Season 10 Spoilers, Speculation, and Stabs in the Dark!

[ForeverAlone]

A TINY bit more on episode 13.

 

I need more details about the young Gideon flashback on Criminal Minds! — Michael

 

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mega-Buzz-Parenthood-OUAT-Walking-Dead-1089091.aspx

[Knittzu]

We can confirm that the past case in question went unsolved because of the understaffed, newly established BAU.

 

 

LOL, we all know that would never happen now, with Super!Ninja!Barbie and Garcia's computer at the helm! At this point I'm surprised the psycho killers haven't just started handing themselves over to LE as soon as that jet touches ground.

[normasm]

A wonderful person on another board posted this link, which has an interesting interview with EM. 

 

http://podbay.fm/show/455020248/e/1415088000?autostart=1

 

Particularly of interest starting about 25 minutes in with regard to a question I've had that has now been satisfactorily answered for me. The whole thing is about an hour and not all about CM, but it's interesting. 

[Danielg342]

LOL, we all know that would never happen now, with Super!Ninja!Barbie and Garcia's computer at the helm! At this point I'm surprised the psycho killers haven't just started handing themselves over to LE as soon as that jet touches ground.

Or that psycho killers haven't figured out how to dupe the profile. Every case just seems to fit so...nicely...I can't seem to remember the last time they had to “correct” the profile. I could buy how easy the profiling was in the early years since the BAU wasn't likely to be very well known, but now? The BAU took down a freaking terrorist (two, actually, although I suppose the takedown of Jamal Abaza might have been kept under wraps)...there's no way these guys aren't at least celebrities in the crime fighting circuit. So why someone hasn't tried mixing up signatures, kill methods and points of entry (as well as victims) is beyond me.

[Droogie]

A wonderful person on another board posted this link, which has an interesting interview with EM. 

 

http://podbay.fm/show/455020248/e/1415088000?autostart=1

 

Particularly of interest starting about 25 minutes in with regard to a question I've had that has now been satisfactorily answered for me. The whole thing is about an hour and not all about CM, but it's interesting.

Oooh. If she's referencing what I think she is, good for Matthew. That makes me happy.

[normasm]

Well, to me, it's plain Matthew said he wanted to pretend the addiction story never happened. I think he realizes he does influence a lot of young people, and while he might have thought it was cool in season 2, he doesn't any more. Or maybe it's that he saw the outline of what they had in mind and a lightbulb turned on!

[Knittzu]

Good for Matthew for standing his ground, but I'm afraid this means Reid won't be getting any sort of plot this season.

[normasm]

Yeah, knittzu, those were my thoughts as well.

[zannej]

LOL! I'm trying to remember about a spoiler I just read... Something involving "young Gideon" . Apparently they are doing something about a case they never solved because the BAU was new and understaffed. So, another "old unsolved case" for Rossi. LOL.

[Old Dog]

Good for Matthew for standing his ground, but I'm afraid this means Reid won't be getting any sort of plot this season.

This ties in with Matthew's recent comment where he said the most radical thing they could do for Reid would be to give him some happiness in life. But it looks like the drugs issue was the only thing they had in mind for him this season and we're not going to get any decent Reid episodes now. I feel kind of down now about the rest of the season.

[Droogie]

This ties in with Matthew's recent comment where he said the most radical thing they could do for Reid would be to give him some happiness in life. But it looks like the drugs issue was the only thing they had in mind for him this season and we're not going to get any decent Reid episodes now. I feel kind of down now about the rest of the season.

Me too. I'm not looking forward to it anymore. I'll watch, because, well, Reid, but have no real hopes.

[Old Dog]

I'm a bit peeved that the only nod to Reid almost getting killed last season was a brief shot of him rubbing his neck in the first episode this season. But I guess all the drama and PTSD have gone to the Golden Girls. I'm rationalising this in my head that Reid is so much better and stronger than them and ignoring the truth of it being that they could only think of raising the spectre of the drugs to show it affecting him. But my, he looked so fabulous in this week's episode although that isn't really enough.

[normasm]

Yeah, droogie and old dog, it was so dispiriting watching last night I even got a little irritated at Reid's hair! Me, irritated at Reid!!!!!! What's next?

[Old Dog]

Reid and his co-star (his hair!) are the only things keeping me on board. But I barely noticed his hair because of how his body looked in that suit!

[missmycat]

This show use to be must see tv for me, but not anymore. Now I just watch it ON DEMAND whenever I get around to it.

I am fed up with that obnoxious Mary Sue dominating just about every damn episode.While other characters continue to be ignored or ruefully underused.

I don't understand how CBS can pay Matthew around 2 million dollars a year and just sit back while EM and this show fails to use his character to it's full potential.

But than again 2 million dollars is just chicken fee to those people. Especially in light of what CBS pays some of their other stars.

And I swear AJ Cook must have to practically live on the set as much as her character is used in the show

[Droogie]

I'm a bit peeved that the only nod to Reid almost getting killed last season was a brief shot of him rubbing his neck in the first episode this season. But I guess all the drama and PTSD have gone to the Golden Girls. I'm rationalising this in my head that Reid is so much better and stronger than them and ignoring the truth of it being that they could only think of raising the spectre of the drugs to show it affecting him. But my, he looked so fabulous in this week's episode although that isn't really enough.

They are surely idiots. If Reid didn't resort to drugs after he watched Maeve have her brains blown out, he isn't going to take them after getting shot. He was just as close to dying when he was infected with Anthrax and didn't do it then.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

In fact, he even refused to take anything when Dr. Kimora asked him if he wanted something to make him more comfortable. The guy was in physical pain and refused to accept narcotics. Take notes, writers!

[zannej]

I think it would have been more interesting if they'd just had him dealing with the aftereffects of having pain and such. They really do gloss over the recovery period from injuries on TV. It always bugged me how in season 5 Reid was on crutches and then a cane and nobody ever mentioned it. The only references were in the setup where Garcia wouldn't let him have cookies and asked him if his leg hurt and then Hotch called Reid out for not being medically cleared (which was only done to explain why he wasn't out in the field because Matthew's real life injury had him in too much pain to be moving around). IIRC, someone who visited the set said that just the brief elevator scene from "Hopeless" was so painful for Matthew that Ed Bernero gave up his own chair to let him sit and Ed said in an interview that Matthew's injury was very bad and he had to stay sitting all the time. 

