What's on my mind about "Criminal Minds" II: Super Verbrechen Special Turbo Boogaloo Insurrection S
Yeah, I know, the "sequel" nobody asked for (the "first installment" is here). But at this point, anything to at least make a valiant attempt to get everyone's, including my own, mind off a certain current raging (and I do mean raging) debate of a non-fandom sort (and that's all I'm going to say about it). Oh yeah, that bit in the title is just a reference to ridiculous sequel names in general (though you may have caught the particular shout-outs)/an attempt to be as light-hearted as possible- it has nothing to do with the rest of this.
Anyway, I know I said I wouldn't be watching or following season eight at all before. But I couldn't help myself- the very obvious tactic to keep fans interested/gain new fans despite all that [stuff] they pulled the last two, 2.5 seasons did work on me a little. I say "a little" because I've thus far upheld the "not watching" part, but as far as "not following" (i.e. not lurking in the forums I mentioned in the previous post and ignoring/not seeking any news or updates from any other sources), morbid curiosity got the better of me. That and I've still been watching my DVDs (I only have- and want- up to season 5 despite the cliffhanger) and the occasional rerun on ION and/or A&E so long as the latter is from seasons 1-5. Even watching the "bad" episodes from that stretch makes me want to cry, seeing what it used to be, knowing what it's become, and knowing CBS hasn't put it out of its misery (and thanks to their aforementioned tactic, probably won't anytime soon- I suppose I should say well played on CBS's part).
Before I go any further, due to an unfortunate overriding aspect of this season (and last season for that matter) that will be addressed here, I again want to say don't even start with that old "you're just upset your pairing didn't happen" excuse. It's far too easy to blame one's dislike of a pairing, canon or otherwise, on the mere fact that they prefer a different one, when in actuality there are fans open to multiple pairings involving the same characters and pairings (again, canon or otherwise) can be portrayed badly from even the most objective of standpoints. Also, remember my lurking in the forums and such, so I'm not just claiming others agree with me, I'm relaying things I've seen for myself (but not providing links because those, especially on the IMDB forum, tend to go dead, and with some other places it's hard to link to specific individual posts). Just keep those in mind.
Okay, one of my earlier complaints was use of stuff better suited to, say, a sitcom (either family-centered ones like "Full House" or circle-of-friends-centered ones like, well, "Friends"), a soap opera, or a teen drama- with creepy and/or bizarre murders (ones that push the levels of creepy and bizarre more than any other previous episode in any season- and that's saying something) thrown in as a strange way of showing the writers/producers remember this is supposed to be a crime drama. Supposed to be. Not to mention characters becoming shells of their former selves and how they're constantly retconning things. Unfortunately, yes, all that's still an issue. But I think I touched on all that enough last time, and it's not why I felt the need for a "sequel".
I suppose I can start with the new character. She didn't become as insanely loved and popular as I thought- in fact, lots of people find her annoying and/or boring, and are worried she might actually become the team leader if Thomas Gibson doesn't renew his contract after this season (or his recent DUI gets him fired) thus resulting in Hotch's departure for real. Also, that thing about using Reid's popularity- yeah, it's pretty much the only good thing most fans are saying about the new chick. Nothing romantic, just best friends. But of course there's a lot of how Reid has such a great friend now or finally has a true friend. Then what are Morgan, JJ, Prentiss (yes, I know she's since made her second- and this time permanent- contrived exit, the new chick is replacing her), Garcia, and even Hotch and Rossi to an extent, chopped liver? Oh, right, any closeness they had with him has since all but vanished starting in the latter part of season five. And Reid was actually shown having friends outside the BAU, too, as evidenced in earlier seasons. Really, there is no justification for her presence. Reid was just fine without her for several years, and if she were really supposed to be some kind of longtime "BFF" for him, why wasn't she so much as mentioned earlier? Oh, did I mention Hotch possibly leaving? Adding more fuel to that fire is the fact that his role has diminished as badly if not worse than Reid's had been. Speculation, probably justified, is that unfortunately they were counting on the actress playing his new Mary Sue love interest being around, thus only came up with stuff involving that relationship but had to scrap it due to her having taken another role elsewhere. (Frankly, I'm surprised they even bothered to give that character a surname- it's practically "Hotchner" already).
