30 days of CM take two: day 7
Day 7 - least favourite episode
6x08 "Reflection of Desire"
Honorable mentions to "Somebody's Watching," which until RoD was the uncontested winner for the Shittest CM Ep award, and it took some powerful bad to knock it off its throne; "The Fight" because it was just stupid and lame and a narrative mess. Both are mocked in thorough detail here and here, so I have little more to say about them.
So let's talk about "Reflection of Desire." I warn you, if you loved this ep, you might want to skip this one, because I ain't going to be kind.
Now, there's nothing wrong with concept episodes. "True Night" was a concept episode that worked. It worked for a very basic reason--the concept was molded to fit the show, and not vice versa. The gothic/noir elements of the episode were situated primarily within Johnny's delusions and within his work--he was enacting an elaborate revenge fantasy through a character in one of his graphic novels. But Johnny himself wasn't this character. He was a real person, a believable person, driven to madness after witnessing a horrifying and traumatic event. The case was handled in very much the same way CM always does--in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner. TN is at its core very much CM. The same is not true of RoD.
RoD felt less like a CM episode and more like a very clumsily-executed Hitchcock/film noir tribute. The reason is simple--rather than molding the concept to fit the show, RoD did the opposite. The Hitchcock-ian killer wasn't a delusion of the unsub, or a persona; he was the unsub. And in a show that generally succeeds because its villains are human and believable, there's just no excuse for this. Rhett Walden (I had to imdb him to get his name; that's how forgettable he is) was a hammy OTT excuse for a villain; I didn't give a shit about him, and he induced no reaction in me whatsoever (unless "WTF R U doing, T-Bag?" counts as a reaction). Most CM unsubs do elicit a reaction--horror, revulsion, sympathy (in Johnny's case). This guy just made me wonder if I stumbled into a bad community theater production of some theater major's stage adaptation of Psycho. And while the story-within-a-story structure worked in TN, it failed in RoD because the story-within-a-story had nothing to do with the case. Johnny's graphic novels engaged and propelled TN's plot; Garcia's play (and I'll get into that soon enough) had no bearing on it whatsoever except to add to the film noir theme. While the show tried to establish a tenuous (and dubious) connection late in the episode, it made no sense whatsoever and directly contradicted canon established a few episodes ago. Not to mention that this twist required all parties involved to act glaringly OOC. It doesn't even make sense within the plot.
Ahh, the plot. What there is of it. This episode was just a narrative mess from start to finish. The plot itself--unsub has delusions of his mother, a former 50s film star, and abducts girls similar to her in appearance and kills them when he can't mold them into perfect imitations. I could buy it as easily as I could buy Frankie Muniz acting out gory revenge scenarios based upon his graphic novels if it had at least been executed decently. But it wasn't. The episode spent so much time/focus first on Garcia's monologue and play, then on Walden's antics with the victims and conversations with his mother's ghost (yeah, like all y'all didn't see that one coming a mile away) that there was very little time for any actual, you know, crime-solving. Thus the profiling and police work felt rushed and heavily reliant on coincidence and contrivance--it all just fell into place too easily. But the case was never the point of the episode, anyway. It was about "homage." And fanservice.
So let's talk about fanservice. I have strong feelings about it, and those feelings are largely negative. See, for me, what matters is the story. Sure, I have favorite characters and whatnot, but I see them as inextricably entwined with the story, rather than separate agents and the story is just something that happens to them. They all have certain roles they play and these roles constitute a balance. Fanservice disrupts that balance. When the scale tips too far towards highlighting one element, it typically takes away from others. That's when we start getting OOC behavior and ridiculous plot twists, which this episode brings in spades.
First I'll address the obvious improbabilities. There's Garcia's sudden status as a fledgling thespian--you mean to tell me Garcia had time for auditions, rehearsals, and performances in addition to this job? (Particularly in light of her increased role as of late). For five seasons, the show has pretty firmly established that the job is these characters' lives. They comment on this frequently--remember Elle's comment in "Unfinished Business" about how the call came on a Friday Night and they were all available? Furthermore, Garcia has never expressed any interest in acting throughout the show's run. You'd think it'd have come up at some point. Not to mention, it doesn't jive with her general discomfort being outside of the lab and in front of crowds. I figure the writers threw it in as a case of art imitating life (I hear KV likes to act in stage productions) but haven't these bitches seen what happened to Bones? Shouldn't they have learned that molding characters to actors is generally a bad idea? The only reason MGG's magic tricks worked out is because it makes sense with Reid's character and with the canon. It follows he'd be into something geeky like that, and as a hobby, it wouldn't take much of his free time. Now, if they told us Reid had a magic act and did regular shows in Vegas, that would be improbable on the same scale as Garcia the actress.
