Criminal Minds

[changeyourstars8]

Just finished watching the 4th season. Am trying very, very hard to be good and not immediately find somewhere to buy the first episode of the 5th just so I can seewhathappensnownownow.



The funny thing is, I didn't even think I liked Hotch that much. LOL I can have the hardest time identifying with Lawful Good type characters, esp. if they're also Very Very Serious. But then I saw C. Thomas Howell's name in the credits for the last episode and so I spent the entire thing freaking out, all "Okay, can they get a break and have his appearance be an interview on TV after his arrest or something?!? I know it's not going to happen that way, fine. But nobody is allowed to die, writers, I so mean it-- hey. Quit following the characters home when the Scary Serial Killer Guy hasn't shown up yet. Bad sign. HEY. Leave Hotch alone; I will come into that screen and Flying Squirrel Tackle you since Morgan isn't there to do it."

Guess I got fond of him after all.

I'm still not really warmed up to Rossi, but after certain episodes in the 4th season I can handle his being there. I don't actively dislike any of the main characters, and that's a big thing for me, since there's usually at least one (JD from Scrubs, Jack from LOST, Eric from That 70s Show . . . and Sam from Supernatural just crossed my Moral Event Horizon line, so he might end up on this list before long. Which reminds me, Amanda, get your fanny down here so we can watch the 4th season and analyze/squee over things.)

Anyway. As long as I'm on the subject of how much this show rocks, I would just like to mention how much I adore how they handled JJ's storyline with the pregnancy/baby. When she said she was pregnant, my heart sank, because I'm used to that being the kiss of death for a character. I was fully expecting her to a) leave the show so she could take care of the baby (because that's what all women do, regardless of how hard they've worked to get to a certain place in their career, right??) or b) stay, but have every storyline of hers devoted completely to the baby from then on.

I think I forgot for a few minutes that I wasn't watching LOST. ;-)

Comments

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

Hotch love is stealthy. I totally thought that I was there solely for the geek triumvirate until I got caught up (it was "Pleasure Is My Business" that flipped the switch for me, plus a hearty LOL at the way that the unsub was totally checking out Hotch's ass) and basically screamed, "NO DUN HURT THE MOMMY!" at the finale. You def. need to get caught up on this season, he'll make you all hurty in the chestal area.

I wish that the writers would employ JJ more--though this past episode was chock-full of excellent JJ content--but they always do right by her with the content that she does get. And I love the heavy implication that Will is a stay at home dad.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was a fantastic episode. :-)

And yeah, definitely stealthy. At first I was just 'eh' about him, followed by a couple of moments that made me go, "well, I suppose he can stick around" and then those moments somehow managed to multiply without my even noticing. Sneaky writers.

I love the implication that Will's a stay-at-home dad, too. And that the other characters don't razz her or him about it! She's got the higher-profile job, she wanted to stay in it and he was fine with relocating and taking care of the kid and this is all treated as blessedly normal, instead of joke fodder.

This show is going to spoil me, I swear. I remember enjoying some CSI (before they really got started with the whole women-lying-about-rape, children-as-killers gimmicky stuff) but now if I catch any reruns I just see how antagonistic Sara and Catherine were toward each other most of the time and I just have to turn it off and go watch JJ and Garcia joking around in her office.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

And here, have some shiny!

I just found a thread in a fan community where someone asked what everyone's personal HeadCanon is-- stuff that's never mentioned in the show but that they figure is true-- and I'm only a little ways in but it got 300 responses and it's awesome so far. Also, there is fanfic about what happens when they have to go on the road without a tape deck/CD player.

http://community.livejournal.com/criminalxminds/824031.html

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

Danke! (Since they got it right out in front, another thing to praise on the show: the two rape survivors on the show, one explicitly confirmed and one heavily as all fuck implied, are the alpha males.) But I totally love "Emily plays Halo" and "Hotch is afraid of parenting Jack" made me "awwww."

My own personal canon (possibly just because I liked her)? Reid listened to Morgan wrt Lila and waited until the unsub was sentenced before he responded to her advances, but he and Austin totally meet up whenever they can. (She's back in college, and her friends all love her slightly geeky and TA-ish "special friend.") They don't have an agreement towards exclusivity, given how crazy Reid's schedule is, but they have a lot of fun when they can get together.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

the two rape survivors on the show, one explicitly confirmed and one heavily as all fuck implied, are the alpha males

*nodnod* I know someone said in that discussion that she loves being in a fandom where she doesn't have to think, "Oh great, it's Sweeps Week, time for the writers to threaten one of the female leads with rape". I mean, the subject is there because considering their jobs, there's no way it can't be, but it's not treated as a showy or gimmicky thing. When they deal with survivors, they're believed. And the one time I remember where they brought in a "Oh, she's probably lying anyway!" character, that character ended up changing her mind and, I think, apologizing, and how often does that happen on crime shows??

She's back in college, and her friends all love her slightly geeky and TA-ish "special friend."

Aww, I like that personal canon. :-D I need to go back and rewatch all the episodes and do kindof a show-by-show review of some kind, because the first time through I just mainlined all of them to see what would happen next and I know a bunch of details blurred. Makes it kinda hard to get my own personal canon set up just yet. LOL

In the meantime, must go find good fanfic.

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

The quiet feminism of this show is just so win. It passes the Bechdel test every week. Its female victims fight. It takes the death of a prostitute every bit as seriously as that of a senator's daughter. (And she was in college; ornamental women don't happen on this show.) And the team's mommy is an alpha male who chose another alpha male to take his place as leader not for alpha male bullshitty reasons (I'm sorry, I know he's come a long, long way, but Rossi was passed over in spite of his seniority because he would have pulled alpha male bullshit), but because Derek can and will also be the nurturing leader who keeps the team together as a cohesive unit.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, Derek's going to be in charge of the team while Hotch recovers?! *see icon* That makes me happy.

And yeah, Rossi's come a long way, but he still has his moments. It might be an odd thing to single out, but when he and Reid were in a casino and then Reid starts to leave quickly and tells the woman he was talking to that she can keep what he won, and Rossi says, "You do know you just gave a thousand dollars to a hooker?" . . . I don't know if the writers made a goof and the line should've been written as, "You do know you just gave away a thousand dollars" instead, given the everyone's-equal themes of the show and that it shouldn't matter what profession the woman was in, or if they gave that particular phrasing to Rossi on purpose to show that he's still got some work to do. Though given what they've put out so far, I'm more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yay, random show-moment analysis. lol

And yeah, 'quiet feminism' is the best description I've heard for it, and it's so great to look through the episodes for the little touches instead of spending time debating if my Sexist BS Radar will allow me to buy the next season or not.