O.M.G. What a great episode! I was looking forward to the big Hotch/Morgan discussion, but I guess what we got at the beginning was it. And while we once again knew who the unsub was right away, I loved how it all played out! Breen, as usual, wrote a knockout ep. Garcia was awesome in getting Morgan's head back in the game. And JJ and Emily were absolutely priceless!! Everyone contributed and even though Gube wasn't around much (I'm sure still busy with HM), it was a great team effort. Two thumbs up!
That was an AMAZING episode!! Okay, I had my doubts going in, but....WOW!! so we saw the unsub. Normally, I'd be annoyed, but it turns out his identity is only the beginning. The twists and turns kept me at the edge of my seat! And shemar! He was phenomenal!! As an m/g fan...I really enjoyed their moments...it really highlighted the depth of their relationship! I know there wasn't much mention of how cindy's problem was like Emily's fake death...but I think subtle acting kind of hinted at it (might be my one negative...along with...so was Cindy lying about loving him then? moment). But probably this is my favorite episode this season. So great!! PolkaDotSombrero
Good episode but I really felt the lack of Reid. Since when did Garcia become more prominent than Reid? I love her but sometimes she's too much for me. They usually show Morgan comfort Reid if the episode is about him, I don't know why we can't see Reid comfort Morgan. I swear if Reid continues to be completely neglected like he is in recent episodes, I don't think I can continue watching anymore.
Reid, though caring, is not assertive enough (usually..I KNOW there are exceptions) to set Morgan straight like that. Garcia's friendship with Morgan allows her to be able to talk to him like that...Reid's character wouldn't react like that. He doesn't tend to give advice/comfort...at least not like Garcia does. And I like Reid...so don't think I'm bashing him. If Reid had yelled at Morgan like that...it would have been way ooc...and morgan needed to be yelled at in order for him to focus and get the job done.
This has got to be my most favorite "non-Reid-centric" episode EVER. Shemar was FANTATSIC!! I loved the surprisingly intricate plot (OMG---a KID!???), how they lightly touched on an horrific subject matter (enough to get you to think without being crass), and how very delicately they delved into the whole subject of "lying to protect."
While I definitely agree that Reid could have been more supportive of Morgan considering their past relationship, it played perfectly that Garcia was the one to help ground him. Their close relationship is perfect for that type of scenario.
JJ and Prentiss cracked me up both during the interviewing process and at the end! They played PERFECTLY off each other!
While I realize that not every episode can be "all Reid all the time", I did miss his presence during this as well as during the past few episodes. In THIS episode, though, it did make sense. I just miss the "socially awkward genius" I've come to love so much.
I'm really not sure why Reid is in the opening credits at all. He's barely in the show anymore...& before anyone says it's because he's editing, it's been like this for 2 or 3 seasons now. So annoyed!
I know not every episode can"t be a Reid one and I wouldn't want it to be. I just want him to have a presence in most episodes like the other characters do...he's completely pushed to the background. I really wished that they would touch on the storylines they started for him ie. headaches, "something going on with his mother", "only member who did not request to come back to the BAU". These things were completely unexplained. As annoying as it is I may be able to overlook if Reid was in most episodes like the other characters. Currently he's the most underused character and I'm tired of being patient.
I really liked this episode. I thought Morgan was awesome. I loved the parts with JJ and Prentiss and also liked how assertive Rossi was. I do agree with others that Reid has been missing lately. I'm not sure why since he's so popular but I think he was editing during this episode. I get what others are saying though since it's been a trend since season 6. Hopefully they'll renew his contract and show more of him next season, I've kind of given up hoping for more Reid this season.
I am a Reid fan and offer no apologies. I am also a Morgan fan and have been from day one so this is not an anti Morgan comment. But, if you look at this season objectively, there is not doubt the Reid character has been all but ignored. When Reid fans have their say about what is obvious they get bashed. To MorganLover76 , I think the "Jeez!" comment above is really uncalled for. If you think the Reid character has been fairly represented this season I would appreciate it if you would illustrate where this occurred.
This episode was amazing! Shemar really rocked it! I enjoyed seeing a Morgancentric show, and I love his relationship with Garcia.
But I have to agree with the Reid fans: his character is pretty much being increasingly ignored in the last 2 seasons save for a specific episode once in a blue moon. It's almost like they're very quietly trying to write Gubler out of the show. He leaves, I leave.
Okay I was a bit scared commenting about the lack of Reid lately because honestly everyone just tells the Reid fans to relax. It's hard for me to watch the show when a main character is being pushed to the background as much as Reid. Not only are his stories pushed aside but he really isn't much a part of other episodes either. Anyway, I think it's hard to argue with the fact that he the least shown and focussed on character.
I'm just as tired as most of you here. Seriously are they even going to renew Matthew's contract? I mean they hardly use him any more. One thing's for sure...if Matthew leaves so do many, many fans!
It's just starting to feel like they're trying to ease Reid's character out the door. He's why I started watching Criminal Minds in the first place. If Matthew doesn't renew his contract, I'm done, too. Great show, but I'd miss him too much.
I am %100 sure they will renew Matthew's contract, they will never take the chance to loose him plus Matthew said he cannot imagine not coming back so please don't worry Reid fans. I agree with most of you about how Reid has been ignored in this season but just want to add to this if I may. He is tied with Emily on being pushed to background. Please don't tell me that the episode 150 focused on her. Good! All I remember from this season is JJ is having the major focus in almost all episodes. I know and understand that after what happened in season 6 they had to give her a proper come back and fair amount of screen time, so all is fine but for many reasons season 7 hasn't been working for me...
Anon I agree that Emily hasn't had much focus but at least she's present and had an amazing story last season. Reid has been ignored since season 5 I think? I do agree that she hasn't had much focus this season though..maybe it's why she chooses not to stick around.
Oh and anon I agree about JJ having a lot of focus this season. I also want to add that I do not like her as a profiler. She was warm and had a completely different role as a liaison. Now she's a profiler like everyone else. I also loved her presenting the cases and I hate when Garcia presents the case.
I agree with y'all: JJ was much more "real" as a liaison than she is as a generic profiler. It just feels like she's lost some of her warmth and compassion, two very important characteristics she brought to the team that they really needed.
I love Garcia, but yeah, I don't think presenting the cases that squick her out so much is the best use of her talents.
Garcia was the best Garcia before having to present the cases, and JJ was the best JJ when she was still the liaison/presenter. Their characters seemed much more natural then.
So after watching this episode, I realized that I'm on Garcia/Morgan overload and I'm having serious Reid withdrawals. I wish I could understand why no one cares to write for Reid any more. He's just a fact-spewing robot now. He did this occasionally before along with profiling and interacting with team members and because it was part of his character and not all, it was interesting. Now we hardly see him and when we do, he just blurts out some obvious, useless facts. What a waste of a fabulous actor who portrayed a beloved character.
I'll add my opinion here, but it's not going to differ much from what you expressed. I really enjoyed the episode and I thought Morgan was great. I, too, greatly miss Reid. I love episodes focusing on the other characters, but I wish we could get a little bit more of our favorite genius. I'm patient, I'm quietly waiting (and have done so for a long time), but I still miss him.
