouldn't inspire him to truly see himself as worthy of the love of a good woman, and become open to meeting someone new?  Not powerless, but empowered.

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i would agree with you 100% if the JJ/Reid thing hadn't happened.  Even though it's never bothered me to have Reid play the role of the tragic hero (and thereby I would be okay with his status remaining unresolved at the end), I think they're going to have to do something about the place this revelation has left him.  Since I don't see them throwing away JJ's marriage, I think they'll have to either find someone for Reid or imply that he's headed in that direction.  Before the last episode, I'd thought it was a toss up, whether we would ever know him to find love.  Serial killers, yes.  But love?

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I've never seen any vitriol for JJ. I've always liked her and still do. I like the whole cast. Just thought this episode was extremely silly and not good enough story telling. Felt very flat. Story wise and acting. Didn't feel like a love declaration or shocking to me at all. JJ had more emotion and it meant more to her telling the unsub what she was going to name her daughter (why the unsub would care about that either, I have no clue), than anything she said about Reid. It was like an afterthought, like okay, okay...my daughter's name didn't do the trick...think, think, think...how about me telling him I love someone? Just more in line in what I would expect from a CW tween show and not CM. It won't really change anything for JJ or Reid.

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Oh great ! Newbie Simmons and his hen of a wife are having yet another kid. That must be what ? their 7th or 8th ? And yet it is sooooo important (for whom, really ? Is there even one viewer out there who cares ?) that not only it has to be announced on screen but it also requires for the arrival of said kid to be filmed ? Seriously ??!!?? RME

Meanwhile, other characters who've been there longer (Emily, Garcia, Reid, Lewis) have been struggling for years to get even 1 freaking little date, and in Emily's case, even 1 freaking family member who cares about her and is in contact with her. But noooooo, let's continue to  ignore those who have NOTHING, even as the show is coming to an end, and give the newbie a bigger chicken coop instead. Aaaaaand, to frustrate and insult the fans of the neglected characters even more, let's also make a big fuss about the newbie's umpteeth kid. RMFE

That "logic" of MESSer and her staff is truly mind boggling and infuriating.

I swear, each time I read the boards, I find yet another reason to stay away from that upcoming awful season 15. SMH

Edited by SSA Emily Prentiss
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3 minutes ago, SSA Emily Prentiss said:

Oh great ! Newbie Simmons and his hen of a wife are having another kid. It must be what ? their 7th or 8th ? Yet it is soooooo important (for whom, really ? Is there even 1 viewer out there who cares ?) that not only it has to be announced on screen, but it also requires for the arrival of said kid to be filmed ? Really ??!!?? RME

Meanwhile, other characters who've been there longer (Emily, Garcia, Reid, Lewis) have been struggling for years to get even 1 freaking little date, and in Emily's case, even 1 freaking family member who cares about her and is in contact with her. But noooooo, let's completely ignore those who have NOTHING and give the newbie a bigger chicken coop instead.

That "logic" of MESSer and her staff is truly mind boggling and infuriating.

I swear, each time I read the boards, I find a new reason to stay away from that upcoming awful season 15.  SMH

Edited by SSA Emily Prentiss
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1 hour ago, JMO said:

Even though it's never bothered me to have Reid play the role of the tragic hero (and thereby I would be okay with his status remaining unresolved at the end)

There's a part of me that has always believed the best ending for Reid is for him to realize that while his life has had a lot of misery in it, he decides that he doesn't have to be miserable. He realizes that, as bad as it's been, he still has a lot to be happy about, and that his own happiness is what he makes of it. There can be a hint that his life is about to take a happier turn- perhaps he gets a promotion, perhaps he meets a woman at the library and they agree to go out on a date- but, by and large, the series ends without a major change in his life, simply with his head held high knowing that he made it through the darkest of dark periods.

It's a contrast to Gideon who was immersed himself in all the sadness and the horrors that he faced in his life and kept looking for something to remind him that there still can be joy in this world, It's why Sarah's death affected him so much, because the one thing that brought him joy in his miserable life was now taken from him. He never did learn that happiness can come from within, and- perhaps- became sloppy with Donnie Malick as a result.

