Saturday, April 13, 2013

As cool and clever Alex Blake, Jeanne Tripplehorn has found her perfect character.

by Scott Ellis

Criminal Minds had been running for seven years before you joined. What was like coming into such an established show?
It was very nerve-racking. Before I arrived to work for the very first [script] read, I was so nervous I had butterflies in my stomach. But everybody could not have been nicer [or] more welcoming and it was kind of the smoothest transition I could have asked for.

And how is it to play someone who is, we quickly see, the smartest person in the room?
It's very, very good to be the smartest person in the room! Let's just say pretty? That doesn't mean anything here. I've played all sorts of women along the way, women who weren't very smart, who weren't very strong, who weren't the nicest people. I like playing women you can look up to, and Alex is definitely in that category.

She is the first character I know who is smarter than I am, and from an acting standpoint she was the perfect...

To Read More: TheAge.com.au

18 comments:

  1. It seriously pisses me off that she is being referred to as the smartest one in the room and I actually like Alex.
    And If I resent it,I wonder how people who still aren't fans of hers are going to feel about it.
    It's bad enough they gave her one of Reid's skills,now it sounds like they are saying she is smarter than he is.

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  2. Very bad !!!!
    Jeanne is kidding us ?
    REID is the smartest one in the room. She's not.
    If an actor must leave..it's Jeanne.
    Alex is not an essential character. Hotch and Reid are.

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  3. I actually like Blake, although I don't feel like we know her that well. I like the Auntie vibe she brings to the "family" there, and it makes logical sense that someone with her experience would be promoted to the BAU.

    But sorry, Reid's still the smartest one in any room.

    - RF

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  4. What I always like about them is, the fact they keep learning from real FBI-BAU people and have respect what they do in the real world. I think this is very important to the show like Criminal Minds to do that, remind how serious reality is. It keeps them on the ground.

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  5. Blake's character is a very smart woman, however, Dr Reid is still the smarter one and he also is much better looking

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  6. Wow. This sounds too arrogant from someone who has been on the show for the past 10 months. Has she not read all the characters descriptions? I am bothered by the comments as previous and present cast members have always credited CM sucess to the ensemble of actors and crew and this can be understood as if Blake is saving the show.

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  7. Not a fan of the Blake character at all. And Jean comes off as very arrogant.

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  8. I think JT is one of those people who you either click with or you don't... She comes across as having a very odd personality which I think people like or hate...

    As for Blake, I can't say I've warmed to her completely yet, but at the same time she isn't the worst character CM has had.

    Prentiss wasn't my fav character even though I love Paget, so I was open to the idea of Blake's character but I don't think she particularly adds anything to the team. I would have been happier for this season to just have the six of them in it

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  9. Keep in mind that sometimes these interviews take things out of context. I did notice that they did say toward the end that both Reid and Blake are the smartest ones in the room.

    I think they didn't mean to exclude Reid when the discussion came up.

    Interesting that the character is based on a real BAU agent. I wonder why they would not say her name. I also wonder why Jeanne chose not to meet her.

    I don't dislike Blake, but I don't find her character essential to the team dynamic. I really do miss Prentiss. She just clicked with the team.

    I do think they would be better off cutting out one character from the show so they have fewer to deal with and can divide the time better.

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  10. I forgot to comment on the mention of not everyone on the team not liking Blake. Other than Garcia being uncomfortable with her at first, I haven't seen that. The closest would possibly be Morgan. It seems like everyone gets along with her fine and I haven't seen any personality clashes.

    I wonder if that was just for the beginning or if they meant it to be current.

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  11. Well the team has always had 2 female agents and I do not think that will change anytime soon.
    Imo they should've put JJ back in her original role. It really pissed me off how they went out of the way to show us how important the role of media liaison was and how no one could do it better than JJ,but than they go and bring her back as a profiler.

    Sadly to me it's just one of the many asinine decisions made by the people who run this show.Imo 7 profilers are too many for the amount of profiling they do.Plus I also liked it a lot better when JJ was presenting the cases as oppose to Garcia.

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  12. No the team has not always had two female BAU agents. That just started when JJ joined the team in season 7. Before that JJ was the media liaison. The lone female agents on the team were first Elle, and then Prentiss. Seaver was just a trainee.

    But I agree the 7 team member schematic seems bloated and there isn't enough profiling and scenes to go around. That's why some people seem very light this year (Hotch, Rossi) and last (Reid).

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  13. Jeanne Tripplehorn is a nightmare on this show.She is sucking all the cool out of the room. Everytime she appears on the screen I cringe.I can't believe she hasn't been booted off. Her character is weak, cold, strained and uncomfortable.She brings nothing to the show. If they were trying to replace Prentiss boy did they miss.No! I don't think she is smarter than Reid. I think she has difficulty parsing a sentence.Who is responsible for this mess?

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  14. Thank you to the last person who commented!!!! I agree with you completely! Alex is horrible & they should bring Prentiss back!

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  15. So....the producers and writers established a successful and well-accepted dynamic of Reid being the boy genius in a well-integrated, diverse and appealing unit led by the taciturn Hotch, then they bring in a haughty, unlikable character (played by a warmth-deprived, off-putting actress) who is supposed to challenge for the roles of leader AND smartest whip, while screwing up the show's chemistry? Was the series really crying out for a shake-up? And if so, is this really the best fix? Talk about needing to leave well enough alone. Let's see what happens as viewers turn off and tune out.

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  16. I've been a loyal criminal minds fan since the very first episode and have loved watching so much. But now every time Blake comes onscreen I get angry. I can't keep watching and as much as it breaks my heart I think her character actually irritates me enough to stop watching. Never thought that would happen...Congrats CBS you have fucked up an amazing show.

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  17. Sadly, I agree with the above comments (April 17 through June 30, 2013) I, generally speaking, like Jeanne Tripplehorn, but she SUCKS in this role! I HATE the 8th season. My little sister got me hooked on CM, & I watched the first 7 seasons in 2 months! I've seen 2 episodes from season 8, & I hate it! I haven't even bothered to look for it on dvd. If CM just *had* to add someone, bringing back Rachel Nichols would have been a much better option.

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  18. I feel you all. I gave her a chance and watched a few episodes but every time she gets on the screen I feel so annoyed. I think it would of been best if they left the team how it was (even though its sad no Prentiss). Having Tripplehorn its such a miss in this show. I was a 200% fan, but then they go and take JJ out and then they take Prentiss out and they both come back and then Prentiss leaves. Like stop screwing with your fans. It was just too much to handle in 2 seasons. Then adding one more to the package was intolerable. I personally think Ms. Tripplehorn is a good actress and I like some of her stuff, but I just don't like her here. I not waiting for Prentiss to come back ( ive made my peace with it), but its such a headache watching a person trying to be smarter than Reid. Yeah no, the writers have made me feel like if there is no person in the world smarter than Spencer Reid. Then bringing her into the gang acting all smart and serious, well she just didn't make the cut IMHO. I used to wait anxiously for Wednesdays to watch this show. I endure it when JJ left. I endure it when Prentiss left. But bringing someone in so fast was just awful. Like I said I was a 200% fan now I'm not even a fan. Now if its Wednesday and I stumble upon it while browsing the channels I watch part of it and then I continue browsing.

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