Criminal Minds 11/21 (Warning - unboxed spoilers!)

Cafe Society
1

Anyone still watching this?
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I was on the edge of my seat last week and couldn’t wait to see what happened. Now I’m not sure how I feel.

The loss of Mandy Patinkin was hard on me – he was the reason I started watching in the first place. But one of my favourite aspects of the show has been the chemistry between Garcia and Morgan, and I haven’t liked how that played out the past two weeks.

I was disappointed last week when Garcia had a little melt-down last week and essentially told Morgan off for not having come on to her. Instead of the very solid and equal two-way banter they’d always had, it felt to me like she was suddenly a silly school girl with a hopeless crush on someone way out of her league, when before she had always been so self-assured and confident. Even more this week she was the helpless little ball of fluff who lapped up any attention she could get from him.

And THEN, the end! Well, I honestly don’t know if I can keep watching. That was like in a cartoon where Pluto meets another dog that looks exactly like him except with lipstick and pearls, and so of course violins play and pink hearts circle above their heads. I mean, you know they’re soulmates, because aw, look, a matching pair. Gag! I’ve said in threads before that I think it would be great if she was revealed to have an active and healthy love life outside of her flirtation with Morgan, but I didn’t mean this.

2

I feel exactly the same way. I wish Bones was opposite this, rather than NCIS. Then I’d have something to draw my attention.

3

Yeah, I’ve been watching too, and I was disappointed. I loved Garcia’s character, and her easy banter with Morgan was one of the sunny bits in rather grim episodes. In these last 2 shows, is the underlying theme that a young, funny, bright woman must turn to teary, quivering mush when it comes to her love life?

I think I’ll watch, hopefully, again.

I thought Mandy Patinkin/Gideon, that was a great character. I miss him. Does anyone know why he’s left the show?

4

His web site says “creative differences”.

5

Did she die?

6

Naww…critically wounded, touch-and-go surgery, and then home in about two days.

And you could see that ending coming the second they started “hacking” each other.

7

I was just glad to see Nicholas Brendon working again. Could be fun.

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[QUOTE=MoodIndigo1]
Yeah, I’ve been watching too, and I was disappointed. I loved Garcia’s character, and her easy banter with Morgan was one of the sunny bits in rather grim episodes. In these last 2 shows, is the underlying theme that a young, funny, bright woman must turn to teary, quivering mush when it comes to her love life?

I think I’ll watch, hopefully, again.

I thought Mandy Patinkin/Gideon, that was a great character. I miss him. Does anyone know why he’s left the show?
[/QUOTE]

This is the second time he’s done this. He lasted a couple of seasons on Chicago Hope (also co-starring with Thomas Gibson, coincidentally) before leaving, citing that he wanted to be closer to his family in NY.

Actually, I’m liking Joe Mantegna’s character, Rossi, very much. Not quite as cerebral as Gideon, but no less perceptive.

Regarding Garcia (my one and only TV crush, BTW) the past two episodes: I felt that this was an insight into her character we hadn’t seen before. Just because someone is young, funny and bright doesn’t mean they don’t have insecurities. It added another dimension to her character, for better or worse. I also liked the little backstory they revealed about how she was an underground hacker when she was recruited. It explained a lot about her.

I didn’t read that into their disagreement at all. She was taking him to task for implying that someone good-looking wouldn’t be interested in her (which he wasn’t, IMHO–he was just being overly cautious, and rightly so, it turns out). Morgan and Garcia’s banter has been friendly, nothing more. Garcia and Morgan value their professional relationship too much to mess it up with anything personal.

BTW, regarding last week’s episode with the cannibal–was that the best ending ever or what? He actually fed his victim to the rescuers! And I should have seen it coming, but it caught me totally off guard.

Still one of the best shows on TV, IMHO. I’m surprised we don’t discuss it more on the board.

9

See, I think Morgan is one of the hottest things walking, but I think he and Garcia just have fun flirting- and as much as I imagine some truly smutty things going on between them in my head, I’ll be bitching my head off here if they ever, ever hook up. But I cheered in my living room last week when Garcia told him off when he told her to be careful, because he didn’t say it in a sensative “it sounds too good to be true” way, it sounded like “be careful, he sounds to good for you.” Which was crummy.

The appropriate response to a “I met this really hot guy, things like this never happen to me, I think he’s out of my league, I’m so excited” rambling is “That is really great, have a good time, bring condoms, take notes, of course he’s not out of your league” with a side of “you don’t know him from Adam, be careful”, not “it sounds too good for you, watch out for the shoe to drop”.

10

Y’know, now that I think about it, why didn’t Morgan suggest that Garcia check him on her computer?
For that matter, why didn’t she think about that herself?

What’s the saying—“Trust, but verify.”

11

I did hate it that Garcia was so wimpy, but I could accept it since she was out of her element. She’s a hacker, for freak sake–why should she be confident on a date or holding a gun?

The thing that bothered me about the ep was how they ignored Police 101 procedures. When the killer shows up at her apartment to attempt to finish her off.

  1. Morgan gives Garcia a gun and says “shoot anyone who comes through the door”–then later comes through the door without saying anything. Sheesh, “identify yourself” is like rule #1.
  2. Morgan chases after the bad guy leaving a terrified, panic-stricken Garcia alone holding a gun. I can’t even talk about this one.
  3. Morgan is wearing every electronic device known to man, and Garcia has a computer and phone within, literally, arms reach, and neither of them bothers to call for help/backup. You ALWAYS call for backup before going into a dangerous situation. That’s like rule # 1.1.

I always took the banter between Garcia and Morgan as just that: banter. I never thought there was anything between them. Meeting the hacker of your dreams at the end of the ep was stupid, however. Yucky. Like when the centaurs in Fantasia all pair up with the matching-color other-gender centaurs. Leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.

12

I’m glad I’m still watching this, cause last night’s “True Night” rocked. I’ll put it in a spoiler box:

Frank Muniz’s performance as the unsub was really good in last night’s episode. Little Malcolm in the middle as a deranged killer, only he was just killing the gangers who killed his pregnant fiance and eviserated him.

As Prentiss put it: It’s the first case I’ve had where the unsub wasn’t the bad guy.

13

[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
I’m glad I’m still watching this, cause last night’s “True Night” rocked.
[/QUOTE]

Truer words have never been spoken. That one shall be burned to disc and forever cherished.