I can only add what so many others have written here. Loved the episode, love Morgan but I am so so tired of Reid still being pushed into the background. It happened last year and it's the same this year. I've just about given up on the show as I've reached the stage where I've given up hoping for anything decent for Reid anymore. I like all the other characters a lot but Reid is the reason I got hooked in the first place and he's been the reason I've stayed watching, up until now that is. I also have to agree with those who don't like the new Profiler!JJ. She used to be a favourite of mine but not now, for me her character has changed too much and not in a good way.
I have to say that I really cringed when I read the synopsis for this one because Morgan has had more focus than any other character this season. Also, the focus they have given him tended to involve him being all angsty rather than really showing his professional side. He is very clearly Erica's favorite character. I had thought the thing with his cousin was resolved in that they believed she was killed by her stalker and that was it. To be honest, I had thought it would be nice if they found her body, but it would be realistic if they didn't. I personally know someone who's son went missing and is most definitely dead now (people even have an idea of who killed him, but that person was murdered years ago) but no body was ever found and there was no confession. So the parents don't have the closure. It's heartbreaking. I was more interesting in seeing them have a satisfactory conclusion to Reid's headaches, but it seems that the writers just don't know what to do with Reid. The writers who did know his character and what to do with him are all gone now.
When I heard what this episode was about I predicted that we would have Morgan all angsty, Reid blurting out some facts like Speed Racer and then disappearing, and Garcia fretting over her BFF Morgan and comforting him. I admit I was somewhat pleasantly surprised at how things played out.
Had we not already had Morgan overload this season, I probably would have enjoyed this episode more. But I did enjoy it-- even though I had to pop in and out of the room to take care of some things and I missed a couple of parts.
I like that we did get contributions from all of the team members (even if they were small contributions). I think that Breen actually listened to the fans. He incorporated a personal matter in to the case and gave us some little details about the team we didn't know via their conversations during the case. For instance, Hotch and the oatmeal and orange juice thing. That was a nice little tidbit (its also the first time that Hotch's mother has been mentioned since season 2-- and only the 3rd time she has been mentioned on the show).
The case itself I think worked because it was a twist on a real case. Its really disturbing to know that someone can be brainwashed to that extent, but it happened to a poor young woman.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get a little more of Hotch and Morgan and the bonding (or at least Morgan getting over being lied to and realizing it wasn't about him). I was actually surprised and amused at Garcia's telling off. It really made me laugh. It was particularly funny that she was telling him it wasn't all about him because the episode was sort of all about him. It sounded like things that fans complained about on multiple forums.
(part 2 bc my post was over 4,000 characters long and wouldn't go through)
I am a Reid fan and I started watching the show because of him. His intelligence and the way he solved things fascinated me. I do feel that he has become somewhat robotic and they are just giving him dialog paraphrased from the wikipedia rather than showing any actual insight or intelligence. That said, I actually wasn't too bothered by his reduced presence in this episode. For one, he did actually go into the house with gun drawn instead of just being missing or back at the station. I also think that, in his own way, he did try to pull Morgan out of self-pity mode. Remember how Morgan was sitting there all woe-is-me and Reid had the paper and said something like "We need to give the profile" and Morgan groused and moped and Reid repeated it? That was his subtle way of trying to get things back on track.
I wonder if they wanted to do more with him but couldn't because Matthew was too busy editing.
Normally I hate when they show the unsub early on and show what he/she is doing prominently, but I think it sort of worked in this one. I wasn't finding myself wishing I could fast forward because I think they did a good job of balancing it with team scenes.
I admit I saw the kid angle coming as soon as the unsub started telling the cousin that they would kill "him" if he made one phonecall. I was a bit surprised they went the route of having a whole group of people involved in the slave thing though.
IMO, this would have made a much better season finale than what we had for season 6. It also would have been better than what we had for the 150th episode.
I did think it was a tad odd that JJ actually admitted some personal details in front of the unsub, but I think it served the twofold purpose of establishing that she isn't married and it made it less like acting in front of the unsub. Although he had to be an idiot to not get that she was trying to antagonize him.
Over all, I would say this was one of the highest points of the season. I think it ranks up with Foundation.
By the way, if anyone gets good HQ screen captures from this (particularly of closeups of Morgan's gun) please post the link. I'm trying to see if I can get more detail on the markings on his gun to figure out what kind it is. I know its a Sig Sauer P226 but I'm not sure exactly which version. I didn't see the anchor for it to be the Navy version. It doesn't have the striations of the elite and e2 versions but it has the SRT. It doesn't have the beavertail like some of the models. The newest model has the SRT but has one-piece wraparound grips with no screws. Morgan's gun has Hogue grips with screws.
I agree with so many others here in that this was a very good episode but we are running out of season 7 and still waiting for a glimpse of the Reid we loved in seasons 1-5. They seem to be just using him to churn out statistics and generic information instead of showing the way he used to detect patterns to help build a profile. I also started watching Criminal Minds because I was drawn to Reid's fascinating character and I just hope that he reappears. If Matthew returns for Series 8 I really hope the writers get the character closer to the genius we all want see.
'I have to say that I really cringed when I read the synopsis for this one because Morgan has had more focus than any other character this season. ... He is very clearly Erica's favorite character. Had we not already had Morgan overload this season, I probably would have enjoyed this episode more.'
Yes to that, we had SO much of Morgan this season and last season, really since the season 5 season final that I am tired and feed up with his character. Last night had great writing, Breen NEVER dissapoint, I didn't mind that we saw the unsub early on, it made sense so we could understand how he had such a strong hold on Cindy, the whole idea of The Company was scary but all that was tainted because again we had again the Morgan show. I wish I could tell Erica 'this isn't ALL about your favorite Erica' how about Hotch and Reid?'. I dearly hope that next season the other characters will get more attention, especially Hotch and Reid who have been terribly neglected since the start of season 6.
Tricia, its funny you should mention that the show isn't all about Morgan because every time we ask the writers why there is so little Reid we get replies like "The show can't be all about Reid" (or something to that effect). He got one token episode this season and then they use him so little that Matthew has gone on trips to LV, NYC, Canada, and Oregon while the rest of the cast were on set filming.
I will say that despite the Morgan overload, I did actually enjoy this episode. This one got it right. I do think they sort of overdid a little in the angst department. I couldn't relate and I thought that it wasn't such a big deal that Morgan lied and she turned out to be alive. I predicted that the aunt would slap Morgan. I was hoping that the family would have understood that he was trying to give them closure and that he truly believed the cousin was dead.
I'm also glad that this was based on a real case instead of a movie.
Last season we had ripoffs of Misery and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (pretty neat but disturbing film with Alan Rickman).