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On 2/11/2019 at 12:17 AM, JKL845 said:

True. Emily is one of my all time favorites on the show and they haven't done nearly enough with her. They haven't shown her relationships enough at all. Hope we get more for her.

Well considering that :

A. There's only 10 episodes left to end the show

B. The first few of those 10 eppys will be dedicated to the Reid/JJ telenovela and to giving JJ a 2nd devoted love interest (as if one wasn't enough)

C. Newbie Simmon's personal and emotional life and family (including the cringe worthy "I'm-so-horny-for-my-hen" scene in season 13) have been shwocased way more in 2 seasons than Emily's in 9. Heck ! even the oldest of his 12 brats has had more story in the last 3 years than Emily.

D. The newbie's having an umpteeth lil' brat, so yepeeeee ! we need an episode or 2 for that

E. Messer and her staff are clearly more invested in enlarging Simmon's chicken coop than they are in giving Emily just one person as a support system outside the BAU

F. They're also clearly way more invested in Alvez' personal life than in Emily's, so expect for him to also get 1 or 2 episodes next season to further depict his individual stories

So yes, considering all that, I'd say the chances of them exploring Emily's non Bau relationships are pretttty inexistent. Even if they had the slightest desire to do it (which they don't), they wouldn't be able to in the small frame of time that will be left.

Honestly, I'd say there's likely more chances for the show's final scene to be about Simmon's 15 th kid taking his/her first steps or going to kindergarten (unless it is about Alvez' wedding with his current girlfriend) than there is for Emily to get a significant relationship away from the BAU after 10 seasons on the show.

And you (generally speaking) wonder why I'm not willing to give season 15 the time of the day ?

Edited by SSA Emily Prentiss
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On 2/10/2019 at 8:06 PM, SSA Emily Prentiss said:

Oh great ! Newbie Simmons and his hen of a wife are having yet another kid. That must be what ? their 7th or 8th ? And yet it is sooooo important (for whom, really ? Is there even one viewer out there who cares ?) that not only it has to be announced on screen but it also requires for the arrival of said kid to be filmed ? Seriously ??!!?? RME

Meanwhile, other characters who've been there longer (Emily, Garcia, Reid, Lewis) have been struggling for years to get even 1 freaking little date, and in Emily's case, even 1 freaking family member who cares about her and is in contact with her. But noooooo, let's continue to  ignore those who have NOTHING, even as the show is coming to an end, and give the newbie a bigger chicken coop instead. Aaaaaand, to frustrate and insult the fans of the neglected characters even more, let's also make a big fuss about the newbie's umpteeth kid. RMFE

That "logic" of MESSer and her staff is truly mind boggling and infuriating.

I swear, each time I read the boards, I find yet another reason to stay away from that upcoming awful season 15. SMH

On 2/10/2019 at 8:06 PM, SSA Emily Prentiss said:

Oh great ! Newbie Simmons and his hen of a wife are having yet another kid. That must be what ? their 7th or 8th ? And yet it is sooooo important (for whom, really ? Is there even one viewer out there who cares ?) that not only it has to be announced on screen but it also requires for the arrival of said kid to be filmed ? Seriously ??!!?? RME

Meanwhile, other characters who've been there longer (Emily, Garcia, Reid, Lewis) have been struggling for years to get even 1 freaking little date, and in Emily's case, even 1 freaking family member who cares about her and is in contact with her. But noooooo, let's continue to  ignore those who have NOTHING, even as the show is coming to an end, and give the newbie a bigger chicken coop instead. Aaaaaand, to frustrate and insult the fans of the neglected characters even more, let's also make a big fuss about the newbie's umpteeth kid. RMFE

That "logic" of MESSer and her staff is truly mind boggling and infuriating.

I swear, each time I read the boards, I find yet another reason to stay away from that upcoming awful season 15. SMH

I believe that they said it was going to be their fifth child.

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3 hours ago, Mysteyman said:

My first reaction to theJJ/Reid storyline was that it was partially a diversion to cover the fact that they had new love interest for Reid planned, but they had us looking in a different direction, so that we would be surprised.

One can only hope....

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On 2/12/2019 at 5:04 PM, Fashionista7 said:

I read, & see media, about the season finale and then now there's this.

