Criminal Minds – JJ’s Last Dance

I am once again substituting for your friendly neighborhood Aryeh. But, don’t worry, unlike J.J., he will return.

Speaking of A.J. Cook’s last episode, am I the only one who felt the writers and actors seemingly provided the most clichéd writing and cardboard acting possible? In fact, the entire episode felt anti-climactic and reminiscent of Bones’ Gormogon episode with Zack.

The listlessness started with the case of the week, paused for the writing, and continued with the ending’s sappy music and decreased set change. Although I congratulate CBS on re-using its Joan of Arcadia actors (in addition to Joe Mantegna), the plotline of two teenaged serial killers reminded me of Murder by Numbers. I did not recognize Michael Welch (who clearly pulled a John Francis Daley in the past five years); but, I definitely did not buy 26-year-old Chris Marquette playing a 19-year-old male. While whoever penned this episode could have made the execution more original, the writing was repetitious and featured variations of the same two scenes without advancing the plot: JJ listened to the angry parents while the BAU team interviewed the teen attackers. Mid-way through the episode I suddenly realized the script did not feature the usual multi-locational shots  and wondered if the producers decided to keep it in budget.

What I liked about this episode still incorporated a ragged silver lining. I enjoyed the week’s focus on the team’s profiler skills (with Prentiss/Morgan setting mind traps for the boys), but they didn’t go anywhere (including Prentiss’ highly unsubtle baiting of the submissive unsub). Yet, whenever the show constructs the killer’s mentality or past events without Saw 3-D graphic visualization, I have to applaud them. In keeping with last week’s field of dreams, this week featured Rossi and Reid stepping into a nighttime club scene during daytime. Although this episode broke from the Criminal Minds pattern (which I identified based on Seasons 2-4 repeats, although Maria/Cheryl are right about last year’s changes), I hope to see more episodes in this vein or of the Living Dolls/comic book writer episodes. On a side note, I enjoy the continuing hints of the Penelope-Morgan friendship including his paper-slapping her head as he boarded the elevator.

Returning to the issue at hand, I’m not sad that JJ left, but I wonder if the seemingly wooden writing and performances occurred because the cast and crew were not happy. I feel the above quote from JJ’s closing monologue greatly summarized the actress’ handling of events. Although I felt bad for A.J. Cook, she handled the event graciously. While the promotion seemed like a half-hearted way to write her character off, at least they left a window for her to return. All the same, lines such as “it’s not up to me” and “our loss is somebody else’s gain” all represented the episode’s lack of dramatic tension (despite the yelling parents) and absence of script-level originality. While I’m glad they decided not to replace JJ with another person, I’d like to see her character continue to interact with the team on a more personal level, a la her friendship with Penelope and Reid (her child’s godfather) as a semi-regular. However, kudos to the closing montage and to whoever wrote that realistic seeming monologue.

Random Thoughts:

• While I understood this episode’s reasoning that the BAU went for qualitative cases, I remember a past show where JJ/the victim had to justify using the BAU on a case without a child, repeat offenders, or high-level urgency.
• Am I the only one who continues to love Reid’s various hairstyles, while disliking Emily’s? And, man, Prentiss really rocked a low-cut top this ep.
• Normally, I enjoy Penelope’s outfits, but today she seemed a bit too Crayola.
• What did other people think about this episode? I wonder if they will start to overtly include the big boss in the new episodes with JJ’s no longer pending absence.
• Maybe they’ll do a better job with Prentiss, but, hopefully, Penelope, as the final remaining female character (despite, ironically, starting as a semi-regular), won’t follow their fate.

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Sep 30, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT