Spoilery Rant Ahead!
OKAY. I think i have FINALLY sufficiently calmed enough to comment on the Criminal Minds' season premiere. Maybe.
First initial response.
What
The
HELL!?!?!
now, i'm only an on again-off again CM viewer, i admit that. I love Garcia. I love Morgan/Garcia. i LIKE the characters. I can see Gideon's reactions to the events of the ep. Do i want it to go the way i think it's going to go? NO! Am i gonna watch next week? NO! Will i read spoilers and reactions? Probably. And I'll reserve judgment on the show in general, but i can say, if they continue like they did with the premiere: Not Going Back and will content myself with the fan fic.
~~~
my primary complaints
1. Cutting Misinformation!!! (and triggery scenes that fricken came out of NO WHERE!!!)
Cutters are, most generally: 1)secretive about their activities, 2)NOT SUICIDAL!!!
- the gal was sporting Self-Injury cutting wounds on her arms. They got that right. They were NOT suicide hesitation marks (too evenly spaced and uniform).
- I was expecting better when Reid asked if the gal spoke of suicide. Then they launched into the "YEAH. All the Time! To the point that it's a joke." How "everyone knew she cut" but no one said/did anything because she was so weird.
Reality/what i've found out --> Statistically, Cutters/Self-Injurers are NOT suicidal. The cutting is a RELEASE to KEEP things from rising to the point of "permanent harm" (beyond scars). It's a COPING MECHANISM! And actually, most cutters/SI people are stereotypically "normal". They are high achievers, very driven, studious. "NORMAL" except for high self-standards and a skewed coping mechanism that involves self harm.
how do i know? Because i self injure. I don't cut, i scratch and hit, but finding out that i wasn't alone in my coping mechanism... helped. BS MIS-Information like they offered (even though they didn't go in depth with it) is detrimental both to those who suffer/engage in SI and those learning to DEAL with someone who Self Injures.
SO not impressed here, guys!
2. And some really stereotypical BS re: Goths, Anarchist/Heavy Metal music, and those ubiquitous Devil Skulls. I love how there's NO mention (really) of "Goth psycho girl" up until we first see her cutting (which... i will admit, was/could be triggery!) Then we focus on ALL the stereotypical "not normal" things in her room! Obviously they all interconnect to mean that she's a psycho who wants to DIE! A little build up would have been good guys... cause that... just SUCKED as far as "easy outs!"
3. Sudden Team Strife - which does happen and i could See it -- but which, up until now, hasn't been too bad - so why now "ALL of the sudden"? Especially the chip on Morgan's shoulder (which i can understand after the ep where he was a suspect and the team had to 'profile' him). I feel bad for the new gal, caught between a rock and a hard place but trying to keep her team (and i don't mean that in the "get Hotch out so *I* can lead" manner. I don't get that "drive" from her) safe. I can see Giddeon starting to question his conclusions... we KNOW he's had problems in the past. BUT, would the team have LET him go if they knew he was that far gone?
4. Depressing "The Bad Guys Win"/"The Good Guys Win but at a HIGH cost" -- i know it happens. I know it happens a LOT in real life. But i'm so tired of seeing the "make it gritty and dirty and HEAVY Shades of GRAY for the ratings!" CSI:Vegas with the Greg thing last season is the first that comes to mind... which is why i stopped watching. I don't MIND Flawed heroes. I don't MIND angst and a side of HURT. But to tear down characters just for (apparently) the sake of tearing them down... Not so good with that. I like my good guys GOOD. I like them to Win and for the right to triumph in the end even if they're a bit bloodied/stunned/etc by what happened.
This one felt like pain for the sake of pain. Tear down the good guys for doing what was right and/or for being human ALL to serve some "hidden personal agenda". Show that No Good Deed goes unpunished and that the dark will, in the end, claim/snuff the light. Not that the light gives up... but at what cost? I don't like that type of show. I want to know the good guys win and that doing the right thing, while not EASY, IS the right thing and those who are important will hold to that belief.
Idealistic? HELL YEAH.
I don't mind realism. I don't mind the occasional dark storyline. But it seems like what's coming out recently... the dark triumphs more often than not and heroes FALL for doing what's right.
~~~~
the ending seemed rushed and out of no-where. the characters seemed to be floundering and adrift without each other to hang on to. they've lost the "family" feel to their team, which is why i really LIKED the show.
So, i'm letting CM fall to the wayside of my viewing. Life's to short to watch something that makes you angry/too sad/depressed. I have enough of that fighting my own brain-chemistry depression... don't need any help from my "escapism".
SO... there are my views. I'll put away my soapbox now. PLEASE feel free to give me your views... EVEN if they don't agree with mine (though please don't flame - not that i think anyone here would - everyone is entitled to their own opinions and these are MINE). In fact, ESPECIALLY post if you don't agree... tell me what YOU saw in the ep. Show me why you're staying with the show, tell me what you saw that i didn't. I'm ALWAYS looking for other people's takes on things.