 

But later on there was nobody asking how Reid's leg was or anything. We saw Prentiss setting up the crutches for him once, but none of the cops or other people Reid encountered ever asked what happened. I wish they'd had someone laugh and Rossi say "dancing injury"-- which would be delivered the way Rossi said "he was left in a basket on the FBI's doorstep". It would be funny but also a nod to the fans who knew that it was actually how he injured his leg. To the team, the idea of Reid dancing would be hilarious. Unfortunately the writers were afraid that any Reid angst would take away from Hotch's angst over the Reaper. I wish we could go back in time and re-write that season-- and also slap Nina Tassler upside the head the moment she thought of sacking AJ and Paget. :P

 

I'm hoping that maybe one of the writers will come up with a story for Reid though. Maybe Sharon Watson can give us something good. Well, not just Reid stories. I'm hoping that at least one of the writers will come up with something that is really fantastic.

Edited November 14, 2014 by zannej

[SSAHotchner]

It really bothered me in Slave of Duty that they had Reid at that outside venue walking down all those stairs with his cane. I thought that was really insensitive. I don't think there's much hope of getting a story for him. He was the one that was shot last season, and yet they chose to focus on Garcia this season.

[JMO]

 

It really bothered me in Slave of Duty that they had Reid at that outside venue walking down all those stairs with his cane. I thought that was really insensitive.

 

I've always thought the same.  He's obviously grimacing as he goes down the steps. 

 

The whole way the show handled it made me think that some of the higher ups were angry with MGG for having gotten hurt, as though he'd done it by choice.  It wasn't exactly skydiving, it was dancing.  (Granted, the way he dances, there's not all that much difference between the two.)  They mentioned it only because they obviously had to,  and took no advantage of the storyline of a disabled agent.  The other cast members, Paget and AJ in particular, were accommodating.  Paget helped with his crutches, and AJ often hung back in a scene to accompany him.  Not sure if that was their choice or the directors', but it was good to see.  Somebody had to be able to grab him if he started to fall.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I've always thought the same.  He's obviously grimacing as he goes down the steps. 

 

I can't remember the episode, but which was the one where Rossi tells Reid to get down in that ditch because of his stupid boots? Reid says, "You know I got shot, right?" David says something about the boots being new, and when Spencer starts to get in the ditch there's just the slightest hint of a pissy tone when he says. "Italian leather, huh?"

[Knittzu]

The whole way the show handled it made me think that some of the higher ups were angry with MGG for having gotten hurt, as though he'd done it by choice.

 

 

While binge-watching this show I absolutely thought that MGG's injury was the exact point where he started being pushed into the background. For a while I was hopeful that once he was off the crutches they'd focus on his character again, but aside from the Mauve mess that's never really happened.

[normasm]

While binge-watching this show I absolutely thought that MGG's injury was the exact point where he started being pushed into the background. For a while I was hopeful that once he was off the crutches they'd focus on his character again, but aside from the Mauve mess that's never really happened.

Yes, unfortunately. It totally sucks, but I think the higher-ups have definitely held their nose when dealing with him ever since. Only when he started getting noticed for directing did they grudgingly accommodate him a bit more, but as an actor, hey, he saw how they treated Paget and AJ, he has been very quiet about any dust-ups that might have occurred. But his telling TPTB that he didn't want to "go there' with Reid's addiction, I'm sensing Reid's not going to have much this year but a silly, dreamy smile at something JJ says.

Edited November 14, 2014 by normasm

[ForeverAlone]

Here were some of the things I took away from the Erica podcast. Anything in italics are my personal commentary. 

 

1. Erica says that while the audience likes to be scared, they are more interested in the journey of the characters. That is absolutely true, SO.WHY.THE.HELL.IS.THERE.SO.MUCH.UNSUB.IN.THE.EPISODES.THESE.DAYS???? It's not like they haven't received plenty of feedback about the unsub dominated episodes.

 

2. Still no mention on who exactly was behind Jeanne's departure. Did CBS just decide not to renew her contract, because they felt they weren't getting their money's worth with her, or did Jeanne decide not to renew, because she was sick of not being given much to do, even though the paycheck was nice? Honestly, I could believe either one, because both are very plausible.

 

3. Kate's smart ass attitude is very specific to get a younger, female version of Rossi. Erica doesn't seem to see anything off about Kate's barbs advocating violence against suspects based on her comments, and how those comments aren't in line with what the BAU is supposed to be about. Erica specifically made Kate a mom, but wanted her to be one in the non-traditional sense. [aside: Erica said Jack Hotchner was named after her son, who was one years old when the show started.] Erica wanted to write the challenges of a working mom with a teenage girl. And yes, Kate is married (so pipe down Reid/Kate shippers- none of which are here of course. But then again, the fact that JJ is married hasn't quieted any of the Reid/JJ shippers either). She wanted to give Kate the different layer of her sister dying in 9/11 and choosing to raise her baby.

 

4. Sharon pitched the story for "A Thousand Suns" last season before all the tragedies with the Malaysian Air, so that idea was serendipitous and not originally designed to be ripped from the headlines.

 

5. Erica has some regrets for the story last year "To Bear Witness" (the lobotomy episode), because it wasn't grounded in reality and wasn't the simple, scary they do so well. She says she owns the fact that the episode fell flat and says it felt more like a comic book episode. What does she think of "200" then? Hmmm...she never says.

 

6. Erica feels that the best stories are when the audience can identify with some parts of the stories or the characters or victims and realize they do some of the same things that happen to the victims and plays to their realistic fears. However, she also specifically talked about "The Itch" as an example of a story that would connect with the audience and scare them (I guess because of their fear of bugs). Umm...NO, that episode felt completely out of reality.

 

7. Erica wishes they could write their characters as more flawed, because you find that more on cable, but there is often pushback from the actors or the network who want the characters to be viewed a certain way. But they try to still write more layers into the characters each years. Really?...I guess if your name is JJ or Penelope, that might be true. Even if those layers are implausible or eye-rolling.