I enjoyed the episode. Kind of Stepford Wives goes Kink. I have to say though I had the kid angle figured out long before the team did. As soon as he was threatening to "kill him" I knew she had a kid somewhere. I did enjoy the food angle though and thought it was a nice, little personal touch and oh, poor little Jack has to eat Oatmeal every morning. Ick! Get that boy some Cap'n Crunch Hotch! ;)
I didn't care for Garcia's rant, mainly because she made it sound like the behavior was something new for Morgan, as though he's typically this heroic man who's always in control and never makes things personal and acts like an asshat when he's kind of known for that type of behavior. I think I would've rather had seen Reid have a nice moment with him since Morgan has always been there for Reid in the past. I would've liked a little less angst from Morgan, but hey, that's Morgan. He is the emotional one in the group and it would be out of character if he didn't go off like a angry bomb and lash out at everyone and everything when he's upset so kudos to the writer for capturing that and allowing us to see his flaws. Loved when Rossi made him stay behind at the crime scene and how Hotch as usual took the high road and was just there for him and kind of gave him just enough leash to do what he needed to do to make things right, but also a short enough leash (in the form of Reid, Rossi, and himself) to reel him back in when he lost control. Loved the moment between Morgan and Reid at the crime scene as well. While I did enjoy the girls' little interrogation scene, I'm just not a big fan of cocky, badass JJ and her challenging Hotch to get back in there and break the suspect kind of made me roll my eyes. I just enjoyed JJ more when she was the liason who was arguably just as qualified as the rest of them, but never felt the need to prove that to anyone. Just one question though. How did we see Morgan's family walk away and Garcia suddenly move in beside Morgan? She wasn't in Chicago. Did I miss something?
In all honesty , the episode was good but I couldn't enjoy it. This, Foundation and Profiler, Profiled are the only good Morgan episodes in my opinion. They have given him so much unnecessary focus the past few seasons that it was hard to enjoy this episode since it feels like he's being shoved down our throats. It's especially annoying that Reid has been completely neglected. They've started more major storylines for him and have dropped them but had to pick up and continue this story with Morgan? I agree with others that it's bad enough that his storylines have been neglected but he really is the only character who is shoved the background consistently for a few seasons now. They developed this amazing character, a genius with a disturbed childhood, and they completely abandon writing for him? It makes no sense. Personally I'm tired of it.
The writers also tend to pretty much ignore the Reid questions during the chats that lead me to believe that they have nothing in store for him. If this keeps up, I no longer can watch the show. Like many others, Reid drew me into the show...I wish they would do the character some justice.
sf81387 good question about Garcia, missed how she went from Quantico to the police station in such a short time. This was my only problem with this episode in an otherwise excellent episode. The writing was top notch, excellent acting especially from Shemar and Thomas. Loved that Rossi was able to make Morgan focus on his work ( working the crime scene) instead of go out looking for Cindy. Missed Reid but from what I I know he was busy editing his episode.
Mary 'I know Matthew was busy editing while this episode was filming but we have been missing Reid pretty much since Season 5!'
Don't disagree with you but at least last night there was a good reason why Reid was missing. Also, where did Rossi and Hotch went at the end, why were they not at the raid? There was no explanation as to where they went.
Crminal Minds RT - I agree about how odd it was that Hotch and Rossi weren't in on the raid at the end. But you are so right about Garcia stangely popping up at the end. I just watched it again to see when she was at Quantico and what sort of time elapsed before she appeared with Morgan in Chicago. I gather that it is about 750 miles between Quantico and Chicago - Garcia must have some kind of magic carpet to have got there when she did!
I did like this episode. I think that Breen and Jim Clemente are the only decent writers left. They should get rid of the others and either bring some of the great writers from the early seasons back or get some decent new ones. I also agree with all who have noticed that Reid is missing too much from the episodes. Rossi also gets pushed on the side a lot. The writers in the early seasons were able to balance the screen time for the characters. I don't know why these writers are unable to do that. And why, oh why, aren't any of them listening to the viewers? Week after week we say we don't want to always see the unsub right away, we want to see more of the team/profiling and less of the unsub, but it falls on deaf ears. I think it's time for Erica to go. But I loved Emily and JJ in this episode and seeing compassionate team leader Hotch. It would have been better to have Hotch and Morgan at the end than Garcia and Morgan.
Yes the scene with Garcia and Morgan at the end would have been much better if it had been Hotch and Morgan, either talking about the lying they both did in other to protect,in Hotch case the team and their family and in Morgan's case to give his family closure. They didn't need to have a big talk or anything but Morgan acknowledging in some ways that he understood why Hotch did what he did would have been nice.
CM do have good writers, the problem this season is not how the CM characters have been written, no one was out of character or anything like that. The problem I see is that the writers write for the unsubs first, to showcase them and the actor of the week. At times it feels as if the team is less important than the unsubs. Showing the unsub so early and getting all the information about the unsubs by other means then the team profiling takes away the mystery(we don't get to guess who did it) and takes away from us enjoying the team profiling/working the case. Foundation was great because we got to guess who did it until the end and everything we did learn about the unsub came from the work the team did.
That said, last night episode had to show the unsub this soon in order for us to understand how strong his hold on Cindy was. We still had the information about the unsub coming mostly from the team and Morgan. Loved Morgan and the team profiling why Cindy had choosen that type of food. Loved JJ reaction to been asked if she would give that food to Will and Hotch saying he had oatmeal as a kid and that is what Jack gets!
Okay the banter between Garcia and Morgan on the phone was priceless! Yes Morgan it's not all about YOU... Though there are times it should be. LOLOL I had a feeling early on there was a kid somewhere. I just couldn't put it together. This was a great episode and I'm a big Reid fan but in all honesty this is an ensemble cast and sometimes it can't be all about Reid.
I don't think it would have been fitting for anyone to comfort Morgan other than Garcia. They are as about as close as you can get without being romantically involved. Plus he grew up with a bunch of women not men so it would be more natural for him to confide and want to be comforted by a female more than a male figure.
This was the best CM episode I've seen since 100 and Mosley Lane. In the seven seasons Morgan rarely has had a centric episode and he totally delivered. The cast was amazing and I don't mean the profilers but everyone else. I loved loved loved that Morgan's cousin found her strength. The ending was amazing!
I continue to hate Garcia-Nails on a chalkboard. And I just don't see JJ as a profiler, never will.
I loved at the beginning when Morgan told Hotch they might have a case about his cousin and without missing a beat Hotch says, 'We're on the way'.
I don't have a problem with Morgan episodes. This was a good one. 25 to life and the whole Ellie stories weren't so good. People keep saying that it can't be all about Reid but it hasn't really been about him at all for a few seasons now. But my main problem is that it doesn't have to be about him in order for him to have a meaningful role. He's barely in it and when he is, he really isn't given meaningful material.
I know people say it can't always be all about Reid. The writers use that to defend the lack of Reid's presence or focus in episodes, but even Breen admitted that Reid has been getting hardly anything this season. I don't want the episodes to be all about Reid, but if he is technically a main character, why is he being treated like a secondary background character of little importance? He only gets a few lines straight from the wikipedia rather than actually getting to show his intelligence and insight.
When was the last time they used his skills in graphology or analyzing the diction in writing? When was the last time they had him have any meaningful interaction with other members of the team?
They keep showing so much unsub that they don't have time to show us the team and Reid has been wallflowered because of it.
The quality of his time on screen has been very poor. It's frustrating.
At least Rossi hasn't been given downright retarded dialog and then treated as if he's too stupid/inept/immature to be able to babysit.
