Criminal Minds

[rachelmanija]

Have gotten sucked in. Spent entire weekend watching first 4 discs of season 1. Am a little bit in love with entire male cast, except for Jason Gideon whom I enjoy watching but who sort of scares me with his resemblance to various men in mentoring positions I've known who got off a little too much on their own wisdom, compassion, and influence over

Comments

[takumashii]

"Bloodline," season 4. It was pretty wince-worthy, yeah.

[angharadd]

That was episode 4.13. They also managed to mix up Romani with Romanians & blather on about "Eastern European superstitions" and "Eastern European accents" (as if those territories were homogenous).

[zeborahnz]

They sort of briefly tried to say "But they're not real Romani, they've just appropriated the culture for their own purposes." But they didn't say it very loudly or effectively and the episode proceeded as if they hadn't said it at all, so year. Fail.

[oracne]

I became addicted to this show for a couple of seasons, then I just lost interest. Not sure why, I think it was more me being busy and not watching tv at all than anything the show did.

The characterization of the women improves later on.

Spoilers for "Riding the Lightning"

[rachelmanija]

Thanks for the quote

Re: Spoilers for "Riding the Lightning"

[rachelmanija]

I was thinking more about this, and here's how I would have written that episode (because I actually do like that they don't save her - that would have been the predictable thing, and way less memorable.) Gideon calls off the agents. She dies. And then the kid finds out and confronts him. It could have brought up all his issues with his son and everything!

I love Mandy Patinkin too. The character is fascinating. But I am wary of him.

He quit the show without notice because the violence creeped him out, right? So I guess the writers weren't able to write him out in a satisfying or organic way.

[sleary]

There's a Russian mob episode -- "Honor Among Thieves," I believe it's called -- that is spectacularly bad, but you should totally watch it for the laughs. It's the episode CM fandom loves to hate. It's just jaw-droppingly awful. Never mind the cultural appropriation, the bad acting, and the lousy character moments; the *crime* part doesn't even make sense.

... and I see someone mentioned "Bloodline," which is the other stinker. Really, for a show with such a long run, there aren't many bad episodes, while there are many amazing ones.

The female characters mostly get a much better portrayal from season 3 onward, although (as of the latest episode) JJ still doesn't have a satisfactory backstory.

[ide_cyan]

I don't particularly have a problem with gore, but the way in which Criminal Mind pretty consistently creeps me out is the way the show pairs its seriousness about itself with a large degree of prurience in its serial killer scenes. The show will say, via its quotes and regular characters, "we're a serious drama about the effects of trauma on humans, etc." (and have very little gallows humour, as you point out), while it's filming stalking or killing or torture scenes with a "we are out to creep you out! be very afraid!" exploitative approach and music to ratchet up the tension. The effect is that I find the show's style insidiously hypocritical, and that's the part that creeps me out.

[veejane]

Yeah, I've watched it a little here and there, and it... doesn't really resist the id-vortex of the serial killer genre. You'll note, for example, that the victims are almost always long-haired nubile young women, and we watch them Suffer.

I think the Suffering of the detectives is part and parcel of that id vortex. They've all got Secret Pains, and they hold themselves together because of the urgency of the case and I'll sleep when that kid is home safe, dammit, why are you wrapping me in a blanket and feeding me hot soup??

Which, it gets old. Just the basic idea that they have to spend all this time and money -- and a frelling private plane! -- on serial killings, as if an ordinary, one-at-a-time, shudderingly common person-you-know killing isn't bad enough to warrant their talents.

[rachelmanija]

Hee! I can't argue, but the suffering of the detectives is so beautifully tailored to my own id vortex. I agree, you could certainly do that on a show about regular old killers.