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| Photo by John Hatchitt |
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| Photo of @ajcookofficial and @shemarmoore in CM ep 904...or the next big summer action flick! - Photo by Sharon Lee Watson |
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| Photo by Eva LaRue |
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| Photo by John Hatchitt |
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| Photo by Shemar Moore |
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| Photo by CM_SetReport |
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| Photo by CM_SetReport |
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| Director Bethany Rooney! - Photo by CM_SetReport |
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| Photo by John Hatchitt |
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| Photo by John Hatchitt |
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| These two lovely ladies make coming to set such a pleasure, @evalaruecappoo an our director for #904 Bethany Rooney. - Photo by John Hatchitt |
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| It's Mr. January posing with Mr. January!!! @GUBLERNATION #criminalminds #11moremonths #exclusive - Photo by CM_SetReport |
Oh good grief I hope that one picture doesn't mean we are going to have to prepare ourselves for a ton of JJ/Morgan scenes.
ReplyDeleteHonestly those 2 are better off paired with other team members.
They just don't have that great of chemistry with each other.
If this is going to be JJ's season then PLEASE don't be constantly sticking her with Morgan.
I know that a lot of people would like to see her with Hotch or Reid.
I would love to see more JJ and Hotch scenes, he'll pair JJ with Blake as well, but I completely agree, the less JJ and Morgan scenes the better.
ReplyDeleteIdk why the writers have to have Morgan in the field with a female agent. I know he's paired with others sometimes too, but first it was Elle, then Prentiss and now JJs been elevated to Morgans partner.
I don't want Morgan in the macho, kicking down doors role all the time, give him something else to do and let the women kick down doors, have Hotch in Kevlar (yum), get Morgan on geographical profiles with Reid :p
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"I don't want Morgan in the macho.....
I really missed those days where Morgan was used more for his brains than his brawn.
Sadly at least to me the opposite seems to be true today.
Since JJ is back they are trying (rather unsuccessfully IMO)to make her the female lead that Emily used to be. Even as Prentiss was still there they gave lots of her scenes already to JJ.
ReplyDeleteMorgan has always been the team`s number one field agent and he should be paired with a woman as sometimes a female field agent is needed. I quite like that the team members at least sometimes have defined roles. Morgan and JJ (altough I miss Emily) in the field, Reid doing the geographical profiles and he certainly doesn`t need someone to help him with those. Hotch is doing his leadership thing (coordinating the team members`s work and getting the team`s reports) and since JJ is "badass" in the field some of her work (press conferences and working with the local law enforecement).
Somebody has to stay back at the station to do those jobs and IMO that should be the unit chief. Regarding JJ/Hotch scenes, many of their scenes together in the past happened because he is the unit chief and she was the liasion.
That being said, I would rather see Morgan with Blake in the field and JJ back in her old job. That would also leave Hotch more time to be in the field.
Z
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
"I don't want Morgan in the macho.....
I really missed those days where Morgan was used more for his brains than his brawn.
Sadly at least to me the opposite seems to be true today."
Morgan had more action scenes in earlier seasons than the last two seasons. In season 7/8 we have seen Morgan talking more unsubs down than tackling or shooting them. Hotch and JJ have gotten more physical/shooting the unsub scenes lately.
Z
Having them in specific roles is fine, especially if they utilize specific specialities, however lately it feels a little forced.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing JJ in the field, just not with Morgan. Hotch used to always come across as the boss and in charge, but his role feels a little diminished now sometimes, he's still the boss and you can see that, but often it feels like Morgan and Blake are often stepping more into the authoritative positions during cases.
I don't want to see the same pairings every episode. It's nice to shake it up and see different dynamics.
For me, if they even explored Morgan and JJs friendship a little it would be better than just saying JJ went to Morgan for Defence training, but never really explained why she felt the need to. Also, to me, Morgan and JJ never felt that close before and you're right, they tried to slot JJ into Prentiss' role just as they slotted Pretniss into Elle's role, but JJ isn't Prentiss or Elle. She's worked with Morgan for years and they've never grown as close as Morgan has with Prentiss, Garcia or Reid and even Elle. So when we see JJ and Morgan paired up constantly and having deep conversations etc, sometimes it feels a little forced and out of place.
Both characters have better chemistry with every other agent on the team. They get along fine and do the job, but it's a little dull. They're just the generic field agents now when they're together. There's no flirty behaviour Morgan had with the other women, which is great IMO, but there's no sibling ties like he has with Reid and he doesn't seem to have the same clique with her the same way he does Hotch and Rossi.
I think JJs really the one he would be fine with being the boss/supervisor of, I know he has before been the boss, but n the current team as it is, JJ's the only one he comes across as superior to, if that makes sense. He flirts with Garcia, is Reids bigger brother and Blake, Rossi and Hotch are all senior/more experienced, perhaps it's that inequality between them is why JJ's relationship with Morgan feels a little off in comparison to Elle and Prentiss, who were both on an equal footing to Morgan for most of the time,
I'd actually like to see Morgan paired more with cop of the week.
I saw JJs first episode the other day, where she introduces herself to Elle and Morgan pulls this face. It screams OMG, who does she think she is? It's like they're colleagues who don't really know or have an attachment to each other. I'd love if they explored that more, but the whole team are now more cheesy, we all love each other because we're a family, rather than showing that there is different dynamics in the team.
Ranting, I know, bottom line is I want a variation on pairings, not the same ones repeated over and over again.
Here's the really disappointing thing, especially given the personnel behind the show. They simply don't seem to know how to conceive of, let alone portray, a professional woman who carries any degree of responsibility or authority without having to make it physical. Really?
ReplyDeleteCase in point: Erin Strauss, the authority figure, who was, until the final episode, vilified in her authority role. And now, JJ, the newly minted full profiler, who can't simply use her brain, and her better-than-average interpersonal skills. Instead, she has to be involved in physical confrontations, takedowns, chases. (You know, the part you fast-forward through so you can get back to the dialogue.)
Is it so hard to respect a professional role that doesn't involve physicality? Really?
My take is similar to 7:27 above, I don't know why they chose to make JJ the tough physical profiler, surely there is room for a smart bright profiler who excels at negotiations and interpersonal dynamics. Do they all have to be ninja turtles? It's all turned into phony balogny. Get the Boss out there along side of Morgan to do more of the man-handling. Besides he looks darn good when he does.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind them toughening up JJ, I just wish they explained why they did so and what her motives were to use more hand to hand combat techniques, after all, she was a great shot and an experienced field agent already.
ReplyDeleteI mean we all know its because Paget didn't hold back on voicing her complaints and they probably knew she was at least considering leaving, and they feel the need to upgrade AJ into the field and to make JJ, Morgan's partner/lead field agent role. But they gave no reason why the actual character went through her changes onscreen. It was to do with the goings on off screen that changed AJ's role and so far they haven't addressed JJ's changes, just the fact that AJ's role had to change to make the Network happier.
I also don't like the fact that instead of putting a little effort in and coming up with her own role, that they just popped JJ into the generic lead female field agent role. I love that she gets to be in the field more, I just wish there was a reason, other than the fact that Paget left and Morgan requires a female equal. Let JJ kick some ass, just make it plausible and allow us the opportunity to get some development for a character that has never really had any.
Elle and Prentiss got their own unique personalities. Garcia is, well Garcia. Blake is her own character, she's smart and tough. Seaver had a whole traumatic background/newbie thing going on. Jordan Todd got to display her difficulties with the job. Rather than rework JJ into her new role and develop her own personality as a profiler and still nod to her old role, they've not put much effort into her new personality and she comes across a little generic, especially when she's in the field.
I love JJ, she's still my favourite. I'm just disappointed that we got her back and rather than focusing on making her character great, she was overlooked and dumped in a role, that already had previously strong female characters who to be fair, were just evolvement of the same characters.