"I don't want the episodes to be all about Reid, but if he is technically a main character, why is he being treated like a secondary background character of little importance? "
Personally I think it's because TPTB are trying to minimise the effect on the show if/when MGG does leave the show. Reid is a huge fan favourite, if not the most loved character, and he has a very unique role on the show. IMO he's being pushed into the background these past few seasons so that (or so TPTB think) he won't be so missed - by the fans and by the show itself - when he's gone. Personally, when MGG goes so do I, no matter how much TPTB think they can lessen the effect of his departure by cutting his scenes down out now.
Bri, I disagree about the characters not being written out of character. In many ways they have become caricatures of the characters that were established in early seasons. The writing is almost generic. Instead of writing for Morgan, they're writing for "angry guy." Instead of writing for Reid, they're writing for "fact spewer" etc. I do completely agree with your statement about them writing too much for the unsubs. And they just ignore all our comments when we say we don't want this. We want the old CM back where the focus is on the team finding the unsub through the use of their profiling skills. The crimes in the early seasons were plenty horrific. In my opinion, Floyd Feylinn in "Lucky" was the creepiest unsub of all. That was a case where, although we saw the unsub at the start, he didn't hog all the screen time. The emphasis was on finding him through the clues he left behind, victimology, etc. And we never saw him torturing or murdering the women, yet it was still every bit as horrifying as any recent episode where we're subjected to all sorts of violence and gore. I want my Criminal Minds back where the team is the focus and they get a balance of screen time per episode. I don't care about guest stars. I don't care about more bizarre ways to kill people. I just care about the team and their skills in finding these creeps and how they deal with being exposed to this horror day in and out.
Martha, while I do think they thought they were going to lose Matthew in season 6 (and I have no idea why since his contract wasn't up), I don't think that is why they are pushing him into the background. Usually when an actor is going to leave and they know it or suspect it, they give them good stories or focus to send them off. They are trying to give more for Prentiss since Paget is leaving. And its been this way for 3 whole seasons. That can't be just because they are prepping for him leaving-- especially since Matthew said he has no intention of leaving and wants to renew his contract.
Even Breen Frazier agreed that Reid has been pushed to the background for most of the season. Btw, we will NOT get the headache story resolved this season. They don't have any plans for anything for Reid this season but we will supposedly get something next season-- same stuff they told us last season basically. I won't hold my breath.
I found it interesting at the chat when people asked why certain people were teamed together and why not have more Morgan and Prentiss and Breen's answer was something about using whichever actors were available for filming that day.
While he didn't outright say it, that really confirms my suspicion that the dialog really is being written generically so that it can be interchangeable. I think it is one of the weaknesses of the current writing. It just seems counter intuitive to write generic dialog and then see which actors are available to say it and then have them recite the lines. It explains why there has been very little personality in terms of the dialog. It is not showing the expertise or personal experiences of these characters. I know that not ALL of it is generic, but a good portion of it really seems to be generic. And then we have people saying lines that don't necessarily make sense to be coming from them. Like in "A Family Affair" when Prentiss said a line that should have come from Reid but then Reid followed up with something dumb and scientifically inaccurate. If they had switched it up, it might have worked a little better.
At this point, they could give almost all of Reid's lines to Garcia and have her reading things out from the wikipedia-- because that is where some of the writers go to get dialog/information for Reid's lines.
The bright side is that Breen said they will try to do less unsub next season-- well, not his exact words. He said they would try to balance it more. I'm not sure how that will work bc the writers keep claiming things are balanced and they are not.
Like Breen thought that Morgan didn't have strong presence during the first half of the season. I beg to differ though.
"Like Breen thought that Morgan didn't have strong presence during the first half of the season. I beg to differ though."
I agree, even if the episode wasn't about him, Morgan had a strong presence during the first half of the season. I actually don't have a problem with this but I think all the characters should have this type of presence. I think they spend so much time showing the unsub that they really don't have time for all the main characters. Reid is literally pushed into the background and definitely the one that has been short changed the most and it makes no sense. He's a genius and they could use him to write an smart, intelligent story that requires his brilliant mind to solve. They used to do that in older episodes. Even if he wasn't in the episodes too much before, he had quality screentime. Like many have said, now he's just used to spit out Wikipedia facts. What a waste of an amazing character.
Please CM writers, fix the show and give us back our Reid!!!! So many of us love him. Don't treat him like a secondary character.
I think it was great episode. Every episode can't feature all the casts all the time. I personally like it when they are all in use. But sometimes you get one that the writers will focus on one cast member and that okay. I rather have the show to watch then not at all. I am a shemar fan but I think that the cast as a whole is great together and hopefully MGG will sign for another year.
Me encanto este capitulo!.. me encanto la menara en que jj y prentiss hicieron el interrogatorio, me gusto mucho ver ese nuevo lado de jj queriendo regresar a la sala de interrogatorios, me hubiera gustado ver más de esto, y si por una parte jj ya no es la misma de siempre, pero hay que darse cuenta de que siendo perfiladora no puede pensar lo mismo que siendo el enlace de comunicaciones. en general, este es uno de los mejores episodios de la temporada. Quiero ver más JJ :D
While I miss Reid wholeheartedly and agree that the unsubs are getting too much screen time it kind of makes sense because these new writers are just testing the waters and I think that by next season they'll be familiarized with the characters enough to balance it out. Also a lot has been going on in cm for the past two seasons that the writer's need to accommodate for. Last year two of the seven main characters were cut so obviously the writer's had to focus around that and how they were going to keep cm likable and make a great exit for both characters plus they had to give all the characters a selected amount of screen time and focus on Prentiss's storyline. This year they're trying to accommodate for all of Cook's missed time as well as get the writer's to understand each character in depth and let's face it, Reid is not easy to understand and he has a lot of different layers that they just don't have time for this season. Rossi has been kind of overlooked since season 4 and JJ since the start of the series. Think about it, the only two part episodes that have been focuses some what on JJ have been Reid centric arcs so it makes sense that they're making up for it this season. I do agree that Reid's character is kind of robotic lately but these newbies haven't had the chance to explore his depth. As for JJ changing, of course she has! She was at the pentagon for a year so she's seen some rough shit go down and that's gonna make her a little more tough and jaded not to mention the fact that they operated without a media liason for a whole season just fine so what would that say about her job if she just came back to it after they've been fine without one? It would make a lot of people think... Wait... What's the point of paying someone to do a job that was done fine without said person, it would make her even more under appreciated. Plus with Prentiss leaving and them not filling her place for about seven or eight episodes next season they're gonna need some badass chick. Anyway as a JJ fan I am personally very happy to see her finally get a season where she's had a strong presence in all of the episodes but I do hope that they do a better job at focusing on all of the team next season
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fantasic episode .. best cast ever ... best writers ever and best Crew .. keep up the great work and cant wait for the next one :)
ReplyDeleteO.M.G. What a great episode! I was looking forward to the big Hotch/Morgan discussion, but I guess what we got at the beginning was it. And while we once again knew who the unsub was right away, I loved how it all played out! Breen, as usual, wrote a knockout ep. Garcia was awesome in getting Morgan's head back in the game. And JJ and Emily were absolutely priceless!! Everyone contributed and even though Gube wasn't around much (I'm sure still busy with HM), it was a great team effort. Two thumbs up!