 

8. Erica said that there is a lot of collaboration with the actors and the writers run their ideas by the actors first for their input and support, and sometimes the actors will say that something isn't what their characters would do. But yeah, Erica is definitely referencing Matthew in that story. She said that he was younger and the cool kid writers were writing the story in season two, but now he doesn't want to revisit the story and wouldn't have signed off on the story now. I really do believe they were heading down that route and that is why we had the original spoilers that Reid was supposed to experience some after effects that was designed to culminate in episode four. I think that is why they showed Reid having a sore neck in the season premiere, but I think after Matthew balked about going down the addiction route again, they removed all the hints from subsequent episodes and rewrote episode four to not be Reid centric anymore (hell, it practically became JJ centric instead, almost like Matthew was being punished for not wanting to go "there.") Matthew might have balked at revisiting the addiction storyline, not just because he is older and has a different perspective, but maybe because there are new writers and he doesn't trust them to write the story in a good and believable way. Even though Matthew signed off on the Maeve story, what was originally pitched to him differed drastically than what it ended up being. I doubt Matthew would have been enthusiastic about Maeve gettting murdered in front of Reid. That doesn't seem like a story he would like.

 

9. Erica worked on Alias the first two seasons and she really liked the fact that the show dwelled on Sydney Bristow's personal life and what made her more relatable as a person/woman and she was sad when the show chucked that aside for the mid season two reset (post Super Bowl episode) to make it more about the superspy. If that was the case, how the HELL could Erica have signed off on turning JJ into a freaking super ninja on a show about serial killers and criminal psychology? Does she not realize that was the final point for many fans to absolutely HATE JJ?

 

10. Erica says she doesn't want to pick favorites HA! when it comes to the personal stories on Criminal Minds and which characters the audience goes home with. But she does prefer the character stories.

 

11. Erica does say that they want to connect to the victim's family to personalize the victims. That was definitely true in the early years, but I think it is much less so since she has been the showrunner. Hell, during "Hashtag", we didn't even see Hotch talk to Tara's parents, and we had no personal connection to her or any of the other subsequent victims.

 

12. Erica is interested in Criminal Minds, because of the personal nature of the stories and what makes people tick. That's why I am interested in the show as well. Which is why I am disappointed that there is a distinct lack of emphasis on profiling these past few years. I mean, you would think/hope that when the writers come up with an idea, they would write out everything that would make the unsub tick. Why does s/he commit the crimes they do? What triggered them to start committing crimes? What was it about their history that made them susceptible to becoming a serial criminal? Why do they pick the victims they do? How can law enforcement use that profile the catch the criminal? If the writers can't answer those basic questions (and so many episodes don't address them these day), they really need to go back to the drawing board to build these backstories to make the episodes interesting and at least somewhat plausible.

 

13. Season 10 will bring not just Kate Callahan, but more team and the heroes they love. We'll see more family, more home life, more Jack Hotchner, top notch guest cast. They will give the fans a surprise and a love letter halfway through the season (episode 13). But no, no real hints on what is to come.

[Knittzu]

Kudos to you for listening to all of that, Forever Alone. I only listened to the few minutes about MGG and that’s all I could take, so I appreciate you taking the hit for us and giving us a detailed synopsis.

 

Erica says that while the audience likes to be scared, they are more interested in the journey of the characters. That is absolutely true, SO.WHY.THE.HELL.IS.THERE.SO.MUCH.UNSUB.IN.THE.EPISODES.THESE.DAYS?

 

 

Also, why don't any of the characters have actual story arcs? 

 

Erica wanted to write the challenges of a working mom with a teenage girl.

God, doesn't she get enough of the self-insert working-mommy-issues stuff with her Mary Sue play toy? Did she really need to add ANOTHER working mom to the mix? This is beyond self-indulgent to me. In fact, this strikes me as the sort of stuff about which she should just shut her yap... unless she really does have a green light from the network to do absolutely anything she pleases.

 

But they try to still write more layers into the characters each years.

I can’t even remember the last time they added a new “layer” to any of the characters. Unless she counts JJ turning into an obnoxious know-it-all when she returned?

 

The Reid stuff is just too sad and depressing to even comment on. I’ll just say that I think you’re right and leave it at that.

 

Same with the profiling stuff. *sigh*

 

Erica says she doesn't want to pick favorites HA! when it comes to the personal stories on Criminal Minds and which characters the audience goes home with. But she does prefer the character stories.

At this point I feel like the interview has gone totally surreal. She very clearly, very obviously has favorites. And if she prefers the character stories, why are they always so poorly done?

 

We'll see more family, more home life, more Jack Hotchner, top notch guest cast. They will give the fans a surprise and a love letter halfway through the season (episode 13). But no, no real hints on what is to come.

 

“More family, more home life” — sounds like code for “more JJ, more Morgan.”
I'd like to pass on the “love letter." IMO it’s only second-tier or outright crappy shows that start creating episodes as “love letters” to their fans. Can you imagine a “love letter to the fans” from the creators of The Wire, Breaking Bad, etc? Of course not, because they didn't need any pandering drivel. They gave us consistently high-quality shows, and that's the "love" I ever required from them.

[SSAHotchner]

Oh, please! What layers? If anything, the characters have gotten more one-dimensional. They're practically interchangeable. There's no nuance or layering. Erica is delusional. Thanks a bunch Forever Alone for taking the time to type all this out for us.

[zannej]

Thank you very much for that explanation of the podcast, FA.

 

Something another person mentioned on IMDB may shed light on one possibility of why Jeanne might not have returned. Apparently she and her husband have a child and they take turns working while one stays at home. They tend to do 2 year shifts and then switch out. So maybe she did her 2 years and it was her turn to take care of the kid. I sort of suspect that is not the case though. I think CBS probably wanted to pay her less $ because she didn't do much on the show or maybe they just didn't want to give her a raise. Or maybe she was just unhappy with the writing.

 

Season 5 was when Matthew made the closest thing to a jab at the writers that he's ever made on Twitter. A fan asked him if he was being shown less because of his injury and he answered that his injury had very little to do with his reduced screentime.

 

Then we have that odd comment from Erica about season 6 where she said they thought they were going to lose Matthew and someone let slip that the headache story was supposed to be his swan song. Apparently with the AJ/Paget firings, they had to change things up. So, my personal suspicion is that Matthew was not happy with the writing once the "cool kid" writers were gone and he wanted to leave, but he realized that leaving at that point would make things worse. I remember some video with Erica, JSB, and Matthew where it seemed like they were trying to convince him to stay. I think he's staying just out of loyalty at this point, but I don't think he's happy about it. (just my personal belief though).

 

Interesting that Erica said the story was done when the "cool kid" writers were doing things, because I suspect Matthew preferred those writers and I agree that maybe he doesn't trust the current ones. 

 

So, Erica singled out the lobotomy episode as the flop? WTF? That one actually had me interested because it featured the plight of the victim once he was no longer in captivity. It's something we rarely see and, despite the lack of good medical science, there were things I liked about that one. I had thought the voice-over narration for the thoughts of the victim was going to be cheesy, but I thought it worked. What didn't work was the unsub. He fell flat.