They should have taken the time and developed JJ in a different way to the (pre-)exisiting females on the show, and evolved the JJ we saw in 'Lauren' in season 6. That JJ had obviously matured and hardened, but she was still identifiable as JJ, there was a reason for the subtle changes back then, her new job and the kurfuffle with Prentiss, but that wasn't brought back with her when she rejoined the team. It was all overlooked in favour for the season 7 story lines we had.
As for Morgan, unless they're looking back into his brutal childhood, I find his acting style a little off. Profiler Profiled was an excellent Morgan episode but it's the only Morgan episode that I really like. It's probably just me, but he comes across often a little too forced. I liked Morgan in season one when he would have his little specialties and a purpose other than kicking down doors, but now he's just the muscle. I didn't like him as the team leader and I don't like it when he falls back into that role every so often when he's in the field. I know he's senior agent and he's got experience or what not. But every season so far, Morgan has some kind of big episode(s) and it's often big character development, but the more I see of him the less I love him. I don't mind him, but he's not my favourite and I don't like his pairing with JJ. I don't think it does either character any favours. Just as the ott relationship he has with Garcia, it just falls flat now.
I wouldn't mind seeing how Morgan gets a long with Blake this season, they haven't had much interaction yet, but as for the other women on the show, I hope they distance Morgan from them a bit and give a different role to get his teeth into. I don't want Morgan to just be the muscle or eye candy, develop some of his specialties and give him more comedy with Reid.
I love dark and serious Morgan and do not want the easy going flirty season one Morgan back. It would be totally unrealistic if he had stayed the same after all what happened to the team in the last eight years.
ReplyDeleteI also do not want any Morgan/Reid comedy scenes. The prank war between Morgan and Reid are among my least favorite CM scenes and seemed to be a cheap try to be more NCIS-like. Those scenes better stay in NCIS. CM is a dark show and not a comedy.
If I never have to see a Morgan/Garcia scene again I will be happy. Garcia has become my least favorite character since the writing for her has become so OTT.
I`d love to see Morgan`s specialities as the team`s expert on obsessional crimes, but the writers give those scenes to any character. I would love to see more of Morgan`s bomb squad background but the last bomb defusing scenes went to Prentiss. I also would love to see Morgan`s undercover past used in episodes, but the undercover episodes went to Reid and Prentiss in "Minimal Loss" and to Prentiss again during the whole Doyle-spy arc, where the writers even forgot or deliberatly ignored all about that part of Morgan`s backgorund story. The writers don`t seem to care about the team member`s specialities. They give any specialtity to the team member who just happens to need a storyline.
As for JJ, I doubt her new "badass-ness" will ever change. The showrunners, the writers and AJ Cook love the new JJ. And many JJ fans obviously love it too. In every writer`s chat and in tweets fans ask for more "badass" JJ scenes. I wonder if we find out in "200" where JJ actually has been during her time away...DoD or State Department or will it be DoJ?
Z
For every "want to see JJ be the bad A", there are certainly as many fans asking to get rid of her as the kick-butt babe. I have watched these blogs over the years, and something I've learned is that the showrunners, and production guys use every trick to sell their characters as they are written in, instead of the other way around. Justifies what they are doing, good or bad, and from my perspective JJ comes out in the latter catagory these days. Infact, most of the characters are coming out as less then they once were including Garcia, Morgan, Hotch and Reid. (Love these guys, so it hurts) Rossi is holding his own, and Blake is coming around. In my humble opinion, it's the writers that have become lazy and insensitive to the subtleties of their original core characters.
ReplyDeleteAs a fan I do really appreciate that we are given an opportunity to express our opinions about the show as we see it here at the Round Table. But if we are really honest about it all, you have to know that this too is a promotional blog. Just look at the poll choices, of the five questions, even the bottom "Hmmm" allows for ambivalence and a partial thumbs up. Hardly a balanced or truly representative poll. Our biases indeed are showing.