ReplyDeleteThat was an AMAZING episode!! Okay, I had my doubts going in, but....WOW!! so we saw the unsub. Normally, I'd be annoyed, but it turns out his identity is only the beginning. The twists and turns kept me at the edge of my seat! And shemar! He was phenomenal!! As an m/g fan...I really enjoyed their moments...it really highlighted the depth of their relationship! I know there wasn't much mention of how cindy's problem was like Emily's fake death...but I think subtle acting kind of hinted at it (might be my one negative...along with...so was Cindy lying about loving him then? moment). But probably this is my favorite episode this season. So great!!
ReplyDeletePolkaDotSombrero
Good episode but I really felt the lack of Reid. Since when did Garcia become more prominent than Reid? I love her but sometimes she's too much for me. They usually show Morgan comfort Reid if the episode is about him, I don't know why we can't see Reid comfort Morgan. I swear if Reid continues to be completely neglected like he is in recent episodes, I don't think I can continue watching anymore.
ReplyDeleteReid, though caring, is not assertive enough (usually..I KNOW there are exceptions) to set Morgan straight like that. Garcia's friendship with Morgan allows her to be able to talk to him like that...Reid's character wouldn't react like that. He doesn't tend to give advice/comfort...at least not like Garcia does. And I like Reid...so don't think I'm bashing him. If Reid had yelled at Morgan like that...it would have been way ooc...and morgan needed to be yelled at in order for him to focus and get the job done.
DeleteThis has got to be my most favorite "non-Reid-centric" episode EVER. Shemar was FANTATSIC!! I loved the surprisingly intricate plot (OMG---a KID!???), how they lightly touched on an horrific subject matter (enough to get you to think without being crass), and how very delicately they delved into the whole subject of "lying to protect."
ReplyDeleteWhile I definitely agree that Reid could have been more supportive of Morgan considering their past relationship, it played perfectly that Garcia was the one to help ground him. Their close relationship is perfect for that type of scenario.
JJ and Prentiss cracked me up both during the interviewing process and at the end! They played PERFECTLY off each other!
While I realize that not every episode can be "all Reid all the time", I did miss his presence during this as well as during the past few episodes. In THIS episode, though, it did make sense. I just miss the "socially awkward genius" I've come to love so much.
I'm really not sure why Reid is in the opening credits at all. He's barely in the show anymore...& before anyone says it's because he's editing, it's been like this for 2 or 3 seasons now. So annoyed!
ReplyDeleteI know not every episode can"t be a Reid one and I wouldn't want it to be. I just want him to have a presence in most episodes like the other characters do...he's completely pushed to the background. I really wished that they would touch on the storylines they started for him ie. headaches, "something going on with his mother", "only member who did not request to come back to the BAU". These things were completely unexplained. As annoying as it is I may be able to overlook if Reid was in most episodes like the other characters. Currently he's the most underused character and I'm tired of being patient.
ReplyDeleteThis was the best episode of the season!! Shemar did his thing. Shanola Hampton was awesome. Reid fans relax, Jeez!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this episode. I thought Morgan was awesome. I loved the parts with JJ and Prentiss and also liked how assertive Rossi was. I do agree with others that Reid has been missing lately. I'm not sure why since he's so popular but I think he was editing during this episode. I get what others are saying though since it's been a trend since season 6. Hopefully they'll renew his contract and show more of him next season, I've kind of given up hoping for more Reid this season.
ReplyDeleteI am a Reid fan and offer no apologies. I am also a Morgan fan and have been from day one so this is not an anti Morgan comment. But, if you look at this season objectively, there is not doubt the Reid character has been all but ignored. When Reid fans have their say about what is obvious they get bashed. To MorganLover76 , I think the "Jeez!" comment above is really uncalled for. If you think the Reid character has been fairly represented this season I would appreciate it if you would illustrate where this occurred.
ReplyDeleteThis episode was amazing! Shemar really rocked it! I enjoyed seeing a Morgancentric show, and I love his relationship with Garcia.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to agree with the Reid fans: his character is pretty much being increasingly ignored in the last 2 seasons save for a specific episode once in a blue moon. It's almost like they're very quietly trying to write Gubler out of the show. He leaves, I leave.
Okay I was a bit scared commenting about the lack of Reid lately because honestly everyone just tells the Reid fans to relax. It's hard for me to watch the show when a main character is being pushed to the background as much as Reid. Not only are his stories pushed aside but he really isn't much a part of other episodes either. Anyway, I think it's hard to argue with the fact that he the least shown and focussed on character.
ReplyDeleteI'm just as tired as most of you here. Seriously are they even going to renew Matthew's contract? I mean they hardly use him any more. One thing's for sure...if Matthew leaves so do many, many fans!
ReplyDeleteIt's just starting to feel like they're trying to ease Reid's character out the door. He's why I started watching Criminal Minds in the first place. If Matthew doesn't renew his contract, I'm done, too. Great show, but I'd miss him too much.
ReplyDeleteI am %100 sure they will renew Matthew's contract, they will never take the chance to loose him plus Matthew said he cannot imagine not coming back so please don't worry Reid fans. I agree with most of you about how Reid has been ignored in this season but just want to add to this if I may. He is tied with Emily on being pushed to background. Please don't tell me that the episode 150 focused on her. Good! All I remember from this season is JJ is having the major focus in almost all episodes. I know and understand that after what happened in season 6 they had to give her a proper come back and fair amount of screen time, so all is fine but for many reasons season 7 hasn't been working for me...
ReplyDeleteAnon I agree that Emily hasn't had much focus but at least she's present and had an amazing story last season. Reid has been ignored since season 5 I think? I do agree that she hasn't had much focus this season though..maybe it's why she chooses not to stick around.
ReplyDeleteOh and anon I agree about JJ having a lot of focus this season. I also want to add that I do not like her as a profiler. She was warm and had a completely different role as a liaison. Now she's a profiler like everyone else. I also loved her presenting the cases and I hate when Garcia presents the case.
ReplyDeleteI agree with y'all: JJ was much more "real" as a liaison than she is as a generic profiler. It just feels like she's lost some of her warmth and compassion, two very important characteristics she brought to the team that they really needed.
ReplyDeleteI love Garcia, but yeah, I don't think presenting the cases that squick her out so much is the best use of her talents.
Garcia was the best Garcia before having to present the cases, and JJ was the best JJ when she was still the liaison/presenter. Their characters seemed much more natural then.
So after watching this episode, I realized that I'm on Garcia/Morgan overload and I'm having serious Reid withdrawals. I wish I could understand why no one cares to write for Reid any more. He's just a fact-spewing robot now. He did this occasionally before along with profiling and interacting with team members and because it was part of his character and not all, it was interesting. Now we hardly see him and when we do, he just blurts out some obvious, useless facts. What a waste of a fabulous actor who portrayed a beloved character.
ReplyDeleteI'll add my opinion here, but it's not going to differ much from what you expressed. I really enjoyed the episode and I thought Morgan was great.
ReplyDeleteI, too, greatly miss Reid. I love episodes focusing on the other characters, but I wish we could get a little bit more of our favorite genius.
I'm patient, I'm quietly waiting (and have done so for a long time), but I still miss him.