Ok. i'll leave off for now. Promise. Thanks for listening.
peace, y'all.
km
First initial response.
What
The
HELL!?!?!
now, i'm only an on again-off again CM viewer, i admit that. I love Garcia. I love Morgan/Garcia. i LIKE the characters. I can see Gideon's reactions to the events of the ep. Do i want it to go the way i think it's going to go? NO! Am i gonna watch next week? NO! Will i read spoilers and reactions? Probably. And I'll reserve judgment on the show in general, but i can say, if they continue like they did with the premiere: Not Going Back and will content myself with the fan fic.
~~~
my primary complaints
1. Cutting Misinformation!!! (and triggery scenes that fricken came out of NO WHERE!!!)
Cutters are, most generally: 1)secretive about their activities, 2)NOT SUICIDAL!!!
- the gal was sporting Self-Injury cutting wounds on her arms. They got that right. They were NOT suicide hesitation marks (too evenly spaced and uniform).
- I was expecting better when Reid asked if the gal spoke of suicide. Then they launched into the "YEAH. All the Time! To the point that it's a joke." How "everyone knew she cut" but no one said/did anything because she was so weird.
Reality/what i've found out --> Statistically, Cutters/Self-Injurers are NOT suicidal. The cutting is a RELEASE to KEEP things from rising to the point of "permanent harm" (beyond scars). It's a COPING MECHANISM! And actually, most cutters/SI people are stereotypically "normal". They are high achievers, very driven, studious. "NORMAL" except for high self-standards and a skewed coping mechanism that involves self harm.
how do i know? Because i self injure. I don't cut, i scratch and hit, but finding out that i wasn't alone in my coping mechanism... helped. BS MIS-Information like they offered (even though they didn't go in depth with it) is detrimental both to those who suffer/engage in SI and those learning to DEAL with someone who Self Injures.
SO not impressed here, guys!
2. And some really stereotypical BS re: Goths, Anarchist/Heavy Metal music, and those ubiquitous Devil Skulls. I love how there's NO mention (really) of "Goth psycho girl" up until we first see her cutting (which... i will admit, was/could be triggery!) Then we focus on ALL the stereotypical "not normal" things in her room! Obviously they all interconnect to mean that she's a psycho who wants to DIE! A little build up would have been good guys... cause that... just SUCKED as far as "easy outs!"
3. Sudden Team Strife - which does happen and i could See it -- but which, up until now, hasn't been too bad - so why now "ALL of the sudden"? Especially the chip on Morgan's shoulder (which i can understand after the ep where he was a suspect and the team had to 'profile' him). I feel bad for the new gal, caught between a rock and a hard place but trying to keep her team (and i don't mean that in the "get Hotch out so *I* can lead" manner. I don't get that "drive" from her) safe. I can see Giddeon starting to question his conclusions... we KNOW he's had problems in the past. BUT, would the team have LET him go if they knew he was that far gone?
4. Depressing "The Bad Guys Win"/"The Good Guys Win but at a HIGH cost" -- i know it happens. I know it happens a LOT in real life. But i'm so tired of seeing the "make it gritty and dirty and HEAVY Shades of GRAY for the ratings!" CSI:Vegas with the Greg thing last season is the first that comes to mind... which is why i stopped watching. I don't MIND Flawed heroes. I don't MIND angst and a side of HURT. But to tear down characters just for (apparently) the sake of tearing them down... Not so good with that. I like my good guys GOOD. I like them to Win and for the right to triumph in the end even if they're a bit bloodied/stunned/etc by what happened.
This one felt like pain for the sake of pain. Tear down the good guys for doing what was right and/or for being human ALL to serve some "hidden personal agenda". Show that No Good Deed goes unpunished and that the dark will, in the end, claim/snuff the light. Not that the light gives up... but at what cost? I don't like that type of show. I want to know the good guys win and that doing the right thing, while not EASY, IS the right thing and those who are important will hold to that belief.
Idealistic? HELL YEAH.
I don't mind realism. I don't mind the occasional dark storyline. But it seems like what's coming out recently... the dark triumphs more often than not and heroes FALL for doing what's right.
~~~~
the ending seemed rushed and out of no-where. the characters seemed to be floundering and adrift without each other to hang on to. they've lost the "family" feel to their team, which is why i really LIKED the show.
So, i'm letting CM fall to the wayside of my viewing. Life's to short to watch something that makes you angry/too sad/depressed. I have enough of that fighting my own brain-chemistry depression... don't need any help from my "escapism".
SO... there are my views. I'll put away my soapbox now. PLEASE feel free to give me your views... EVEN if they don't agree with mine (though please don't flame - not that i think anyone here would - everyone is entitled to their own opinions and these are MINE). In fact, ESPECIALLY post if you don't agree... tell me what YOU saw in the ep. Show me why you're staying with the show, tell me what you saw that i didn't. I'm ALWAYS looking for other people's takes on things.
Ok. i'll leave off for now. Promise. Thanks for listening.
peace, y'all.
km