Which brings me to the "unfortunate overriding aspect" part: that weird "romance" arc they came up with for Reid (I already said why it's strange in the previous post). Seriously, this is how they chose to address the complaints about his diminished role? Of course, enough fans are just glad Reid's getting more screentime and/or that he has a "real", if strange, romance. And now they're all worried that this love interest will get killed off in a forthcoming episode and how Reid doesn't deserve that. Frankly, I don't care what happens to that chick, not even "for Reid's sake". I mean, all the while there's been no evidence of Reid's continued presence being anything other than to have this weirdo plotline. His genius, anything about him and his role on the team from earlier seasons? Nope, it's all about his weird relationship with this chick. That he didn't deserve; they really shouldn't have given him a love interest and a big arc involving said love interest in the first place, not if his whole character and presence was going to center around her/the relationship. Does no one remember a time when love interests weren't so important? The press release for the aforementioned episode said something about Reid suffering a big personal loss, and despite the actress (yeah, they did in fact cast someone for that role despite the minimal face time) being in the opposite situation than the actress who played Hotch's love interest-who-now-overrides-everything-else-about-him, fans are convinced this girlfriend is the causality. I however fear another possibility: it's Reid's mother who dies, but of course Wonder Girlfriend and/or Equally Contrived BFF will be just the one(s) to get him through this. And we're all supposed to gush.
Should Weirdo Wonder Girlfriend survive that episode, then there's also the same unfortunate possibility I brought up with Hotch's Mary Sue before. Namely, that they will be suddenly married (with or without an on-screen wedding), she'll almost (if not just) as suddenly be pregnant, once the kid's born everyone will automatically love or be expected to love him/her, and should anyone express any apathy or dislike towards that child people will react as if you've threatened (yes, threatened) an actual child. Incidentally, still a possibility with Hotch- it could end up being the reason he leaves should he end up doing so (though granted that could eliminate the "fandom's sudden sacred cow" part, maybe skip over the marriage if not the pregnancy part, but still). Sorry, but ever since a certain author pulled that stunt with a certain pairing (right down to the contrived sprog whose existence was little more than "proof" of how "wonderful" the pairing supposedly was yet the fandom holds sacred), I don't trust the people behind CM or anyone else not to do the same. Especially not with this crazy chick who's a little too keen on this whole love interest thing literally running the show, and not with some fans actually clamoring for such a development even as an exit story for Reid and/or the show itself (which, as implied with the Hotch comment in this paragraph, I still wouldn't condone even then). There's a reason I brought up how a pairing I actually support in a different fandom did not go that route, and whether I said so in that post or not I'm actually glad it didn't (and did I mention that's a pairing I do support?). People need to get over this whole "not liking a canon pairing and/or a canon sprog, especially when there's really no good reason for said sprog to exist other than the pairing itself, equals wanting a character involved in that pairing to be miserable" mentality- a separate rant in and of itself that I might get to later.
Did I mention the sense of deja vu I've been getting with this craziness? I believe I mentioned previously how, when The Poor Man's Clarice Starling was on the show, they tried to set up a close friendship if not a romance between her and Reid. Only very few fans supported either idea. However, while they weren't/aren't that vocal about it, those few who supported a romance if not a friendship there still tried/try to make it about how Reid "deserves" and/or "needs" her (and unfortunately there are still some who haven't moved on, hence also using present tense). Yup, same situation all over again just with two separate characters being the new best friend and the new love interest, though unfortunately unlike before it's getting a lot more people's full support
I should stop now. Oh well, again at least this wasn't the raging political debate.
Oh right, that "tactic". It's that they're exploiting Reid's popularity yet still making it quite apparent they don't really care for him. So yeah, kind of worked on me, but not completely and not in the way they probably intended.