ReplyDeleteMy wish for the JJ arc is that we finally see her make a mistake. I've always had a hard time warming up to her character, because she came across as too perfect in everything she does. We've seen weaknesses and flaws in all the other characters, but her's.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting if her leaving the State Dept (or DoD) was a mutual agreement on both sides. This might explain the toughening up and her development into a kick-ass JJ, but mostly she would become more believable as an individual.
I'd like to know that why, out every person in the DC area or even the country, that worked in communications with government agencies or similar, did they chose a communication coordinator for the BAU to fill a role. Whatever the job actually was and why it required her skill sets, was obviously important enough to demand her presence within a week. Then after all that hassle, why was JJ allowed to return to her team, with out a bat of an eye lash.
ReplyDeleteI can get over JJ being a profiler. She didn't want to be one before, although Hotch saw something in her years before she took the classes so she was capable and after all she worked side by side these profilers on cases, did sme minimal profiling herself and was a competent agent in the first place. People change their minds all the time and if it was the only way for JJ to rejoin the team, then I guess it can be understood, but it would have been nice to see or hear about why there was only a profiler space for her and why getting rid of the media liaison role was no bother also, I would have liked to see her struggle with the decision, or with letting go her old role.
I always thought her toughening up was to with lying about Prentiss and was to do with what ever happened while she was a way from the team. At first i thought she did extra training with Morgan to reach out to him after Prentiss 'died' and to keep tabs on him, but they never went there, so then i just thought well maybes she felt a little need for a brush up on her skills and relished the opportunity to use her skills.
She must have been given more responsibility/a step up the ladder just because of her abilities when she was helping the team when Prentiss went missing, so I guess she had to get a little tougher when dealing with the new work colleagues, and tbh,
I didn't even think much of her personality changes when she returned, because surely she's overheard Hotch over the years, telling other profilers such as Prentiss that profilers can't be emotional or too attached to cases and would want to prove that she could separate her emotions, especially after years of being the one who was allowed to be emotional.
But it would have been nicer to see or hear about the reasoning for JJ's changes, I just hope they address them in season9.
Well according to Rick Dunkle, they are going to address this season as to why JJ decided to become a profiler, after previously turning the position down.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it was for a good reason. I would hate to think that they ruined this character for me over some totally lame A$$ reason.
@ Anonymous post August 15, 2013 at 2:30 PM
ReplyDeleteThis is a blog made and kept by fans, for fans, taking time out of our own free hours. There's not a single connection with the production of "Criminal Minds" outside that one.
If you think we're biased, so be it; we love the show and even more, the people that work up to 16 hours/day to make it for us with the best of their abilities. We are aware of the fails in the plots and characters' development, and we too want for them to disappear so our beloved show is even better, but that doesn't mean we're aiming for a bloodbath at their expense, when there are more caring ways to say anything we want.
We honestly think the fans are listened to more in that writers room than in any other, and we have been told an eye in that room is keep constantly on what's written in this blog and its comment threads, so we are happy to give the fans a space where they can express their opinions, wishes, and even emotional outbursts (if politely expressed, that's it), while we corral any bit of information about the show for all to enjoy.
This blog is what it is, a work of love from a group of fans towards "Criminal Minds", the people that make it, and the fans at large. Nothing more, nothing less.
Wow, it was my comment you responded to above and obviously I hit a defensive nerve. From where I was coming, I simply pointed out a fact, I did not say that I did not appreciate having this forum, and I used the term "our biases" which includes my own. My purpose was to point out that as fans it might sometimes be benefical to take a step back and know that as fans we often have a hard time accepting things at face value. If you saw something impolite, please tell me what that might be, and I will apologize. I am a loyal and constant CM fan and do my own share of promoting the show - but I don't need to escape from the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with people expressing their opinions on this blog but as I have mentioned I think that how opinions are expressed can be very negative and not particularly helpful. This, however, is simply my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do worry about is writers of a show that has millions of viewers listening to 20 to 25 people on a blog when they are making decisions. Networks work with focus groups and have a myriad of ways to sample large numbers of people to get input on how fans feel. A writer should use his or her talent to write and not write to appease a very small and vocal group.