 

More Jack? Noooooooooooooo!

 

It just shows me how out-of-tune Erica is with the longtime audience.

[spinner33]

Bless you for having the patience to sit through all that, Forever Alone! 

 

The part that sticks out for me is the 'not playing favorites' claim.  Really?  What a crock!  She is clearly delusional.  

[Droogie]

They try to add more layers each year?

Then why try to revisit a storyline from Season 2 with Reid? How is that adding layers? That isn't growth, or personal fulfillment. That's a rehash and a regression, and it would take away from all he has survived in the ensuing eight years.

[Droogie]

Here were some of the things I took away from the Erica podcast. Anything in italics are my personal commentary. 

 

8.Even though Matthew signed off on the Maeve story, what was originally pitched to him differed drastically than what it ended up being. I doubt Matthew would have been enthusiastic about Maeve gettting murdered in front of Reid. That doesn't seem like a story he would like.

How was it originally pitched, do you know?

[alexvillage]

 

They try to add more layers each year?

Layers of superpowers for JJ

Layers of annoyance for Garcia

Layers of boredom for the others

 

Those are the layers I see added, by the ton. 

[ForeverAlone]

How was it originally pitched, do you know?

Breen's original conception of the story was similar but ended less cruelly in my opinion. The story was always a three episode arc, and Maeve was always going to die (a point that now pisses me off after a lot of distance from season eight). But Breen's original idea never had Maeve and Reid meeting. She was originally going to die in the opening credits, the team would spend the episode looking for her killer, and at the end, Reid (but not the audience) would finally see what she looked like. Now granted, thinking about it, I don't know how this would have been executed, because I don't know how the team would have investigated Maeve's murder when Reid didn't even know her last name (though maybe that was a change as well) or how Reid would be able to not see a picture of her until the end. But the story was supposed to be a bit more romantic and old fashioned, sort of like star crossed lovers who were fated never to meet. I can see why that idea of the story would appeal to Matthew. 

 

However, CBS was adamant that the audience see what Maeve looked like by the end of the second episode of the arc (hence why the audience, but not Reid, sees Maeve at the end of "The Lesson). Once that order came down, Breen had to change his ending. Now WHY he chose to keep the death angle at this point really is beyond me, and I don't think Breen ever addressed it. They were bound and determined to kill Maeve ( though I also honestly think Maeve's death was supposed to figure more prominently into The Replicator storyline than it ended up being), and now they decided to do it in the cruelest way possible by murdering her in front of Reid. I can't see Matthew being excited at THAT part of the storyline, and I wonder if he would have bought off on it if that was the pitch all along. Considering he seems to have had second thoughts about the addiction storyline (thankfully in my opinion), I can see him balking at that cruel end. Or maybe Matthew didn't like how the Maeve story ended, and now he didn't exactly trust the writers to revisit the addiction storyline.

[Knittzu]

I think he's staying just out of loyalty at this point, but I don't think he's happy about it. (just my personal belief though).

 

 

What if he's staying only because he doesn't want to disappoint his loyal fans who look forward to seeing a glimpse or two of him a week?

And we're staying only out of loyalty to MGG, who would actually rather be doing anything else?

 

What if we're all just locked into this hellscape for no good reason and meanwhile, these awful writers get to high-five and pat each other on the back over how fantastic their ratings remain even though they just shovel crap at us week after week after week?

 

I think I have the makings of a horror/tragedy here.

[normasm]

 

8. Erica said that there is a lot of collaboration with the actors and the writers run their ideas by the actors first for their input and support, and sometimes the actors will say that something isn't what their characters would do. But yeah, Erica is definitely referencing Matthew in that story. She said that he was younger and the cool kid writers were writing the story in season two, but now he doesn't want to revisit the story and wouldn't have signed off on the story now. I really do believe they were heading down that route and that is why we had the original spoilers that Reid was supposed to experience some after effects that was designed to culminate in episode four. I think that is why they showed Reid having a sore neck in the season premiere, but I think after Matthew balked about going down the addiction route again, they removed all the hints from subsequent episodes and rewrote episode four to not be Reid centric anymore (hell, it practically became JJ centric instead, almost like Matthew was being punished for not wanting to go "there.") Matthew might have balked at revisiting the addiction storyline, not just because he is older and has a different perspective, but maybe because there are new writers and he doesn't trust them to write the story in a good and believable way. Even though Matthew signed off on the Maeve story, what was originally pitched to him differed drastically than what it ended up being. I doubt Matthew would have been enthusiastic about Maeve gettting murdered in front of Reid. That doesn't seem like a story he would like.

 

This needs to be said again and again until TPTB understand we feel this is the truth. I've said it here and elsewhere, zannej and others have also pointed this out, and FA has eloquently nailed it. I actually hope Matthew gets wind of the fact that we think this, and, if it's true, he appreciates that we know. If this show thinks it can do just fine without the Reid character, or with Reid being marginalized like he has been (again) the last couple of years, I hope Matthew is ready to roll out of there and do his thing on his own terms. CM will lose half its audience.

[zannej]

I do find it telling that they wanted to keep Prentiss alive and wanted to give everyone somewhat happy exits except Reid. When they thought Matthew might be leaving, they planned to kill Reid off. I seriously don't know what they have against his character or if they have some hidden grudge against Matthew but won't admit it publicly.

 

I also agree that they must be totally out of ideas if all they do is keep revisiting older stories instead of coming up with something new for the characters.

 

Now, this might seem cruel, but I think it would be interesting if they had Morgan develop MS and have to leave the BAU. It would be sad, but it would be a nod to Shemar Moore's mother.

[normasm]

I like your idea, zannej, but they don't have time, even if they start now, it wouldn't be plausible. Usually the ramp-up to MS disability takes a while, doesn't it?

 

That said, of course they have pushed medicine and psychology past the reality point so many times, hey, they could do it again...

Edited November 15, 2014 by normasm

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This needs to be said again and again until TPTB understand we feel this is the truth. I've said it here and elsewhere, zannej and others have also pointed this out, and FA has eloquently nailed it. I actually hope Matthew gets wind of the fact that we think this, and, if it's true, he appreciates that we know. If this show thinks it can do just fine without the Reid character, or with Reid being marginalized like he has been (again) the last couple of years, I hope Matthew is ready to roll out of there and do his thing on his own terms. CM will lose half its audience.