I can't watch the episode yet... does anyone know where I can find some screencaps of it?
ReplyDeleteI can only add what so many others have written here. Loved the episode, love Morgan but I am so so tired of Reid still being pushed into the background. It happened last year and it's the same this year. I've just about given up on the show as I've reached the stage where I've given up hoping for anything decent for Reid anymore. I like all the other characters a lot but Reid is the reason I got hooked in the first place and he's been the reason I've stayed watching, up until now that is.
ReplyDeleteI also have to agree with those who don't like the new Profiler!JJ. She used to be a favourite of mine but not now, for me her character has changed too much and not in a good way.
I have to say that I really cringed when I read the synopsis for this one because Morgan has had more focus than any other character this season. Also, the focus they have given him tended to involve him being all angsty rather than really showing his professional side. He is very clearly Erica's favorite character.
ReplyDeleteI had thought the thing with his cousin was resolved in that they believed she was killed by her stalker and that was it. To be honest, I had thought it would be nice if they found her body, but it would be realistic if they didn't. I personally know someone who's son went missing and is most definitely dead now (people even have an idea of who killed him, but that person was murdered years ago) but no body was ever found and there was no confession. So the parents don't have the closure. It's heartbreaking. I was more interesting in seeing them have a satisfactory conclusion to Reid's headaches, but it seems that the writers just don't know what to do with Reid. The writers who did know his character and what to do with him are all gone now.
When I heard what this episode was about I predicted that we would have Morgan all angsty, Reid blurting out some facts like Speed Racer and then disappearing, and Garcia fretting over her BFF Morgan and comforting him. I admit I was somewhat pleasantly surprised at how things played out.
Had we not already had Morgan overload this season, I probably would have enjoyed this episode more. But I did enjoy it-- even though I had to pop in and out of the room to take care of some things and I missed a couple of parts.
I like that we did get contributions from all of the team members (even if they were small contributions). I think that Breen actually listened to the fans. He incorporated a personal matter in to the case and gave us some little details about the team we didn't know via their conversations during the case. For instance, Hotch and the oatmeal and orange juice thing. That was a nice little tidbit (its also the first time that Hotch's mother has been mentioned since season 2-- and only the 3rd time she has been mentioned on the show).
The case itself I think worked because it was a twist on a real case. Its really disturbing to know that someone can be brainwashed to that extent, but it happened to a poor young woman.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get a little more of Hotch and Morgan and the bonding (or at least Morgan getting over being lied to and realizing it wasn't about him). I was actually surprised and amused at Garcia's telling off. It really made me laugh. It was particularly funny that she was telling him it wasn't all about him because the episode was sort of all about him. It sounded like things that fans complained about on multiple forums.
(part 2 bc my post was over 4,000 characters long and wouldn't go through)
ReplyDeleteI am a Reid fan and I started watching the show because of him. His intelligence and the way he solved things fascinated me. I do feel that he has become somewhat robotic and they are just giving him dialog paraphrased from the wikipedia rather than showing any actual insight or intelligence. That said, I actually wasn't too bothered by his reduced presence in this episode. For one, he did actually go into the house with gun drawn instead of just being missing or back at the station. I also think that, in his own way, he did try to pull Morgan out of self-pity mode. Remember how Morgan was sitting there all woe-is-me and Reid had the paper and said something like "We need to give the profile" and Morgan groused and moped and Reid repeated it? That was his subtle way of trying to get things back on track.
I wonder if they wanted to do more with him but couldn't because Matthew was too busy editing.
Normally I hate when they show the unsub early on and show what he/she is doing prominently, but I think it sort of worked in this one. I wasn't finding myself wishing I could fast forward because I think they did a good job of balancing it with team scenes.
I admit I saw the kid angle coming as soon as the unsub started telling the cousin that they would kill "him" if he made one phonecall. I was a bit surprised they went the route of having a whole group of people involved in the slave thing though.
IMO, this would have made a much better season finale than what we had for season 6. It also would have been better than what we had for the 150th episode.
I did think it was a tad odd that JJ actually admitted some personal details in front of the unsub, but I think it served the twofold purpose of establishing that she isn't married and it made it less like acting in front of the unsub. Although he had to be an idiot to not get that she was trying to antagonize him.
Over all, I would say this was one of the highest points of the season. I think it ranks up with Foundation.
By the way, if anyone gets good HQ screen captures from this (particularly of closeups of Morgan's gun) please post the link. I'm trying to see if I can get more detail on the markings on his gun to figure out what kind it is. I know its a Sig Sauer P226 but I'm not sure exactly which version. I didn't see the anchor for it to be the Navy version. It doesn't have the striations of the elite and e2 versions but it has the SRT. It doesn't have the beavertail like some of the models. The newest model has the SRT but has one-piece wraparound grips with no screws. Morgan's gun has Hogue grips with screws.
ReplyDeleteI agree with so many others here in that this was a very good episode but we are running out of season 7 and still waiting for a glimpse of the Reid we loved in seasons 1-5. They seem to be just using him to churn out statistics and generic information instead of showing the way he used to detect patterns to help build a profile. I also started watching Criminal Minds because I was drawn to Reid's fascinating character and I just hope that he reappears. If Matthew returns for Series 8 I really hope the writers get the character closer to the genius we all want see.
ReplyDeletezannej said...
ReplyDelete'I have to say that I really cringed when I read the synopsis for this one because Morgan has had more focus than any other character this season. ... He is very clearly Erica's favorite character.
Had we not already had Morgan overload this season, I probably would have enjoyed this episode more.'
Yes to that, we had SO much of Morgan this season and last season, really since the season 5 season final that I am tired and feed up with his character. Last night had great writing, Breen NEVER dissapoint, I didn't mind that we saw the unsub early on, it made sense so we could understand how he had such a strong hold on Cindy, the whole idea of The Company was scary but all that was tainted because again we had again the Morgan show. I wish I could tell Erica 'this isn't ALL about your favorite Erica' how about Hotch and Reid?'. I dearly hope that next season the other characters will get more attention, especially Hotch and Reid who have been terribly neglected since the start of season 6.
Tricia, its funny you should mention that the show isn't all about Morgan because every time we ask the writers why there is so little Reid we get replies like "The show can't be all about Reid" (or something to that effect). He got one token episode this season and then they use him so little that Matthew has gone on trips to LV, NYC, Canada, and Oregon while the rest of the cast were on set filming.
ReplyDeleteI will say that despite the Morgan overload, I did actually enjoy this episode. This one got it right. I do think they sort of overdid a little in the angst department. I couldn't relate and I thought that it wasn't such a big deal that Morgan lied and she turned out to be alive. I predicted that the aunt would slap Morgan. I was hoping that the family would have understood that he was trying to give them closure and that he truly believed the cousin was dead.
I'm also glad that this was based on a real case instead of a movie.
Last season we had ripoffs of Misery and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (pretty neat but disturbing film with Alan Rickman).