Again, the purpose of this log is fine. Talk, complain, suggest or praise and have some fun. My criticism is not of the blog but rather of writers who would alter their writing or their show in response to a tiny group of commenters. SG
I actually like the idea of the writer's paying some attention to the commentaries, and while I don't expect them to be changing their stuff to comply with the detail such as "I like Hotch with JJ", or "I don't care if I ever see Garcia and Morgan in another scene" I do expect that they will see value in the broader material such as -"there is a drastic change in JJ and fan's don't seem to like it" or "the Garcia and Morgan dynamic has disappeared" (do we continue to keep it going (therefore make it as good as it was) or drop it entirely (recognizing that we've watered it down to look weak and sappy). I would think that might be their "big picture" approach. I feel that intelligent writers will readily be able to incorporate the large themes that fans offer them, while holding on to their creative license. While it is fans that support the show through their ratings, the program was created by writers, producers, actors, and production staff.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote:
ReplyDelete"What I do worry about is writers of a show that has millions of viewers listening to 20 to 25 people on a blog when they are making decisions. "
The writers, like CBS, pay attention to this blog but other blogs too, forums, twitter talk, Facebook etc...Do we influence their creative decisions? I doubt it unless there are WAY more than a few vocal fans. Do they care what fans think? Yes, they know they have to please the fans, every shows have too or they will see big ratings drop BUT they also have to take into consideration what CBS/ABC want( after all they are the one footing the bills), what as creative people THEY want to accomplish etc...They will change things if a large numbers of people ( fans, focus group, feedback send to CBS/ABC etc..) demands it.
"Networks work with focus groups and have a myriad of ways to sample large numbers of people to get input on how fans feel. "
Very true and they, as in CBS and the producers, use those tools to judge what's work and what doesn't.
"A writer should use his or her talent to write and not write to appease a very small and vocal group."
I doubt they do, try to appease a small but very vocal group, because if they did Morgan and Garcia would be sharing a bed by now, Hotch and Emily would be together raising Jack, Reid would never had gotten a girlfriend, JJ would be back at being a media liaison and Beth would be long gone by now.
What they do listen too when there are enough voices, are fans, large numbers of them, unhappiness with some of TPTB decisions; like getting AJ and Paget fired. Fans displeasure, a big number of them not just a few vocal one, was instrumental in getting AJ and Paget back.
At the end of the day, the writers have to write the best stories they can while pleasing fans(as many as they can but NOT everyone, that is impossible), TPTB so they can still have a job at the end of the season while keeping their creative side happy too.
Anonymous wrote “Just look at the poll choices, of the five questions, even the bottom "Hmmm" allows for ambivalence and a partial thumbs up. Hardly a balanced or truly representative poll. Our biases indeed are showing.”
ReplyDeleteWhen reading your comment about the polls choices, you question our choices when it comes to what are the possible answers to the polls. The way it is design is to be different from other polls that will have the typical ‘Love it, it was ok, hate it’. Our, as in CMRT, bias as more to do with being polite than trying to skew the numbers or showing another reality. We assume that when people are voting ‘hmmm’ they have not liked the episode much but instead of blasting the writer with a ‘hate it!’ we take a kinder approach. Of course if people want to tell the writer they didn’t like the episode and why, they can post their opinion in the episode thread, this is why we have one and not just a poll.
I personally would be happy if all they did was to get back to the original formula of the show.
ReplyDeleteIn other words make it more about the team doing it's job rather than the unsubs committing their crimes.
And yes to their credit they did seem to be show us more of the team and less of the unsub last season but there was still too much unsub for my liking.
Also I do enjoy us getting these personal moments and learning more about the background of our team, especially Reid.