 

I actually think TIIC do that MGG and Reid are the reasons many of us are still hanging around. I don't hang out on Twitter except to get lulz from some of the antics there, and I don't have a Tumblr account either. But in places like this, and on TWOP before it, a good percentage of the posters seem to be big Reid fans before any of the other characters, even Hotch. Admittedly, I initially gave the show a look because of Thomas, but it was Matthew I stayed for. And in light of the tongue bath JJ just got on the official website about how "great" she is, I think Messer and Co realize that many viewers are deeply displeased about the turn things have taken. I don't think even JM/Spike at the height of the pro-Spuffy slobbering got what amounts to a network rubber-stamp bullet-pointing his "virtues". I could be mistaken about that, but I'm also pretty sure I'd remember it if it happened, because I'm always the one who can never let anything go. If the Suits know, the follow-up question is - Why don't they do something about it?

 

I like your idea, zannej, but they don't have time, even if they start now, it wouldn't be plausible. Usually the ramp-up to MS disability takes a while, doesn't it?

 

Yes, MS does take a while to progress. My cousin Mitchell was diagnosed with it, and it took a long time for his condition to deteriorate.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Cobalt Stargazer

[zannej]

Hmm.. Well, maybe Morgan could be diagnosed with it and realize that he wants to kick back and enjoy his life while he can before things go down hill for him physically. I'm sure the writers would say its too sad to do that to Morgan.

 

Unlike some, I'm not eager to see any of the team members die. Its something that has been done to death in comic books and other shows. 

 

What will probably happen is that Savannah will realize she's pregnant and Morgan will want to devote time to her so he'll suddenly decide to quit the BAU to be a stay-at-home dad or he'll move to another job that lets him have more freetime. 

[Danielg342]

Hmm.. Well, maybe Morgan could be diagnosed with it and realize that he wants to kick back and enjoy his life while he can before things go down hill for him physically. I'm sure the writers would say its too sad to do that to Morgan.

Unlike some, I'm not eager to see any of the team members die. Its something that has been done to death in comic books and other shows.

What will probably happen is that Savannah will realize she's pregnant and Morgan will want to devote time to her so he'll suddenly decide to quit the BAU to be a stay-at-home dad or he'll move to another job that lets him have more freetime.

Has Shemar Moore reiterated recently his plans to leave after Season 10? I saw an article last year where he said “10 years would likely be it for me” but nothing else. Surely if you look it up on Google you turn up nothing.

[normasm]

In the last few months i haven't seen anything, but that's par for the course in the midst of a season. He said several times that this was it for him and CM. He may have changed his mind, true.

[Knittzu]

Has Shemar Moore reiterated recently his plans to leave after Season 10? I saw an article last year where he said “10 years would likely be it for me” but nothing else. Surely if you look it up on Google you turn up nothing.

 

 

Yeah, I'm afraid this is just wishful thinking from those of us who are sick of Morgan/JJ/Garcia dominating the show.

I'm not even convinced that his departure would make things better. At this point I have little doubt that they'd just shift his screen time over to JJ, or maybe promote Garcia so she could be JJ's full-time wisecracking worshipful sidekick. (While doing all her computer stuff off an Ipad, because it's so just so easy for a genius like her!)

[Danielg342]

In the last few months i haven't seen anything, but that's par for the course in the midst of a season. He said several times that this was it for him and CM. He may have changed his mind, true.

To me, even though I'm a Morgan fan, I'm somewhat ambivalent since I think the character doesn't have that much more usefulness on the show anymore (unless he becomes BAU Chief and I doubt that will happen). I also don't think he's been at all dominant either- he just seems to be a prop to show how good JJ is (since JJ is supposed to be "tough" it makes sense they'd pair her with another character who is tough, even if Morgan doesn't do much in those scenes except deliver a scowled look).

I've always believed that Morgan and Reid ought to be "dramedy" duo on their own show, because those two have impeccable timing and play off each other so well, plus if they had writers that could better develop those characters we could see a wonderful (platonic) relationship develop. That, and maybe Reid would be able to get in a few zingers this time instead of always being the butt of Morgan's jokes

[SSAHotchner]

I think the term "cool kid writers" is a slap from Erica, jealousy on her part that the writers that left were the favorites. Of course she's too stupid to realize how much better they were. The fact that she's worked on the show from the beginning and doesn't seem to get what the premise is I find appalling. I love the character of Reid, but I'm all for Matthew finding something better. He deserves it.

[Danielg342]

Here were some of the things I took away from the Erica podcast. Anything in italics are my personal commentary. <snip>

So my own thoughts on the podcast:

 

1) I agree with Erica Messer that I, too, am more interested in the journey of the characters. However, it's plain to see that CM of the last four years hasn't been anything except going after cheap thrills and mindless drivel, with very little done to explore any kind of journey for the characters, either main ones or episodic ones. The main characters seem to only get one-off centric “moments” (or, if they're lucky or JJ, an entire episode), the recurring characters like Savannah or Cruz are nothing more than props for the stories of the main characters, the UnSubs are one dimensional (with the only noticeable trait being that they're deranged) and the victims are essentially props for the UnSubs' delusions. It's very telling that none of the show's more memorable UnSubs or victims have come during Messer's time, and this is because Messer has yet to understand the intricacies that mould a character. That, and her writing has all the subtlety of a chainsaw, but that's another discussion.

 

2) Messer, if I'm not mistaken, said leaving was Jeanne Tripplehorn's choice. I wonder if it was now that Jennifer Love Hewitt is on the show now. What I think happened is that Hewitt became available and CBS decided to push Tripplehorn out to make room for Hewitt, someone I would do anything possible for just to have her on my show. If they'd replaced Tripplehorn with another, lesser known actress I might believe it was Tripplehorn's decision, but I can't see that happening and then, just by a stroke of luck, Hewitt signs on. It could be possible, but I'm not buying it.

 

3a) Kate's attitude sounds more like Morgan's than Rossi's. I suppose if it is nothing more than talk I can accept it (or some kind of character development where she learns there's a time and place for that kind of stuff), but if Messer is oblivious to what's wrong with this attitude, it highlights everything that's wrong with her as a showrunner. First of all, we enjoyed CM since it made an attempt to ground things in reality and highlight the real struggles law enforcement officers have to deal with, so having LEOs being so disrespectful of the process is a slap in the face to that. Secondly, what kind of message is Messer sending by having her LEOs be some kind of altruistic rogues? That, as long as you are doing things for 'just' reasons, you are entitled to do anything you want?