I enjoyed the episode. Kind of Stepford Wives goes Kink. I have to say though I had the kid angle figured out long before the team did. As soon as he was threatening to "kill him" I knew she had a kid somewhere. I did enjoy the food angle though and thought it was a nice, little personal touch and oh, poor little Jack has to eat Oatmeal every morning. Ick! Get that boy some Cap'n Crunch Hotch! ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't care for Garcia's rant, mainly because she made it sound like the behavior was something new for Morgan, as though he's typically this heroic man who's always in control and never makes things personal and acts like an asshat when he's kind of known for that type of behavior. I think I would've rather had seen Reid have a nice moment with him since Morgan has always been there for Reid in the past. I would've liked a little less angst from Morgan, but hey, that's Morgan. He is the emotional one in the group and it would be out of character if he didn't go off like a angry bomb and lash out at everyone and everything when he's upset so kudos to the writer for capturing that and allowing us to see his flaws. Loved when Rossi made him stay behind at the crime scene and how Hotch as usual took the high road and was just there for him and kind of gave him just enough leash to do what he needed to do to make things right, but also a short enough leash (in the form of Reid, Rossi, and himself) to reel him back in when he lost control. Loved the moment between Morgan and Reid at the crime scene as well. While I did enjoy the girls' little interrogation scene, I'm just not a big fan of cocky, badass JJ and her challenging Hotch to get back in there and break the suspect kind of made me roll my eyes. I just enjoyed JJ more when she was the liason who was arguably just as qualified as the rest of them, but never felt the need to prove that to anyone. Just one question though. How did we see Morgan's family walk away and Garcia suddenly move in beside Morgan? She wasn't in Chicago. Did I miss something?
In all honesty , the episode was good but I couldn't enjoy it. This, Foundation and Profiler, Profiled are the only good Morgan episodes in my opinion. They have given him so much unnecessary focus the past few seasons that it was hard to enjoy this episode since it feels like he's being shoved down our throats. It's especially annoying that Reid has been completely neglected. They've started more major storylines for him and have dropped them but had to pick up and continue this story with Morgan? I agree with others that it's bad enough that his storylines have been neglected but he really is the only character who is shoved the background consistently for a few seasons now. They developed this amazing character, a genius with a disturbed childhood, and they completely abandon writing for him? It makes no sense. Personally I'm tired of it.
ReplyDeleteThe writers also tend to pretty much ignore the Reid questions during the chats that lead me to believe that they have nothing in store for him. If this keeps up, I no longer can watch the show. Like many others, Reid drew me into the show...I wish they would do the character some justice.
sf81387 good question about Garcia, missed how she went from Quantico to the police station in such a short time. This was my only problem with this episode in an otherwise excellent episode. The writing was top notch, excellent acting especially from Shemar and Thomas. Loved that Rossi was able to make Morgan focus on his work ( working the crime scene) instead of go out looking for Cindy. Missed Reid but from what I I know he was busy editing his episode.
ReplyDelete"Missed Reid but from what I know he was busy editing his episode."
ReplyDeleteI know Matthew was busy editing while this episode was filming but we have been missing Reid pretty much since Season 5!
Mary 'I know Matthew was busy editing while this episode was filming but we have been missing Reid pretty much since Season 5!'
ReplyDeleteDon't disagree with you but at least last night there was a good reason why Reid was missing. Also, where did Rossi and Hotch went at the end, why were they not at the raid? There was no explanation as to where they went.
Crminal Minds RT - I agree about how odd it was that Hotch and Rossi weren't in on the raid at the end. But you are so right about Garcia stangely popping up at the end. I just watched it again to see when she was at Quantico and what sort of time elapsed before she appeared with Morgan in Chicago. I gather that it is about 750 miles between Quantico and Chicago - Garcia must have some kind of magic carpet to have got there when she did!
ReplyDeleteI did like this episode. I think that Breen and Jim Clemente are the only decent writers left. They should get rid of the others and either bring some of the great writers from the early seasons back or get some decent new ones. I also agree with all who have noticed that Reid is missing too much from the episodes. Rossi also gets pushed on the side a lot. The writers in the early seasons were able to balance the screen time for the characters. I don't know why these writers are unable to do that. And why, oh why, aren't any of them listening to the viewers? Week after week we say we don't want to always see the unsub right away, we want to see more of the team/profiling and less of the unsub, but it falls on deaf ears. I think it's time for Erica to go. But I loved Emily and JJ in this episode and seeing compassionate team leader Hotch. It would have been better to have Hotch and Morgan at the end than Garcia and Morgan.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteYes the scene with Garcia and Morgan at the end would have been much better if it had been Hotch and Morgan, either talking about the lying they both did in other to protect,in Hotch case the team and their family and in Morgan's case to give his family closure. They didn't need to have a big talk or anything but Morgan acknowledging in some ways that he understood why Hotch did what he did would have been nice.
jonishackley ,
ReplyDeleteCM do have good writers, the problem this season is not how the CM characters have been written, no one was out of character or anything like that. The problem I see is that the writers write for the unsubs first, to showcase them and the actor of the week. At times it feels as if the team is less important than the unsubs. Showing the unsub so early and getting all the information about the unsubs by other means then the team profiling takes away the mystery(we don't get to guess who did it) and takes away from us enjoying the team profiling/working the case. Foundation was great because we got to guess who did it until the end and everything we did learn about the unsub came from the work the team did.
That said, last night episode had to show the unsub this soon in order for us to understand how strong his hold on Cindy was. We still had the information about the unsub coming mostly from the team and Morgan. Loved Morgan and the team profiling why Cindy had choosen that type of food. Loved JJ reaction to been asked if she would give that food to Will and Hotch saying he had oatmeal as a kid and that is what Jack gets!
Okay the banter between Garcia and Morgan on the phone was priceless! Yes Morgan it's not all about YOU... Though there are times it should be. LOLOL I had a feeling early on there was a kid somewhere. I just couldn't put it together. This was a great episode and I'm a big Reid fan but in all honesty this is an ensemble cast and sometimes it can't be all about Reid.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would have been fitting for anyone to comfort Morgan other than Garcia. They are as about as close as you can get without being romantically involved. Plus he grew up with a bunch of women not men so it would be more natural for him to confide and want to be comforted by a female more than a male figure.
This was the best CM episode I've seen since 100 and Mosley Lane. In the seven seasons Morgan rarely has had a centric episode and he totally delivered. The cast was amazing and I don't mean the profilers but everyone else. I loved loved loved that Morgan's cousin found her strength. The ending was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI continue to hate Garcia-Nails on a chalkboard. And I just don't see JJ as a profiler, never will.
I loved at the beginning when Morgan told Hotch they might have a case about his cousin and without missing a beat Hotch says, 'We're on the way'.
I don't have a problem with Morgan episodes. This was a good one. 25 to life and the whole Ellie stories weren't so good. People keep saying that it can't be all about Reid but it hasn't really been about him at all for a few seasons now. But my main problem is that it doesn't have to be about him in order for him to have a meaningful role. He's barely in it and when he is, he really isn't given meaningful material.
ReplyDeleteI know people say it can't always be all about Reid. The writers use that to defend the lack of Reid's presence or focus in episodes, but even Breen admitted that Reid has been getting hardly anything this season. I don't want the episodes to be all about Reid, but if he is technically a main character, why is he being treated like a secondary background character of little importance? He only gets a few lines straight from the wikipedia rather than actually getting to show his intelligence and insight.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time they used his skills in graphology or analyzing the diction in writing? When was the last time they had him have any meaningful interaction with other members of the team?