However I'm more interested in seeing the team in the capacity of doing it job and being awesome at it.
As much as I enjoyed the Maeve/Reid story line, despite Maeve's death, I'd much rather see episodes where Reid is allowed to show off that brilliant mind of his.
And the same goes for the rest of the team. They all have areas of expertise and I really would like to see more emphasis on each team member area of expertise this coming season.
Sadly of course, they won't be able to do that with JJ since they took her out of the role of media liaison and made her a profiler.
It's a shame too bc I thought JJ really shined as the media liaison.
And it's not as if they didn't have enough profilers already.
I love JJ and I don't mind that she's a profiler and I don't even mind that her personality has changed. I think they should have addressed those changes early in season 7 when she came back to the BAU and I think her time away and what she got up to should have been explained before they decided to look into her home life, but I can accept that JJ is a profiler now and even except that she's changed overall, just in hope that they do actually address those changes in time and give satisfactory answers.
ReplyDeleteI do think that AJ, the writers and show runners etc, have forgotten that the fans wanted JJ and Paget back because of who they were pre season 6 and that JJ had an important role on the team as a media liaison. For me, I personally really missed having JJ in season 6 and thought the team felt weird without her, and I didn't like how easily they rearranged Garcias role to accommodate media liaison duties and I still don't like how Garcia briefs the team. If she thinks these things are icky, then don't work for the BAU.
I actually think, rAther than considering the fans love of JJ and who she was before season 7, they were more concerned about the network and the bunch of people there who don't really watch the show and just assume profilers and unsubs are what draws people in.
I get that they wanted to make JJ an equal to the others. Let's face it, the profilers are the main cast and Garcia and JJ were the second priority, but Garcia has the personality and before JJ had her role as liaison, which made them stand out for me more than the profilers at times, because often the profilers lines can be shared amongst them all, and unless Reid is going off on a tangent, anyone can deliver a part of a profile, talk about facts of a case etc, it's simply say a line, insert profiler here.
But now we're left with 6 generic profilers and one bumbling OTT TA. I wish they got back to developing the characters in a way that stays true to who they are and stops with the cheesy, OOC parodies of what they think the characters are. I know they like to bring in traits of the actors into the characters, Reid and Garcia being the obvious ones, but often it ends up contradicting things we learned about these characters earlier on in the series when there were writers who had started at the beginning of the series and had hand in the early development of the characters, those writers obviously had a vision for the characters and then there was the behind the scenes issues and now we have writers who seem more concerned with the teams love lives and Hollywood action.
I think there are some great writers still on the show, but I think their interests differ vastly from the early season writers. I do want to see the team outside of work, but I'd rather see them together bonding or doing something relevant to the case they just worked, rather than having a bookend B story line of Hotch and Beth or JJ and Will, or Garcia and whoever, Reid and the dead lady etc. get back to developing the characters as FBi Agents and as a team and look more into profiling and the victims/families and their relationships with the team. I do think personalities should develop over the years and the team should evolve, but the characters should still be recognisable.
In a very strange way it almost seems like becoming a profiler was a demotion for JJ.
ReplyDeleteWhen she was the case screener/media liaison, she had a bit of a co-management role, along with Hotch. She found the cases, analyzed them enough to present them, kept the locals in check and the media in the loop. She had a reason to have a unique role with each member of the rest of the team. Now she's just one of a group, without anything special to identify her. The effect was to dilute a character who was already underdrawn.
Even if the writers agree that it was a mistake, it would be hard for them to go back on it now. But that doesn't mean they can't find a need for her liaison skills. I'd much rather see them explore how she can integrate those skills into her role as a profiler than to see if she can beat Morgan to the door, to kick it down. Not to mention that having the liaison/LEO or liaison/media issue raised from time to time would add depth to the case, and the show.
I agree with those who think Garcia is misused in the role of the case presenter. She doesn't do it well (not exactly the right, or respectful, placement of humor in an episode), and we don't have any reason to believe she has the background or skills to identify and analyze cases enough to present them. Maybe Alex could take over that role. It would give her something to do, and it might draw on her years of experience.