 

Granted, on a better written show (like Scandal, Gotham or even South Park (yes, as crude as it can be, at least Matt Parker and Trey Stone show you the consequences of your actions)) the question of ethics and what are the "right" ways to go about justice would be an interesting question to explore, but the point is there would have to be some exploration. Not, as CM often does, to present something as "the only way to do things" with everyone else being mere strawmen.

 

3b) I suppose it's a nice angle to explore, since it's a little "out of the box" to explore the life of a surrogate mother (especially considering that typically moms Hewitt's age don't have 13-year-old daughters), but here's a question that Messer- and no one on TV it seems- has ever bothered to answer: how come women can't be "motherly" without having to be mothers already? Why must the only storyline for women be about love and how much they care about their families? Why can't we have a female character that, say, wants to end deep municipal corruption, must wrestle with intense personal demons (like, say, overcoming an addiction) while leading their lives, or decides, after winning the lottery, to correct every wrong they've ever committed? Why must it be always men who play these roles?

 

4) I would have had no problem if "A Thousand Suns" was ripped from the headlines- the Malayasian Airlines flight is the strangest news story I've ever read. That's worth the exploration alone...not that I thought how CM handled it did it any kind of justice, though.

 

5) I'm surprised that Messer was disappointed with "To Bear Witness" because it wasn't "real"- doesn't she realize a good many of her UnSubs, victims and situations are beyond realistic anyway? Besides, she's basically blasting an episode that had everything she was looking for in an episode- a deep, personal exploration into the motives of the UnSub and the trauma of the victims, some very good character moments (especially by Morgan) and a case that is very cerebral and multi-dimensional. I couldn't care less if it wasn't actually realistic- it was still believable, and I thought it was scary for the simple reason that it wasn't one-dimensional and that you really got a feel for how terrifying the situation was for the victim.

 

I thought where the episode failed was in the concept (a guy who turns his victims into zombies? Why doesn't he create an army of them? That would be scarier- and far more urgent for the BAU to tackle) and in the ending, because Anton Harris received no comeuppance at all. Not because it wasn't the "simple scary" she believes CM does so well (it doesn't). Why is she incapable of listening to the fans who keep telling her deeper explorations are what they want, not one-dimensional "comic book" villains?

 

6) Messer is right in principle (I get the sense that she has a good idea of knowing what her audience wants to hear without realizing what she's actually doing). However, as I've said before, the execution of her episodes have been anything but what she thinks she is putting out. One dimensional UnSubs and disposable victims are not relatable, not scary and they're not compelling at all. She brings up "The Itch" as an example of how she thinks she's fulfilling this principle but I think it did the opposite- she gave us an episode about a disease that many experts believe is fictitious, did nothing to explore the bug angle, and riddled the episode with (again) a one-dimensional UnSub and disposable victims. How can I relate to any of that?

 

7) So Messer blames the actors and the network for the characters not having enough flaws? Does she not think to look in the mirror? I could name several characters who are on a network that are very flawed- just off the top of my head, you've got Gregory House (House), Sherlock Holmes (Elementary), Abby Whelan (Scandal), Olivia Pope (Scandal), Harvey Bullock (Gotham), James Gordon (Gotham) and Christy Plunkett (Mom). Heck, even Homer Simpson, at least in the early days of The Simpsons, was wonderfully flawed. Just because CM can't resort to the overt violence of The Sopranos or the sex of Game of Thrones doesn't mean it can't have flawed characters.

 

(In fact, I'd probably argue that network writing needs to be stronger than cable writing, since HBO writers can easily get a cheap thrill through gore or nudity whereas a network writer cannot do that, but that's another debate altogether)

 

I do disagree that JJ and Garcia are the only characters with flaws- I don't think any CM character has anything remotely approximating discernible characteristics and thus any sense of realistic character flaws...they're all just caricatures at this stage. In JJ's case, she's just been assigned all these positive traits and brushes off adversity as if nothing happened- you never really see any fallout from anything JJ does, she's just always got the right answer all the time and whatever pain she may go through gets glossed over. In Garcia's case, she's just a big, blubbering infant, so whatever suffering she goes through rings hollow. That's not a character flaw- that's poor characterization. Full stop.

 

8) If it is true that Matthew Gray Gubler took a stand against Messer and the writers for wanting to go down the addiction subplot again (and I believe it is true), then he should be commended for that and the writers admonished for taking away so much screen time in retaliation. Addiction storylines are so overdone today that another iteration would be boring, and I side with Gubler that Reid's old enough not to fall into that trap again. Certainly there are other options on the table to have a storyline about Reid overcoming the effects of his injury (for example, he could begin to doubt his field skills, expanding on the storyline they could have used after or before "L.D.S.K."), and the fact that the writers are this uncreative to think about that makes me wonder why they're employed on a long running show such as CM in the first place.

 

Also, if there is a lot of collaboration with the actors and the writers, I sure don't see it. If there was, I think we'd probably see each character have some kind of discernible storyline each season, or, at the very least, each character insisting they have some traits that makes them useful in each case. Instead, it seems that unless it's JJ, no character is allowed to have much of an impact. I can't see the actors being too thrilled about this.

 

9) Never watched Alias, but I agree with ForeverAlone on this one- if Messer didn't like that the show turned from Sydney Bristow's personal life into a show about her as a superspy, why do that with JJ? It's also more telling that we hardly see anything really revealing about the team's personal lives these last few seasons, when the writers before were much better at it.

 

10) All I can say is- does Messer watch her own show?

 

11) I never really liked the scenes of the sobbing parents- to me, they always came across as providing some cheap emotion and never really added to the story. Perhaps other people like it, but I almost always thought seeing some mother blubber that "Susie could chew pieces of cheese into U.S. states and would have been on Letterman had that guy not killed her!" slowed the story down unnecessarily- we never saw the victim do the things that made them special before they were offed, so it makes no difference to me if the parents mentioned it. To me, I care more about why the killer chose the victim and what kind of sordid story the victim and killer may have had, because that would be relevant to the story and eventually the case. So if you're going to have the parents crying, at least have them spout information that will be relevant to the case later.

