Apparently I’m not alone in thinking that Criminal Minds has been a bit of a letdown since its 100th episode extravaganza. Which remains a rather baffling reality for me, because not only is the character development lacking, but the cases aren’t so imaginative either.
I’m certainly not going to argue for more blood and gore, but the extreme reverse that we’ve seen in the last two or three episodes is startling. We went from a woman who made humans into living dolls to a guy who was really targeting a town and not people. Seems like a grand change of direction, no?
Only this time, the truth is that the case itself was even scarier.
True the doll lady was extremely sick, and what she was doing to her victims was beyond unimaginable. However, her victims all fell into specific demographics that, in a perfect world, would raise awareness for a very targeted group of potential victims.
Last night’s crazy, on the other hand, wasn’t looking to punish any one person repeatedly, or to attack a predetermined type. Instead, the randomness of his actions made him all the more dangerous, all the more frightening. The sheer ordinariness of the “who,” “where,” and “when” screamed louder than the uniqueness of his “why” (and I think the “what” was self-explanatory). To think that only the bus showing up saved that lady’s life? Or that if the Collins family had arrived at church on time the husband would still be alive?
Of course, that didn’t quite make up for lackluster creativity in the investigative element that is vital to the show, or the sluggishness of the main characters. I’m sadly beyond the point with Criminal Minds where I expect plot advancement every week, but last night the BAU team just “was,” as opposed to giving us something — anything — to work with.
Except for JJ. When we first met her in the beginning of the series, JJ was the public face of the team. Over time, her responsibilities as we see them have expanded to include choosing cases, profiling, helping in questioning and searches, and whatever other manner of activities we find our other lovable FBI agents engaged in. I like JJ, but I’ve always found that all rather suspect.
But whether or not she’s busy with all sorts of other activities, I do expect that JJ will somehow manage to do her original job — being the public face of the BAU. I know we were meant to feel right alongside her, but it really bothered me when she displayed reluctance at doing whatever it was that Hotch was telling her she needed to do, from coming to the new crime scene to talking to the widow Collins (Sprague Grayden, falling mightily from last season’s 24) about participating in the plan to capture the Unsub. In a sense, JJ was the character focus of last night’s episode … I just wish she had done a more enjoyable job.
There has to be some grand development in the works on this show, right? No series can live case-to-case only, can it? Hopefully that’s not some weird structural challenge that the writers of Criminal Minds have accepted on themselves.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 11, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Count me in on someone who is feeling let down since the 100th episode. I don’t usually pay attention to who are the writers or producers. But have they changed?
I was interrupted last night and missed a couple of minutes during the killing in the library (bookstore?). Was it the mother with the stroller that was killed? Did they say she was alive to flush out the unsub or did she actually survive?
*POST AUTHOR*
Yes, the mother with the stroller. She bled out at the scene, but they pretended she was hanging on to get him to come back, because he would be compelled to finish the job. I suppose it’s always good to finish what you started….
Once again, I think the writers are missing the mark. They need to look back and return to the writing that has made the show so good. The writing is making the actors look flat and if they don’t make some needed changes, Criminal Minds won’t last much longer. I really like the actors, but what can they do when the writing sucks. What can we do to let them know they need to get better writers? Am I alone in this?
*POST AUTHOR*
I think you’re right, but I see the balance between character development and cases as being off, not the writing specifically. I think the characters are just not being given anything to do like what we so enjoyed for four seasons. If we got back to some of the more interesting stories (like as successfully done with Hotch and The Reaper), I think Criminal Minds would find itself rolling again.