Next, Hotch using Garcia as a JJ stand-in to bait the unsub. I'ma cut the shit. Walden's victims all fit the same profile--young, blonde, slim, "glam." Garcia does not fit this profile. She's not even blonde anymore. You know who does fit this profile? JJ. At one point I seriously wondered if this ep hadn't been written when JJ was still around and was retooled to substitute Garcia. That's how little sense it makes. Furthermore, it was established pretty firmly in "Compromising Positions" that Garcia and press conferences are unmixy things. In fact, Hotch had to go out and cover for her. And now he's the one pep-talking her and pushing her into it? Get out. No really, get the fuck out. If it were actual Hotch and not this weird pod!Hotch, he would've put Em in a blonde wig or had a female cop do the press conference (they do have the cooperation of the police after all... they're not solving the whole case all by themselves!) Both of these options make a hell of a lot more sense than using Garcia. Unless Hotch thought Walden would recognize Garcia from her illustrious stage career, and... no. Just no.
Even the interactions between the other characters seemed off-kilter. What even was that weird moment in the train station when Hotch and Emily teased Reid about ogling women? I know I'ma get bombarded by Reid fans arguing that it was totally in character, but no. Just no. While Reid is coded as straight and has had female love interests, he is never overt about it nor has he ever shown any inclination to actively pursue women. He isn't confident around them. He's shy and awkward. In SW Lila was the one actively pursuing him; in "52 Pickup" he only approached Austin and Morgan's urging. And remember when he could barely talk to JJ in season one? Not to mention that when he's working, he's very task-oriented, and probably wouldn't notice if an atomic bomb detonated right outside. You're seriously trying to argue that it's completely IC for him to space out while working to check out some women? No. Just. No.
The ending of RoD was just so stupid and predictable and do I even really need to go into that?
Worst. Episode. Ever.
6x08 "Reflection of Desire"
Honorable mentions to "Somebody's Watching," which until RoD was the uncontested winner for the Shittest CM Ep award, and it took some powerful bad to knock it off its throne; "The Fight" because it was just stupid and lame and a narrative mess. Both are mocked in thorough detail here and here, so I have little more to say about them.
So let's talk about "Reflection of Desire." I warn you, if you loved this ep, you might want to skip this one, because I ain't going to be kind.
Now, there's nothing wrong with concept episodes. "True Night" was a concept episode that worked. It worked for a very basic reason--the concept was molded to fit the show, and not vice versa. The gothic/noir elements of the episode were situated primarily within Johnny's delusions and within his work--he was enacting an elaborate revenge fantasy through a character in one of his graphic novels. But Johnny himself wasn't this character. He was a real person, a believable person, driven to madness after witnessing a horrifying and traumatic event. The case was handled in very much the same way CM always does--in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner. TN is at its core very much CM. The same is not true of RoD.
RoD felt less like a CM episode and more like a very clumsily-executed Hitchcock/film noir tribute. The reason is simple--rather than molding the concept to fit the show, RoD did the opposite. The Hitchcock-ian killer wasn't a delusion of the unsub, or a persona; he was the unsub. And in a show that generally succeeds because its villains are human and believable, there's just no excuse for this. Rhett Walden (I had to imdb him to get his name; that's how forgettable he is) was a hammy OTT excuse for a villain; I didn't give a shit about him, and he induced no reaction in me whatsoever (unless "WTF R U doing, T-Bag?" counts as a reaction). Most CM unsubs do elicit a reaction--horror, revulsion, sympathy (in Johnny's case). This guy just made me wonder if I stumbled into a bad community theater production of some theater major's stage adaptation of Psycho. And while the story-within-a-story structure worked in TN, it failed in RoD because the story-within-a-story had nothing to do with the case. Johnny's graphic novels engaged and propelled TN's plot; Garcia's play (and I'll get into that soon enough) had no bearing on it whatsoever except to add to the film noir theme. While the show tried to establish a tenuous (and dubious) connection late in the episode, it made no sense whatsoever and directly contradicted canon established a few episodes ago. Not to mention that this twist required all parties involved to act glaringly OOC. It doesn't even make sense within the plot.