Rooting for JJ here, wanting her to be all that she is, and can be. 'Mini-Morgan' doesn't cut it for this viewer.
I just hope these issues about JJ are being considered by the writers.
ReplyDeleteJJ had so much potential as a liaison and was totally overlooked and I agree with anon at 6.08, becoming a prolifer has definitely come across as a demotion. JJ becoming a profiler could have been handled so much better. I know the focus of season 7 was to bring Prentiss back and reunite the team, but JJ got overlooked again and there's only so much championing JJ fans can do.
I wanted to see JJ utilise her managerial and liaison skills and grow as an agent. I didn't want to see Morgan/Prentiss hybrid/wifey-mom JJ. To me, as a huge JJ fan, the lack of development and the missing of opportunities for JJ is such a disappointment. I want to be excited for season9 and to see JJ's arc, but I'm so worried its going to be another let down and I'm going to end up in the camp of all the people who suddenly can't stand what they've done to JJ.
I don't want JJs arc to be disappointing, there so much that could be done with her character and so much that has been overlooked that any focus surely must be good for her, but at the same time, I'd hate it if they continued on the way they have with JJ. I thought season 8 had some great JJ moments but then again there were also some issues which could have been straightened out if they put more thought into JJs character and realised what a great character JJ could be.
I'm noticing that as these very apparent mistakes are made with our CM characters there then follows an "explain to us why?" outcry from fans. In my opinion this then means the stories have to evolve around the mistakes as opposed to concentrating on the original purpose of good profiling and team work with backstories being subtle instead of "in your face" and the writers and producers dig themselves in even deeper. So now what we've come to is a promise of BACKSTORIES which will serve as an even larger outcry for more explanations, or maybe this is all there is left when the engine is running out of steam. Perhaps that explains some of the lack of optimism many fans are feeling these days. Please make me wrong, and make these backstories clever backdrops to an elite group of intelligent professionals doing their job of putting serial killer away, instead of making these backstories the major themes. You CM folks did it so very well before, and I know you can again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 3.06. There is no subtlty anymore and the focus of the show has shifted.
ReplyDeleteThere hasn't been much profiling in episodes since season 4, then the writing staff changed and while I loved season 5, the show sufferered those loses.
I think there have been some great episodes since season 4 and the team have great moments. But when the profiling aspect was minimised in favour for Unsubs, and the spin off forced the original show to fit more into their premise rather than it being the other way around, the characters some how got lost.
I know in interviews, JM in particular always talks about the fans deserving to see the characters origins and personal lives as a reward for the show being on so long. But those stories don't often work or aren't followed through properly.
We don't see the inner workings of these characters in the job they do. We don't really know much about what drives these characters and we don't really see the follow up to how they're dealing with the aftermath of the cases, we don't see much of them interacting at work, as a team outside of a case, but then we're supposed toEstée them as a family bonded through the job and we're supposed to be invested in their love lives etc without connecting back to who they are at work. It annoys me how often personal lives and development are nearly always linked to their love lives, yes how cute is *imsert character here* they're making out with this randomer we now get to see sporadically through episodes, yes we've now learned so much about this character we really don't know that much about, because they've gone on a date/had relationship issues etc.
The characters aren't as grounded as they used to be, and now it sometimes feels as though each character is simply one character and the only thing that differs them is who they're currently dating or what sporting event they're participating in this week.
I don't mind seeing their backstories etc, as long as it ties into the cases/ their work personalities. I like seeing them outside of work, when they're together and its pertinent to the issues they're going to face in a case or shows the team bonding as the family theyre supposed to be, but until they figure out who these people are on an individual level and develop them in their professional setting, their personal lives are just insignificant soap opera stories rather than adding anything of value to these characters.
I hope the origins/backstories of season9 add something valuable to the characters development and aren't inconsequential.