 

I also can't help but bring up the gender angle but it applies- because, as Season 10 seems to show me, that having disposable male victims makes it no more right than when the show had disposable female victims. One way to combat this is to make the victims mean something is by making them mean something to the story. The killer targets women of authority because he was once emasculated by a woman? Then it's okay to populate the story with middle aged, professional women because then the story wouldn't make sense any other way. I also liked how in the early years Gideon and Elle would make constant remarks about how the UnSubs were really cowards for what they were doing- sure, it kind of played to the stereotype that women were weaker than men, but at least you got the sense from the BAU that they cared about the victims. Now people die and the BAU never seems to care, and that's the real problem.

 

12) "Erica is interested in Criminal Minds, because of the personal nature of the stories and what makes people tick." Well, thanks Messer...me too. Now let's actually see that instead of having more mindless drivel, one dimensional UnSubs, disposable victims and faux action movies.

 

13) Seems like every year Messer promises "more team stories", great guests, better cases and "love letters", and every year we get let down, because she's assembled the laziest batch of writers I've ever seen. Walk the walk, Messer, don't just talk the talk.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Danielg342

[SSAHotchner]

So my own thoughts on the podcast:

 

1) I agree with Erica Messer that I, too, am more interested in the journey of the characters. However, it's plain to see that CM of the last four years hasn't been anything except going after cheap thrills and mindless drivel, with very little done to explore any kind of journey for the characters, either main ones or episodic ones. The main characters seem to only get one-off centric “moments” (or, if they're lucky or JJ, an entire episode), the recurring characters like Savannah or Cruz are nothing more than props for the stories of the main characters, the UnSubs are one dimensional (with the only noticeable trait being that they're deranged) and the victims are essentially props for the UnSubs' delusions. It's very telling that none of the show's more memorable UnSubs or victims have come during Messer's time, and this is because Messer has yet to understand the intricacies that mould a character. That, and her writing has all the subtlety of a chainsaw, but that's another discussion.

 

2) Messer, if I'm not mistaken, said leaving was Jeanne Tripplehorn's choice. I wonder if it was now that Jennifer Love Hewitt is on the show now. What I think happened is that Hewitt became available and CBS decided to push Tripplehorn out to make room for Hewitt, someone I would do anything possible for just to have her on my show. If they'd replaced Tripplehorn with another, lesser known actress I might believe it was Tripplehorn's decision, but I can't see that happening and then, just by a stroke of luck, Hewitt signs on. It could be possible, but I'm not buying it.

 

3a) Kate's attitude sounds more like Morgan's than Rossi's. I suppose if it is nothing more than talk I can accept it (or some kind of character development where she learns there's a time and place for that kind of stuff), but if Messer is oblivious to what's wrong with this attitude, it highlights everything that's wrong with her as a showrunner. First of all, we enjoyed CM since it made an attempt to ground things in reality and highlight the real struggles law enforcement officers have to deal with, so having LEOs being so disrespectful of the process is a slap in the face to that. Secondly, what kind of message is Messer sending by having her LEOs be some kind of altruistic rogues? That, as long as you are doing things for 'just' reasons, you are entitled to do anything you want?

 

Granted, on a better written show (like Scandal, Gotham or even South Park (yes, as crude as it can be, at least Matt Parker and Trey Stone show you the consequences of your actions)) the question of ethics and what are the "right" ways to go about justice would be an interesting question to explore, but the point is there would have to be some exploration. Not, as CM often does, to present something as "the only way to do things" with everyone else being mere strawmen.

 

3b) I suppose it's a nice angle to explore, since it's a little "out of the box" to explore the life of a surrogate mother (especially considering that typically moms Hewitt's age don't have 13-year-old daughters), but here's a question that Messer- and no one on TV it seems- has ever bothered to answer: how come women can't be "motherly" without having to be mothers already? Why must the only storyline for women be about love and how much they care about their families? Why can't we have a female character that, say, wants to end deep municipal corruption, must wrestle with intense personal demons (like, say, overcoming an addiction) while leading their lives, or decides, after winning the lottery, to correct every wrong they've ever committed? Why must it be always men who play these roles?

 

4) I would have had no problem if "A Thousand Suns" was ripped from the headlines- the Malayasian Airlines flight is the strangest news story I've ever read. That's worth the exploration alone...not that I thought how CM handled it did it any kind of justice, though.

 

5) I'm surprised that Messer was disappointed with "To Bear Witness" because it wasn't "real"- doesn't she realize a good many of her UnSubs, victims and situations are beyond realistic anyway? Besides, she's basically blasting an episode that had everything she was looking for in an episode- a deep, personal exploration into the motives of the UnSub and the trauma of the victims, some very good character moments (especially by Morgan) and a case that is very cerebral and multi-dimensional. I couldn't care less if it wasn't actually realistic- it was still believable, and I thought it was scary for the simple reason that it wasn't one-dimensional and that you really got a feel for how terrifying the situation was for the victim.

 

I thought where the episode failed was in the concept (a guy who turns his victims into zombies? Why doesn't he create an army of them? That would be scarier- and far more urgent for the BAU to tackle) and in the ending, because Anton Harris received no comeuppance at all. Not because it wasn't the "simple scary" she believes CM does so well (it doesn't). Why is she incapable of listening to the fans who keep telling her deeper explorations are what they want, not one-dimensional "comic book" villains?

 

6) Messer is right in principle (I get the sense that she has a good idea of knowing what her audience wants to hear without realizing what she's actually doing). However, as I've said before, the execution of her episodes have been anything but what she thinks she is putting out. One dimensional UnSubs and disposable victims are not relatable, not scary and they're not compelling at all. She brings up "The Itch" as an example of how she thinks she's fulfilling this principle but I think it did the opposite- she gave us an episode about a disease that many experts believe is fictitious, did nothing to explore the bug angle, and riddled the episode with (again) a one-dimensional UnSub and disposable victims. How can I relate to any of that?

 

7) So Messer blames the actors and the network for the characters not having enough flaws? Does she not think to look in the mirror? I could name several characters who are on a network that are very flawed- just off the top of my head, you've got Gregory House (House), Sherlock Holmes (Elementary), Abby Whelan (Scandal), Olivia Pope (Scandal), Harvey Bullock (Gotham), James Gordon (Gotham) and Christy Plunkett (Mom). Heck, even Homer Simpson, at least in the early days of The Simpsons, was wonderfully flawed. Just because CM can't resort to the overt violence of The Sopranos or the sex of Game of Thrones doesn't mean it can't have flawed characters.