Which makes the 'confession' even more nonsensical if the LI isn't JJ.

I have no problem with the confession of love from JJ to Reid being more about friendship/bro-sis instead of romantic, but you use that device vehicle to convey it - when JJ could have made up any truth she wanted??

I just, I mean....
tenor.gif?itemid=12221156

Edited by iRarelyWatchTV36
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So, I broke down and watched the finale....

To me, its like the writers are trying to throw us for the most epic of dual fake-outs.

First they set up the beginning with the fact that apparently JJ can fool Reid and his ability to read her 'tells'.  So that implies that whatever paradigm changer may happen later within the episode's time-span should be viewed as her bluffing (if/when necessary).

But then the rest of the episode was so blatantly about love felt for others, it wasn't even the slightest bit subtle.   Then the confession, the looks (espcially after the quote about "twin flames"), the tension-filled silence when asked if what was said was true, etc.


So many conflicting ways to interpret things.  Then, add in the 'Reid's LI for next season' stuff and I just don't even know which way is up anymore, in terms of guessing what the heck is going with EM & the writers room, or how any of this could or will play out.

Edited by iRarelyWatchTV36
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On 2/7/2019 at 3:09 PM, CrimeFan12 said:

I was enjoying the episode until JJ confessed her love.  Such an eye rolling and unbelievable moment.  First JJ suddenly being able to beat Reid in poker and Emily who did actually beat him acting like she didn't know how to play the game, to this.  I'm not looking forward to the two looking longingly at each other for the last ten episodes.

Yeah what a silly thing to come out with and Reid can't tell one way or the other? They are very mismatched as well. 

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Ok thanks.

So what was the point of having JJ profess her love to Reid if they planned on giving him another love interest ? I don't even know that woman yet (and chances are I never will), but I already feel bad for her if the plan is to use her in some kind of "JJ gets so jealous and hurt she decides to fight to get her man" vortex of suck scenario.

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Well that was weird.

I’m behind on this show since I haven’t seen an episode since Reid was in jail, and I only saw part of that season. But I did watch the last episode because I read about the Reid/JJ thing. What a bizarre story arc. Reid and JJ have had a really nice brother/sister type relationship for years and we’re supposed to think that JJ, seemingly happily married with two kids, has been carrying a torch for Reid for years and he didn’t notice? Isn’t he a profiler? And Reid had the weirdest reaction. He didn’t look shocked or surprised or even happy. He looked kind of... sad? Pitying? And then during their conversation at the bar he came across as challenging or even kind of angry. MGG is usually a better actor than AJ but her awkward responses seemed way more natural here. I’m not sure where this is supposed to be going.

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Just now caught up. I guess I'm a party of one because I didn't mind the love declaration. I don't think it invalidates her marriage. You can love someone, and those feelings can be very strong, but still know that person's not the right life partner for you. Still, you might have the the urge to confess if you were under pressure to tell a secret, your life was on the line, emotions were running high, and the person was sitting right there.

Mostly I just liked it because I thought it was well-acted, and I liked the steadiness and compassion that Reid displayed during the interchange at the wedding.

But, then again, I'm a romance writer and unrequited love is kinda my favorite trope, so that could be coloring my opinion of it! LOL.

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On 8/17/2019 at 11:14 PM, auntiemel said:

Just now caught up. I guess I'm a party of one because I didn't mind the love declaration. I don't think it invalidates her marriage. You can love someone, and those feelings can be very strong, but still know that person's not the right life partner for you. Still, you might have the the urge to confess if you were under pressure to tell a secret, your life was on the line, emotions were running high, and the person was sitting right there.

Mostly I just liked it because I thought it was well-acted, and I liked the steadiness and compassion that Reid displayed during the interchange at the wedding.

But, then again, I'm a romance writer and unrequited love is kinda my favorite trope, so that could be coloring my opinion of it! LOL.

I just hope it doesn't really seriously screw up the JJ/Reid dynamics for the last season's episodes.  What's that saying?  "You can't unring that bell"??

Talk about 'dropping the bomb' on someone.  That's not a grenade toss, that kind of statement is a WMD. 

They won't write him - or the storyline - that way, but what if Reid were to feel the same way?  Talk about the worst of unenviable positions to be in. 

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