They keep showing so much unsub that they don't have time to show us the team and Reid has been wallflowered because of it.
The quality of his time on screen has been very poor. It's frustrating.
At least Rossi hasn't been given downright retarded dialog and then treated as if he's too stupid/inept/immature to be able to babysit.
"I don't want the episodes to be all about Reid, but if he is technically a main character, why is he being treated like a secondary background character of little importance? "
ReplyDeletePersonally I think it's because TPTB are trying to minimise the effect on the show if/when MGG does leave the show. Reid is a huge fan favourite, if not the most loved character, and he has a very unique role on the show. IMO he's being pushed into the background these past few seasons so that (or so TPTB think) he won't be so missed - by the fans and by the show itself - when he's gone. Personally, when MGG goes so do I, no matter how much TPTB think they can lessen the effect of his departure by cutting his scenes down out now.
Bri, I disagree about the characters not being written out of character. In many ways they have become caricatures of the characters that were established in early seasons. The writing is almost generic. Instead of writing for Morgan, they're writing for "angry guy." Instead of writing for Reid, they're writing for "fact spewer" etc. I do completely agree with your statement about them writing too much for the unsubs. And they just ignore all our comments when we say we don't want this. We want the old CM back where the focus is on the team finding the unsub through the use of their profiling skills. The crimes in the early seasons were plenty horrific. In my opinion, Floyd Feylinn in "Lucky" was the creepiest unsub of all. That was a case where, although we saw the unsub at the start, he didn't hog all the screen time. The emphasis was on finding him through the clues he left behind, victimology, etc. And we never saw him torturing or murdering the women, yet it was still every bit as horrifying as any recent episode where we're subjected to all sorts of violence and gore. I want my Criminal Minds back where the team is the focus and they get a balance of screen time per episode. I don't care about guest stars. I don't care about more bizarre ways to kill people. I just care about the team and their skills in finding these creeps and how they deal with being exposed to this horror day in and out.
ReplyDeleteMartha, while I do think they thought they were going to lose Matthew in season 6 (and I have no idea why since his contract wasn't up), I don't think that is why they are pushing him into the background. Usually when an actor is going to leave and they know it or suspect it, they give them good stories or focus to send them off. They are trying to give more for Prentiss since Paget is leaving. And its been this way for 3 whole seasons. That can't be just because they are prepping for him leaving-- especially since Matthew said he has no intention of leaving and wants to renew his contract.
ReplyDeleteEven Breen Frazier agreed that Reid has been pushed to the background for most of the season. Btw, we will NOT get the headache story resolved this season. They don't have any plans for anything for Reid this season but we will supposedly get something next season-- same stuff they told us last season basically. I won't hold my breath.
I found it interesting at the chat when people asked why certain people were teamed together and why not have more Morgan and Prentiss and Breen's answer was something about using whichever actors were available for filming that day.
While he didn't outright say it, that really confirms my suspicion that the dialog really is being written generically so that it can be interchangeable. I think it is one of the weaknesses of the current writing. It just seems counter intuitive to write generic dialog and then see which actors are available to say it and then have them recite the lines. It explains why there has been very little personality in terms of the dialog. It is not showing the expertise or personal experiences of these characters. I know that not ALL of it is generic, but a good portion of it really seems to be generic.
And then we have people saying lines that don't necessarily make sense to be coming from them. Like in "A Family Affair" when Prentiss said a line that should have come from Reid but then Reid followed up with something dumb and scientifically inaccurate. If they had switched it up, it might have worked a little better.
At this point, they could give almost all of Reid's lines to Garcia and have her reading things out from the wikipedia-- because that is where some of the writers go to get dialog/information for Reid's lines.
The bright side is that Breen said they will try to do less unsub next season-- well, not his exact words. He said they would try to balance it more. I'm not sure how that will work bc the writers keep claiming things are balanced and they are not.
Like Breen thought that Morgan didn't have strong presence during the first half of the season. I beg to differ though.
"Like Breen thought that Morgan didn't have strong presence during the first half of the season. I beg to differ though."
ReplyDeleteI agree, even if the episode wasn't about him, Morgan had a strong presence during the first half of the season. I actually don't have a problem with this but I think all the characters should have this type of presence. I think they spend so much time showing the unsub that they really don't have time for all the main characters. Reid is literally pushed into the background and definitely the one that has been short changed the most and it makes no sense. He's a genius and they could use him to write an smart, intelligent story that requires his brilliant mind to solve. They used to do that in older episodes. Even if he wasn't in the episodes too much before, he had quality screentime. Like many have said, now he's just used to spit out Wikipedia facts. What a waste of an amazing character.
Please CM writers, fix the show and give us back our Reid!!!! So many of us love him. Don't treat him like a secondary character.
I think it was great episode. Every episode can't feature all the casts all the time. I personally like it when they are all in use. But sometimes you get one that the writers will focus on one cast member and that okay. I rather have the show to watch then not at all. I am a shemar fan but I think that the cast as a whole is great together and hopefully MGG will sign for another year.
ReplyDeleteMe encanto este capitulo!.. me encanto la menara en que jj y prentiss hicieron el interrogatorio, me gusto mucho ver ese nuevo lado de jj queriendo regresar a la sala de interrogatorios, me hubiera gustado ver más de esto, y si por una parte jj ya no es la misma de siempre, pero hay que darse cuenta de que siendo perfiladora no puede pensar lo mismo que siendo el enlace de comunicaciones. en general, este es uno de los mejores episodios de la temporada. Quiero ver más JJ :D
ReplyDeleteWhile I miss Reid wholeheartedly and agree that the unsubs are getting too much screen time it kind of makes sense because these new writers are just testing the waters and I think that by next season they'll be familiarized with the characters enough to balance it out. Also a lot has been going on in cm for the past two seasons that the writer's need to accommodate for. Last year two of the seven main characters were cut so obviously the writer's had to focus around that and how they were going to keep cm likable and make a great exit for both characters plus they had to give all the characters a selected amount of screen time and focus on Prentiss's storyline. This year they're trying to accommodate for all of Cook's missed time as well as get the writer's to understand each character in depth and let's face it, Reid is not easy to understand and he has a lot of different layers that they just don't have time for this season. Rossi has been kind of overlooked since season 4 and JJ since the start of the series. Think about it, the only two part episodes that have been focuses some what on JJ have been Reid centric arcs so it makes sense that they're making up for it this season. I do agree that Reid's character is kind of robotic lately but these newbies haven't had the chance to explore his depth. As for JJ changing, of course she has! She was at the pentagon for a year so she's seen some rough shit go down and that's gonna make her a little more tough and jaded not to mention the fact that they operated without a media liason for a whole season just fine so what would that say about her job if she just came back to it after they've been fine without one? It would make a lot of people think... Wait... What's the point of paying someone to do a job that was done fine without said person, it would make her even more under appreciated. Plus with Prentiss leaving and them not filling her place for about seven or eight episodes next season they're gonna need some badass chick. Anyway as a JJ fan I am personally very happy to see her finally get a season where she's had a strong presence in all of the episodes but I do hope that they do a better job at focusing on all of the team next season
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