 

(In fact, I'd probably argue that network writing needs to be stronger than cable writing, since HBO writers can easily get a cheap thrill through gore or nudity whereas a network writer cannot do that, but that's another debate altogether)

 

I do disagree that JJ and Garcia are the only characters with flaws- I don't think any CM character has anything remotely approximating discernible characteristics and thus any sense of realistic character flaws...they're all just caricatures at this stage. In JJ's case, she's just been assigned all these positive traits and brushes off adversity as if nothing happened- you never really see any fallout from anything JJ does, she's just always got the right answer all the time and whatever pain she may go through gets glossed over. In Garcia's case, she's just a big, blubbering infant, so whatever suffering she goes through rings hollow. That's not a character flaw- that's poor characterization. Full stop.

 

8) If it is true that Matthew Gray Gubler took a stand against Messer and the writers for wanting to go down the addiction subplot again (and I believe it is true), then he should be commended for that and the writers admonished for taking away so much screen time in retaliation. Addiction storylines are so overdone today that another iteration would be boring, and I side with Gubler that Reid's old enough not to fall into that trap again. Certainly there are other options on the table to have a storyline about Reid overcoming the effects of his injury (for example, he could begin to doubt his field skills, expanding on the storyline they could have used after or before "L.D.S.K."), and the fact that the writers are this uncreative to think about that makes me wonder why they're employed on a long running show such as CM in the first place.

 

Also, if there is a lot of collaboration with the actors and the writers, I sure don't see it. If there was, I think we'd probably see each character have some kind of discernible storyline each season, or, at the very least, each character insisting they have some traits that makes them useful in each case. Instead, it seems that unless it's JJ, no character is allowed to have much of an impact. I can't see the actors being too thrilled about this.

 

9) Never watched Alias, but I agree with ForeverAlone on this one- if Messer didn't like that the show turned from Sydney Bristow's personal life into a show about her as a superspy, why do that with JJ? It's also more telling that we hardly see anything really revealing about the team's personal lives these last few seasons, when the writers before were much better at it.

 

10) All I can say is- does Messer watch her own show?

 

11) I never really liked the scenes of the sobbing parents- to me, they always came across as providing some cheap emotion and never really added to the story. Perhaps other people like it, but I almost always thought seeing some mother blubber that "Susie could chew pieces of cheese into U.S. states and would have been on Letterman had that guy not killed her!" slowed the story down unnecessarily- we never saw the victim do the things that made them special before they were offed, so it makes no difference to me if the parents mentioned it. To me, I care more about why the killer chose the victim and what kind of sordid story the victim and killer may have had, because that would be relevant to the story and eventually the case. So if you're going to have the parents crying, at least have them spout information that will be relevant to the case later.

 

I also can't help but bring up the gender angle but it applies- because, as Season 10 seems to show me, that having disposable male victims makes it no more right than when the show had disposable female victims. One way to combat this is to make the victims mean something is by making them mean something to the story. The killer targets women of authority because he was once emasculated by a woman? Then it's okay to populate the story with middle aged, professional women because then the story wouldn't make sense any other way. I also liked how in the early years Gideon and Elle would make constant remarks about how the UnSubs were really cowards for what they were doing- sure, it kind of played to the stereotype that women were weaker than men, but at least you got the sense from the BAU that they cared about the victims. Now people die and the BAU never seems to care, and that's the real problem.

 

12) "Erica is interested in Criminal Minds, because of the personal nature of the stories and what makes people tick." Well, thanks Messer...me too. Now let's actually see that instead of having more mindless drivel, one dimensional UnSubs, disposable victims and faux action movies.

 

13) Seems like every year Messer promises "more team stories", great guests, better cases and "love letters", and every year we get let down, because she's assembled the laziest batch of writers I've ever seen. Walk the walk, Messer, don't just talk the talk.

Excellent! You should send this as feedback to CBS.

[zannej]

https://twitter.com/johnhatchitt/status/535836328844222464/photo/1

@johnhatchitt
Play Time !!!

 

Reid's car!!!! I think this is for the episode that Kirsten is co-writing. I'm guessing it will be a flashback or maybe Reid goes to visit Gideon's cabin for some reason.

 

(I can't take credit for finding this, a dear friend pointed this out to me)

Edited November 23, 2014 by zannej

[normasm]

I was hoping you'd share that here! I believe you said that Harry confirmed it was Reid's car.

[zannej]

I was hoping you'd share that here! I believe you said that Harry confirmed it was Reid's car.

Yup! I wish I'd seen it sooner so I could have pestered John Hatchett for more pictures of the car. LOL. I don't know if he's ever replied to me, so he probably wouldn't have, but I could have tried. I have an obsession with Reid's car. Like, I spent a good chunk of time researching to narrow down what year the car could be from (narrowed it to about 65' to 66') and what the code on the door would have been depending on features and such. I think Reid would have manual transmission because the automatic transmission in the Volvo Amazon P130 122S around that time period had a problem that caused it to use a lot more gas. Fun fact: that model car was common to use as a police vehicle.

 

I'm really hoping we can find out what color the car was because the color makes a difference on the possible years. Because the color I thought it was (horizon blue) was not available in certain years, but the grille on the car was used in certain years.. and I'm probably boring everyone to tears right now. LOL.

 

The scene in the pic reminds me a lot of Gideon's cabin.

[normasm]

I don't know why they wouldn't think Reid isn't a top favourite - especially in the younger demographic they seem to aim at these days - because certainly on social media he has the biggest following. On Twitter he is not far off 1,000,000 followers and if you go into the CM tag on Tumblr most of the posts feature him. I think it is much more likely to be the fact that Erica Messer dislikes the character, doesn't know how to write for him and tolerates him being there because of his fanbase, I wish I knew what was really behind him dropping his directing this season and whether it was because he disliked KH's script and is being "punished" by not getting another or if he is just winding back his involvement to free him up for other projects. I just know that if we don't get any kind of Reid centric episode this season there will be quite an outcry from fans.

Moving this here from Sudworth Place, hope you don't mind. OD, MGG hasn't dropped directing this season, he has said in an interview that he will direct in January. We just don't know if it's just the one.

 

I agree that if we don't get more Reid, there will be howling and it might get loud! I know for sure, if the plan is for MGG to leave the show, we won't know it until much later, so the howling won't begin (as long as fans are hanging on by our fingernails to see if he is featured).

[Old Dog]

No problem - this is better thread for this discussion. Yes I know he's directing in January - I worded that badly. I meant dropping his directing from two episodes to one. I think we are running out of time for him to be directing more than one.

 

I don't know whether I want him to leave and do other projects where he is more valued or if I want him to stay and hope yet again that his Reid gets written better!