Ahh, the plot. What there is of it. This episode was just a narrative mess from start to finish. The plot itself--unsub has delusions of his mother, a former 50s film star, and abducts girls similar to her in appearance and kills them when he can't mold them into perfect imitations. I could buy it as easily as I could buy Frankie Muniz acting out gory revenge scenarios based upon his graphic novels if it had at least been executed decently. But it wasn't. The episode spent so much time/focus first on Garcia's monologue and play, then on Walden's antics with the victims and conversations with his mother's ghost (yeah, like all y'all didn't see that one coming a mile away) that there was very little time for any actual, you know, crime-solving. Thus the profiling and police work felt rushed and heavily reliant on coincidence and contrivance--it all just fell into place too easily. But the case was never the point of the episode, anyway. It was about "homage." And fanservice.
So let's talk about fanservice. I have strong feelings about it, and those feelings are largely negative. See, for me, what matters is the story. Sure, I have favorite characters and whatnot, but I see them as inextricably entwined with the story, rather than separate agents and the story is just something that happens to them. They all have certain roles they play and these roles constitute a balance. Fanservice disrupts that balance. When the scale tips too far towards highlighting one element, it typically takes away from others. That's when we start getting OOC behavior and ridiculous plot twists, which this episode brings in spades.
First I'll address the obvious improbabilities. There's Garcia's sudden status as a fledgling thespian--you mean to tell me Garcia had time for auditions, rehearsals, and performances in addition to this job? (Particularly in light of her increased role as of late). For five seasons, the show has pretty firmly established that the job is these characters' lives. They comment on this frequently--remember Elle's comment in "Unfinished Business" about how the call came on a Friday Night and they were all available? Furthermore, Garcia has never expressed any interest in acting throughout the show's run. You'd think it'd have come up at some point. Not to mention, it doesn't jive with her general discomfort being outside of the lab and in front of crowds. I figure the writers threw it in as a case of art imitating life (I hear KV likes to act in stage productions) but haven't these bitches seen what happened to Bones? Shouldn't they have learned that molding characters to actors is generally a bad idea? The only reason MGG's magic tricks worked out is because it makes sense with Reid's character and with the canon. It follows he'd be into something geeky like that, and as a hobby, it wouldn't take much of his free time. Now, if they told us Reid had a magic act and did regular shows in Vegas, that would be improbable on the same scale as Garcia the actress.
Next, Hotch using Garcia as a JJ stand-in to bait the unsub. I'ma cut the shit. Walden's victims all fit the same profile--young, blonde, slim, "glam." Garcia does not fit this profile. She's not even blonde anymore. You know who does fit this profile? JJ. At one point I seriously wondered if this ep hadn't been written when JJ was still around and was retooled to substitute Garcia. That's how little sense it makes. Furthermore, it was established pretty firmly in "Compromising Positions" that Garcia and press conferences are unmixy things. In fact, Hotch had to go out and cover for her. And now he's the one pep-talking her and pushing her into it? Get out. No really, get the fuck out. If it were actual Hotch and not this weird pod!Hotch, he would've put Em in a blonde wig or had a female cop do the press conference (they do have the cooperation of the police after all... they're not solving the whole case all by themselves!) Both of these options make a hell of a lot more sense than using Garcia. Unless Hotch thought Walden would recognize Garcia from her illustrious stage career, and... no. Just no.
Even the interactions between the other characters seemed off-kilter. What even was that weird moment in the train station when Hotch and Emily teased Reid about ogling women? I know I'ma get bombarded by Reid fans arguing that it was totally in character, but no. Just no. While Reid is coded as straight and has had female love interests, he is never overt about it nor has he ever shown any inclination to actively pursue women. He isn't confident around them. He's shy and awkward. In SW Lila was the one actively pursuing him; in "52 Pickup" he only approached Austin and Morgan's urging. And remember when he could barely talk to JJ in season one? Not to mention that when he's working, he's very task-oriented, and probably wouldn't notice if an atomic bomb detonated right outside. You're seriously trying to argue that it's completely IC for him to space out while working to check out some women? No. Just. No.
The ending of RoD was just so stupid and predictable and do I even really need to go into that?
Worst. Episode. Ever.